[flying_v]

Hello,

I'm working on a watercolor ilustration of joan of arc. I did a previous attempt but it didn't really work out well, my problem is mainly with the shiny armour, here's the line drawing:



I've done shiny before:



But those were still lives, all I know is that shiny metal has greater contrast and should be painted darker than one would think. I've noticed that several people here in the forums can pull off shiny metal and armour almost effortlessly (spooge is the master), so I'm looking for advice.

I have much admiration for her so I really want to do a good job; her armour was supposed to be "white" (very shiny metal). Any paintovers, advice, explanations, etc. are greatly appreciated. I'll post the value/color comps as well as the final once I'm done.

For color I was thinking of a nice red reflected light from the left of the image (the fire in the background, which hints at her eventual burning at the stake), a dark moody blue/purple/brown for the background and rendering her in pinks almost, so you can tell that she's only 17. Good contrast as she will be delicate and her surrounding fairly harsh.

I also would appreciate any advice on how to render the fire on the left and how to fix up those negative shapes on her right, the helmets don't look very believable, I've never been good with designing negative shapes (it will all be fairly dark going back with some aerial perspective, very brushy and lose, so i'm only interested in the borders).

This is going to be watercolor, so if anyone knows additionally any tips on that or how to simulate for example the fire or smoke using watermarks, that would also be superb. I'm doing some tests now, it's looking interesting. In any case this is additional, general tips on rendering disregarding the medium will be great help.


thanks in advance.

[Cicinimo]

hey flying_v, nice drawing!

I just finished up a project very similar in theme, armored woman and all (although mine isn't joan of arc). Its probably pretty tacky to illustrate my point with my own work, but I'll do it anyways

http://www.artpad.org/gallery/storage/finished-work/progress_10.jpg

The techniques that I've found help to make a surface shiny are as follows:

-begin by coloring the armor with a very dark value. When you pull out highlights, the value contrast should help convey the shine of armor.

-reflect the lighting conditions with the highlights. It its a bright sunlit day, you'll see a bright orangy highlight for the sun, and a cool blue highlight where the sky reflects.

-use the dodge tool for the shiniest point. its your friend

-on curved round surfaces like her helmet, go for one hot spot where the brightest reflection is. Don't go crazy and lighten the whole thing, or its going to look like skin or some other non-reflective surface.

Yeah, I hope these tips help. I might not be qualified to dish out advice in the first place.
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[Farin]

Nice lineart. Looking forward to the finished piece.

here is a link, maybe it helps
http://www.arador.com/main/index.html


Greetings Farin