Personal projects feedback please:|

[Asyas_illos]

Figured I’d start a thread for all my personal projects I’ll be working starting with this wizard of oz illo. I’d like some ideas on who she should be conversing with. I’m considering characters from ozma of oz instead of the classics (scarecrow tin man and lion). I haven’t had a chance to read it but the film return to oz is based off it, so I’m thinking characters like belina the hen or Jack pumpkin head, tick tock, etc. I’m not against the og characters just want to step out of the box.

[Griffin McPherson]

@Asyas_illos what came to mind to me is that a lot of the edges look very soft and make a lot of the image blend together. I love the texture of the edges in general but I think if you cleaned them up a bit it could create stronger contrast in the piece over all

[Asyas_illos]

Here are some character comps I sketched out real quick. The first is Jack pumpkin head and belina. Next is scarecrow and Toto and witch. Third is Glinda and munchkins. Any thoughts? Which do you like best?

[Griffin McPherson]

@Asyas_illos oh I think Glinda definitely works best. It really pulls the composition together, especially with the other little characters scattered around

[Asyas_illos]

@Griffin thanks for your feedback! The sketchy-ness is sort a thing my style has drifted into, but I can definitely see how it makes things a bit fuzzy. I will try and clean up some areas like the hillside in the background.

[Asyas_illos]

@Griffin thanks I like that one too

[Griffin McPherson]

@Asyas_illos I actually really love the background hillside. I think in general your sketchyness isn’t a problem. The areas I feel like it might be a bit of an issue is just around the base of the tree where there’s a lot of those little sketchy streaks of grass overlapping with the the tree and the same with the lighter grass by the road and the darker grass behind it. That bit could just be a value contract thing more so than a blending issue though

[Asyas_illos]

@Griffin gotcha I’ll look into adding some shadows around there maybe

[ann-nadine]

@Asyas_illos amazing work, I love the texture and the palette choice. I think you might need a little bit of contrast as @Griffin said and I also think Glinda and munchkins would work. Great choice, I love the Wizard of Oz

[kirsten-mcg]

I love the Oz books! I definitely recommend them as reads if you haven't. They are so funny and full of fun, quirky characters. I love your idea of using different characters. The sawhorse was always one of my favorites. Not sure if he was in the movie or not, because I haven't seen it! But I generally agree with everyone else about @Asyas_illos thumbnails. Ozma's shape works great! As far as the sketchiness, I really like the way it looks in the tree and background. It helps it to recede. Maybe consider cleaning up the foreground a little to help it come forward more? I love the way you rendered the bricks on the road in the foreground, and would love to see something similar happen with Dorothy and the bushes and rocks in the foreground.

[Asyas_illos]

@kirsten-mcg I am definitely going to get the set I have always wanted to read the rest of them but I wanted to read them with my kids unfortunately right now I think they’re a bit to advanced for littles.

[Asyas_illos]

Here is another piece I’m working on I was trying to make a spot illo but I’ve been going crazy with environment design and I got a little carried away. Still pretty rough minus the tree, which will have foliage and sort circle everything back around.
I have two directions for red unsure about which to move forward with…

[kirsten-mcg]

@Asyas_illos I love the design in this one! There's so much movement!

[Asyas_illos]

@kirsten-mcg thanks!

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@Asyas_illos this is looking awesome

[Asyas_illos]

@Nyrryl-Cadiz thank you

[Melissa_Bailey]

@Asyas_illos really nice lines in this one! I like how the wolf and tree contrast but have the same lines and movement. Really nice.

But why not really lean into the curving lines? The horizontal lines of the horizon and tree branch are breaking up that circular movement, interrupting the flow. There are also a lot of lines leading off the left side of the page and nothing to bring the eye back in.

Hope you don't mind -- I did a drawover to demonstrate just one way you could adjust the composition by leaning into the curving lines. I added more color, too, as it helps me put all the pieces together in a composition. Not sure if this is even the palette you're going for ... is she going to be Little Blue Riding Hood? That could be a cool spin on the tale!

Anyway, hope this helps.

[Asyas_illos]

@Melissa_Bailey haha no they won’t be blue just like it to sketch out characters and work around compositional elements. Thanks I do like draw overs it’s helps me to see from others pov and and think of things I may not have seen otherwise. I like all the curves but I’m still unsure if I want to use a background in this one I don’t have many spot illustrations for my portfolio. That being said maybe I could both… just keep the background on a separate layer. Thanks Melissa!

[Melissa_Bailey]

@Asyas_illos you're so welcome! I think it could be really nice without a background, or maybe an out-of-focus, painterly background. That will keep the focus on the contrasting characters.

[Jeremy Ross]

Hi @Asyas_illos, I like C the best. Looking good!