Composition and global crits request

[Griffonnage]

Hello there, it's my first post in this forum (hope I'm not doing it wrong) and here is the WIP I started, it's my first attempt for a full color picture.

I hope you could help me about various stuff on this piece, I really need some advices ! I feel stuck and a little "lost in the way".

I have some problem with "technical" point of view, I feel I'm making some part too smooth and don't know how make the global image stronger. I feel I may have some problem in the composition too...

And of course, if you have any crits, tips, advices feel free to share them, I really want to improve and I will be glad to try different things !

Thanks you for reading

[Zelrik]

Nice work.

I feel the character's position is not ideal, I'd move her closer to that corner (move her a few steps up on the painting) OR change her orientation so that she looks more focused on those writings on the stone. There might be a few things to check for the anatomy of her head even though it s too small for me to tell for sure.

I think her shadow has to stretch a bit more to the right, I'd expand the halo from the fire on the ground too. I'd put a few more highlights on the monster coming from the fire, not just on the eye. I am no expert to I cant tell you in details, you'd need to poke around with those lights.

My 2 cent...

Edit: I think moving that character in the corner would be the best option actually, it would make the situation dramatic by getting her closer to the monster's reach.

Edit2: For the face, I think her nose is a bit misplaced, given the angle it should be sticking out a bit more.

Feel free to disagree with my comments, I am no expert.

[Thoolhoo]

First of, fantastic work. The rendering and the lighting is beautifully executed.

I think as far as the composition goes, it seems a little bit skewed. As if the camera is mid pan. Obvious you want the dragon, the character and the blue light source all in the image. So I would spread them into 3 distinct areas and place them in the rule of thirds. At the moment the eye jumps straight to the dragon, then around to the columns to the right, almost completely missing the character. Think how the elements of the image guide the viewer's eye around the composition.

I'll illustrate what I mean.



As as you can see the character is in the bottom left point, the dragon eye is in the middle of the image and the blue light source is still to the far right.

Hope this helps

[Kauil]

Wonderful rendering! The lighting gives an interesting mood, and the dragon in the background reminds me of those when-you-see-it-you'll-shit-bricks pictures, haha.

However, this is what I saw. Many compositional elements are leading towards that dark space there.

Also, like already said, the position of the character is a bit unfortunate. It's too far off to the edge, plus she's sort of looking away from the picture, indicating that's there would be some thing of interest outside of the frame, but the viewer can't see it.

[Griffonnage]

Wow, thank you very much guys, all your critics are amazing, now you point all these problems I see what I have to correct ! I was on the edge of desperation and now I feel motivated again to complete this picture !

Thank for the time you spend helping me, I will work on the correction as soon as possible, I can only work a few hours every day after work so it will take some time to see a progression. Hope you will take a look at the next step !

Again, thank and have a good day/night