Ninja Elf!!!

**Dunnlop** · August 7th, 2006, 10:18 PM

actually a Warden from warcraft

i wanted to post this in its all finished but i dont think i stack up too well against those pro artists there

i wanted a better bg but i messed up and used the bg grey color to "erase" so its not easy for me to paint on a layer below

any helpful crits/comments are appreciated, thanks!

**Elwell** · August 7th, 2006, 10:28 PM

Tell me about your light source. Is it bright or dim? Close or far away? Point (focused) or diffuse? Where is it, exactly, in relation to the character? High, low, front, back, side? And why?

**Dunnlop** · August 7th, 2006, 10:32 PM

i placed it a bit on her right side, in front of her and a little above her head level (maybe 3-4 feet away)

**Double00ZEro** · September 1st, 2006, 01:42 PM

Love It ....

**Seedling** · September 2nd, 2006, 12:11 AM

Tell me about what she is doing. Is that a knife she is holding? What is she doing with it? And why? What emotions is she feeling?

**DFrey666** · September 2nd, 2006, 03:32 AM

You want to draw better and stronger figures, your imagination is intact and active but what you need is a skill boost.

Stop what you are doing, run away from the computer, and go buy this book:

Dynamic Figure Drawing written by Burne Hogarth

Study it every day, draw every day and before you know it... your skill will match your imagination.

Stay Hungry

**Zynic** · September 2nd, 2006, 08:23 AM

I like the idea

But to help you, I will give you some crits too

* Something bothers me with her right( our left ) leg, I get the feeling that it is slightly too long.

* Is her eyes closed, or are they looking down on her boobs?

I can't really tell, so try to improve that a bit.

* How can there be light on her back, if the light source is in front, and a little bit to the right of her?

* The forearm is a little difficult to distinguish from the chest, it looks more like a texture than another element at the moment.
Try to make it a bit clearer.

* It might be the design, but her waist looks extremely thin

Other than that, cool!

**Dunnlop** · September 3rd, 2006, 02:35 AM

haah wow i just noticed you guys gave new comments while browsing through the section

thanks!

ill be sure to check out that book. the waist is indeed too thin, and i was never too happy with the pose, so those are things i will work on.

again the help is greatly appreciated

**gascogne** · September 5th, 2006, 03:16 PM

(other than what the rest have said...) yeah. light source. i think your lighting different parts in different places. make it agree to each other so the image can have unity/balance. the placing of the ponytail is awkward. her head is tilted so it should have tilted with her w/c means it should be a bit straighter by now.

nice pose, btw.

and not all things are acquired in a book (though they will make a great reference)

**Justin.** · September 5th, 2006, 05:03 PM

First of all- aside from the lighting that is all over the place- you need to decide on the materials of things. You lit everything as if it were the same material- skin the same as cloth, etc.
A good thing to try and do is classify value groups. Example- the skin is either "brigher" or "Darker" than the clothes, which will be brighter or dark than "this other part" or something. Use 3 main values in each group, so on and so forth.

I went as far as patience would allow me... I chopped off one of her legs because it wasn't working at all. The cloth draped in an incredibley awkward way- you should be using alot of reference, ESPECIALLY for cloth. I fixed the values and sort of took the face in my own direction. I added different materials to the clothes and lit them accordingly. Hope I could help!

EDIT: Also, I have NO IDEA what the heck her hand was doing with the knife thing.. so I tried to redraw it as good as I could... the angle of the knife is still off though.

**gregpro** · September 5th, 2006, 11:04 PM

Hi Dunnlop-

Your getting some really good advice from all the members that posted here. I did a paintover with a few things to keep in mind, I hope it helps.

**Dunnlop** · September 6th, 2006, 01:37 AM

oh wow, i cannot state how thankful i am for all of this, seriously this is huge

i havent drawn anything recently, but this piece (which i considered one of my best) looks so much clearer and more defined with all the considerations you've given it. ill definitely be playing around with this the next time i get a chance.

thank you again, i cannot say this enough

**dCepT** · September 6th, 2006, 04:23 AM

gregpro: dude... you're a machine with these paintovers! I'm stealing them every time you post one to learn from.. hehe... thanks

Dunnlop: Apart from all the other excellent advice, you could go for a reference shot... take a photo of a girl sitting in that pose. That way you can figure out how to approach the difficult bits... like the kneejoints.

EDIT: I like the idea and the illo, though... gonna be cool to see where you take it from here.

d-C

**smoke3006** · September 6th, 2006, 07:54 AM

Since I'm no good at art techniques and others have already covered the lighting issues (amazing paint overs btw), I have more general comments.
Firstly nothing really says "ninja" other then the title. The outfit doesn't convey any thought of her being a ninja sort of character.
Secondly, what is she doing? What is she holding? It's alright to let the viewer make up parts of their own story, but is she looking at her watch? The way the object is being held and the position of the left arm makes it hard to get beyond and look at the rest of the piece.