[MoleculeMan]

I like the first one better. Also those stitches would never hold a real mouth . They would look better if they were thicker.

Good piece htough ilike it.

[Radiater]

Hi Tatania,

I like the first picture as well. The hair looks very thick though. Some thinner hair strokes would make a huge improvement. Use the search function to look up Hair Tutorials by Enayla. They are most helpful!

As for the stitches: Sutured skin looks more pulled together. Those lips look full and normal under there. While the stitches look loose, I think you would achieve the effect you want better if the skin really looked like it was being pulled.

That's all I can suggest. Hope its helpful.

Radiater.

[KleptomaN]

Love those eyes. This piece is almost perfect.

Ooh, and an answer to your question: #1 > #2.

[Tatiana]

thanks for the advice to anyone who commented, I'll keep it in mind. Now I jsut have to figure out how to make the lips look
pulled...

[EviLToYLeT]

Hard stuff to do....especially if the stitches are black. keep in mind that the stitches too have to cast shadows and to be honest. you have to keep the stitching pattern consistent..... no doxtor would cross a few threads here and there.....and then make a few straight.....

unless of course the girl .....or girls husband did it

anyway....may sound disgusting.... but do some image searching on stitches and.. well just look at them .. *shiver*

[DarkBlade]

Oh my.. that's kinda creepy.

Moving on from immediate impressions, I like the top one better. Bottom one... I dunno something with the lighting and whatnot.

Yes, the flesh needs to be pulled down a bit where each stitch is placed. Cheap way to do that might be to use the smudge tool a bit, don't know how well that would work though. Been a while since I've done digital as I've needed to go back and improve physical pieces.

[Tatiana]

There are two versions of this. All I did in the second one was apply a simple filter, but I think it adds alot. Which version is better? Also, some advice on the stitches would be great.

[Tiger Eaten]

Yes, I agree with the previous posts. You loose something after the filters with the second image. You might be better off just playing with the brightness / contrast as I imagine you are partly attracted to the glowish feeling you get with the filter applied. Better to keep all your original detail in there, looks fantastic. Eyes esp. Good, good, good.

The stiches do seem to be on the surface. I think perhaps you like the symbolic idea of someone having their mouth stiched but I get the feeling you really don't want to consider the true horror of such a thing as you've tackled it pretty lightly compared to the rest of your image. Maybe no mouth might be cleaner and get the point across? Or some kind of tape or cloth?

Anyhow, its a pretty grisly thing that you are depicting there. The first thing that I thought when I saw the picture was "She has such pretty eyes, it's too bad someone did that to her mouth" (talking about the character, not the art.)

Anyways, when in Rome. (I hope you don't mind)



[ August 03, 2001: Message edited by: Tiger Eaten ]

[bumble]

I've done a lot of disquisting drawings involving stiched lips, eyes, scalps and so forth. Your piece seems to look like you drew simple black lines over some fairly passive lips. As an artist you have full control over what visual experience you create.
My advice: the objective of stiching it pull together to surfaces, in this case, lips. so they wouldn't seem so passive, even if her mood is passive. They will be pulled together where you place stiches. This will require a couple of studies. Yes look for pics of stiches. You may want to give the appearance of her past struggle with these stiches by showing developed and fresh tears and holes where the stiches enter the flesh. Take out some black string and set it in similar lighting conditions. It wont be simple solid black. Also, the shadow next to the nose is bold, however, you seem to have a different light sorce for the chin. Anyhow, I dig it, keep plugging.

[Radiater]

Hi Tatiana,

I think tiger eaten has given a decent idea of what stitches might look like in the mouth. It actually looks quite ghastly now with the repaint.

Radiater

[Tatiana]

Yea, that manipulation is pretty freaky. Again, thanks for the advice everyone. Despite the fact I'm very squeamish, I do want to make this as gruesome as it would really look, I did some more research, and I'll finish this later. My schedule's been backed up lately, so it might be a while. And Tiger, thank you, that picture really helps.