Title: The Hunter
Name: Nigel Hendrickson
Country: United States
Software: Painter, Photoshop
My first shot at digital painting in a LONG while. Done purely for ‘fun’ and learning. I wanted to capture a moment of the body in motion, keeping it simple yet dynamic. had a clear idea of what I wanted in the figure, not so much in the environment/background. C&C welcome.
This is beautiful work. Good anatomy structure and great detail. This is the type of work people look for. I am suprised to be the first here to make a comment about it, 5 stars.
Awesome pose SoulRebel, a good sense of dynamic in this piece, the rendering and lighting of the figure is very confident. I see what you mean about the background though, Ive gone through that myself, sometimes you have a crystal idea of what you want from one aspect of the image, but the rest remains a mystery which can be very frustrating. If you get time Id highly recommend going back and putting a couple more hours into the background to balance this out.
For starters the focus of the image is a little confusing, the smaller branches in front of the trunk are in focus as are the ones directly behind it, including the little mushrooms on the trunk itself. However the soft details on the trunk make it look out of focus, so it might be worth crisping up the details around the figure to get the focus there.
Id also suggest injecting more colour variation into the background. The leaves are green and basically lighter and darker shades of the same green. To give it real punch Id expect more colour variation; moving the green towards yellows, blues, maybe even a splash of purple here and there. Youre doing it with the lighting on the figure, you just need to bring that across in places to the environment. Do a quick image search just for some ref to inspire you to tackle that background.
I think this is a great piece that wouldnt take much to push it into Awesome 
Yep, you hit it right on the head. My color choices for the environment were downright cowardly. I had trouble coming up with a kind of logic for some really interesting color variations - even in the figure - so I just played it safe (boring). And I definitely didn’t spend enough time referencing the flora and fauna because I guess I never really decided where the scene might be located. I have to find some good tropical tree bark texture reference.
I’ll definitely look into addressing those issues. Thanks for the analysis - it really helps!
Very nice. Great job with the anatomy and form of the woman. Her loin cloth is giving a weird look at the hip. She’s got that deep crease, which at first looks like the hips are wrong, but rather its that extra skin between that the garment that’s making it seem like it’s off. The top garment works well, though.
The background looks very uniform and plan compared to the detail and attention given to the huntress. More texture and detail could’ve been given to the tree branches and leaves where she is (to help show depth and range of detail). Her hair, although interesting, doesn’t conform around her head very well (kind of like a flat wig).
Any other proportion issues are very slight and don’t need addressing (unless you want to know what they are). The coloring and shadows on the woman’s body are very well done. Overall, this a strong piece. Lots of action and emotion expressed in it. You’re obviously better at figures than background (I know the feeling). Keep it up. Great job.
Yeah, it was kind of a tenuous balance with the proportions. I took a lot of dramatic and artistic license with my reference material (photos of my VERY uncomfortably posed wife). The hair is pretty much right out of my head with no photo reference (and it shows). My wife doesn’t have dreads, but I do - so I guess I should have photographed myself shaking my head furiously. 
The detail in the background I admittedly skimped on since I just kind of wanted to get on with the ‘fun’ part. Thanks to everyone’s encouragement, though, I guess it’s worth going back and really polishing it up. Thanks!
Skipping to the fun part. I totally know how that feels. I have to refrain myself from touching the fun stuff until the background and such are ready. Work first, and then play. :sigh: I’m sure that your wife was uncomfortable with that pose. It’s hard to do. I usually have to take pictures of myself, so I know how it feels. Good luck with your next project.
Actually, I rather like the background, myself. I would agree however, that the branch she’s standing on needs sharper detail. It causes her to look not so much a part of the image. I’d also put just a bit of greenish tinge into the shadows on her body to reflect forest light and integrate her more fully into the environment.
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