Help with self assessment
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Hello friends ,
I need some help with self assessment, for instance; what do you think of this one?
Does it suggest a story?
Make you want to know more about what's going on?
Is the value structure weakened by the light in front?
Does the rendering seem complete?
Thank you-- for helping clarify how these images are perceived by fellow artists here on the Society of Visual Storytelling Learning forum.
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it does suggest a story between 2 giants, obviously 1 of them is the good guy and he's protecting the small people who try to find shelter.
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work with the focal point in mind
the composition is so busy and it is your job to guide us where to look first.
if something is far and dark, why are the edges so sharp? It makes the dark giant look so close, even closer than the white giant.
the areas where you have the most contrast between light and dark will automatically attract people's attention... it's your way of asking people to look there because you design that part to be interesting. is the back of the white giant really interesting? is it more interesting that his hand? you need to have another look at where the focus should be and tone down the lights and soften the sharp edges every where else. create a hierarchy. -
decide where the light source is and what type of light it is, what color? how strong is it? how far or close is it?
your light source is confusing, if the giant in the back is facing the light, then why is he dark? and if light is behind the white man, then how come the foreground is in light? -
use reference
I hope you were not trying to draw this complex pose from imagination. if you can't find the pose you want, use yourself as a pose. if you want, you can ask a friend to help too. -
anatomy
study the anatomy of the back, arm and hands. redraw in a more accurate way but simplified so it doesn't compete with your main focus. -
the 3 small men to the left are almost identical. can you vary them more?
keep working on it, challenge yourself. with very few changes you can do much better!
I'm really sleepy but I tried to explain some stuff through an image...
I hope this helps!
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I'm loving this piece so far. Yes, I think it suggests a story, I want to know more, and I like the rendering style.
As for critique, Heidi already has covered a lot of what I was going to say already. I do think that overall the composition works for me, but you could still play a little with some of the things Heidi as said.
I will add that you could give more thought into the hand acting and how it helps the scene. The hands of the giants are prominent elements in this scene and are strongly silhouetted. I feel the middle fist is working well, but the lower fist doesn't add much tension. It's not quite open enough to indicate he's resting it a bit or using it as a defensive hand, and it's not quite clenched enough to feel powerful. I'd go one way or another with it, but right now it's deadening the action.
I think you could also add more drama by throwing some debris into the air by the falling giant making contact with the cliff. It will heighten the sense of danger the dwarves must be feeling.
Great job @W-Coats! I love high fantasy and I'm really digging the vibe of this piece.
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Thank you, Heidi Ahmad @heidi-ahmad Thank you TessaW @tessaw all good points, some I have tried to address below, some (like improving anatomy) will be an on going effort
