WIP Girl and Tree

skillydan

Hi all.

Ive always struggled with having a set process to follow for creating images. After watching a whole bunch of the svs tutorials I can really say that the idea of thumbnails > line drawing > value drawing > adding colours > painting in details is really working for me.

With this piece I'm at the point where I'm about to start tightening up the edges and adding details. Before I go any further I'd love to get a critique. Are the values, colours, lighting, and story telling working for you guys?

Thanks
Daniel

Hey, this is a lovely concept, i love the idea that she's painted a face on the tree and your girl character is cute, i think you've got her spot on!
However, I think you need to look at the values again as nothing is really standing out to me at the moment, which i think should be the little girl and the trees. They need more darker tones added, and maybe some more details.
I would also up the colour saturation a little bit as the colours are looking a little bit muddy, maybe make the tree colours more warm browns and i think the girls skin colour needs less blue tones to it too, or are you trying to show that she's sitting in shadow?
Also the handprint, if you made your own handprint with paint it wouldn't look like that, so maybe try it out for reference?
I hope you dont mind me pointing these things out!
This is going to be a lovely piece and i'm looking forward to seeing where you take it next, i'd also love to see more illustrations of your girl character too

skillydan

Hi @hannahmccaffery. Thank you for the feedback. I tried to apply what you were saying about the values (using a drawing app on my phone so it's a bit rough). I was actually pretty surprised to find the face in the tree not reading at all in the black and white version.

I absolutely don't mind you pointing these things out How are these versions reading?

Thanks

@skillydan that looks so much better, my eye is instantly drawn to the girl now and the lighting on her face has really helped the colours too

skillydan

Finally got chance to come back to this. Any one got any thoughts on where this is going? I really struggle with knowing when a piece is finished.

Thanks

Heather Bouteneff

I think this is so cute and I like the lighting making the girl stand out more.
It's probably a weird thing but I'm just wondering what time of year this is? The trees have no leaves or buds but the girl is in a sleeveless dress? Maybe she's like my kids and her Mom is behind the bushes yelling "where's your jacket?!" but that's what's making me conflicted about the image.
The detail on the paint is lovely, it reminds me of the little golden book about panda's paint box which is one of the best

skillydan

Hi @Heather-Bouteneff, thanks for the feedback. The initial idea was summer but with creepy trees. I've quickly changed the clothing slightly to get closer to what you were saying.

Thanks for the help

Jason Kilthau

I really love this picture. I am not at home so I can't circle what I am about to mention but the one thing that I saw right away that sticks out to me is the tree limb on the tree with the face gets bigger instead of smaller, and the base of the limb is smaller than the rest. To me that just looked a little weird. If it's a style choice then by all means leave it in! Like I said I really like this picture and if I were to add or change anything it might just be to try and add a few more things the girl might have done to make the trees less ominous. You could maybe play around on a new layer and see if any little extras work, you might find something or you might not.

I like the texture you've added, it's really brought out the trees more and i like her little bobble hat, i'd make it a different colour to her top and shoes though, unless you wanted her to have the same coloured clothes. I'm not 100% sure on the blur you've put on it though, it draws your attention to the girl but I don't think you need it and i think the piece might be stronger without it.
I also think you could add a few little details to the foreground, like the edges of some leaves or bushes or something, that may help to frame the girl more if you lose the blur effect