Cultivation WIP - Updated may 16/09

[ladycrowe]

Intuos 3
Photoshop Elements 4
Approx. 3 hours so far
Progress as of 12/05/09

Began working on this one yesterday as a sketch of the crone's face. Needless to say it has consumed me and is becoming so much more.

Plans:
- I intend to remove the large bushy eyebrows on the crone so I can make them lighter and wispy after her face is painted in.
- I'd like to experiment with placing a few more branches around the edge of the painting to frame it. I'm hoping to have all of them point centrally but I'm not sure if it'll work yet or if it'll be too much.
- A friend's first impression was to be creeped out by the image so, colour wise, I haven't decided if I want to balance that creepiness with some light airy colours or if I want to pull out the creepiness and make it dark and dank.

Any constructive crits and encouraged and welcome. It is early enough in the process that edits will be easy to make and I want the bones of this image to be strong before I start adding too much colour!

Cheers!
A.

[pocko]

not much i can find to crit im afraid. just offering some encouragement. this is looking great and cant wait to see it finished!

[George Abraham]

Nice

Couldn't figure out what he's looking at though, it took a while, might want to fix the eyes as you go. Will like to see the finished piece.

[ladycrowe]

Intuos 3
Photoshop Elements 4
Total time approx. 6 hrs

So far today I think I have at least 3 hours worth of work into this. Difficult to tell since I'm consistently getting up to check on and play with a 2yr old.

- Tossed some colour on there to get a feel for it. I had tossed those bright pink and yellow flowers in her hair as a joke but liked it so much I decided to keep it and extend it to the smaller dryad.

- Threw on a few additional branches along the top. I found this was far more challenging than I had expected. I had accidentally changed the focal point with their original placement so it took a bit of finagling to get it right. Suffice to say, the lasso and move tools are my friend. Also. Apparently 'finagling' is a real word.

-Also started blocking in an idea for the background. I'd like to be able to see a soft light coming from behind some very tall trees.. something with a rain forest feel to it. I'll have to be careful with the background to ensure I don't take too much attention away from the main subjects.

Unsuccessfully trying to attach a thumbnail. Sorry.

[ladycrowe]

I hope it isn't a bad thing to update this often. Hopefully the thumbnail will work this time, too!

Removed the colour layers for the time being so I could concentrate purely on the line. Considering hiding a few more dryads in there but I think this might be enough for now.

[Nezumi Works]

With the extra branches, the focal point seems to be at some point past where the crone's head is. The branches all lead very strongly in that direction, for me overriding the crone's gaze and pointed finger.

[pocko]

agree with the focal point thing.

oh and please rethink the flowers! they make something really atmospheric and magical, with a bit of edge, into something really whimsical and... bleurgh.

sorry not explained very well!

on a more positive note, the one with flowers is better in terms of focal point, i think the rendering of the third image is too tight on the new branches, especially with the more defined dryad forms.

[Nezumi Works]

Agree with pocko on the flowers. They look too much like Christmas lights, which totally blows the mood of the scene.

[ladycrowe]

Thanks for the replies! I haven't been able to work on it at all today because I've been super busy but I will be back on it with a vengeance tomorrow.

So far I've removed the upper branches entirely (even saved them to a different file so I can reuse them in a future image. Yay recycling!). I've started formulating a swampy theme for the background but I'm not sure if I like it yet.. it definitely needs more work.

As for the flowers, I originally only put them in because it helped with the focal point. Now that the upper branches are gone they are too much. I do, however, like the idea of having flowers.. it lends a certain feminine touch to it. So if I leave any flowers in, they won't be bright saturated colours.

I'm looking forward to having an update for you tomorrow! For now, sleep calls!

[ladycrowe]

Today's update!

Ok so I've completely changed the layout of the background. While doing a bit of research on hanging moss I ran across a few images of swamps full of cypress tress and became quite enamored so I started basing the scene on those. I have to admit this update has taken me the longest because I became really distracted with playing with layers to give the scene a misty feel to it.

For the most part colours are just blocked in and none of the lines have been cleaned. Yet. The thin tree limb beside the dryad is bothering me so I think I'm going to move it over a bit. I'd like to keep it in but if it doesn't work then I have no issues removing it. I'm even considering flipping it and using it as the limb to hang the moss in the upper-left corner. Haven't decided yet.

I really appreciate the great suggestions I've received so far and look forward to any additional critiques/comments!

[ladycrowe]

Alright, time for another update. This one has a few 'views'!

So I'm probably doing more work on this image than I really need to but I'm using it as a tool of exploration. I'm testing my hand at scenery, character and colour all in one piece... yet separately at the same time. I hope I'm not just crazy!

[Nezumi Works]

Hmm, looking good, but maybe move that tree on the left a bit further to create a nice framing effect. Plus applicable atmospheric effects, of course.

[ladycrowe]

Haha, luckily that tree is on it's own separate layer so that will be an easy task indeed! Thanks!