[ValarianROOT]

Hi, I've been working on this for, I hesitate to admit, a few months now. It's definitely getting closer to something I like. I would appreciate any input, c&c, overpaints, harsh critisism even...etc. I'll leave it up to you to decide what's going on in the pic. I've given up trying to make some semblance of a story to back it up.
Looking forward to some great advice, as usual.

JN

[xino]

well...I'm not sure how to critique this since it's not my forte but I'll try to help by saying what I would do...

first off the stained glass...I would try to either blend out the glass seperators (the grey wires) or take them out all together and make the glass pieces much distinct shades (hopefully that made sense to you)..

the wire seperators just pop too much and the glass itself looks too clean to go with the rest of the image (unless that is what you are going for then by all means disregard what I just said)

and the woman seems fine except for the face..the proportions are off somehow...and the lighting on the forehead seems a bit off..perhaps it should be a single highlight instead of multiple?


you could try out these suggestions or not but that's what I would do personally...

I love how it's going so far though...oh and btw...don't worry about the time spent on it...if I mentioned how long it's taking for some of my current projects I would be laughed out of sijun

[Anthony]

I think the stained glass window is lovely. You'll want to work on your lighting still - its very middle-of-the-road in its value range. Try to get more lights and darks, and have more variation in how saturated the colors are. Your figure is good - you need to go back and study facial structure though, cause its off. I did a really fast PO of just the head area to show how you might change the structure(and remember that my painting skills are pretty lame!).


I would make fewer streaks in the volumetric light - make it hazier, more vague, and softer. Have the colors of the light blend together. On a side note, when I was doing my PO, I had to erase part of your original face. I didn't notice it until I hid my painting layer, and saw what I had created. Laughed myself out of my seat :]


Keep at it, this one's much much more solid than the last two, so keep at it.

[mOO]

dont know if this helps any but heres my take on it... a lot of what everyone else said

[ValarianROOT]

To hell with it I'm starting all over. Gotta get a fresh perspective and fix some stoff.
Thanks for pushing me Ant' and i will eventually put lots of color into shadows and highlights.

[Anthony]

Now that looks much better! Feel free to call me Ant, its what everyone in my personal life calls me anyway. The values are good, much better. Try to think about the shadows now. Soft or hard shadows? Hard means that the light rays are parallel(usually means either a very distant or very small light source). Diffused shadows(ala female model head shots) are from large, diffused light sources, such as a stained glass window, or a light array box. Keep it up!

[ValarianROOT]

Trying to get the feal that this cathedral has been abandoned for years. Decrepitude is difficult to incorporate in a believable context. Basically... should I keep/remove bookshelf and how do yall think its coming?


JN
P.S. I'm stock-piling some of your suggestions until I'm a bit happier with the concept and composition. I'm still basically in the sketch stage. Ah-ha!!! I'll post some sketches of dif. comps and see which is best received... Stay tuned.

[ March 19, 2002: Message edited by: ValarianROOT ]

[ValarianROOT]

Simpley a progress post? How does it look am i on the right path with it?
JN

[DarkVVulf]

I like this pose alot more, the book reading gives more personality to the woman as oppossed to her just standing there.

[ValarianROOT]

new and improved? that's for you to decide.

Just a bit of an update,

JN

[Gimbal8]

I like the hair better in this last one. Her head positioning seems to suggest she is reading aloud. As if she is rading the book to some people in front of her and is about to look up and make eye contact with them as she speaks.

Is that some kind of overturned furniture in the doorway next to her? A cathedral abandoned for years. Hmm. Maybe cob webs and some books that fell of the shelf would be good too?

[ValarianROOT]

YES! YES! Overturned books and cobwebs, dust in the air... All much the concepts I have in mind. Thank you Gimbal. Yes, as well, to the overturned and leaning pews in the background. I must spend more time on the BG to keep the consitancy of the pic going.

Thanks,
JN

[ValarianROOT]

Woked on perspectimve issues, and had some other ideas about the arch behind her. Otherwise I'm begining to like the way this is going.
Thanks again for everyone's input.

JN