Barbarian

[Dymitri]

Hi guys.
Emmanuel Collot is a french fantasy writer and a big fun of the art of Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo and Vicente Segrelles.
He asked me to illustrate a cover for one of his books and her it is.
I don't pretend to have half of the talent of one of those mounsters, but we make what we can.

[ExilE]

Interesting piece, you have some nice things going on here. The figure and the tiger looks pretty good, but their interaction with each other and the environment feel a little strange. You have a lot of hard edges in this piece, it might help to soften some of them a little bit- for example where their feet touch the snow or on the tiger's profile. Its fur feels somewhat hard instead of soft. I think you could expand your color palette a little bit too. One thing that both Frazetta and Vallejo are great at is flesh tones, both cool and warm. However, this piece feels very warm for them being in such a cool environment. I don't think the dark cloud in the upper corner is helping- it seems like an after thought. The point on the bottom of the character's axe creates a tangent with the edge of his cloak too.

[Drawnblud]

I love it....I'm a huge fan of Conan and this looks great!! My only crit is the tigers front paw looks like it is floating. I know it is standing in the snow, but there is no shadow under it.

Really, though. That is minor. The picture is wonderful!

[JJ McKool]

I think the tiger and the barbarian look fine together, but they do look weird with the environment, like they aren't where they're supposed to be. I mean like they look as though they are floating or something, the shadows under the feet look wrong, but the colours and the rest of the backround look good. Overall, pretty good. Face looks like it doesn't fit the body, but that's opinion, not a crit, because I assume that's just your style.

[Oblio]

uh.. too bad this doesnt have more temp variation. It seems all soaked un a sort of orange - you can turn that sky into cold tones ... and get a better contrast and more depth. hope it helps.
keep em comming.

[Kilbourne]

i reallly like this, which is unlike me; i am not usually into the whole Conan scene.
the colors are what really get me here, very unlike other peices of this genre. nice palette, but maybe a bit warm for the enviroment

[The Fritz]

Main thing for me is, as everybody pointed out, the enviroment, but I just wanted to tell you, the first thing that hit my brain was Frazetta, and I grew up with this stuff. So you hit the nail to the head. Just adjust, what the others allready wrote and you are where you wanted to be. Keep it going!

[rpace]

I agree with the other crits, but I've something to add to it.

The snow is too white.

Snow is generally the colour of the light source, since it's actually colourless crystals. Take a look at some reference photos of snow on both bright and cloudy days. Also notice that the shadows on snow are usually dependant on the colour of the sky (the crystals are still reflecting the ambient light cast by the sky even if the direct light from the sun is blocked).

Snow is also a good provider of reflected light. On a bright day, figures are nearly as illuminated from below as from above when on a snow field.

The golden flush of the piece is certainly interesting, but you have to bring that through the snow as well.

~Richard

[Rabid]

yeah front paw needs fixed, looks flat and straight....good colors though and ncie strokes! Wow!