critique wouldn't hurt

[Nina Ramsvik]

Thank you, Oliver!
And yeah, a bit sad. Life's been a bit rough as of late.


Annnd... Some human-art. This is a character from my book-series, called Jukka. He's usually a bit happier, but turned out sad because... I don't even know. He just did.



What a grey, grey image. I promise to draw a happier face next time.

[Nina Ramsvik]

And another character from my book-series, this time one of Galks. Name's Vince, and you can guess which sex the character is.

[Nina Ramsvik]

Just revamping an old character, Naara. She belongs to a species called Aran and is used as a mount by a main character of one of my books, Spider.
Spider's found from many of the doodle-dumps above.

[Nina Ramsvik]

My Shiyu-species got a revamp. The biggest change is the feet; from quad-like to chimp-like.



I just couldn't stop! D:

[JailHouseRock2]

Love your work Nina! The stuff you've been producing in over the last month is such a huge step up, in both colour/rendering, and realizing your style, been so good to watch!!

Keep sharing, looking forward to see what you do next!
Matt

[bgreenart]

Nice work. I really enjoyed the pencil stuff...even though the subject matter isn't really my thing. It's good that you're getting more into color/painting. Keep going. I agree with a lot of the stuff ChromaticCodex said. A lot of your paintings look really flat for a number of reasons: 1)Values: there's too much contrast all over the place and it makes it confusing to look at. 2)Edges: decide which edges need to be sharp and which should be softer. 3)Choose a light source and be true to it: really study what light does on different surfaces and colors. Specifically on the guy with the headphones...you've given him such a strong secondary blue light, but it somehow only hits his face. That blue would be on the sweater too, and it would show up in varying degrees in all the shadows.
I grabbed one of your earlier versions and did a quick paint-over to show exactly what I'm talking about. I added more of the blue secondary light to the shadows and the rest of the sweater. I also added more saturation to the face (it could go further still) and bumped up the warm light with some highlights on the corresponding side of the face. I softened some of your edges and added a simple background that still held to the lighting. Hope this helps.

[Nina Ramsvik]

@ JailHouseRock2 Thank you so much! ;3; It feels amazing to hear something good about my work, especially since I've been pushing myself more than ever(I really want to get good enough to be able to get a job in the art-field when I'll get back to the work-life!).

@Bgreenart Damn, your comment didn't show up before just now. D:
But thank you very much for the critique! I can definitely see the mistake I did, and I'll keep it in mind for the future paintings.

[Nina Ramsvik]

A sketch-study of mostly heads.

[KrispyKream]

Good stuff, I'd focus on the perspective of your drawings more often, and with your horizon lines so it makes your characters feel more grounded. there are many good books that are great for perspective, for inspiration checkout peter de seve, shane glines, and syd mead, they have wonderful illistrations
Really liking the lion you created, try painting a range of emotions and expressive faces, happy,agony,anger etc
keep going

[Nina Ramsvik]

Thank you, Kream! c: The perspective really is my achille's heel and I always avoid doing anything with it because I know I'll just fail. I think I'll go seek for some books after christmas and we'll see whether I'll learn something from them! c:

I do draw different expressions, although I don't exactly keep said drawings. At the moment, the only sheet with lots of different expressions is all the way from May(thus, not that good a reference of what I do nowadays) http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/20...32-d3hoa69.png so I'll draw up some faces whenever I'll get time today.

[Nina Ramsvik]

We were talking about basic expressions or just plain stupid? Because that's honestly all I can think of right now.

[Nina Ramsvik]

Couldn't sleep tonight so I doodled up this guy. Just trying to work on my anatomy and realism.
It's a creature called zexre(seh-h-reh). This guy's supposed to be from the equator, a large(1,2m at shoulder) predator, mostly used for hunting by the locals.

[Nina Ramsvik]

This is something I seriously need help with! D: I want to know whether this looks okay, from the perspective, depth, colors.... I know I've only laid out the flat colors, but I'd love to know what kind of a lighting would fit this(seriously, you guys know lighting is definitely NOT my forte) and what all I need to change to make this look good.'
The character is not mine and is supposed to look like it does now (see: http://terazed.deviantart.com/art/Al...Form-144554999 )but everything else...

About the place: It's a planet from a book of mine. The single mountains are homes for different gods that watch over the land beneath them.

[Nina Ramsvik]

[Nina Ramsvik]

Haven't really done too much work on the perspectives or anything. :U I was at my mom's for two weeks, which was bad. Very bad. People yelling, six kids screaming, parents screaming at the non-screamy kids and fighty fighty sad. So I just drew whatever made me happy. :C

Also, the big picture of Haan(the black guy) has a derpy eye, I know. Tried to correct it but had already inked it so... so damn.

Anyways, criticism is always welcome, don't forget my few older pictures either! ♥♥♥

[Nina Ramsvik]

A background practice, I'd call it. I commissioned a friend for a lineart of one of my creatures and then painted the picture(although I didn't feel like painting the character with the detail I usually use). So... I think I can see some improvement in my landcapes(even though this one's taken over by clouds. But I've gotten better at them so ha).
Mumble jumble, have a nice day ♥

[Nina Ramsvik]

Another image of Altair, this time I've managed the picture a little better. I just laid down some basic colors and so on, and will work on this more tomorrow whenever I'll have time.

[Nina Ramsvik]

Progress shots of Altair!





Detail shot!


Over 20 hours in the painting now, still much more to do.

[Kiwizoom]

I quite like your creature designs Spine : )
In your latest work I would try to pump up your contrast in shadows a bit, Or otherwise change the color of the lights and shadows so they have a bit more contrast (like blue shadows, yellow highlights) I did an example

Also, it could help to darken foreground to give it a feeling of more depth. Ah, hope that helped ^^ (now it looks super messy in my edit, haha, but I know you would take more time in whatever you did)

[Nina Ramsvik]

Better?

[Nina Ramsvik]

Over fourty hours down now. :I Still missing a LOT of detail, but hey, I got the body, a foot and some minor details done!

[Kiwizoom]

Yes I think it's getting better ^^ The tones on the primaries seem a little off yet and the rocks a little too soft yet, but I think you're getting there. Your approach especially to the fur or feathers reminds me a bit of shadowumbre, I'm sure you've heard of her. But if you haven't, her painting style might be interesting to look at ^^ http://www.shadowumbre.deviantart.com/gallery/

[Nina Ramsvik]

I have to admit, I've got no idea what color the primaries should be. A person tells me they should be the color X, another one that they should be Y, the third one that they should be Z+ transparent, you just say "off", and my husband says "fantastic". :I So I'll just go whatever I want them to look like from now on.
I watch Shadow, but I referenced the fluff from a Finnsheep. :I http://blog.utopia-farms.net/wp-cont...011/01/017.jpg http://www.freewebs.com/kirppukuono/lammas2.jpg http://www.hopeaketun.com/suomenlampaat1.jpg

[Nina Ramsvik]

I desperately needed a break from painting Altair, so I'm working on a speedpaint of a ...ehm, weird-faced bat.

[jedininjaman]

Nice creatures. I'd like to see more variations in your eyes, the human eyes seem creature like, and the creature eyes seem human like.

[Nina Ramsvik]

I'm guessing that you mean the Galk with the 'human eyes'. They're actually supposed to look like that. D: But I do agree, my creature eyes look a great bit more human than they are meant to.

[Nina Ramsvik]

The computer tilted and erased Altair from the face of the system so I'm re-doing it.

[Nina Ramsvik]

My sketchbook reeks of testosterone. Hope this'll help.

PS: Not my character.

[Nina Ramsvik]

Finally, it's starting to look like something!
80h in.

[Nina Ramsvik]

A striped hyena, done as a trade. I kind of... got fed up with the details, thus they're really rough. :I It was a speedpaint anyway.


Also Spider.


Look, now he's old!