Sketchbook: Lodal

Lephenix · Feb 2017

Hey everyone!

I was looking for active forums to get critics and feedbacks on my work, and someone mentioned the 2d section of polycount I had totally forgot. And I am a polycounter since many year and proud of it, so it's good to be back

!

I am Kyllian, a freelance illustrator and concept artist (well since a few days, and I haven't freelance contracts yet, but I do have comissions stuff since a year or so). I am currently sketching everyday and working on illustrations for my portfolio, I would love to do book covers, and cards/rpg illustrations as my main activity. I am a huge fan of sci fi and fantasy and I am specialised in characters and creatures, but I can do environments when it is needed as well.

But enough about me, I am here to get critics on my work:

Last week I have started a quick sketch that turned into a future illlustration porftolio piece. The process was quite smooth and it evolved a lot, but since a few days I'm feeling a bit stuck with it and I am trying to bring some more interest to it, I feel like the right side of the image is unbalanced and of course, the anatomy and background isn't finished at all, but I would like your opinion before going further. It is some kind of a snow mermaid who may have just fought with soldiers (I planed to make spikes and bodies etc in the snow, but I'm not sure yet).

Here's how the image evolved since the sketch:

https://media.giphy.com/media/l0Ex1dSLaAnBFe56U/source.gif

Here's the stage I stopped at to get critics:

Image: https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16425851_1289945534377602_6155844956917350277_n.jpg?oh=f3db3a1080cdfa9f3097255477e715cd&oe=59127355

Then after some comments, I decided to try a quick overpaint:

Image: https://i.gyazo.com/4c1396de9a0c23d680195df084c51776.png

The anatomy and proportions are a bit wierd now and I need to play with the placement of the tail, but I think it is a good direction, I really like the contrast of the blood in the water of the lake. And also the added contrast with the sort of mist with the dark sky. And I might add some tress in the foreground to add even more depth. And it is more like a snake than a mermaid but that's good too. What do you think?

I might overpainted a bit too much since it was a quick one to get a new direction, the blood will pop more like in one of Bayard Wu's illustration "Fall of the Dragon": https://www.artstation.com/artwork/AvD9e

These days, I am really inspired by Bayard Wu and Sergey Kolesov, and I that's the kind of art I would love to do and I am trying to head towards, that's ambitious for sure but they are heavily motivating me along many others.

Thank you very much for your time and I'll try to be active in that thread.