Ruined forest critique request

[braden H]

I'm workin' away trying to get some portfolio images together. I waffled for a while on what kind of style to pursue, and I'm just gonna bite the bullet and go ahead with this kind of style. I will be coloured, but I start off with values.

In this particular image, does it read as bright light from the plant in the girl's hand with a dim (but not night) background?

Thanks in advance

[Chip Valecek]

@art-of-b I think if you made the whole plant stem have a glow it would read more as the plant is glowing. Right now it looks like there is a ball of light behind the plant. I think the lighting on the girl and deer are spot on.

[bnewman]

Yes it does. It's sad and lovely. Also, what Chip said, it does look like a ball that fits into that space a bit too neatly. For what it's worth, I like this style a lot.

[Gary Wilkinson]

I think it works well and the style looks great and consistent with your other pieces. I think the moon could perhaps be a little dimmer and some of the cast shadows from the characters should be stronger (judging by the value of the shadows from the stones), but i'm sure it will come along nicely!

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

This too adorable and saddening at the same time. The emotions just flow out of the image. Are you planning to color it? I can’t wait. Your work would look great in middle grade books or graphic novels or animations!

[aaimiller]

Howdy!

As others have mentioned, the values on the girl and deer work perfectly.

The background does look like night to me. It look like the moon is high on a kinda misty night.

I think for it to look more overcast / foggy there would be a lot more scattering light in the top of the image. Maybe obscure the moon a little more (like we are look up through the fog more, usually there is a little halo / corona glow looking at bright things through fog), and lighten the top of the sky a bit, to show all the scattering light.

[ArtofAleksey]

This looks great overall. Ive been trying to do a thing with my art where I dont put anything in if it doesn’t have a purpose being in the final piece. It’s very hard. But if I use that filter for yours I would say you can use the trees and their branches to frame the shot. Like branches above where the moon is, overlapping, in black silhouette. Kinda so they form a frame around the moon and the characters. You already have the ground curvig in a way that forms the bottom frame for your characters. I would curve a few (only a few) branches on the top of the image to create a top frame (or you can make it angular branches if you want it to have a spookier vibe.

[ArtofAleksey]

This is what I mean by frame

[braden H]

@chip-valecek

That's a great idea, Chip. I think that's what I'll do!

[braden H]

@gary-wilkinson

Awesome. Thanks for taking a look. I agree that the shadows need to be a little stronger. More contrast better.

I'm hoping that with colour the background will look more like a warm smoky haze, (thick thick forest fire smoke) but I may just make it a night scene

[braden H]

@nyrrylcadiz

Yup, I'm planning on colouring it

[braden H]

@aaimiller

Awesome advice. Thanks for the feedback

The halo around the sun through the haze is a great idea.

I tried to take reference photos during the thick forest fire smoke where I live, but the poor camera on my phone wasn't up to it. I'm stuck trying to pull reference out of my head (which never really works)

[braden H]

@swordofodin

Great feedback, thank you

Making sure there's nothing that doesn't belong in the final piece IS super hard. I'll try adding some branches to frame the piece a little more. However, I want to keep most (if not all, I may fix a couple) of the branches drooping sadly and mostly pointing at the girl and the deer.

I'm willing to bet I can both frame the girl and keep all the branches sad, though.

[ArtofAleksey]

@art-of-b oohhh I see what you mean. You’re doing the branch droop deliberately.

[braden H]

@swordofodin

Yiss, but that doesn't mean I can't do branch droop and the framing you suggested

[ArtofAleksey]

@art-of-b droop away. Curious to see how you do it