[Torstein Nordstrand]

Hi all,

Summing up all mistakes from my last effort (seen in the Finished section), I try an easier depth setup this time, separating the background clearly from the front figures, reducing the picture to two planes.

There is clearly more work to be done, right now I see lots of things. The background will receive more interest, the skeleton needs cleaning, so does the other two foreground figures. The big guy feels finished, though. Any comments on visual reading, composition and whatnot welcome!



[ September 14, 2002: Message edited by: Torstein Nordstrand ]

[eyewoo]

Yes... good start... Love what your doing with the left side character's hand pointing at the skeleton. Regarding the big guy in back... his weapon arm looks to ba at a very awkward angle. It doesn't seem like a blow would be struck that way...???

See paintover below... I pretty much just flipped the arm vertcally and moved the club to the other side...

[ceenda]

Yeah, I agree with Phil's comment.

Also, consider flipping the knight himself horizontally, that way his shield could be guarding the two others and his mace wouldn't be in danger of clipping the other 2 guys on it's way down.

Awesome concept.

[Torstein Nordstrand]

I'm with you there, Philip. The awkward angle is a trade-off, cause as you see, his arm is now outside the frame Hmm... maybe I should extend the canvas upwards to standard book-format instead, and add an interesting background. Make the weapon pointing towards a nice title as well. Hmm.... that would solve a lot of problems wouldn't it....
(hey, but what about my nice circular composition, then? *cries*)

[Torstein Nordstrand]

Quick replies, quick replies!

Ceenda, if I move the warrior to a shielding position... right now, the ghost seems to have the upper hand, I think. In my head it's a dynamic situation where the undead just appeared and has struck one of the adventurers. The warrior is going to make a move, but right now he's flat-footed. The ghost is in charge. Thanks though, really want to make this one flow...

[Basement bound]

I know you probably have settled this but what if the knights arm was straight out? As if he was playing pollo(to take off the skeletons head)?

[Mindsiphon]

Looking good! I like how the picture tells a story.
Everything is painted well but I agree about the arms position.
How about putting the arm in a position like this?

[Mindsiphon]

-

[Torstein Nordstrand]

Thanks all for the interpretations, I really didn't want to do anything about it (I hate changing things I've "finished" )- but why ask for comments if I can't adapt to suggestions? :P

I spent hours yesterday trying to find a better, more "active" working solution. I don't know how many times I resketched from the shoulder down, with different weapon designs. What I found to work least bad was using a flail (ball-in-chain) instead, which seemed to keep the compositional cirular motion alive. I nevertheless ended up scrapping the active weapon solution all together. I have decided to use another twist to the fighter... will update as soon as it looks better! (I don't want to totally clutter the thread with images)

Thanks again

[GG]

The circular composition was one of the first things I liked about this. I also like the dramatic lighting, but that is also the thing I'd think about before finishing this. There seems to be two light sources here, one from above, and the ghoul (supernatural light?). I don't think the bad guy has to be lit up as much as he is. He has just appeared, so he could trail off a little more transparently, leaving the glow to his more ominous and threatening aspects (hand and face) which are already lit up. The wizard (necromancer?), I think you are trying to keep out of the focal point, but some reflected light bouncing upward onto his face would give him a supernatural look of his own. He is after all defending his poor little friend (unsucessfully it seems), and may exhibit some protective expression which the light may achieve without having to change anatomy.

[Torstein Nordstrand]

So here's the update for now, not finished yet! To keep the viewing motion, the "knight" is now too shocked to hold on to his weapon - I will add the falling sword/halberd/morningstar/whatnot next. I've added a lot of texture (Painter 7) to an otherwise flat picture, here's today's update in 50% resolution of the original if somebody cares (200kb).

GG, I wanted the undead to have that cheezy "ghostly" look, though you're probably right that I overdid it, and it doesn't need all that brightness anymore... I've got a lot of new pointers making sure people see it anyway. I'll look into it. I think I've brought the magic-user more into the story. He was originally holding a cross towards the ghost, but it really distracted everything. The background is temporarily temporary, and wi ... grbrgh why do I always type so much?

Still interested in your viewpoints, here's the update at 25%:



[ September 14, 2002: Message edited by: Torstein Nordstrand ]

[gigatron]

I was just gona comment when poof you updated I was going to say the knight lacked angered emotion heh, but i guess thats sorta fixed also arm is kinda cooler now but hmm still a bit weird oh well i still love this painting really great bro

[GG]

I like this composition better because of the flip. Or maybe it's just me. I read somewhere that those of us who read in the western (left to right) tradition, tend to more easily "read" a left to right composition. Or maybe because I read that, I'm now doomed to believe it since it "seems" true. I also feel now closer to the action, rather than a passive observer of it. The subtle changes are also helping. I'm looking forward to seeing your palette for this.