Original piece
zilla done clcanadyarts.jpg
Revised piece
zilla 2 sm.jpg
The critiques today were great. I'm so grateful to have received some unexpected feedback on my piece. Thank you @Will-Terry and @Jake-Parker
A comparison and analysis of the before and after:
I rushed the original piece and didn't plan anything out, instead I just went for it, and I think that hurt my colors pretty bad. I also didn't sketch any of the rubble, just free-handed it with paint. I really need to plan things out ahead of time.
I originally edited the piece as little as possible digitally, as it felt like I was lying about the process if edited too much, which I now realize is a bit silly to think. It's whatever looks good, right?
Initially I went for depth of field with the destroyed skyscrapers, but failed. Added a bit more detail to the buildings, along with pushing the depth, but I think my new depth of field blur almost gives a miniature effect, which wasn't intended. I think not having something else for size reference is creating the illusion. Thought about adding some helicopters, or perhaps a iconic building that is still standing to strengthen the sense of size.
The guys said that brightening the bg could help overall. It really defined the shape of the big beasts head, as well as zilla himself.
To justify all the light around the beast I added smoke, which broke things up a bit, it made things a little more interesting to look at as well, and now it looks as if the beast is appearing through the thick smoke choked atmosphere.
When comparing the edit to the original, I see just how flat and boring it looked.
Feel free to critique.