Here my attempt at a pin-up digital painting in Photoshop. No reference, other then a couple pictures of my hands, and some stilettos, started with thumbnail in a sketch book brought it to Photoshop and there you have it. The back glow on her is more design then an attempt at proper lighting. However, I would love to her what you guys think needs improving.
Thanks.It’s not a bad attempt, you could use some more study and practice with anatomy. Making up the human body without reference is very hard to do with experience, without any it’s just a recipe for disaster. The anatomy in this piece is inaccurate, and that’s simply a matter of learning more.
You could also use some work with texture and color and lighting - your shadows especially are unconvincing. The glow is definitely not needed, you should be able to use lighting to create highlights along the back to achieve what you want - forget the special effects, concentrate on the basics. Your skin tones are a bit flat, too, and the incorrect anatomy is more pronounced with how you rendered her. This is just experience and practice, so keep going!
The background is too distracting for this kind of piece - pin-up art either had backgrounds that fit the concept/mood (a bed, a chair, etc.) or simply had none, only using shadow to place the figure on an implied ground plane. Your background seizes the attention of the viewer, and the focus, the female figure, is lost. I would remove it, entirely.
Not to be mean, but the feet and shoes need to be redone. They’re challenging, so don’t be offended - and honestly, shoes like that don’t really fit a pose like that, they look awkward and ungainly.
Keep going! I would suggest for your future work, to get some solid photographic reference, and concentrate on learning the human form, and painting techniques, instead of a finished piece - I know most here are in a concentrated rush to get pieces approved for the gallery, and to have finished pieces, but studies (unfinished work done to explore and study) are just as valid and very important to people starting out. There are endless amounts of free reference to use, I like the Virtual Pose files myself, for simply choosing a pose, and drawing/painting it, without getting caught up in accessories and backgrounds and such, and they give you a better lighting source and quality to work with.
Hope this helps!
Billywj,
Thank you for the input, can you give me some detail on where I went wrong on the anatomy, I know the feet are not there, but where else? That way I can see what else is inaccurate and learn.
Thank you,
Jmike
Honestly, Jmike, the entire figure. You do have the right pieces in the right places, but you don’t have the underlying structure - in particular, the stomach: even the skinniest girl wouldn’t have definition of her hips and ribcage lying flat like that, the muscles and skin and body mass settle in a pose like that. Your shoulders are too smooth and don’t show any of the structure beneath, and her legs are shaped like someone standing, not lying down. In the pose and angle, you would not see her rear end in profile like that, you would see both buttocks and some of the small of her back (the area right about the rear end) - unless she has a leg slightly parted, and to the side, then the buttocks and thighs and stomach would have a different shape entirely.
Honestly, it’s all easy mistakes to make - the reason art degrees require figure study classes and why artists need them, is to learn how the body moves and changes shape in different poses, and the best way to learn is to simply study it more. When someone lies on their stomach, the body settles and gravity pulls the masses down, muscles change their shapes, and the position of the bones underneath can change the shape of the muscles and tissues over them. It just takes practice and experience.
That’s why you should try to work from sources, so you can see what’s happening with the figure -even experienced artists work from models and reference for this exact reason.
Oh, another suggestion - work bigger. Not only is it easier to work on figures and complicated scenes when it’s bigger, but filling the frame with a figure is a better solution for compositional reasons - you have a lot of empty space around the figure, when you don’t need to, when you could make the figure bigger so the viewer can see it better.
The largest issue IMO is the sharp angle (bend) that the spine appears to be taking. If her backside is that high in the air, her lumbar vertebrae are broken or missing.
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