someone in the marsh WIP

[embryotic]

Hi!

the darks on the castle are too black - because it is in the background the values should be much more muted (like you have done with the trees!)

push it back into the atmosphere - looks like there is a bit of dark blue fog - so the colours of the castle should be slightly bluish

The character and the castle look even in importance - but you should choose a primary focus point for composition (1st character, 2nd castle, 3rd mid ground) and then follow that (eg. make the character larger because it has most focus)

The details also can have levels, the grass is highly detailed and steals focus for no reason.

thnks :)

[DArcy1]

I can only agree with the previous post; I would add that he needs to be doing more than just standing there with 2 swords staring blankly off at nothing. It needs to be at least moderately clear just what it is that he is doing there. Does he live in the castle? Did he live in the cave? What is he feeling standing there at that moment?

Hope that helps

D'Arcy

[krana]

Hi! Thanks a lot for the advise! I changed the castle but still not sure if it's enough? I think something is still wrong with it. Too many details maybe? Also i'm not sure about the amount of fog i put in. I want it to be foggy but maybe i overdid it a little? Also i removed the tree in the middle background because it was stabbing my eyes out...
Also i worked on the character. You're right that he looks a little stupid, but here's what the situation about him is: he just dug himself out from under this mound with help of the swords) and he doesn't have any interest in the castle, so that's why he looks unsure what to do... I must try to make the swords look dirty, right?
Please take a look at the updated pic and tell me your suggestions! Thanks!
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/9799/purjskel2copy.th.jpg (http://img89.imageshack.us/my.php?image=purjskel2copy.jpg)

[embryotic]

Nice stuff krana - good changes! It was a good to lose that tree too!

I thought about what you can do for a now, I think there is just some final steps:

Im always flattening my stuff into a new canvas then duplicate layer and trying these:

1. auto levels/auto contrast/auto colours... (shift ctrl l, shift ctrl alt l, shift ctrl b) - do you like any of these?

2. push focus - duplicate image, filter/nosie/despeckle, despeckle, despecke and use median filter - this simplifies noisy areas - then I mask out areas I want to see original detail - it can push the focus really well.

3. try duplicate and do a big hue/saturation with colourise, to push the mood - then turn down opacity and/or mask out areas you dont want that effect (like foreground)

4. Sharpen - duplicate and use the smart sharpen filter like a crazy person - I like this effect - delete where you dont want that shown.

thats about it.... I try these steps on everything I paint - just to get a different idea of what things could be.

good luck!

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