3rd Thursday advice please - what does my picture need?
-
Hi! Thanks for looking at my picture! I've got this far with it but not sure how to improve it. Hopefully the story element is clear? She's a witch that's broken her broom stick and stuck up a tree. How do I make it better though?
Any advice appreciated. Thank you!
Magical, fairy tale art. Www.jacquelinewild.com
-
@jacs Nice painting, have you tried various camera angles to see if that changes anything?
The point of focus, the bottle and tool box seem to be centered. you could try shifting the toolbox around or placing it on the other side.
If there was some way of showing how high up she's stuck that might show it's a bigger problem.
It took me a minute to notice her hat below her maybe move it to the branch above and see how that looks. Give it more the impression she climbed down to were she is sitting now.
It does read as a witch stuck in a tree with a broken broomstick. -
@Rich-Chabot thank you for your suggestions and ideas! I wI'll have a play around and see what I can do. I found it quite tricky to come up with a picture containing all the necessary elements. I think you have to compromise somewhere..
I see that you are working on a witch too! Great minds think alike. I don't really have any suggestions though! Good luck x -
So I moved the box and made the hat a bit darker so it sticks out a bit more....Magical, fairy tale art. Www.jacquelinewild.com
-
@jacs I think you can push some of the shadows more on places that you feel would get the least amount of light. Do you have any specific light source in mind other then the magic bottle?
Starting the Color and Light course has me thinking about shadows and light now. -
The above image is 1. your original drawing, 2. your drawing painted over to include added shadows (blue) and highlights that would result (I assume) from the bottle (white/yellow), and 3. the shading changes of the second picture with Lucy and the magic box enlarged so that they take up more of the composition.
By adding highlights and cast shadows your piece "pops" more. By making Lucy and the box larger they become more important in the composition and don't compete as much with similar sized objects (such as the tree branch to Lucy's immediate left that is almost as wide as she is).
Are you using references for this piece? That may help you with lighting and getting the proper texture with your images. For example, the branch to Lucy's right has a lot more texture than the rest of the tree). References would also help a bit with the shading of the tree leaves and with the fungi.
All in all you have a good start. I hope this helps some.
-
@Rich-Chabot thank you Rich! I will do that. I need to watch the rest of that class too!
@laurencrest thank you so much Lauren! The time and effort you have put in to your advice has blown me away. Very grateful for your input. You have a very interesting website too. We have a few favourite books in common! -
No problem. I look forward to seeing what changes you make.
Thanks for checking out my website. It hasn't been updated in over half a year (other than the blog section) and I'm working on relaunching it in a month or two.
Which books do we have in common?
-
Good luck on your site relaunch! I've been giving mine a quick Spring clean! As for books I liked Catch 22, Good Omens and Howls Moving Castle
