Nightfall Final Feedback

Nathalie Kranich

Hey guys!
Everyone's pieces are looking really promising, I look forward to seeing them all.

It's pretty late for me to ask for feedback as this is pretty much finished, but I still wanted to post it to get a general opinion whilst there's still some time to rework minor or even major bits or even rethink the concept.

Here's what I came up with!

I'd love to hear what you think

Thanks!

xin li

Wow. Really cool piece. I love it: very unexpected idea, beautiful color, and interesting composition.
My comments are really just nitpicking:

I am wondering if the moon should be the brightest thing in this image. Right now the fishes on the right side are brighter than the moon.
The splash around the girl is a bit busy right now, and there seems to be a lot of small shapes around. I do not know how to put it, maybe it is a good idea to look for some splashing reference :-).

Really good job in the rendering and color pallet on this one.

Jon Anderson

This piece surprised me. I really like the concept and echo the concerns @xin-li mentioned. The underwater section is quite nice and I could see the expected feeling of danger and suspense that the "moon fish" is setting the trap or the twist that the supposed danger fish is actually nice and lighting up the world around it for the fellow fish to enjoy. Then there's the girl jumping into the water discovering this neat underwater scene. My initial thought, though, is what exactly is the story? It feels like there are two different stories with the two different worlds. The girl has a surprised look on her face but is that a big enough payoff for what we see? If the discovery is the emphasis I think you could rework it sometime and find a really nice composition that would drive that particular story home and have the kind of payoff that would make the discovery seem otherworldly.

For now, assuming a lack of time for reworking the whole image, my suggestion would be to simply crop down to just the cool underwater scene you already have. I love how you have all the starfish glowing like the popular toys to create a cozy feeling with the warm glow of the moonlight drawing all these nice pleasant fish right into the danger. That crop allows you to focus in on one particular story and editing the splash wave out will allow for the minimum amount of editing. The nice thing about digital work is that you can duplicate the file and experiment with the copy and the previous version isn't damaged at all if you like still like it best or need it to fall back on. Hopefully, whatever finishing touches you do, you'll come away with an image you are happy with!

deborah Haagenson

I love this! It looks to me like the story is that the fish with the moon is trying to catch the girl; The moon is the bait. I agree with the suggestion regarding the splash - Maybe it could be a little less.

aska

@Nathalie-Kranich just super!

Nathalie Kranich

Thanks so much everyone! I'll definitly try making the moon brighter and taking another look at the splash. Haven't had a lot of practise with water so far so it's no surprise it would need a bit more work

TessaW

I'm a little late, but I have to agree with the water splash. That's the only thing that really stands out to me as problem area, and @xin-li summed it up well.

I love the drama of this piece. The color palette is so beautiful and even though it has a scary scenario, it feels very brave and hopeful. Nice job.

sarahlash

This is beautiful!! And, even though I love the colors in your sky, I also really like the suggestion of maybe cropping the sky out and focusing on the story in the underwater scene. However, even if you don’t, I think this is still a very strong piece.

Nathalie Kranich

Thanks guys
My concern with cutting out the sky is that the 'falling' part gets lost - I admit it's not a strong story piece, I simply tried to catch a nice play on 'Nightfall', and without falling from sunset into deep night water, I feel that isn't conveyed as strongly.

Coley

that's a super cool concept with the little girl trying to save the moon and scary stuff below! the colors are gorgeous. I love all the fish! The big scary one and the little ones and how there is a curve to their formation. The starfish going back in space too, it creates a lot of depth