Lost, need help

[Nyfikengul]

Hello all talented artists!

I started this acrylic painting a while ago and i cant get it finished. I have no inspiration at all. So constructiv criticism please.

[Bijutsu-san]

Is it hands cradeling a flame? What's going on at the wrists?

[Nyfikengul]

Hi Bijutu-san!
I guess i did my usual mistake ... To much going on in the picture, and not planing ahead. Basicly the thought whas to paint to hand´s crealde a flame. And the flame should come out of a heart. The traditional "soul" symbol. Then i added to skulls, and then i lost it... I never finished the heart or the skulls.

[Bijutsu-san]

I think your problem is best described here:

Tried to bite off more than you could chew, or put in a single image with the composition you built in this case. I'd go back to square one and rethink the image and what you want in it. You want the following, from what I can tell:

- Cupped hands
- In the hands, a flame
- In the flame, a heart emerges
- Random skulls ?huh? (don't add stuff if you don't have a good reason to! Less can be more.)

Did you do a sketch first or go right to painting? (going right to a painting can cause all sorts of headaches.)Think the idea through and do way more sketches than you think you need. Try different viewpoints, angles, and subjects. Ask yourself some questions:
- Do I see a person connected to the arms/hands?
- How big are the flames?
- Will the obstruct the hands behind them or will they be transparant/transluscent?
- Will the flame be realistic or handled in a more graphic/comic-bookish style?
- What will the colors be?
- Will the heart look like a real human heart (eew!) or a symbol of a heart?
- Will the heart be flesh, flame, or some other material?
- Is the heart IN the flame, or on fire? (Heartburn!)
There are many more questions you should ask yourself in the sketching phase before you ever put bursh to canvas.