WiP - Sorcha's Despair

#1

I did start a drawing last night. I wasn’t feeling well but I couldn’t sleep and really felt the desire to draw.

  So I'm working on the layout, composition and anatomy. I haven't added  clothing yet, because in a critique on Sorcha some concerns about how  the clothing worked were raised to my attention. I'm thinking about  redesigning them. I had a really good idea, but I'm not sure how it will  turn out.. We'll see.
  
  Here is how its progressing so far. I'm not sure the head is right...  Also I'm not sure I like the right shoulder... as  my reference for the pose was different. I changed it a little to try  and fit the feeling of utter despair I'm trying to portray.
  
  Imagine you've spent your entire life being shunned, and finally someone  accepts you despite what they've heard, and what others do to him/her  for it. They accept you and love you. Even though you spent a large part  of your life hating others, they warm your heart.. and you finally  accept them too. However fate tears them away from you.
  
  This is how Sorcha feels. A village burned in the background. A toppling  chimney stack attached to a skeleton of a house. Steam, and smoke pour  off them. The rain is pouring down, and putting the flames out.. To the  right lies a body. (Im going to remove it... and add something else I think.)
  
  She was standing staring at the sky, and she drops to her knees and is  crying her anguish and sorrow to the heavens, and the sky cries with  her.

You can click on the image below for a larger version.

   [[img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwAU48sCyUI/T2Iv_twPUdI/AAAAAAAAAYU/QTBxTD2NbQs/s320/SorchaTears3_preview.jpg[/img]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwAU48sCyUI/T2Iv_twPUdI/AAAAAAAAAYU/QTBxTD2NbQs/s1600/SorchaTears3_preview.jpg)

If anyone has any suggestions to make sure everything looks ok as is I would greatly appreciate it.

A suggestion I might implement is instead of the dead body (I’m already gonna scratch it)…
perhaps having an outstretched hand laying limp in front of her left knee (where the black blob is… instead.)

#2

Well, ok, always easier to help with a concept than giving feedback on a finished piece.

Reading the vague intro, one could believe the artist was trying to come to terms with the past, even if it’s probably symbolised, even if it’s probably about her feelings. This is very fine for ideas and helpful to convey a mood on pictures, but it has to get very prosaic when it comes to a layout with realistic characters. So my very first question as noninvolved viewer would be:

  • who is Sorcha?
  • what is she doing in this village?
  • what happened?
  • era/location/genre?

The drawn body looks fine (some little issues can get refined later), but first i’d try to think more about:

  • format needed for the picture?(!!)
  • what subjects are needed to explain the viewer the story?
  • which of them are most important, needing to be in the foreground
  • what viewing angle would be best? this can be a subjective one (giving the viewer the roll of someone inside the picture, showing the scenery from his perspective), or more objective, like an overview of the whole thing.
  • what colour and lighting concept would be best?(here you can follow your mood, but i suggest also to consult pictures with similar content)
  • styling of clothings/environment (can be developed continuously, but the more defined at the beginning, the better, the easier to work)

As for keeping the mood through the long process of creating i recommend to collect photos/paintings of the targeted mood, showing also clothings, burned wooden huts, etc, and to piece them together to one single mood picture, which you have always with you when working on the piece.

Doing a precise concept for a realistic scenery needs to get rather ‘technical’, brutally calculating with the viewers feelings, knowledge.

Cheers
z

#3

Hey Zokana! Thank you for all the feedback and information! I am excited to see this come to life. I will be putting a good deal of thought into the items mentioned and in the next couple of days will post another update to see if I’m headed in the right direction! I thank you so much!

Also if anyone else has any advice I would love to hear it! I am still new at this!

#4

Still working on this… I’ve made some changes to increase the mood…

I am still thinking about the background, and color palette. Meanwhile I’m fixing some other small issues before I start painting…

#5

Nice drawing style! Yesterday i thought you were using a photograph as reference, and you were building your scenery around the given pose.(which isn’t ideal concerning a good concept) But now i can see Storcha changed, and very well drawn. :thumbsup:

I’d think about using a horizontal format, since the picture isn’t only about the girl’s look but more about her fate, needing space to show it. Beside that, a burning village in the rain is giving you plenty of options to create outstanding effects. Also the hanging in arm is somewhat special (my suggestion about having important subjects in the foreground taken almost a bit literally - meant more the visibility, which can be accented also by light, perspective, etc. The corpse can be nonetheless in the foreground, in front of her respecively, but there should be more visible of the reason for her sorrow than just an arm. But on the other side… having a killed guy in the foreround could easily draw off the attention from the girl, needing then some tricks with lighting…)

The neck is better btw, while the mouth not open enough imo for a lionhearted scream. Not so good the pose of the legs - their turned out position is more a presenting herself than the natural position for a despaired scream in the jungle. Turning them in (so the shins point somewhat outward) would better convey a falling onto the knees. And i’d keep her torso absolutely straight when leaning back - straight movements suggest aggression when accusing someone for example. The hair could be longer for a jungle lady - it’s raining and she really doesn’t care now about her hairstyle - nice would be to have also some wet locks in her face.

#6

Zokana -

Thank you again for your thoughts and comments! She’s slowly coming along.

I chose to leave her mouth a little smaller than a “roar” because she is angered, she is also grieving, so her mouth is in a sob. With her hands raised up its like she is asking “Why God why?!” is the sense I’m going for a bit.

I do think you are right about the hand. I like the idea of making it a more horizontal format. I thought about just having the torso of the man showing. I thought either he should be slumped forward or on his back looking up to the sky. Not sure yet.

The setting isn’t really a jungle setting… but a historical type village. Similar to medieval style, yet different. I do agree about her hair being longer… but her clothing is going to be burned and torn so I would assume her hair may have been burned too if it was too long. Some strands on the face are an excellent idea.

The legs… I’m a little confused about.

Edit: What do you feel about a color palette. I’m leaning to greys and burgundy… Based on what I’ve been reading about color and emotion… reds are good for rage, and anger, but this also expresses sorrow and grief which would follow closer to blues… So I am torn. Greys and blacks kind of symbolic for death too… but I don’t want it to be too dark so I’m trying to determine light sources in the front of her…

#7

That sob won’t be easy to get, but a good idea - a little challenge concerning facial expression.

The leg pose: someone despaired won’t stand with the legs closed - the lack of balance in such a moment will let her stand wide before falling onto the knees. And turned in legs suggest helplessness, which is certainly the case in such a moment. Kneeling with turned out thighs is more heroic, or/and a self-presentation. Try it yourself in front of a soft surface, letting yourself fall onto the knees without control from a wide standing position. The knees will point outward only when you’re doing it carefully.

As for the lighting i’d think about using mainly back light to have the guy in a shadow (not sure about showing only his upper half btw…). Additionally you could add for example a top light over her, illuminating more or less just her, like when God was using a torch… (but just subtly to not get kitschy) The top light would be also great for the creases on her clothings. But not more than an idea…

Concerning the colour palette: grey and burgundy are nice together, a very noble combination :smiley: (grey for sophisticated and burgundy for rich, but also for Christianity) Wearing burgundy was forbidden for common folks some centuries ago, reserved only for the top of the high society (like kings and bishops). With grey i’d be careful, there’s as good as no pure grey in nature - better to go for nuances of grey imo. An other possibility would be earth colours, and the rain could give some additional cyan or green accents. Cool would be a rough sketch incl colours and brightness.

Cheers
z

#8

Thank you! I’ve been working on a clothing design for her. I wanted something a little different from the previous outfit she wore in my other painting.

Here are two ideas I had.

I have another one too that I haven’t finished sketching yet either.

Nor have I added any accessories or jewels and such. Just a basic splash to try and get an idea going…

I think I understand now on the legs. I will play around with that.

I’ll try to post another update soon.

#9

Clothing is going into a good direction. I like more the second version - her top is more authentic there (the first version reminds a bit on a modern negligee). Only the skirt perhaps too much like a loincloth, torn rather symmetrically…

And a little illustration with some suggestions, done just quickly by using a simple 3d model (which of course isn’t ideal as ref, but great sometimes to play with poses and perspectives while working on a concept):

#10

Thank you for this… I understand what you’re trying to show now. I am working on hopefully getting a model to do this for me. I’ll post back here in a couple of days.

#11

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