January WIP advice and critiques

[Frankie Rogers]

I joined these forums just yesterday and this morning found this month's illustration topic and thought I'd join in even if I get a late start. My take on the prompt see's Will as a feathered Microraptor clinging to a tree trunk looking down at some human fooprints. Originally there was quite a bit of open space but I've moved the two trees at the the side closer together to help direct the viewers eye a bit. I also can't decide on where I want the track to be leading which is why there are two set of tracks marked out. These are rough pencils and I wanted to take the opportunity to get some opinions and advice/critiques before I move forward. So what do people think ???

[j.sienkowski]

A couple things I might do if this were my piece...

1. Use the foot prints to convey some depth. As it is now I think the foot prints make it feel flat. They seem to only fill the foreground and middle ground. If they were to recede into the distance I think you get a really nice sense of depth and scale.

2. Consider altering the size of the microraptor. I'm not an expert, but I'm guessing a micro raptor is small. However, he feels pretty big because he is filling half the page. Maybe you reduce his size or perhaps add another animal or creature that the average viewer is familiar with to inform what size he is.

Take them or leave them..just one man's opinion. It looks good. Good luck!

[Frankie Rogers]

@j-sienkowski when it gets to the next step I will definitely alter the footprints to create depth. Hopefully that will help with what I was going for with the raptor as I was wanting is to be quite close to the raptor which is why he appears larger. Hopefully altering the prints in the snow would help scale too