Koma's Grasp (more-finished version, third post!)

[Inoni]

Currently working on coloring this, and feeling lost as to how I'm doing. She's supposed to be underwater, sinking. The light source is meant to be directly above her head.

Also, general help is appreciated. She's been cropped to the areas I need the most help with. Original full-image sketch is included below, if it helps at all.

[Mute]

Cool idea, Your lines are good. Nice gesture!

First thing, you're losing the edges of things. This is fine for stuff like the hair but for her arms, legs and clothing the edges need to be sharper. Just go back in and reestablish your edges so they aren't so blurry.

Second thing, your values aren't vast enough so your forms aren't turning properly. Get her shadows darker so she doesn't look so washed out and don't use alot of highlights. She is underwater so she will be mostly dark. Maybe make the background a gradient getting darker towards the bottom to give you a better idea of how your values are going to change down the figure (for example, the white of her socks will be darker in value than her shirt. Even though they are the same color the socks are getting less light because of the position of the light source.)

Last thing, she is underwater right? so every color you pick has to have a little blue mixed in it (although it might be easier since this is digital to use layers to do that.)

Hope that helps...
Post the full image in your update, it'll be easier to critique if we can see the whole thing. Rock on!

[Inoni]

"Completed" image- What do you think?

[rebelionature]

Inoni : Cool idea, and the figure looks good.
Id suggest moving her away from dead center, It seems to me it would be more powerful a piece if it all got tilted a bit so it looked like she was coming down to the view at an angle, with bubble rising towards the surface. Also putting the cone of light at the same angle and reducing the size seem like it will make the scene more intense.

[Oofnish]

I like this piece quite a bit, although there are a few adjustments I'd try to make I think:

Figure is good, the posture is believable as a possibly limp sinking person. The near hand seems to be grasping her own hair and trying to perhaps yank it upward, is this intentional? Its confusing to me and I keep staring at it wondering why she's doing that. Also I have some misgivings about her butt, can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems a bit off to me where it curves into her leg... might just be my broken eyes.

Compositionally, I'm not a fan of the circle of light above her. It first read to me as a alien spacecraft beaming up the girl (not in water). Later, when I was forcing myself to think about her being underwater, I thought of the holes used for ice fishing. Seems strange for me for a tiny (relatively) circle of light to be hovering at the surface.

It removes a lot of the drama from the image. You've wisely placed her near the bottom of the composition which has the desired effect of producing the feeling that she's about to slip away into the depths. The headroom additionally provides the feeling of the vast weight of the water above her pressing down.

The circle of light, to me, breaks the emotional impact -- she's only a foot from the surface, plenty of time for an arm to splash in and catch her. Or, when she's done holding her breath (or grabs the penny at the bottom of the pool) she'll kick back up and breathe fine.

I think a swiftly fading lightsource from above is great -- including atmospheric light rays -- but don't actually show the surface. Additionally (And counter to rebelion's suggestion), I'd say a more parallel cast of light from above (rather than a small light cone) would add to the sense of vastness above her. If you're worried about 'wasted' space above, Some dimly lit fish or seaweed might help. (low saturation/contrast/detail to avoid stealing focus!)