Witches of the North, South, East and West
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I'm going to try for four more portraits of Oz characters for this months Third Thursday (put the mermaid on hold as of yesterday) - i've got Oz done finished and started the Wicked Witch of the West last night - i'm trying to avoid too many conventions such as a long pointy nose and a witch's hat - my thought was maybe she was quite beautiful once upon a time but became twisted by hate, greed, and envy. It's just a start .. in the book she has one eye and the magic shoes are made of silver ...needs a lot of work - this is basically a rough sketch at this point - the heavy lines will need to change but i think i am liking the composition - any thought much appreciated
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@Kevin-Longueil I love the wizard OZ. I like your take on the witch. I think think your composition is good.
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@Kevin-Longueil very nice piece, kind of a combination of wicked witch and the joker!
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@ShereeNorthrup @Thrace Thank you both for the feedback - very much appreciated
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@Kevin-Longueil Beautiful - that shoe is awesome and the fingers too. Did you see "Wicked"? It may cast some light on the story of the Wicked witch of the west
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Really good texture and expression, in the face and the fingers as well
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Nice and creepy. Are you going for scars or face paint? As of now in your sketch it reads as face paint, but that can change quickly once you start to tighten everything together. Love the fingers, i can never get hands/fingers to look right.
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Reminds me of the Japanese "Demon" masks.
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@smceccarelli Thank you Simona - so glad to hear you approve of the shoe! - i totally cheated on where the witch's reflection is and was hoping it still came across as believable - i just started watching "fundamentals of lighting with sam nielson" last night - i should have watched it two years ago - it is incredible - thank you for the recommendation on that - i have not seen "Wicked" yet - i've been on a Wizard of Oz blackout since we started the designing Oz challenge - trying not to put anything into my head Oz related besides the text of the book - i'll check it out when i'm done though - Thank you for your feedback
@Tyler-Blake Thank you Tyler! - really appreciate your feedback.
@Chip-Valecek Thank you Chip - it does look like face paint right now i agree - for some reason if i draw with a fat line and then refine it down afterwards i'm finding i like the results better - i think i am much looser with a slightly thicker line and each one does not feel so precious ....so it looks like face paint - but i will thin them out - the lines are supposed to represent wrinkles so i have to work on the lighting for them - i'm glad you like the hands - one thing i love about the iPad is i can run into a problem drawing the pose of something (which i did with the hands) and one minute later have shot a reference photo that i can import and have right there while i'm drawing - my fingers look a little different than these but they worked to get the pose right - thank you for the feedback - really appreciate it
@mattramsey - i agree - looks like a kabuki villain right now -
Working on Glinda - trying to give her a "knowing " look - in the book Glinda is very old but looks quite young - i am thinking for her prop she will have a farmhouse in or hovering above her hand - not quite sure - anyways.. thanks for looking
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These are looking great:)
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@evilrobot Thank you William! Really appreciate the support - i think i'm possibly going to do the four witches - (Wicked Witch of the East should be interesting
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Working on Good Witch of the North - two days of struggle - i think i have a solid start though - need to work on her costume quite a bit - but i think i need to move on for now - onward to Wicked Witch of the East
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Does this concept work? In the book the magic shoes are made of polished silver - i was trying to come up with a way of showing the Wicked Witch of the East without using the image of her feet poking out from under the house - this is a quick drawing of my idea - i won't explain what is happening so you can better judge if it it coming across - no worries if the concept is not working for you but it would be good for me to know - any feedback would be very helpful
(shoes are not quite the same as my first Witch image but i will change that if i go with this idea)
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@Kevin-Longueil -what a great series! This last one took me awhile to figure out and then when I did I started to question the reflection. I'm assuming this is before the moment of "impact" based on the angle of the feet and legs and the cast shadow on the flat surface below the feet. If so, I feel the witch would be reflected in the shoes with the house above her. And wouldn't it be the underside of the house reflected, not the side? You could do the after impact moment and show it reflected in the shoes (either the house or the munchkins). Again, nice series!
Twitter: @Joy_Illustrated
Instagram: joy_illustrated
Website: joyheyer.com -
@Joy-Heyer Thank you for your feedback Joy and the kind words too - i did a bit of experimenting with stainless steel shim stock, a polished tumbler and a pair of my wife's shoes - you are right, from our perspective we would see a bit of the person wearing the shoes represented as a short dark rectangle at the center top of each shoe - i was thinking of this image as more symbolic than real ...kind of like the Cowardly Lion image i did earlier - but i think i will try your advice and draw the underside of the house and try to make it still read as a house - if i can do that i think it would really be ideal - i am really glad you figured out that it was the moment before impact - good to know that it does come across - thank you again -i really appreciate your input!
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I got it after a minute....looked and thought, that reflection looks weird then, I saw the house and got the concept. I think after you polish it a bit it will come across clear. Nice work.
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Updated thumbnail - i think this is looking better - thank you for the feedback @Joy-Heyer and @evilrobot - still a bit confusing at first but i'll hopefully polish it up a bit as you say William - thanks again!
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Ok, I´ll throw a voice from the fence in there and say that, although the idea is clever and the rendering (as always) spot on, it would take the average person quite a bit of thinking before getting what this is about. In the right context, within the storybook, it would make sense and be a nice visual pun. As a standalone image, it would probably be passed away, even if accompanied by the other three (stunning!) portraits.
On the other side, I find it impressive how well you rendered the idea of an old and maybe slightly plump person just by the feet and shoes! And the reflection looks great too! -
@smceccarelli Thank you Simona! really appreciate your input - i agree completely with your assessment - i'm thinking of these as a continuation of my previous five Wizard of Oz illustrations and am imagining them in their places within the original text - my though is that if i can have this work simply as an illustration of the silver shoes that that would be good - and possibly the day someone notices that the reflections in the shoes is a house above the witch they will smile at having missed it and now found it - i will add the scroll work to the sides and make the stepped on flowers more apparent too to help finish out the piece - thanks again for the kind words and great feedback
