[monjo]

I'm working on a study of Leonardo's Madonna of the Rocks. He did two versions himself. I've taken elements of both and changed the poses and background somewhat. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated. My main goal is to keep the feel of the Renassaince masters while utilizing my own style.








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[DeadbeaT]

waaa! that angel girl looks like a cross between an angel and a vampire from one of the blade movies! WALLAH! its a good start and you should keep working on it, who knows you might overdo him
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DeadbeaT was here

[jinnseng]

I think it's looking good. I'm not familar with what the orginal work looks like though. The only thing that stands out to me the child on the right looks too muscular to me. If it's suppose to be a child I don't think they're that built yet. Am I making any sense? Anyways, I really do like the style, I hope I can achieve atleast 1/100th of the skill you have someday.

[monjo]

Thank you both for the kind and positive comments.....The toddlers aged babies appear quite muscular in the original too. I'm considering softening them some. I've been working on the foreground and background as well as the Madonnas cape,dress and the bottom of the angels dress. Here's where I'm at now.

[monjo]

latst update is at the top of the page

[monjo]

latest update is at top of this page

[faB]

Take care of saturation, and keep in mind how it can detach elements.

You might not want the blue sky to come so strongly in the background. Also the blue sky in my opninion takes away some of the mood of the piece.

Furthermore compare the composition to the original. I think in your painting the madonna is no more the focus point. In the original the darkness and light on her make as well as the less opened background, and the larger space taken by the madonna and the children make her at the center of the piece.

Composition wise now you have several bright shapes in the background that are split left and right, cf. Loomis' s Creative Illustration / tonal plans. This may take away some of the impact of the original, or YOUR take on it for that matter. I'm not saying this as if you had to do the same, just pointing out possible composition problems.

All the upper part of the background rocks seems a tad monochromatic.

Just my thoughts and I'm not a professional. Looks good otherwise, nice rendering! Hope this helps. Cheers.

ps: looking at it again the top right sky part is clearly more saturated than the 'hole' in the left side, I think those should be the same saturation.
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"I'm not a shrimp, I'm a KING PRAWN !" -- Pepe.
selfportraits & stuff

[monjo]

I'll work on the saturation levels but as far as the sky is concerned the difference in the intensity has to do with atmospheric perspective. The closer the sky is to the horizon the less saturated the color should be. Here's my latest update.... been working mostly on the two toddlers.

[watmough]

too saturated i think....

[monjo]

I have removed all of the pictures. Thanks to all who gave me comments and suggestions . I'm almost finished and may post the finish piece soon