Unchained Wind WIP

**ladydove7** · February 4th, 2008, 07:12 PM

I have been working on this image for countless months now and am always finding something to tweak about it. It is a gift for a very special best friend and I want it to be perfect before I give it to her for her birthday. (I missed my chance last year)

So I'm wondering, any suggestions from you all? I'm really not pleased with the hair and unsure of if I should keep this with or without the beams of light streaming down through the clouds.

Any advice you can give me would be helpful. I'm pretty new to this whole photoshop coloring deal.

**Mute** · February 4th, 2008, 08:18 PM

Well for being new to the whole photo shop deal I think you did a good job with her skin tone and the tattoos.

The picture is shaping up nicely.

Your highlights are looking good as far as the shapes and placement go, but i wouldn't use that pure white for the color. Think of a color for the light source (I would suggest a cooler color to fit the mood) and make the highlight a tint of that color. It'll just be more interesting, as well as keep the highlights from jumping out as much.

Anatomically, I think her neck is looking a little long. Remember that from the rear, you see more of the trapezius muscle (the muscle of the shoulders and upper back)which makes the neck appear to be considerably shorter that from a front view.
Also watch the size of her calves, They are getting a little thick, especially the one on her right leg (you drew it the same thickness as her thigh!)

The black of her necklace band is too saturated as well (just too black.)

I'm anxious to see this refined some more. It's looking cool!!

**ladydove7** · February 4th, 2008, 09:13 PM

Thanks for dropping by Mute! I really appreciate the feedback. This image still has a ton of work on it so the chains, necklace, and feathers haven't even been rendered at all and are still in their abstract shape phase. I do plan to add shading.

I'll definitely be poking at the anatomy with a new eye now. Thanks for the tips!

**Penabled** · February 4th, 2008, 09:21 PM

I would think that her right breast should not be visible at all over the top of her left breast. Perspective.

Love it so far!

**ladydove7** · February 5th, 2008, 09:46 AM

I thought perhaps it would show because she was leaning back, but I'll fiddle with it and see how it looks without the second one peekin.

**Sadetar** · February 6th, 2008, 05:27 PM

If you need a very special second best friend, I'm free.

That pic is awesome! Even though I think you could try it without the other breast. I really like the position and that hair isn't that bad either. Perhaps you could still try to add some highlights to it. And that colouring.. it's fantastic.

So hopefully that birthday is coming really soon so we can all see this finished.

**ladydove7** · February 16th, 2008, 11:31 AM

I actually missed my friends birthday once already, but she has seen the work in progress and loves it. Now I just need to finish it for her NEXT birthday in August.

Here's a progress shot. I'm still detailing and still fiddling with that mischievous booby. It looks weird without it, but perhaps I'm just used to seeing it there after staring at this piece for so long. So here's another 4 hours of work on it. I think I've made leaps with the anatomy and have done major tweaking to the head, neck, and legs areas. I also got rid of that stiff hair she had and tried a trick with hair brushes. Soon SOON it will be done!

Anyone have any tips for coloring chains? I've been avoiding them thus far.

**petitemistress** · February 16th, 2008, 01:22 PM

i agre with wts been said before about the neck, calves and nipple peeking!
as for chains the best you can do is get reference... and dont forget to texturize it (a little grainy feel shd do...)
also check your black and white values on this... i like the values a lot more in the very first one you posted! the girl is brighter and the image overall is less washed out and grey!

im sure your friend will love this

**ladydove7** · February 16th, 2008, 01:26 PM

Thanks for dropping by, Petitemistress! Do you think the anatomy is better now that I've updated it? It's been significantly changed from the very first post.

The first pose also had upped contrast, which is easy enough to tweak on the source file.

I'll have to quit avoiding those chains and experiment a bit.

**petitemistress** · February 16th, 2008, 01:59 PM

yes, i was aware of the tweaks,the neck looks much better and so do the calves, but that nipple shd go imo, its an anatomical oddity lol!

anyways much more inspired work than anything *i* could muster... and i do think more contrast will bring it out more, def! great job overall, and dont fear those chains! they are actually quite easy to render... just save your file, get a reference and give it a go!

**DigitallyDumbfounded** · February 16th, 2008, 07:25 PM

Talk about deadline extensions!

Anyway, I hope you don't mind, but I did a little lasso, free transform.
(you can safely ignore the feet redlining, dunno if this is a good thing because it's your style after all and I actually don't mind that so much

.
Basically, though the head is expressive the way you did it... if you go for anatomical corectness, it needs to be muuuch shorter. MUCHO.

Edit: ok, just for a short explanation (oh, the pun.). from this angle her shoulder is covering part of her neck, also because of the way her deltoid is protruding/position of the arms.
So, my example might not be perfect, but it probably shows a point.
Erm, yeah. Also, if she tilts her head back, the neck isn't stretched but does touch the back and you don't see much neck at all anymore.
I hope this doesn't mess to much with your initial idea, but I reaally like where this is going and it has so much potential!
So, even if you aren't (?) a girl you could try posing in front of the mirror alittle and check on the pose.
Best of luck I wish ya.

**ladydove7** · February 17th, 2008, 02:26 PM

No no I encourage redlining actually. It's very useful and makes sure that I know exactly what you're talking about. Thank you for doing it! It will be especially useful for the feet. I think I will take your cue and try to somehow get a picture of myself leaning backwards in the mirror. My fault for choosing such a wonky pose out of my head. You're right that there should be a bend in the neck and that may be what's making area look strange no matter how many times I tweak it.

It's going to be interesting posing in my teeny ass bathroom. And here's yet another update! A moment of silence for the far-boob....

**DigitallyDumbfounded** · February 17th, 2008, 02:39 PM

About the feet/legs.
Basic problem there is also simply the length. If legs are really that unproportianally long, you'll still have different shapes.
Just look up how those muscles on the back of the legs interact and what they do and how they connect to the feet actually. ( I happen to have "accidentally" gotten myself great reference for that, x-ray, enlightning, yeah.)
You know, you could make it interesting and just a tad weird by getting creative on the boob part.

( why do I feel like a pervert suggesting this...)
I mean, just for plain threedimensionality and guessing what you should see from the now dissapeared boobie/chest area when turning that way.
Like in my paintover I tried to indicate that. But it depends, so, yeah steal your girlfriends bra, stuff it up and tell her it's all for arts sake.

..or really just ask a friend to pose, sometimes a short glance already helps fixing some misconceptions. But even without fake breasts, you'll see the bones and muscles and you can just place the breast accordingly.

**626elemental** · February 17th, 2008, 10:45 PM

Her upper body is excellent, shading is wonderful. The lower leg is just too long though. The lower leg should be about the same length as the thigh (try putting your heel up to your rear, you'll see) and hers is quite a bit longer than that.

Lighting is nice. That streaming light effect is hard to do.

**petitemistress** · February 18th, 2008, 01:36 AM

*moment of silence for the missing boob*
he will be missed u.u (NOT) ;p

**ladydove7** · June 14th, 2008, 08:33 PM

This piece has been finished and is posted in Finished Art here:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=128543

Thanks so much to all of you who helped me to complete this piece! It wouldn't have been half as good if not for your feedback

**Morby** · June 15th, 2008, 01:59 AM

Ive seen the finished version of this piece, it was pretty inspiring ! loved the pose of the character XD.

But i felt the hair's kinda still flat, pls pardon me, cos i thought this thread is kinda 'already closed' since the piece's already finished. I have made a simple example of how u can use the Dodge (press [O] ) tool in photoshop to create soft looking and more natural hair.

basically, use the dodge tool to the draw highlighted strains of hair, and by holding on to ALT, darken the edge near the highlight u just drew.

Repeat the process and have fun, just dun over use.
(hope this helps alittle, and hope i didn't post this tooo late)

**ladydove7** · June 15th, 2008, 04:05 PM

Ahh handy tips. I did have quite alot of trouble getting the movement of the hair to look natural. I had it more detailed and high contrast before, but it just wasn't voguing with the diffuse stormy ambient light of this image. I will however keep this trick in mind for future images (and possibly a future tweek of this image). Thanks for sharing!