Art Test - Orc Shaman

[Ironbyte]

Another art test post

I saw a link to it the other day and went to work on some ideas.

She's still very much a wip and I've got to make her more of a shaman, adding equipment/decoration, etc.

Any crits/thoughts would be much appreciated.

[DPFX]

Hey Ironbyte,

Some thoughts...

-- The head is turned, but the mouth reads as square to the viewer. In fact, the face overall doesn't really agree with the head turn.

-- Its a her?

-- The pose feels to me a bit leaning back and unbalanced.

-- The shoulder/arm/wrist anatomy isn't very convincing.

-- So far you've done a really nice job of visually describing the materials.

-- I'm really digging the colors.

[Ironbyte]

Thanks DPFX, you've hit the nail with things that were nagging at me, but you just can't see easily yourself.

Tried to fix the head and balance and will attempt to bring out some feminine qualities

[Chris Sanders]

the face is very flat. try to break it down into planes. for instance the nose is angled upwards so it will be catching more light than the forehead and philtrum as they are perpendicular to the ground. think- plane in relation to light. also the fur has volume to so id reference that.

also reference the boots aswell. actually just reference everything, will save time and get you better results.

[DPFX]

I agree with dog-faced on describing the form of the face better. One thing that stands out to me is the mouth anatomy. For instance, think about how the lips would deform around the tusk-like teeth. Also, the right jaw-line doesn't 'agree' with the left jaw-line, perspective-wise

I would also go a lot further with including imaginative shaman trappings.

I'm having trouble seeing what you changed with the pose to make it look more balanced, but it does seem better (placebo effect? lol).

[Blankstate]

I don't know, that arm still doesn't seem very convincing to me so i tried a po of some fairly general things you might change. Might find it somewhat helpful.

[Ironbyte]

DPFX and dog-faced, thanks for the great advice. Had a busy few days, should have some time today to work on your crits and comments.

Blankstate, the tweaking is fab, great to see a new perspective on some bits that were bugging me, curvy

[Ironbyte]

Update...

[Lhune]

The bird looks like a hooded crow, which isn't any larger than a regular crow. It's really taking away from the size of the orc. I made you a paintover that's more of a suggestion than anything, but I honestly thought his (her?) outfit made him look a lot like santa. I also think some darker edges around the character will help to separate him from the background, as well as a clear cast shadow.

I hope this helps;

[Ironbyte]

Lhune, thanks, Santa made me wince and lol. I've done a quick makeover, running away from the orc santa as fast as possible.

Will try to polish up, but probably wont make the deadline, learning lots.

[Talib]

Hey Ironbyte,

I'm not sure and hope its a legitimate advice, but maybe try to add (saturated) color to your shadows instead of blackening them, this might give some more livelyness and depth to your character. Adding different colors might spice it up too. I've tried to do a little paintover or rather a part of it, I hope it gives at least some impression what I mean. (Sorry if he's too green now lol).

Cheers and all the best

[Ironbyte]

Talib, thanks for taking the time and I like the look. The brief was looking for consistency and coherence with the samples provided, so with the colour scheme I generally went with theirs.

The Challenge deadline has passed, so I'll probably rework it and add more shamanic elements. I submitted this, just wish I'd seen the challenge earlier!

[Talib]

Ah ok sorry didn't know that :-), very nice you'll continue on it, but hope you'll have more time next time, good luck and all the best!