Help Pick a Title of Oil/Digital Painting


#21

haha… after looking at this, I felt sorry for myself clicking open my own work. It’s an awesome piece of work, especially the colors in terms of skill, just because they really leap out at me.

I’m not a huuuge fan of how the top of the hat is a little bit blurry, although the hat is an asset to the character in my own opinion. I hope you keep it! But perhaps only half as blended into the sky (at the top I mean)? You never know, then it might draw too much attention, the colors contrast a bit there already. But the sharper edge might bring your girl forward more, and that could potentially be a good thing. As it is though, I would prefer a sharper edge, like the rim has.

Some great suggestions have been made, I hope mine falls into the same category :slight_smile:

‘Summer cleaning’ is a kind of cute name maybe, though inspired by current suggestions of course.

PS. Would I be right if I said your prefered direction of brushing is to the right? The grass all faces that direction. I know the smoke is effected by a light wind and all, but it definitely goes the opposite direction of most of the grass. In the first image, the grass looks as though a bit more wind is effecting it. Only SLIGHT amounts… But others might disagree completely, because it’s obvious that very slight amounts of wind are present. My point is that the directions in the first image seem slightly wrong, but not really. I could just be in a funny mood or something :wink:

In the second image, I didnt notice any conflict really. I like the second images grass a lot, it’s definitely my preferred grass choice.

Keep in mind that I have never painted an image before, and I’m not a very experience artist :slight_smile: But I hope to be helpful.


#22

Well I think the pics seems to give us a horror visual…I would like to clarify that it seems look like a screen capture that “video tape” of “the Ring”. A buring house with an “innocent” “weird” woman…

but it is too colourful…

Yes, it may be contains some story in it…but may be lack of connection in content, just like one of the fragment segments of that “tape”.


#23

wow everyone! Some excellent crits here. This forum is definetly going to be helpful for those brave enought to post thier work here:) Seriously though this is going to ba great place for professionals and aspiring ones to hone thier skills. I will apply some of the crits mentioned below and post this image again in the coming weeks to see if its improved any.

Thanks again for all of you taking the time out of your busy day to comment. Keep um comin!


#24

this is very ironic concidering that I live in Southern Cal and right now fires are destroying houses by the hundreds. So my opinion deals with the emotion. Knowing what I know now about people and how they react to loosing the homes, I would say that the expression on her face is not realistic of a person in this situation. Although, if she is suposed to be the cause of this fire then maybe her emotionless/smirk is appropriate.


#25

More then the 2nd picture is cleaer then the 1st one (when talking about emotions, story etc.), I think that the combination of those two - seeing the 1st, and then the 2nd one - is even a better choice. Like a short comics, making you ask questions and wonder what da heck is the connection between the girl and the burning house. Now, after seeing the 1st picture, You’re in the story, waiting for answer, maybe even don’t know the answer is going to come and then boom! you see the small smile, when the house gets burned more and more and it’s just so funny!

Black humor - We have a lot of this here (Israel… well… why cry when you can lough? Seriously, things aren’t so terrible all over the place, come to visit! :slight_smile: )


#26

On the note of the main character being disjoint from the scene… i liked the comments about making her hair follow the wind.

One other thing though… would a country gal, in the barn, who just put it on fire look this “clean”?.. perhaps some dirt… her clothes also don’t seem to associate her with the event.

That scarf could also be blowing in the wind perhaps?

The tones on the first image look a little deeper… and better. The second image, the face looks a little flat.

I like the rendition of the flames, expression of the girl…

Keep up the good work!


#27

I’m going to have to join the ranks of those who prefer her face in the original image.

In this case, the emotionless face does more for the image than the smirking one. It’s obvious the girl had something to do with the fire, because of the existance of the painting itself. The character is more appealing to me in the first, because she must have had a legitimate reason for what she did… she is not happy about it but she had no choice. It gives the viewer a reason to admire her.

If the new version was a keeper, I think the smirk and raised eyebrow need to be toned back about 75%… it’s not quite subtle enough and doesn’t give the viewer enough credit for his ability to figure out the story for his/herself. (Unless of course this is a story about an off center character who is evil at heart - the villlian - …in which case she maybe shouldn’t be the main focus of the image).

I do like the changes to the fire, the grass and her hair. I would suggest creating a stronger backlight effect on the hair in order to get her a little more “into” the scene.

And I love the colors. Don’t tone those down!
As for a title, “settlement”… or something along those lines.

I also would like to comment on the whole concept of changing your initial insticts. For educational purposes, I think it is fine to go down the “what if” road… but in the case of a seasoned artist many times the first try is the best. It’s important to trust yourself… if it’s not broke…you know.
I know I’ve spent time trying to update old images only to realize I did something for a forgotten reason.

-jm


#28

I have to say all of your comments have been really awesome and helpful! Again thanks for taking the time. I love that people are torn between the first and second image. Emotionless was what I was roiginally going for on the first and i think its great you guys got that.

I can tell you this…i will be dirtying things up a bit on the girl. The hair and scarf will definetly be blowing…hmmmm what else. Damn i wish I had all time in the world to work on this but alas I have pending projects to work on. I will be posting the newer version soon.

Thanks again


#29

(…ahem…) I think one needs to see the pores in the skin, especially, with the little nuances of imperfections. Also, the eyebrows look ‘pencilled’ in like she just walked out the front door of a beauty salon. She needs to be cocked forward, holding her hat and coat. Also, columns of light in the background like rays should give perspective depth. Water as rain, fire with a ‘glow’ and windswept landscape pocked with austere barren spaces. The texture of the elements, even a little rain on her face and/or clothes, ashes, wind.


#30

fractionalist…thanks I saw your last post too, no need to post the same comments twice…I plan to apply many of your suggestions.


#31

Yes, I spent hours, fascinated by and looking at your images…and finally it all jelled and my first post seemed to ‘searching’ and not ‘sure’, at last the next day it all ‘jelled’ and I was able to verbalize my vision more clearly because I had formed the finished piece in my minds-eye very clearly. So I felt in retrospect that my first post was a little muddied and unclear also, therefore I posted a second time more succinctly. Now I can’t wait to see what you do with that painting. There is no question that the image is haunting and speaks volumes, mostly questions.


#32

It occured to me the palette for the entire painting should be extracted from the eyes somehow, so that the focus of the entire painting chromatically is the eyes, and a rosier palette of those colors would be the lips. I keep checking for you updated picture, this is, to me, a very inspiring and exciting forum in which one can participate in the creation of excitment. Its like being at a ‘Vernisage’!


#33

Beautiful work. Pieces like this remind me again that CG is quickly becoming a serious form of artistic expression.

I think I prefer the second one, but I’m also torn.

If it were mine, I think I would revamp the lighting a bit to have the gal’s face lit from below or the side, like she was carrying a lamp away from the building. Something about her bright face with the scene so cleary backlit doesn’t ring true to me. It almost appears as if someone has shined a flashlight on her face.


#34

I like the first one more, because I see a painter combining two elements, instead of a ‘scene’. Kinda like the way the mona lisa is not really “in” the space that is behind her. Its more like her mind or something relating. Both the girl and the fire become more symbolic because they are not reacting to eachother naturally like they would in a movie. The second one also has that symbolic quality, but less so.


#35

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