First time posting...

[fenshing]

I'm not very good at this kind of thing but I want to improve as an artist. So here goes... I'll try to not ramble. (I failed.)

I'm working on a drawing of one of my characters, Meleena, that I didn't plan it just kinda happened. I just messed around with some ideas and I wanted to do something unlike anything I had ever done. So I ended up shaping the idea around the golden ratio. Though that may not be as prevalent now. Plus I ended up not trying to color it, I always have to add in Meleena's glowing green eyes though, but I added a little blue too keep it from looking "sickly" (my fiancees word). I paint, I use Painter 98% of the time, on my laptop but the color is better on my desktop, so I did the blue there. Hopefully it looks good and not too overwhelming. Oh and I should say I wasn't trying to over do it with the detail in the tree and background. I want her to take most of the focus. I wanted it too look good but not hyper detailed, so in places the tree is kinda rough.

I know one problem some artists have is stopping before it's really done, I can't remember where I heard that. It's very true here! I thought I was done three days ago. I even test printed it but I was wrong. Then I decided to post it here since I can't stop finding things wrong. I figure I need more eyes than my fiancee and myself. We have been looking at it too long, and I have been flipping it to help with that problem, in fact it was originally facing the other way.

Also I didn't know how much I should resize it, so I just winged it. I hope it's not too large.

I guess I better stop stalling and do this before I back out... again.

[anim3admir3r]

I really like that sword. But in my opinion what really stands out to me is the clothing. It doesn't really look like regular fabric. It sort of seems like you were going for leather. It has a dull shine to it all over it. Which it probably shouldn't since the only light source I see is the moon behind her. Also you might want to work on the hair some. It's kind of difficult to differentiate it from the dress. And after looking at it again I just realized it goes all the way to the ground. Just curious were you trying to shape the background of this image? It seems to curve on the side with the tree. But it seems to stop where the hair and fabric are.

This is just my opinion, more qualified artists will be able to point out the more technical stuff.

[Jason Rainville]

First off, welcome.

Second, the underlying drawing you have here is really nice. Good figure and face.

Third, values values values values values. Most if not all of the problems you're having here are with inconsistent or distracting values.

Before I get into values, the lighting; you've set yourself up nicely for some dramatic "light sky vs dark foreground" and vivid backlighting with the moon there but didn't go with that angle. Instead we're left trying to figure out why things are lit the way they are, where the light is coming from that's overpowering the moon, why certain parts of her look like she's being lit from above while others suggest dead-on while yet others suggest from the left.

The values themselves are very choppy and harsh. harsh in the sense that there's so much black, choppy in the sense that it seems like each element (a bit of leg, a bit of arm, shoulder, one piece of cloth, another piece of cloth) are all rendered right to black, each one of them. I'm not sure where one part ends and another begins, and it's all very confusing and hard on the eyes.


I did a quick paintover with some ways to help alleviate the problem;





I tweaked it so that the background was light and she is dark. The general rule is that the sky is always lighter than the ground, and things being backlit when it's dark out (in front of the moon or sunset) are going to be very dark. notice that I didn't make them completely black however, I added a little bit of ambient light bouncing back onto her and her surroundings. This helps give at least a little bit of detail to the figure and environment. Water at night would be completely black unless it has stuff to reflect, in this case the running water would create ripples, their bends reflecting the sky, ambient light from the foreground and her lower leg.

You should (aside from doing lots of value studies) look into massing your values, which means simplifying the values so that there's a mass of light, a mass of midtone, a mass of dark etc that keep more or less separate from one another. in this way you imply that certain things are connected or close (such as the entire background vs the entire foreground) and also imply that certain things that are divided (like her skin under the clothing) are the same "thing" EG:






Hope all that helps.

[fenshing]

Thank you so much for the replies!

Jason when I read your post I stopped what I was doing and got to work. If I wasn't at work or sleeping I was drawing. First time that's happened in a long time! I knew what happened and I can't believe I never saw it. I could smack myself for it! I had even read up on using values the way you described, with the background, midground, and foreground. I know I have problems with that and I'm glad this is getting me to work on making it right, with some knowledgeable help.

Plus I know how the lighting got all messed up... when I started it was going to be daytime and inside, then halfway into drawing her I changed my mind. I never when back to fix anything I had done before. Also shading to black is something I know is bad and somehow I did it anyway without really thinking... well NOW I thinking and I am really liking how it is turning out.

I have not had enough time to get everything done. I'm still working on her, the water, and the dress. I'm really thinking about redrawing the dress because I like what you did with it.

I haven't been this motivated it a long time! If I didn't need a break to eat I would be back at it.

[fenshing]

Ok after a lot of work. Here is what I have so far. I redid the dress and her shawl trying to make sure the hair was separate. I also reworked the tree to better match the hand. I am really loving how it is turning out. Now I'm working on the water and hoping it's going to look right. I also added in a glow to her eyes to just see how it would look. I've never gotten that to work before but maybe this time it will.

[last chance tattoo]

i am probably unqualified to comment on such a fantastic piece however...I, personally, liked her much better without the glowing eyes....just having that little bit of green in there like you did was enough...it was awesome....this glow is overkill.