[Lunatique]

I've always wanted to do a classic group portrait of fantasy characters--sort of going back to childhood inspirations of fantasy novels and D&D. I used Painter 7 and Photoshop 7 for this.

Special thanks to Steven Stahlberg for a great crit in the form of a paintover. I gotta say, it's super cool to be sitting next to each other everyday at work, where we could just turn to the other person and go, "Hey, should I make this blue or yellow?" We've been painting over each other's stuff and giving each other crits ever since we met online, and it's wonderful to carry that tradition over to real life. (We've got a collaboration piece going on, and it should be finished soon. Keep an eye out for it.)

This is also the piece I'm concentrating on for the D'Artiste book. I'll be detailing every step of the creation process in the book. You can find out more about it here: http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/call_for_entries/dartiste/



Some close-ups:

[Germ01]

What a great piece! The composition and the color palette are right on! And this certainly brings back the memories of playing those long hours of dice throwing. I have just a few crits, the two characters with the dark black hair, I find they need a liittle more detail to the hair, there should be just a little more color variation instead of just black. The other crit is with girl in the background were her arm is behind the statue head. Her arm is perfectly detailed but yet the statue head is somewhat blurry(loose) and as a result it tends to stand out a little weird. I guess make her a little blurry to create a little more depth or make the statue a bit more tighter. Anyways great pic! I look forward to seeing that collab!
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[Malachi Maloney]

My only crits are that it looks a bit too blurry in spots, could be a lack of hard edges with some of the shadows. And the cloth doesn't fold very naturally in a lot of places.

On the plus side; I really dig the attention to detail in the back ground.

I didn't know you worked at Optidigit now. Must be cool working with Steven, he's an artist in a class of his own. He's been more than generous with his paintovers and advise with my work, I think it would be an awesome experience to actually sit down with the man and paint some time. You're a lucky guy Luna.


Take it easy.
Malachi
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[yelahttam]

Really nice, I love the overall color scheme, and the composition. My only crits would be that the foreground fiogure seems a bit flat, and the eyes on the characters are kind of dead, they need some life to them, maybe a tad more reflection in the ones in direct light. I especially dig the character designs! - mh

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[Novacaptain]

This shows a lot of effort, like most of your work and i really admire that. It seems as though It could use more distinction, or contrast, between the light areas and dark - even if this means that you would have to sacrifice some of the detail in the darker areas.
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[DeadbeaT]

Dig it. Only crit is the eyes of the guy to the left (the one with black hair) his eyes seems kind of big, I think it gives him a kind of "cute" look also you should meybe try roughen up the features, some of the look (In a lack of a better word) plastic, however I love the compostion and background
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[The Real Mark]

Excellent!!!


This is a cool shot, kinda like someone went back in time and took a photo of these guys.

Though the guy on the far right, I dotn think his sword on his back is not entirely circular. Also with the lighting I would probably make the shadows darker and perhaps the light areas lighter. Feels like a morning shot.

This isn't a problem or anything really but i'd probably give the guy with the bow some arrows on his back aswell.

[Lunatique]

Germ01- I updated with your suggestions implemented.

Malachi Maloney- noted and fixed(I think). Yeah, it's great just coming to work and tease him all day long. He's a good sport.

yelahttam- I made the reflections brighter--but it's a very subtle change.

Novacaptain- I had it really dark before, but it didn't have that ethereal look anymore. I guess I'm kinda fond of that dreamy look.

DeadbeaT- hehe, it's my anime influence.

The Real Mark- guy on far right? You mean the albino assassin? If you meant the black-haired one on the left foreground, his sword's handle is suposed to be slightly squarish--like a tennis racket.

[The Real Mark]

Doh! I meant left. But yeah, the square handle actually looks cool.