Need advice on a series of superhero paintings =)

[DinaCardillo]

Hey, I first posted here a pic of an archer I was doing and I got a lot of amazing critique. I didn't finish that drawing because I wanted to do something with a composition rather than just painting around a standing girl, but the advice I got on that thread really helped me improve.

Based on what was said on the thread I used a different approach to painting digitally. I'm planning on doing a series of superhero and villain portraits and I've already finished Captain America (my fav. avenger). Next I'm doing Harley Quinn and Thor, so I'd like to know how I could improve those.

This one is finished and took a lot of work, I'm not touching it anymore. Some things I already know:

1) Next time I'm painting the background first and in a different layer.
2) Next time I'm making a more dynamic pose (even though I like this one for the cap)
3) I was told in my previous WIP post to paint apples and such in color and grayscale. I'm working on those with pencil and paper from life, but not posting cause scanning is a pain in the ass.

Now my questions:

1) ¿How do I make the main figure "pop" more?
2) ¿Do you think that he is too thin for a superhero?
3) Backgrounds... help please.

Tomorrow I will have the roughs for Harley and Thor, I will post them as soon as possible. Still I would like to know what I did wrong here to avoid doing it again in the next paintings. Please keep in mind that this is like my sixth digital painting ever so don't assume I know anything about painting.

About painting on black and white, I think it's quite hard for me to pull off a good coloring of a black and white picture. I mean I've tried and it looks awful. Also I don't like painting in black and white. Studies? For sure. But something I will spend hours in... I'm trying to have fun here is it really necessary? (perhaps NOT doing it is the cause of the figure not popping from the background? Oh, the irony)

Thank you all in advance! =)

[dierat]

Well, in general, the key to making the foreground "pop" is separating it from the background by making one different from the other, on multiple levels. Tonally - you want to increase the contrast in the foreground and decrease the contrast in the background, and pay special attention to where one intersects with the other. Your figure feels like it's meshing with the background in some places like in this white shirt. Brighten the shirt and dull the white of the mountain to distinguish one from the other. Color-wise - the piece overall have a bluish tone to it; try making the foreground warmer to bring it forward in space. Emphasize the light hitting the figure by adding a warm yellow color to the lit areas as if he's being hit by sunlight. Texture-wise - the mountain feels a bit busy to me because of the scribbly approach plus the gritty texture. Remember that objects farther away tend to appear a touch blurry and soft, and adding a lot of texture will make it look like an over-sharpened photo. Add a little more texture to the figure and soften it up a little on the mountain. Keep in mind that texture is most apparent on the terminator line and is least noticeable in shadowed areas.

For more generalized critique - your figure looks flat, especially in the torso. This is mostly due to the very minimal lighting you have in effect. You really need to study lighting if you want to bring your work to the next level. I know you already mentioned that you're working from life in pencil, but my personal suggestion is that you work from life with paint where you can get a full range of value and study color and texture as well.

[williams73]

okay I am not going to mention anatomical errors and or body perspective flaws. I just did this in a few minutes to show you one way to separate foreground from background

story question though what do cap and the far off mushroom cloud have in common, why is he looking up, why isn't his attention on the explosion and or facing away from it?

[DinaCardillo]

story question though what do cap and the far off mushroom cloud have in common, why is he looking up, why isn't his attention on the explosion and or facing away from it?

Thank you for the fix, with this and what Dierat said I understand what to do with the background on my next pictures of the series =)

As for the story, well, this is supposed to be sort of a "guy pinup", it doesn't have any story, I just wanted to portray the cap in a typical scenario he could be found in.

I wanted him to look like he was in the middle of some sort of war mission, like a regular soldier because he is actually a soldier (duh). He isn't worried about the explosion because I wanted to show that that was only one of many, noting important to look at, just something that happens in that war very often. He's thinking about what to do next in his own mission because that explosion doesn't have anything to do with him, but he's looking at the sky because he knows bomber planes could go for him too.

Still, I only wanted to do cap + wartime stuff =P

EDIT: I forgot to mention, even though I'll take by heart the advice you've given me for my next piece, I'm not touching this anymore because it was a gift for my boyfriend and it was already gifted (he loved it yay!)

[DinaCardillo]

Here's the winner of the thumbnail sketches I did. I quite like the composition (I think anything more complicated is beyond my skill level) but I need help with the lighting.

(BTW the character is Harley Quinn, the Joker's girlfriend and sidekick. She's from the Batman animated series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp6wL...eature=related In the show she is known for mistaking real guns for fake guns and vice-versa in critical moments)

I did the pose in front of a mirror a few times for the sketch but I will shoot reference before I start rendering.

What I need help the most is with color and lighting. This is what I figured out on my own:

-The fire (I hope that reads as fire) is the main source of light, so Harley is lit by the yellow light of the fire and so is the wall.

-Harley's shadow should be cast in the wall, right?

-The figures with the guns (I will work on them so they read more like guys with guns) are not lit from behind at all so they should remain dark, but they are lit from the fire from the front so their edges should show that light (like I did in the gun barrels and their faces). (BTW the figures are supposed to be cartoony and not realistic, more like shadows)

I think this time I'm getting things to be a little more 3dimensional...

Also, does the scene read well? She's trapped between the fire and the wall and she's being pointed guns at by two guys. She tries to shoot one of them but she was using the prank gun (as usual) so she's like "oh fuck!".

[dierat]

Because the fire is in front of her on the ground, her shadow will be cast upward above her on the wall and all the downward planes on the figure would be lit the brightest. I honestly wonder if the fire is a good idea because it creates a somewhat difficult lighting scheme and the scene works without it. I'd focus more on getting the two gun-holding antagonists to work in terms of pose and readability.

[DinaCardillo]

I honestly wonder if the fire is a good idea because it creates a somewhat difficult lighting scheme and the scene works without it. I'd focus more on getting the two gun-holding antagonists to work in terms of pose and readability.

Hm I think you're right about that. I don't know how to render fire properly anyway so even if I got the lighting right the fire itself would detract from the picture.

I put the fire in there in the first place because I needed a source of light and I felt the bottom of the painting was empty. Also I wouldn't know how to make the two guys in the front dark and the girl bright if there isn't a light source right in there.

Would it work perhaps with a simple ceiling lamp? Is it realistic for a lamp to light that way, leaving the two figures completely dark from that point of view?

[DinaCardillo]

Any better?

[dierat]

Looks much better. Keep working on those guys and get a ref if you can. Right now it looks like you're thinking about the silhouette and ending up with cardboard cut-out figures. Think about their bodies and how they're posed (and make sure they're posed in a way that their guns are visible from our point of view), then work out the clothing on top, then figure out how the light is hitting the clothing.