Portrait of a Godspeaker

[TrenchcoatPixie]

Your problems with the placement of her features come from not establishing a vanishing point. Faces, like everything else, follow the simple rules of perspective, and when half the face is further from the viewer than the other half, the features will fall away towards a common vanishing point.

You also have some pretty wacky anatomy going on with her neck and skull. Here I've drawn in red where your implied anatomy and perspective are; then redrawn in green where they OUGHT to be; then did a quick lasso-and-scribble to move stuff around. I hope looking at this is helpful!

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a293/Monteef/houri.gif

I didn't change her expression in this, since I thought it would confuse the perspective and anatomy issues. The lack of a smirk is in her eyes and eyebrows, though; bring her far eyebrow down, the near eyebrow down a touch (mostly on the inside), and nudge up the lower lid of her near eye to reflect the upturned quirk of her mouth. Maybe bring that corner of the mouth up a bit, too. That oughta get you started. =D

You have some lovely, clear skin tones here. I dare say I'm envious.

[Senekha]

Thanks for that awesome paintover!! Helps a lot :) Can't wait to get going on it an fix those issues. I'll post an update maybe later tonight or tomorrow (I have late classes today).

[Senekha]

Did a little bit of work tonight, but didn't have time for much.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/riahannanew1.jpg

[TrenchcoatPixie]

Much better! Don't forget about her neck, though.

On that hand--is that supposed to be her right hand, or her left? It's positioned like it's her right arm, bent beneath her shawl, but, er, in that case, it's on backwards. >.>

[Senekha]

haha no it's supposed to be her left hand...I'm just baed at hand placement lol

[Senekha]

Oh and btw that little part on her front is supposed to be a boob, not part of the arm - which I haven't really distinguished, I guess XD

[TrenchcoatPixie]

Pish tosh! The problem isn't hand placement, exactly, it's that you don't seem to be thinking about her figure as a continuous whole. Hands are connected to arms, after all, which are connected to shoulders, and you DO show her shoulders. It helps tremendously if you draw in a bit of a skeleton and block in some basic mass.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a293/Monteef/hourimass.jpg

(I also changed her expression a bit, to hopefully illustrate what kinds of changes I meant in my last post.)

Her figure isn't strictly realistic--her shoulders are far too narrow and slim to support her head--but I took that for a stylistic choice, so left it as is. I'd also just like to note that it's kind of uncomfortable to hold your arm like that--stand in the mirror, mostly facing away from it, and extend your hand far enough so that it's wholly visible along the side in the mirror, and you'll see what I mean. The pose will look more natural if you DO make it her right arm, which can bend up and into that position very comfortably.

Yeah, my own current WIP has bogged down, so I'm doing a lot of paintovers right now. XD Hope this is helpful!

[Senekha]

You rock.

I tried drawing in some structure in terms of back etc, but...I'm not super great on angled anatomy...something I've been trying to work on.

I'll work with this tomorrow and post an update :) btw, I like what you've done with her expression...it fits the character a lot better!

[Senekha]

ok I should be asleep but I did a little more.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/riahannanew2.jpg

[wo0lF]

Great progress and very usefull help from TrenchcoatPixie (http://forums.cgsociety.org/member.php?u=344678). It's nice to have such great people on forum.

keep it on.

[Smirtouille]

The shoulder is still a big problem in the comprehenssion of the figure you are doing. The volume you gave to it is wrong, it is too smoooth and large to be a shoulder, colors are also very sweet so it looks like her breast. A shoulder has more angular shape. Also it is too short and too near form the base of the neck, like TrenchcoatPixie said, right? I think this is quite important in this case where you are reaching a reallistic style...
Also the shoulder shape is blended in the neck and so it looks like she's facing us and not showing her back shoulder. It should be a separation between both.

EDIT: also the manner you've done her neck supposes that she is not completely turned, cause it's still smooth, otherwise it should be some folds.
Sorry for my poor english, haha. Let show it on your picture, you seem to appreciate that.

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/9508/truchh4.gif

And so, this way you can show the hand like her left hand and she's not so uncomfortable anymore.

[PyrrhicComedy]

Ah! What a great paintover, Smirtouille! I was trying to figure out how to do that in that mass-blocking-in thing, but I couldn't get it right. Now I see it. XD

Senekha, looking forward to your next update! This has come a really long way since the start of the thread.

[Senekha]

Hey guys :) I haven't posted in the last half-week (or more) 'cause I was first away, visiting my boyfriend in the States, and since then I've been swamped.

Only a small update this time, haven't had time to do much. I've changed the eye shape, played with the mouth a tad, and I'm trying to figure out how to get her shoulder right...I like the paintovers that you guys have done, but I would still like to try to figure out how to do this and still have her looking OVER her shoulder, rather than just a plain side view...if you know what I mean.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/riahannanew3.jpg

I've also got another WIP on the go, an ooold one that I resurrected today. I'd lost the psd file to it when my HD crashed a while ago, so I took the jpeg and started giving it a major makeover. Any help with the composition of the piece (I want the focus to be her face, but I want some background and a little armor in there as well...). I'm hoping to eventually get the armor as realistic looking as the face...though in the head I'm having trouble with her ear :( (I'm terrible with ears.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/Senrepaint.jpg

This is the jpeg I worked from:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/Sen-1.jpg

[CybrGfx]

...I like the paintovers that you guys have done, but I would still like to try to figure out how to do this and still have her looking OVER her shoulder, rather than just a plain side view...if you know what I mean.That's all fine and good, except that you cannot seem to draw the anatomy correctly for the post you want.

You have to make a choice here.
You either make the changes you need to have the anatomy appear at least halfway believeable, or you bull-headedly insist on painting the bad anatomy, becuase you want her looking over her shoulder, no matter how badly you render it.

Get someone, anyone, to take a picture of YOU, in the position you want that image. Turn your head to the side and look over your shoulder the way you are imagining this, and have someone take a picture. Make sure your neck is not covered by hair or clothing. Your shoulders bare, too, if possible...

You should be able to determine BEFORE the shutter clicks, that it is almost impossible to put your head in the position relative the shoulders that you are painting. Your neck would be showing extreme twisting in the skin and muscles, and the side of the face closest to the shoulder would show pulling across the lower jaw. She would not look placidly smirking, so much as somewhat twisted.

While you are under NO obligation to take any advice offered here, it is somewhat self-defeating to ask for feedback, only to dismiss some very valid observations regarding some very obvious anatomy issues...

Since your original request was regarding the skin tones, and they really have no problems, the bad anatomy is something of a moot issue here, but yet, no. The anatomy is far worse than your skin tones, so one would theorize that it should be of greater concern to you. Especially since the second image you post also shows anatomy issues beyond just the ear.

It is counter productive to offer you advice on improving your anatomy, when you don't make corrections. Not to mention abandoning that WIP, and posting another with the same problems...Why ask? You'll just be told the same thing, that your neck and shoulder anatomy are bad and need work...

You also post what you state is the .jpg you are working from. Where did you get that .jpg? Someone else drew that character, so if it was not you, that is image theft. That is simply a no-no, unless you have permission to use that face.

~C

[Senekha]

It is MY jpeg, as I stated in my last post, it's an old WIP of mine which I lost the psd file to because my external HD crashed.

I've also got another WIP on the go, an ooold one that I resurrected today. I'd lost the psd file to it when my HD crashed a while ago, so I took the jpeg and started giving it a major makeover.

Also, I am working from a photo for the pose of the first one. I didn't just make the anatomy from my head. but since I"m not copying the picture, I just used it for pose ref and then tried going it on my on....obviously not working, but I'm still trying to fix it!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/batik_peacock_2_by_ikie-1.jpg

Thanks for taking the time to read my last post....

[Senekha]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/riahanna5a-1.jpg

[Senekha]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/riahanna5aa.jpg

[Senekha]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/Riasea4.jpg

[Senekha]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Senekha/TheLastGodspeaker.jpg

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