Portfolio piece comp feedback
-
I’m starting some portfolio pieces to showcase my painterly style I’m curious if this composition reads well. Thanks
Lol I didn’t mean to use my oil brush... -
-
From what I see, the composition looks pretty good!
The human character is placed on one of the intersections of the rule of thirds grid, while the head of the dragon character creates the lower horizontal line of the rule of thirds grid.The only thing that's bugging me is that the bottom section of the image feels a bit empty. I think placing some text in the bottom right, if this image is to be accompanied by script, would both create balance in the composition as well as make that space less empty without you having to change the image itself.
Best of luck to you, though, whatever your choice!
-
@Jonathan-Malski thanks! I did leave it blank with the intention of text although I have none to go with it lol. I will see how I can fix that!
-
I’m trying out not using hard lines, outlines, but it’s a lot more difficult than I thought!
-
@Asyas_illos I love the colour and texture of this piece. Definitely good material for portfolio.
I would try to work a bit more on the silhouette of the girl. Depending on what story you want to tell, right now the girl does not read very well since the value of her face and body is very close to the dragon. If you have the girl sitting up, her upper body and face would against the dark background, which could help. But of course, the posture needs to work with the story you intended to tell.
Regarding painting without line. I struggled with it for a long time, did lots of trial and error. One thing that has helped me was to think in value and shape. Lee white used to say "is this image a light shape against dark background, or a dark shape against a light background". Another thing is pay attention to edge control. Lee has made a youtube video which explains some methods on working with texture and edges.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7DedDc7aU0Have fun with the dragon :-). I always love painting dragons.
-
@xin-li thank you for light against dark reminder! I will move her around a bit more see if I find a better pose or maybe darken her skin tone? And thanks for the link to Lee’s video I will def check it out soon!
-
@Asyas_illos love your colors and the flow of the piece -- you could even experiment with darkening the background even more and see how that changes the mood...
Regarding not using hard lines or outlines ... is there a reason why you're moving towards this and away from lines? There are no rights or wrongs as far as our preferred styles -- if you like working with lines, go for it! If you prefer to explore an unlined style, go for it!
️ -
@Asyas_illos oh ... one other thing I forgot to mention ... is there a reason why you flipped the characters?
In children's books, the action usually goes from left to right, the way a reader turns pages. So if this piece is for your children's book portfolio, an art director or editor might question why you chose to have the characters moving "backward". Just something to keep in mind.
illustrator - author - smiley person
mbaileyart.com
instagram.com/mbaileyart/ -
@Melissa-Bailey-0 lol yes I flip it once in awhile just to see it fresh again I will be sure it’s going right to left when I finalize. As far as the line work I am pretty fond of it, but I see a lot of beautiful work that’s unlined, I just wanted to test my boundaries a little, step out of that comfort zone.
-
Well I think I’m done not sure if it will end up in my portfolio though I’m happy with it but I don’t love it
-
@Asyas_illos Really nice composition and great rendering with the dragon's face & expression!
illustrator - author - smiley person
mbaileyart.com
instagram.com/mbaileyart/ -
@Melissa-Bailey-0 thank you I like the dragon but I can’t get the girl right maybe I’ll come back to it after a spell and work with it some more.
