Feedback wanted. YA illustration

[E. Miko]

Hello! I would love some feedback to push this illustration to be more impressive and interesting.

This illustration is an interior page for my YA IP "Sage and Midnight."

I want this to be the best it can be.
Thank you in advance!

[Asyas_illos]

@E-Miko the only thing I can see is that she appears to be looking just past him is that intentional? If not I would adjust her eyes to be either looking more into his chest or directly into his eyes. Hope that helps!

[KatrinaF]

With out knowing what's going on there I just went on a whim that this is about a couple 'connecting' at a concert. So here was my take.

The stage people were over powering the couple so I pushed them into the background.
I made the main couple bigger and adjusted her hand positions. I mean if you are going to touch someone make an impression and not hold your drink.
Her eyes weren't looking at him. On purpose? is she blind? Being aloof? So I adjusted that.
Also adjusted her skirt to make it flow or fluff better?
Lastly I took out the crowd. Yes they were cool and interesting to look at but they were distracting for me.
I didn't adjust it but if the guy is surprised I would change his hand gesture to a more shocked splay of fingers.

Anyway - just my 2 cents! Great hair on the characters I can tell you took a lot of time on it. I'd just watch out for stiff poses. I too struggle with this cause I use a mix of 3D models and reference.

Hope this helps!

[Blitz55]

@KatrinaF nailed exactly what I was going to say. The band is fighting with with the couple for attention in the image. By pushing them up as she has done you force the viewer into the moment that is happening with the couple as well as using the light from the stage to silhouette them more.

I think sometimes the struggle with doing an image is you want to do so much, and you can kind of become proud of so many different elements of an image that it's hard to pull back and sacrifice some of that for the betterment of the image and it's composition and ability to tell a story.

[E. Miko]

@Asyas_illos it does! Thank you!!

[E. Miko]

@KatrinaF awesome feedback! Thank you for doing a draw-over, it really helps me to see what is needed! It’s so funny how I still have so much to learn, especially with directing the character’s eyes I really appreciate your help! Thank you!!

[E. Miko]

@Blitz55 this is so absolutely true. I definitely need to be more mindful about simplifying my compositions. Thank you for the help!