Poison Ivy “natural”

PeterWade · Dec 2016

Hi, thanks for checking out my post. Long-time lurker but I really don’t share enough and get feedback which is certainly not a good way to grow as an artist as far as I’m concerned.

Last few weeks I’ve been chipping away at a “natural” Poison Ivy (Trying to stay in character but avoiding over stylized / sexualised). This is where I’m currently up to with the character. It’s near the end of the character pipeline but I feel I’ve set things up well enough to go back to any stage and update without too much drama. Anyways, I’ve been looking at it too long so I don’t know whether or not I like it or hate it (certainly hate the hair). Texture patterns are currently sources and placeholder.

Certainly happy for C&C. Why I’m posting after all.

Texelion · Dec 2016

Mmmmmh if you didn't say she was Poison Ivy I wouldn't have guessed ^^. Right off the bat ( get it ? BAT ! ) I'd say there is a problem : she's supposed to not be over-sexualised but she's still half-naked, showing her tits and wearing high heels. See the problem ? I'm sure you could find an outfit that looks good, makes her look like Poison Ivy AND isn't what a street walker would wear.

Won't be easy as Ivy has always been sexualised. Maybe in the old comics she was less so, she looked more like some kind of faery :

Image: http://www.comictreadmill.com/CTMBlogarchives/2008%20Images/BatWomenPoisonIvy-thumb.jpg

And I think this is also the only version where she is a brunette. Most people know her as a redhead. If you could change her hair color she'd look more like Ivy.

The biggest problem I'd say is that she looks a bit boring. Like a bad cosplay. She's not really sexy like the original character, but she doesn't have any interesting feature either. If you want to stand out with that character without making her sexy, she'll need some badass costume.

DGB · Dec 2016

I'm getting a kind of new-age-druid-vibe from the waist up; The autumn leaves and the little jack-o'-lantern in particular look very "witch-y" and I originally mistook the syringe for some kind of sacrificial knife. I think if you were to push the costume in more of a modern druid/hippy sort of direction you could have something really interesting.

Zack Maxwell · Dec 2016

Difficult to articulate exactly what it is unfortunately, but something about the face makes her look rather old. Late 40's, at least. I don't know if that was your intention, it certainly isn't the usual interpretation.
My best guess is that it's being caused by the prominence of the cheekbones and brow, combined with the heavy definition in the nasolabial folds.
Otherwise, I agree with the others; the design is a bit too simple, and doesn't immediately appear to be Poison Ivy specifically.

slosh · Dec 2016

Overall, I'd say its solid. I think the hair is what stands out to me...way too cardy/polygonal looking. Have you tried copying normals from a solid form resembling the hair shape onto the cards so they blend together better? Her pose is also kind of odd and unnatural to me. Posing is tough...I see a lot of people trying to do something dynamic and it just doesn't work well unless you are good at weight distribution and balance. Stick to a simple stance and I bet it looks much better. Texturing looks pretty good but to me, she looks like a gal dressed up like poison ivy as opposed to poison ivy herself. A good effort but with some tweaks, I think this could be much stronger.

Poison Ivy “natural”

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