Would be Aphrodite

[CybrGfx]

Ummm...Anatomy?

The lower part of the body doesn't look too subtle, and meaning will be hard to promote past her overly long, somewhat distorted legs...

Get the anatomy right before anything else.
If that's the "visual appeal" you say is not a major consideration, never mind, 'cause believable anatomy is pretty much a visual appeal-type thing...

You should also establish your light source(s) now, and consider all the negative space in this piece, with the subject dead center like that. Perhaps you could try a bit more dynamic composition.

~C

[EndoTouch]

CyberGfx;
The negative space and lighting is what I'm working on. Anatomy is always very important, I thought she was just leggy, I'll recheck it though, I always mean to make my work as correct as I can. I never said visual appeal was not a major concern, I put two other concerns beside it. Dynamic composition of a figure makes an extreme pose, an image needs other elements before it can be dynamic, I'm not going to pose her like an action hero. Birds or a man pleading out of desire or something to highlight her importance is planned next as well.

I guess her legs are kinna long eh? huh; the things you miss. . .

http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp110/EndoTouch/aphrodite-background-4.jpg

[EndoTouch]

I shortend the legs, she is probably still leggy, What else do you think is wrong / are the legs still bad?

http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp110/EndoTouch/aphrodite-background-4-1.jpg

[EndoTouch]

Thinned the leg further, and I started painting.http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp110/EndoTouch/aphrodite-background-5.jpg

[DArcy1]

This is purely a subjective response, so take it as it is... To me she really looks unconfortable, a model who was told by the photographer to "lift up your heel, now look up, now gesture with your right hand, now touch your bellybutton".

So I end up wondering "hunh?, why does she look like that?", instead of focusing on the painting itself and your message. Before you color or shade further, could you post your line drawing of what is happening here (where is she, who else is there, etc)? If you don't know yet yourself, please stop - it's never a good idea to try to figure it out as you go along. Decide on the background, on why she is posed like that, who else is there, the relationship between her and anyone else, the emotion you are trying to convey, etc. Once you've done that, then you can start painting.

The one most useful bit of advice I ever heard was to learn from the pro's- someone like Frazetta might crank out a painting in a weekend (really!) once he put brush to canvas - but he didn't pick up the brush until he'd spent sometimes weeks thinking about just what he was going to do and why.

D'Arcy

[CybrGfx]

I agree with D'Arcy. If you're just painting as you go, stop now.

The legs look better covered. The feet are horrible. They are huge, boxy, and look like lumps not feet.

Anatomy. You really, really need to work on basic body anatomy, or draw pictures without people. That arm hidden by the hair looks like she's asking for a hand out but trying to be subtle about it.

Stop and plan out the entire scene. What you are painting and why. Just doodling around and trying to make it look good is fine, but it will take you forever, and won't really teach you anything or improve your skills. It will just kill a lot of time for no good reason.

~C

[EndoTouch]

Ok, so I didn't do a full thumbnail set or any proper planing. There is a cheap colour sketch in my English 100 class of Aphrodite which has a way of taunting me when class goes of in a tangent as it often does, this is from seeing it everyother day. I knew what I wanted out of the image, that's no repalcement for proper planning though. I spent some time today dealing with some lanning isues, searching for things that are apropriate and planning how to compose things. There is a clam shell I want to put in before I go back to anatomy sketchs, it's my bread and butter right now so I will improve.

I was aiming for "embracing the heavens" and had one arm wraped onto her belly button to promote intamecy in the picture. I can see how its wierd to stand like that without any context so I hope this update deals with that.

I really apreaciate the help, its good to here other peoples opinoins. I know better where my plan for this picture was lacking now.

Endo
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp110/EndoTouch/aphrodite-background-6.jpg

[EndoTouch]

Well I will revisit this one day, but for now this is good enough. I'll plan the next one out more. I enjoyed working on it, and I did learn some doing it so I think its an alright painting. What does everyone else think of it now?

http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp110/EndoTouch/aphrodite-background-7.jpg

[guero]

Hey Endo don't give up on it now. Go with it use this one as a initial sketch. Get some referances of nude model, do some gesture and dynamic poses and you good to go.

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