WIP of a wild cat illustration

[Amelia Bothe]

Hi everyone! This is my newest illustration WIP, it's an Andean Mountain Cat. I wanted to work on fur and rock textures. I'm feeling okay about it but i'm unsure about the placement of the grasses, they don't look quite random enough maybe? Maybe it's just because they're not rendered yet. I'm also not quite in love with the colors, and i can't decide if it looks like the cat is looking at the butterfly haha. And does the background have too much contrast? Any advice is appreciated on these aspects or on any other part of the illustration!!! thank you!!!!!!!

[Perrij]

Wow! That's some impressive rendering. I would change the position of the shortest grass. It's creating too many diagonals in the image. To break up the diagonals a little, I removed two of the grass tuffs, and drew a new one that fans out in all directions, just for variety.

[Amelia Bothe]

@Perrij thank you!! and WOW that looks a ton better. I will do something like this for sure! thank you so much for the paintover i really appreciate it!!!

[Perrij]

No problem. Sometimes it just takes the smallest things

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@Amelia-Bothe hi! Amazing work. However, i don’t think the cat is looking at the butterfly though. They issue I see is that the cat’s left left eye is not angled more to the butterfly’s direction. Perhaps you can move the pupil pf the left eye more to the left? I hope this helps.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

I shifted both eyes more to the left.

)

[Amanda Bancroft]

This is amazing! It's one of my favorite illustrations so far that I've ever seen at SVS since I subscribed years ago. But then I love animals that look somewhat realistic

I feel like the butterfly's wing is lining up with the edge of the grass tuft. It could work better and contribute more contrast if the butterfly were placed closer to the cat, where that darkest area/hole in the rocks is located. That may also help with where the cat is looking (I agree it doesn't appear to be looking directly at the butterfly).

Did you take the class with Therese Larsson on fur / eyes, digital painting? I think you've mastered the technique!

[Aaron_T]

What a great picture! I didn’t think the cat was quite looking at the butterfly in the original either, but didn’t mind the placement of the grass tufts. Our cats go out of their way to take the scenic/complicated route most times so it seemed accurate to me. I don’t know if you’re done working on the shadows yet or not, but it looks to me like the cat isn’t casting enough of a shadow, especially on the rocks right below the body. The feet cast a strong shadow but otherwise it’s pretty light under there... it makes it look like the front left leg is way closer in space than the torso.

Love that tail though!

[Amelia Bothe]

@Amanda-Bancroft thank you so much for the critique!! And im so glad to hear you like it so far as well. I am certainly very inspired by Therese Larsson and have watched all of her demos that i can find haha, does she have a class somewhere I can take??

[Amelia Bothe]

@Aaron_T @Nyrryl-Cadiz thank you so much for the critique! I have since workshopped the eyes and i think they look a bit better now, i agree they really weren't looking anywhere near the butterfly haha. I will work on that cast shadow!!

[MOO]

Love that fur!

[Amanda Bancroft]

@Amelia-Bothe Yes there's an SVS class "Painting Hair and Fur" by Therese: https://courses.svslearn.com/courses/painting-fur-and-hair

[chrisaakins]

I think the values on the cat need to be pushed a little more in order to emphasize the cat. Or alternatively you can fade the ground to a duller grey since the cat is the primary focus. Right now they seem to be competing. Great job on the rendering. I love it.

[Amelia Bothe]

@Amanda-Bancroft ah, yes i remember, i love that one!! i'll have to rewatch it sometime soon, she is just so incredible

[Amelia Bothe]

@chrisaakins i agree!! thank you for the critique!!