Critique needed please!

[CybrGfx]

Hi!

First off, understand and accept that no matter if you worked on this until the end of time, it will NEVER be "perfect." Perfect is honestly a nonsense word, in that nothing in the Universe as we know it is "perfect," although it may have a very low percentage of flaws...

Second, how large are you hoping to make this piece? You can enlarge it to about 150-200 pixels with a minimum of loss. There is also a Photoshop Resizing Action on the Adobe website that will enlarge it by about 10%, which you can repeat 3-4 times without too much pixellation.

Third, her hands look too masculine, and don't really match the rest of the figure very well (another argument against "perfect"). Her eyelids need a bit more development, and her lips look too leathery.
It's a nice image, though. with a background, it will look pretty good. Don't spend too much effort "fixing" a piece that is a year old. Repaint it instead.

~C

[Ilenora]

First off, understand and accept that no matter if you worked on this until the end of time, it will NEVER be "perfect." Perfect is honestly a nonsense word, in that nothing in the Universe as we know it is "perfect," although it may have a very low percentage of flaws...

Yes, I understand that nothing can ever really be absolutely 'perfect'. But it can be perfect in my eyes, once I've fixed all the flaws that I can see. I guess perfect isn't the word I should have used.

Second, how large are you hoping to make this piece? You can enlarge it to about 150-200 pixels with a minimum of loss. There is also a Photoshop Resizing Action on the Adobe website that will enlarge it by about 10%, which you can repeat 3-4 times without too much pixellation.

I would like to enter this image in Exotique 4, and the rules suggest that images be slightly larger than what this image is currently. It's not necessary to be larger, I just wanted to know if there was an way to do it without pixellation.

Third, her hands look too masculine, and don't really match the rest of the figure very well (another argument against "perfect"). Her eyelids need a bit more development, and her lips look too leathery.
It's a nice image, though. with a background, it will look pretty good. Don't spend too much effort "fixing" a piece that is a year old. Repaint it instead.

I'll see about her hands - I hadn't thought they looked masculine, but I'll work on them a little more and see.
Also, I'll work more on her face. This is one of the first faces I've 'painted', so I know it has flaws.

Well, the image was already so good (in my eyes) that I didn't want to start again. I'd already worked months on it, and it was just too much to start over completely. I have other images that I can handle restarting completely, but this one is important to me. I worked so long on it before. I've already spent plenty of time fixing it, but that's what I want. I don't think the image would be the same if I restarted it.

So thanks for the help, I appreciate it :)

Ilenora

[CybrGfx]

Here (http://www.webdesign.org/web/photoshop/articles/the-reality-of-resizing-changing-image-resolution-without-changing-quality.9741.html) is a pretty good little article about upsizing, and here (http://photoshoptipstricks.blogspot.com/2008/06/action-to-resize-sharpen-and-then.html) is an upsizing/sharpening action, although it is a newer one than the action I use, which is a few years old.

Best of success to you!

~C

[DevIII]

looking good, I like the repaint idea alot it may not be the fastest way to finish but its always the fastest way to learn something!

but doing whats need is more important first. I think everything feels so manakined it would be nice if things were just subtly out of wack, the hand not perfectly opened or the eyes not in a straight line ectra. and everything is a bit flat too. i don't spend alot of time thinking about illistration but the best illistrations have a really dynamic sense of depth and light. the background will provide some of that, but think about it as your doing the cloths and deffinitly retouching the hair. a shadows can do wonders for dirrecting attention too!(which is why bright lights make magic so fun to look at/watch)

as far as the man hands go it could be just character I think you should focus on tighting the environment, you mentioned two extra light sources! and theres no real hint of time of day. if i had to sugest some steps id say deffinately lock in the lighting situations maybe do some ruff background and then finish up the clothing and what not.

[Ilenora]

Here (http://www.webdesign.org/web/photoshop/articles/the-reality-of-resizing-changing-image-resolution-without-changing-quality.9741.html) is a pretty good little article about upsizing, and here (http://photoshoptipstricks.blogspot.com/2008/06/action-to-resize-sharpen-and-then.html) is an upsizing/sharpening action, although it is a newer one than the action I use, which is a few years old.

Thanks!! I really appreciate the links :)

[Ilenora]

looking good, I like the repaint idea alot it may not be the fastest way to finish but its always the fastest way to learn something!

but doing whats need is more important first. I think everything feels so manakined it would be nice if things were just subtly out of wack, the hand not perfectly opened or the eyes not in a straight line ectra. and everything is a bit flat too. i don't spend alot of time thinking about illistration but the best illistrations have a really dynamic sense of depth and light. the background will provide some of that, but think about it as your doing the cloths and deffinitly retouching the hair. a shadows can do wonders for dirrecting attention too!(which is why bright lights make magic so fun to look at/watch)

as far as the man hands go it could be just character I think you should focus on tighting the environment, you mentioned two extra light sources! and theres no real hint of time of day. if i had to sugest some steps id say deffinately lock in the lighting situations maybe do some ruff background and then finish up the clothing and what not.

Hi, and thanks for the critique :)

I'll consider your suggestions as I work on the image some more.
Currently I've only repainted on the skin, so I understand that the clothing is fairly flat. Also, the hair is just a rough sketch to give the basic idea of its shape. They'll definitely have a lot more lighting and depth once I start repainting them.

The main source of light is coming from the magic of her raised hand, as I said in the original post. The other light is only very faint, and won't touch much at all.
I intended this image to be a 'portrait', more an artistic image than a scene, so she won't be in an environment of any sort. As such, there really won't be a time of day. Much like in this image: http://chokmah.cgsociety.org/gallery/483814/

Well, thanks again for your comments, I appreciate them ^_^

[RebeccaSx]

How did it turn out??

[Ilenora]

How did it turn out??

Hey there :)

Thanks. It turned out really well, I think. I haven't posted it here yet, but I have posted it up on another site here http://ilenora.deviantart.com/art/The-Secrets-of-Azaylani-93651565 if you'd like to take a look :)
I'll see about posting it here too...

Regards
Ilenora

[RebeccaSx]

That came out awesome, I love the colours!! Which program did you use, Adobe?

[Ilenora]

That came out awesome, I love the colours!! Which program did you use, Adobe?

Thanks so much!! I used Adobe Photoshop 7.0 :D

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