Environment+char:out of town

[Kirt]

Strange that you can't see flaws in your own work. Most artists that I know are their own worst critics (including myself). I guess you just have to take a step or two back and say to yourself, "what's appealing or not appealing about this?"

However, if you can't do that I'll help you out. :D

What's appealing about this? It's very colorful and has an interesting mysterious quality about it. There's some sort of character in the wilderness (or park) near a city. It has possibilities.

What's not appealing about this? The colors compete against each other and the image as a whole is confusing to look at because of it. The character has anatomy issues and I'm not sure what's going on with his leg(s). I do see that he has two left feet though (by placement of the big toes), and that makes me concerned that he/she/it may be a horrible tango dancer.

Unless you meant for this creature to live in a florescent world, I would tone down the saturation of all your colors. Even in the best sunlight, I don't believe the objects would 'glow' as much as you have illustrated them.

There are some perspective problems in your city that should be fixed. A couple of the buildings look as if they have infinity stretch applied to their right sides.

And lastly ...

What's the story or concept that you're attempting to illustrate here? I'm not really clear on what the creature has to do with the city or why he's in the wilderrness/park staring at his/her/its hand?

[Astaroth.NL]

Hiya kirt, first off all thnx a million for your c&c!

I know it sounds strange that I can't see my own flaws, but in a way I am like most artists, rearly am I satisfied with my own work. Pain in the ass is that a lot of times, especially after working a long time on something, I can't point out what's wrong or missing :( like in anatomy, I have a huge knowledge gap in that area cause I was stupid enough in my younger years to see ref material as cheating, wish I became wiser at a younger age ;) This forum really gave me a new jumpstart though!

Anyways, bout the piece. Sorry for not adding the story, left it out since it was wip but now realize that especially here it is important. It's a character that is kinda down. He's the only one left from his kind as far as he knows. The town in the back should enhance this feeling, and neither the smog in the town or his beautifull environment compensates for his lonelyness, he's lonely but is too harsh too fully admit this, he's staring at an object that reminds him of his lonelyness, maybe a human doll, dunno yet. that's it.

I agree on the colors, guess I use the color burn and dodge tool too much, will try and fix't

Building perspective is quite k I think, the stretched building that your refering too is'n stretched but sot of a sliced pyramid form. Maybe I will change it if it confuses too much.

lastly, can you point out what's exactly wrong with his anatomy, his legs: one is hanging and other simply resting on the grass towards the viewer. Lol About his toe's: somebody else pointed this out to me, kinda though it was a funny mistake dunno if I should take it out :)

Tnx alot Kirt, watched you alien concept characters btw, they look really really good, great concept skills!

[Kirt]

OK ... well the leg that's coming towards the viewer doesn't look like a leg. Actually it looks as if his foot is attached directly at his hip. Two things you can do to improve this are ...

1) draw part of his leg. I know it's a difficult angle and foreshortening is going to be the hard part, but I think you can show most of his leg and knee in this pose. Unless the creature is very limber, I doubt he could get his foot up that high anyway. Rest it down lower (say where his knee is) and it'll look better.

2) position the character further back on the hill. The distance from where he's sitting and the edge of the hill that he's sitting on doesn't look far enough for his leg to be outstreached like that. Rather his leg should drop off the edge like his other one is and rest on the ground.

You could do other things to change the pose and make it better, but those are just two suggestions if you want to keep the pose pretty much the same.

Oh, and since you mentioned it, dodge and burn are your enemies. Paint colors rather than relying on these tools to put in highlights and shadows. I never use the tools and discourage others from using them as well. You're better off learning how to use complimentary or contrasting colors for these effects.

[kuragari]

Shadows add greatly add depth to an image. Not just dark colors, but casted shadows. Not much in there has shadows. The character, the trees, the rocks, etc. All _need_ shadows. Unless everything, but him is a light source. = )

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