[Deprive]

Not entirely done, still gotta work on the dress alittle, fix the hair on her shoulder, and the top arm.
Don't know what else, so your comments would be greatly appreciated.

[bearsclover]

I like the style, I love the colors, but that arm (the one that's over her head) is tree-trunk-like! A little thinner and more delicate would work better. Also, that black collar is so...black. Maybe soften it up with some greyish or maroonish highlights? It's sort of like a big black hole in the middle of the painting.

Her face is a little hard and just a little too "masculine." It's an attractive face, though. I don't want to suggest that you soften her features unless you were aiming for a more delicate look. But if you want a delicate look, some softening would be in order.

Overall, a very nice piecel Once again, love the colors. Very unusual.
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Madness takes its toll - please have exact change.

[Deprive]

Fixed up parts of the face, hair, dress, made the top arm thinner.

[Deprive]

152 views, I thought I would get alot more comments :p

[bearsclover]

OK OK OK!!!

I was in a particular mood (I am procrastinating on my studies) so I did a little Photoshop work on it. I hope you don't mind. I'm not sure that what I did (especially with her face) is the style you are aiming for, so please feel free to disregard. I have a particular style of doing portraits (sometimes kind of "fashiony") and that's not for everyone.

Anyway, here's the image: http://www.delicateflower.org/images/pinkdress21.jpg

As I got into the image, I saw that her arm was way too thick and way too long. I did a very sloppy trimming of it, to give you an idea of what I was getting at. Bear in mind that part of her arm is obscured by her sleeve, so her arm starts under the sleeve�it needn't be as long as you originally had it.

I also did some work to the face. I gave her a little more shadow to the shadow side of the face, added a few highlights to the eyes, lips, cheeks and forehead. I added a little width to both sides of her face, softened her chin a little, moved her ear out a little more and obscured it with some hair. (I was getting the ear really weird and I got fed up with it! ) I added more shading to her nose and changed the shape of her nose just a little. I also moved her mouth down a little, because I thought the nose and mouth were just a little too close together.

I also blended and blurred the color on the collar a little bit more, so it is softened and a little more subtle. I narrowed her other arm a little, and narrowed her neck (just a little) and did a few tweaks to her hairline.

Please bear in mind that I don't know if any of this is what you are aiming for�especially the stuff in the face. I thought you had a nice spare style going on with the face and I liked your subdued colors, and I tried not to mess with that too much, but I may have gone too far.

There's more tweaks that could be done on it�lightening up the dark shadow on the neck, maybe, work with the shadows on the face a little (get a more definite light source) and work on the dress a little. Just little nit-picky things.

I think you've got a really nice piece there, and I especially like the woman's expression�very interesting. I like the unsual colors and I think you pull the colors off, which is quite impressive. Those colors could easily have fallen into the "dull" and "muddy" category, but at least on my monitor, they don't. I like them.

Well, back to studying�can't procrastinate any longer!
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Madness takes its toll - please have exact change.

[Deprive]

I know you were just trying to help, but I really wish you wouldn't have done that. Now I have no interest in working on it anymore

[bearsclover]

Deprive, I'm sorry you feel that way, and that certainly was not my intention when I spent that time fiddling with the piece. But I am sure that in a few weeks the vision of my sloppy little Photoshop thing will dissolve from your mind and you can finish it.

It would be a crying shame to not finish such a nice piece simply because someone else fiddled with it a little bit. I apologize for not being aware that a visual explanation of what I was getting at would not be welcome, but that is usually the way I do things because words alone usually don't convey what I'm trying to get at. I am terribly sorry that my attempts were not helpful. Please, for the benefit of clueless folks like me, please explain in BOLD LETTERS that you do not wish people to do any Photoshop work on any of your WIPs.

And once again, just put away the piece for a while, I am sure you will be able to finish it in a way that pleases you. It's a very nice piece.
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Madness takes its toll - please have exact change.

[eyalyab]

i read through this thread and i just had to say this..
as far as i know, this forum is ment to help artists help eachother.
when you post your stuff here (expecially work in progress stuff), it usually means you want comments, suggestiong and so on. paintovers are a good and common way to show suggestions, at least on this forum, as far as i can tell.
you complain that nobody replied to your post. well, bearsclover is the only one that replied and kept replying and suggesting. he even went through the trouble to stop his studying and do a painover. he made some suggestiong that were in place in his first reply, and when he saw you didnt realize them, he thought a paintover will help you see what he ment better.
i think you have to thank him, rather than put him down.
that's all

[bearsclover]

eyalyab, thanks so much for your comments. Bless your heart. Oh yeah, and I'm a "she"! I know that there is no way to tell these things on these boards, so we just guess at genders, but as it happens, I am of the female persuasion.

I am truly sorry that Deprive doesn't want to work on this piece anymore�it's a good piece. I really feel bad about this whole situation. But I will say one thing�I'm glad I posted my paintover as a link. That way, no one's eyes were assaulted with it without warning. Anyone who clicked on it made a choice to do so.

Also, no matter how disappointed and sorry I am that I unwittingly caused Deprive distress, I do know that I am not responsible for him (or her) deciding to not finish the piece. (And I definitely hope he will change his mind on that one.) That's a choice he has made and I'm sorry he's made it, but there you go�we all make choices.
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Madness takes its toll - please have exact change.