25 Feb 2020, 03:54

@chrisaakins The 2nd piece much more than the first I think in terms of polished look and professionalism. What's throwing me off on the 1st image:

  1. The white outlines that are being used to help pick things out of the dark background I don't think are helping the image. The 2nd image the outlines are working well with the background. On #1, it looks more like you chose not to solve the problem using value. Which isn't even the case as it's a white mouse in a darker background. One thing to maybe try is using light linework in those situations? Edit: I'm actually now seeing you did this in the 2nd image, and I didn't even realize it because it just instinctively works where you have the light lines of the mouse on the right on the head and whiskers. I'd say carry that same idea through.

  2. I think on the first piece the outlines in the background are making a negative impact. I think they either need to be reduced in opacity or REALLY thin (like, as thin as the left-most side of the mountain thin). The rocks immediately behind the characters is super thin, then up on the mountain it's pretty thick, so it's just not feeling harmonious. You do have details back there that are not lined in, so you could maybe even drop the lines on the mountain in the far back and it would automatically push the foreground up and put the weight where it should be.

Maybe one thing that might help is to match line weight consistency through the piece so that foreground and important characters maintain heavy linework like you have, and then as the trees and background get further away, the lines also follow that same ruleset.

The 2nd image really comes together in every way the first one isn't for me.