fire effect and clothing : looking for critique
Hello everyone
It's been a very long time since I look at the creations which many talented artists put down here, but never dared to post mine because I've always thought I don't have the level. Today I've told myself that I have to make the first step and accept critique if I want to progress in my art.
As the title indicates, I am looking forward criticism and advice on my painting, to improve my fire effects and lighting on clothes/metal, because I didn't work very much on the subject.
But also any other point of view which can help me to improve my work, because I know this drawing is infested with error, even passing a lot of time trying to fix them I often have this sensation to go round in circles, what has demotivated me and abandoned the painting many time
It's been a very long time since I look at the creations which many talented artists put down here, but never dared to post mine because I've always thought I don't have the level. Today I've told myself that I have to make the first step and accept critique if I want to progress in my art.
As the title indicates, I am looking forward criticism and advice on my painting, to improve my fire effects and lighting on clothes/metal, because I didn't work very much on the subject.
But also any other point of view which can help me to improve my work, because I know this drawing is infested with error, even passing a lot of time trying to fix them I often have this sensation to go round in circles, what has demotivated me and abandoned the painting many time
Replies
So, image 1:
Your colors are odd. This is because you are drawing a defined lightsource that isn't lighting the whole environment. Then, to add insult to injury you are drawing a super-light-sensitive material to paint: metal!
Metal reflects, so not only do you need to understand the lightsource, but you need to understand the whole environment. Like, what is happening at the spot the viewer is at? I just assumed black because the whole thing looks like a photographer's studio. This allows me to define the front parts of the metal to reflect black.
Similarly, I made the eye-white light yellow, because the rest of her body is lit with light yellow, and fixed some shadows that weren't supposed to be there.
To the fire I added white, and made it a bit more chaotic. This allows me to not rely on dark yellow to light the character.
Finally, you should remember to not forget to add a black line where two objects meet(This is that ambient occlusion thing they keep yapping on about here), otherwise she looks like she's floating.
What I also found strange was that the center of the firebal is so low, it seems such a strange compositional choice?
Image 2 is a bit about anatomy.
Her legs are too far apart, as you can tell from her left-upperleg being too big. Changing that changed the whole balance of the image, but she does stand a bit more stable.
I think that if you plan a bit more for your next image, you'll have a much easier time rendering the image and controlling your shadows.
I hope this helps!