Feedback for my mostly finished Beauty and the Beast

[Jason Kilthau]

Hey everyone! I recently shared the start and some progress pics to this piece, and here is my somewhat finalized version. I say that because after a nights sleep I kind of want to make some adjustments, like for starters her hand not holding anything seems a little too large, and I want to recolor the floor because he is blending in too much. What other changes or critiques might you have?

I also want to note that I like his head, and don't like his head at the same time, and I will probably leave it for the most part but practice some fur/hair drawing techniques in the future.

Thanks all!

[Jason Kilthau]

So here is an update I did making some of the changes I mentioned above and playing with some of the filters.

[NessIllustration]

@jason-kilthau The changes are nice, especially the floor! The hand was a very minimal issues, I feel maybe you're at the point in the process when you're hyper focused on the details. The thing that jumps out the most at me is the Beast's fur. While the fur on his head and even Belle's hair are very detailed, the Beast's body is not which is a bit weird. I wouldn't suggest making ALL of the fur that detailed, but finding a middle ground for both. Drawing every single hair like what you have right now on their heads is, I think, a bit too much detailing for the style you're going for and stands out harshly against the rest of the picture which isn't as detailed.

[Jason Kilthau]

@nessillustration Thank you for the response! And I totally agree, I finished the head and my thoughts were pretty much exactly the way you described it, which is why I feel like I need to do some practice so I can find that middle ground you're speaking of.
I just now remembered that I have access to the painting fur and hair tutorial! I will go through that first before I make adjustments to his body again. But your absolutely right and I think part of my reasoning was I wanted the focus to be on the heads, so I didn't worry too much about the bodies as much, however now that you mention it, it just confirms my own feelings that I should have completed it fully!

So off I go to practice with the hair and fur tutorial and then I will take another jab at this piece to make some more adjustments.

Thank you again!

[ScribblesByMike]

very nice. the perspective on the candlestick seems to be off - the bottom portion and hand are looking at it top down, but at the top we are looking bottom up - so it cuases it to appear as if its bending. The tops of the candle holder parts should be inverted. (hopefully that makes sense). that's what stuck out to me immediately. I like you design of the beast, belle looks a bit old perhaps but that's not a biggie.

[kaitlinmakes]

@jason-kilthau
Hi Jason - I like your take on Beauty and the Beast - it feels more mature, with the skull on Belle's breast being a nice touch. I think it's a really interesting idea and maybe one you'll want to explore more in the future - taking these light hearted fairytales and making them more macobre to reflect the more horrific origins of the stories. But this is kinda a kidlit space so I don't know if that's the direction you want to go in.
All that being said, Belle's head feels a little large for her figure - if it's an easy fix maybe try playing with her head size in photoshop and see if it feels more natural to you as it goes down - reference is always a good tool. I bring this up because it looks like you're trying to go more realistic with this image.

[Jason Kilthau]

@scribblesbymike Ah good catch! I thought I fixed it when I did it initially, it was definitely much worse! I didn't even double check the bottom part, I will get that fixed on my next go round!

@kaitlinmakes Thank you, I definitely want to take more characters from mine and my wife's childhood and put a more mature/darker spin on them, I got inspired by American McGee's Alice. And I totally do sometimes feel a bit out of place when I post some of my art here because everyone else does have the kidlit kind of stuff/style. But the community is great! And sometimes my stuff is a more whimsical fantasy haha, this just happens to not be that way. I'll take a second look at her head though! I used a reference for the head and the angle but it was just that, just a head reference not a full body so I could see how my sizing is still a bit off, she used to have an EVEN bigger head lol.

Thank you both for the extra feedback! I will definitely be working through this some more throughout the week.

[PaolaTosca]

Love the idea and how much work you've put into this so far! There's never enough fairy tale art around if you ask me

I agree with the points mentioned above, so my point might be a little smaller, but the shading underneath the beast seems to be the same tone all over, whereas shades have gradations in how dark they are - like you portrayed in the beasts' blue cape!

That said though, I recommend looking into how objects affect each other. Maybe a yellow hue from the candle on Beauty's hair, skin and dress and the candle itself. A bit of blue on the brown fur of the beast near his blue cape. Studying light and colors will help a lot!

Here's an example of what I mean from the amazing @artofkatikut on instagram. Hope it helps!

[Jason Kilthau]

@paolatosca Thank you for this! My days off are coming up and I plan on taking all the advice so far and putting it to good use, so far I have made a few small adjustments and started reworking the fur, and with your advice on the lighting/shading, I should have a pretty good looking piece here in a couple days! I'll have an update posted in the next couple days.