Feedback, please

**euclidstriangle** · May 12th, 2012, 12:02 AM

Hey, everyone!

So, I'm trying to branch out more and improve my skills with lighting, dynamic poses, environments, etc. Fanart isn't the best way to go, but sometimes I really enjoy playing with characters who already have a set way to move, a set "style."

I mostly need feedback on the lighting and the environment. With the way I have the layers set on GIMP, I'm not going to be able to alter the characters' poses, so any feedback there will go into future reference (and I will still be utterly grateful for it). I'm not looking for feedback in my work process.

Another note: the strange white flecks around the characters will be dealt with on the final image.

Thank you!

**giby** · May 12th, 2012, 01:14 AM

Hey the colouring and the poses look pretty cool ..... but there seems be a disconnection between the two chracters ... i am guessing its some sort of combo earth lift + fire kick = kick ass meteor lol .... but it feels lik there completly lookin in different directions .... i guess u might hav to chnge the angle of view ... jus my opinion

**Grunler** · May 12th, 2012, 01:22 AM

If you want to improve at lighting, dynamic poses, environments, etc., work on them holistically. The characters feel pasted onto the environment because the space doesn't reflect any of the lighting decisions you've applied to the characters. You have to actually paint an environment to improve at it.

Also, the composition feels rushed and half-finished. Whatever the fire guy is aiming to kick seems impossibly far away. I'm also not feeling the lifting/throwing motion of the rock guy (though I know he's not literally throwing the rock). Besides that, the way the rock and his punch are angled makes it seem as though the rock is about to hit the ground 6ft away. Their movements seem uncoordinated with each other.

I also feel as though the action is directing my attention to the left of the picture plane, towards a force I can't see. Because you've omitted that force, to me the characters feel frozen in space, like a sentence half finished. It might work if you had a few bad guys hanging around the background, or some laser beams shooting towards the characters, or any indication at all of what they're fighting. Did you do thumbnails? I would do some thumbnails.

Ha, I think I need to get some sleep, some of that sounds a little spacey. Oh, one other thing. If the process by which you use layers restricts you from making major changes to an image at such an early stage of development, you might want to rethink you process. I'm not seeing any effects that couldn't be accomplished on a single layer.

**euclidstriangle** · May 12th, 2012, 01:55 AM

Hmmm... I think there's a lack of context here. These characters are from the Avatar series. They are both "benders" of a particular element. The enemies they face are non-benders who fight using martial arts.

@giby: Thanks for taking the time to look! I'll have to keep the meteor idea for another drawing. That could be pretty cool, indeed. However, the brothers are set apart from each other with two separate attacks. Changing the angle right now isn't an option for this picture.

@Grunler: Thank you! I'm not really looking for feedback on the drawing process. I haven't linked to the progress shots, but I have been adding the scenery in as I go. If you would like, I can send you a link to show you what I mean, but for now, I'm not going to change up how I'm working on this particular picture.

This particular piece is a compilation of two separate sketches, so I do understand the comment there on composition.

Again, thank you for taking the time to look and comment!

**TinyBird** · May 12th, 2012, 05:02 AM

Originally Posted by euclidstriangle

I'm not looking for feedback in my work process.

What parts do you count as "work process"? Because there's this thing I've noticed in here, that almost every time a poster says "I don't want/need crits in X part of my image" you can almost bet that the worst problems will be in the X part of the image. (And it's possible the OP knows that but is afraid of having to put work into fixing and re-working on that part.) Just saying that have an open mind with all critique, even if you don't feel like you want feedback on something specific, if you get it you may find some really good tidbit of info that you hadn't considered.

Originally Posted by euclidstriangle

Hmmm... I think there's a lack of context here. These characters are from the Avatar series. They are both "benders" of a particular element. The enemies they face are non-benders who fight using martial arts.

There's definitely a lack of context in the drawing. They aren't fighting anyone in the image so as far as the viewer is concerned they could be doing anything, from fighting to practicing to just posing for fun. Especially since you are establishing this image to be a scene, and not just some random drawings where this could be excused.
And even for someone who knows about the bending stuff, the composition makes it still bit hard to get what's going on. Like the hole where the rock came from is hidden behind the one guy's leg (which also kinda melds them together) which caused me to take a double take at the image, wondering where did he summon that rock from.

As for the poses, if you want them to be dynamic, then I would suggest employing some twist on their bodies and stronger action lines: http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/...5-line-of.html
Especially the guy that's jumping feels stiff and his silhouette is basically a circle.

Overall I agree with everything Grunler said. If you had worked these things out in thumbnails with value studies (and posted theme here) I think many of these problems could have been avoided. If you're not really willing to re-draw stuff in the image, it's hard to cover up the problems with anything else.

**Star Eater** · May 12th, 2012, 05:19 AM

Originally Posted by euclidstriangle

@Grunler: Thank you! I'm not really looking for feedback on the drawing process. I haven't linked to the progress shots, but I have been adding the scenery in as I go. If you would like, I can send you a link to show you what I mean, but for now, I'm not going to change up how I'm working on this particular picture.

This particular piece is a compilation of two separate sketches, so I do understand the comment there on composition.

Again, thank you for taking the time to look and comment!

Unfortunately your flawed process and lack of strong fundamentals is
costing your image. Address those issues.

**euclidstriangle** · May 12th, 2012, 11:10 AM

Ah, shoot... I'm not usually defensive when getting crit, guys, really I'm not.

@TinyBird:
Oh, I agree. It's just that I've already caught the flaw with the process and will have to fix it later when I start working from the single-layer .png or on another picture entirely. The biggest flaw is with the way I have the layers set up.(GIMP's layers won't let me just merge them without messing up the entire pic's colors. It's a pain, but hey, the program fit my budget, so I'm learning to work with what I've got.) Lesson learned there, for certain. So while I appreciate folks noticing, getting it reiterated isn't really what I need.

Hmmm. This whole pic really started out as the characters separately, followed by "Hey, I bet they'd look cool together" and "Ohh, the sketchy form looks kind of cool. Let's color it!" Not a terribly formal process, but it was fun and didn't have a whole lot of thought put into it (as is obvious, alas...). I ended up aiming for something like GENZOMAN or DarkKenjie's pics, where you have characters in their cool action pose with the background. Not really a scene part of a story, per se. Just showing off the characters. Perhaps I've developed the background too much so that it comes off like a scene? Hmmm... I'll have to try thumbnails out. I've not been happy enough with working with them in the past to want to really put an effort into developing that skill, but I may try them again.