Best posts made by Dawn Lawson

@nyrrylcadiz No, no! This is all PERFECT advice. You've pretty much said all the things I thought after looking at the finished piece. I did lose track of where I wanted to place focus and then tried to make up for that using a bunch of stuff I ultimately didn't need lol. Thus, I over rendered. Thank you so much and no need to apologize. I asked and you gave me what I asked for in the end, so thanks again.

@robgale Thanks for this advice! The consistency of the feedback I've been getting confirms where I need to tweak my approach: establishing focus lol Everyone's confused when looking at this, and confirmed my gut feeling to scrap this initially. I'm gonna re-do this illustration at some point and apply your suggestions. They really help a lot.

Can anyone tell me what you like about the following? Weird question, but I'm trying to figure out what my style is. I look at my artworks so often, that I don't think I'm noticing it much. I'd like for any feedback to be things I keep in mind while I work moving forward. No critiques, please. If you like something specific about each of these, or notice a pattern, I'd like to know what exactly--could be anything: color, line weight, posture, eyes, etc....

@aaron-pierce It's funny you mention "too symmetrical". One of my focuses this year was working with "invisible lines": horizon line and center of gravity. Judging by the feedback I've been getting, I'm getting the hang of those two. My next challenge is to use composition lines to bring out focal points. Thanks so much for your feedback!

@nyrrylcadiz Thanks for saying so. And you're right! It's definitely about my interests. I'm learning that over the last year, I've been forcing myself to render in a way that I didn't like as much; all for the sake of "practice". While habitual study is good, I realize I shouldn't pressure myself too much and go with what motivates me the most. Graphic coloring is definitely something that appeals to me, so I'm going to incorporate that more in my future works.

This a follow-up to a post I shared a little bit ago, but I want to make sure there are no competing contrasts. So, I'm posting the values of what I added so far. The theme is that both characters are under water. I want to keep the overall look of the characters: the woman's darker skin and the bird's two-tones. My goal, however, is to make sure that the viewer looks at the woman first. Am I succeeding? Am I on the right track? If anyone has input on areas I can improve, I'm open to suggestions