Baba Yaga

[Ito Saith Webb]

Hi all I am somewhat new to this site but regardless I will be pumping out the artwork. I must say there is a good deal of impressive artwork on this site but I feel challenged to do better instead of feeling jealous (well maybe just a little ) Anyways I have a huge interest in myth and folklore and have many books on the subject.

Here is my latest piece and I love feed back.
In Russian tales, Baba Yaga is portrayed as a hag who flies through the air in a mortar, using the pestle as a rudder and sweeping away the tracks behind her with a broom made out of silver birch. She lives in a log cabin that moves around on a pair of dancing chicken legs. The keyhole to her front door is a mouth filled with sharp teeth; the fence outside is made with human bones with skulls on top — often with one pole lacking its skull, so there is space for the hero or heroes. In another legend, the house does not reveal the door until it is told a magical phrase: Turn your back to the forest, your front to me.

[Molly]

Hey!

Nice start; what I would say is that you need more variation in color; you've used white for highlights, and black for shadows, and it makes the overall image look dirty. Another thing to concentrate on would be your light source. At the moment, everything is lit the same, and looks flat. You need some warm and cool variations (check the Tutorial section for color theory advice)

x

[Whyatt Thrash]

Also you've got some problems with hands, the neck and wrists. The chest/breasts look really strange, and a bit too perky for an old hag... And please, lose the watermark.

PS. I love the name... Baba Yaga... Sounds awesome.

[FoxinShocks]

I love Baba Yaga, and I like how this is coming on, but I think she needs to be more haggard and... maybe evil, depends which version you're going on. Baba is the insulting version of 'old woman' so you can see the sort of person it applies to. Yours, if I ignore the skulls and stuff she could be my own nice granny preparing to knit me a sweater

[Ito Saith Webb]

I love Baba Yaga, and I like how this is coming on, but I think she needs to be more haggard and... maybe evil, depends which version you're going on. Baba is the insulting version of 'old woman' so you can see the sort of person it applies to. Yours, if I ignore the skulls and stuff she could be my own nice granny preparing to knit me a sweater

Well to me that what makes her more evil because that is how she sucks you in and then it is to late. Never judge a book by it's cover.

[FoxinShocks]

Never judge a book by it's cover.

She's holding skulls and evil witch stuff. I don't think anyone will be fooled.

[Ito Saith Webb]

Well she is a witch so I guess she could make the skull look like a candy apple.

[zypher18]

You can come up with excuses to defend the nice granny holding bones, but the image should tell the story. If she makes the skulls look like candy, you have to tell us that's what's she's doing in the image itself. Oh, and I really like the house with chicken legs in the bg.