@Joy-Heyer said:
It isn't just the actual measurement of each, it is their visual weight. Visually the cowboy and the sign feel the same weight to me. Enlarging the font of the title and changing it's background color may change the visual weight. Also making the cowboy a bit smaller would help in multiple ways: it would move him away from the edge, give the author and illustrator text more room, and create size variance but still keep him in front of the sign.
I get what you are saying now--I'll play around with it!
So this morning -sketch over. I have not done any classes on characters -bear with mine lols. Do you like A or B? A having more of the bed above water or B with less bed and more water. Also anything else you can see? I have added a book and a starfish plush as objects in her bedroom -I want to keep things uncluttered. Or any other object suggestions?
I didn't add to show the tail on the mermaid leaning on the bed because I wanted it (no gender right now) to feel more of a comfort and less distraction for the girl to talk with a friend no matter their species. It is also under the bed but on purpose.
Thank you
I additionally added corner wall -as I just completed the "Interiors" portion of CED. I am not sold on it -but it does help clarify the space. What do you think?
Worked on it a little bit last night and I'm feeling quite happy with the progress, although I might go and give the teddy bear a happier expression and add some more details to the underwater world.
Can't wait to color this with markers and pastels!!
I'd have another look at the sky maybe, it's very saturated and one block of colour, so it stands out to me quite a lot and draws away from the main subject matter a bit. I'm not sure it's even necessary to include, perhaps if the water reached the top, there'd be more space for the rubbish and turtle and for the bubbles to draw the eye up without being cut by the horizontal line of the sea. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the suggestions so far. I might take both the fish herder and the tea party idea to the rough comp stage to see which one I like the best, and which one I am more likely managing to pull it off.
I really like the fish herder idea myself, but I am not sure if I am able to pull it off, struggled quite a bit even in the thumbnail stage It is a very much scene based piece, and I have never painted the underwater scene before, nor did I drew many fishes.
Thank you very much @chrisaakins , I appreciate your thoughts on this piece. One of the reasons I avoided digital until about a year ago now was because all I saw was so obviously digital, that there was literally no appeal in it for me. I love the look of traditional media, and trying to enjoy the benefits of digital while retaining a traditional look has been one of my main goals/struggles. All in all, my approach to working has been one of simplicity or a traditional mind set. There are a lot of cool tricks that can be used for digital, but for me, I have to limit those features. When I deviate from that I run into issues like you mentioned with the original border being too clean - (fake).
I may come back to this later to add the secondary character to break the border, but for now it needs to breathe.
@theprairiefox Thank you so much for your feedback! It is so helpful - i am really glad the poetry is coming across to you...that was my main concern really. From the feedback here i'm thinking my travelers inkwell really needs to go since it is reading as being important and as a compass. right now it stands out because i created it with the selection tool and ellipses but i'm thinking now that if i soften the edges, highlights and lines it will still not work...maybe a more classic looking inkwell?? - best to be rid of it i think. Listening while daydreaming about what is being said is so on the nose! I am trying to make it feel as though she is unsure of her own feelings too... something i'll need to work on a bit - the petals are a kind of visual manifestation of the words he is saying...also to show magic exists in this world - because how could he become a merman ....My eight year old daughter says she likes the petals because before i put them in it looked like he was reading her a bill and asking for the money! she was so right too
@chrisaakins Thank you for the feedback Chris! - i will work more on her expression sounds like it needs a bit of an adjustment to get where i want it...my fear is of being too dramatic like a romance novel cover.....Thank you for the feedback on the scales - i have not gotten to them as of yet - i have kind of laid out the location of scales though - a few years back i got feedback from Jake on a mermaid piece that had submitted for third Thursday that i had gone overboard on the scales and needed to knock them back quite a bit..i plan on taking that advice on this and not having them be so well defined - thanks again
@Johanna-Kim Thank you for the feedback Johanna! - my hope was to convey poetry with the little book and quill pen..."The Wooing of the Salt-marsh Mermaid" maybe? I have gathered by now that the metal object must go...it is an inkwell but is not reading as such - Thank you so much for the compliment of the rendering - it was really helpful to hear - I've been afraid of color for years and decided with this piece that i would not back down from that little voice - i still feel lost ..but less lost than i thought i'd feel at this point
Thank you all again - very helpful feedback!
Ha, that makes me feel better then, anything we like goes I guess! I browsed Artstation for mine.
I also just noticed just how formulaic a lot of the images I picked out appear, in terms of placing a vertical object on the line to the right third, against a bright background, framed by a dark foreground. It applies to all of them, apart from the first, which is just the same formula flipped! I feel like @Heather-Boyd 's second set of choices also have a lot of similarities, with bright midgrounds being framed by quite dark foregrounds on both sides, like a cave.
This is a really nice idea, I especially like the pots of watercolours in the water and the character itself is so lovely!
Are you going to be putting a background colour for the sky? At the moment it's looking a bit too bright with the white background and it's making it hard for me to see your characters top half and that she's holding paper and a brush!
Maybe a sunset sky of pinks and blues so her colours will pop out more?
@CesarAndradeArt Thank you Cesar! You've helped me a lot. Right now I'm practicing 24/7. Road to mastery. Can't wait to see more work from you. I have already checked your whole body of work. Thank you for the inspiration.
Cheers!
@theprairiefox This image looks really great. If I were to give any critique maybe it would be... When you look at the cavern picture you shared above, what makes you want to look at it again and again is the cavern's detail. It makes you have awe for the environment and its natural beauty. Going back to your artwork, right now I only see pictures of the people of Lunar City (the animals or mermaids that live there, etc). What does the environment look like that makes you want to be there so much?
But again, your picture is looking great! This is just an extra idea if you wanted one.
I had started this for April's "Before the Moment." Finally finished and decided to share. I still suck at environment and hope to take Brian Ajhar's class one day Anyone have anything to share to help with environment appreciated
I love #6 as well... the looking through the bag gives a great feel. I understand the desire for #8 with the addition of the supporting character and adding to the story.
I wonder if #8 would be stronger if the boy were looking through the bag with a look of wonder. Like the pirate is showing him some great treasure?
Just a thought...
