Did this for a uni assignment. My friend and I are designing a game and this is one of the characters. She isn't too original, though we need her typical, slightly arrogant and upright "angel" personality to contrast with the main characters. It's basically our take on the Archangel Gabriel, though as a woman to add some interest :)
With the style, I'm trying to achieve a mix of painterly and animeish/cartoony stuff. Any crit or comment welcome.
Very nice.
It isnt obvious that its a she. I think its due to the face. You may want want to tweak that, Add some red to her cheeks and lips might help.
Its easy to see that your quite skilled in painting, so there isnt anything to crit there. Although the hand on the right (her left) is bit large, but thats being picky :)
I like how you have left the legs/lower torso rough, it helps establish the top half as the focal point.
Was this Painter? If so what brushes?
It has a nice painterly feel to it, and that anime/cartoon look you wanted is there.
Good stuff :)
Thanks for the replies guys :)
Yeah I noticed a bit of the androgeny going on there... I think it's because I'm better at painting male faces, lol. Also her robes disguise most of her curves, though I totally agree with your suggestion Makk, adding more pink etc.. Before I get it printed out for submission I'll play around with it.
Aven, I agree with you too. There's something iffy about the wings and now that you mention larger wings, I don't want them to be too dominating, though I will definitely change it. I think have longer feathers can increase the dynamic flow of the brush strokes around the image too.
Bullet21, no they're not grenades, they're the 'heavenly tonic' you suggested. hehe.
Also does the image look overly yellow? I have an annoying problem. I just got a new LCD monitor and on it, all my images look crisper, warmer and overall better. So when I go back to looking at them on a CRT they look blurrier and yellower. I think I need to calibrate my LCD but yeah, I dunno. The different colour space thing annoys me cuz I don't know what it looks like to other viewers.
I do have a similar problem with my LCD as well. All the colours look really saturated, but when they are viewed on a CRT, people seem to say that the colours are very flat and desaturated. I know that a lot of earlier LCDs (not sure about new ones) had their default colour values set with the red being unusually high. This meant that everything had a very pinkish tinge to it. You just had to set your monitor's red value a little lower :) Still doesn't help with the increased saturation and contrast, but it makes it a bit better. I have posted a few pics in the past and noticed that a few people (mainly Makk :) ) complained about images looking flat. I have to make sure that whenever I do anything colour based I make the colours brighter and more contrasting.
So to answer your question, nah, the colours look fine on my monitor :)
yeah the face needs some tweaking and i would agree with the idea of making larger wings, perhaps (for an example, not saying rip it) like J.Is wings on his entry for the modelling comp (just hit that board and go to the judges viewing thread, its down there).
another thing, just thought id say it has a sort of ranger outlaw type feel to me, dont know if that was purposefull or not. Its a really awesome pic (and colouring).
i dunno - im half and half about the wings - big wings are definately cool, and if thats what your going for... a coolness factor then definately add bigger wings, if your trying to portray something that maybe more than cool - try to add smaller changes and nothing so drastic - i think an over emphasis on the wings could take alot away from who the character is and just brand them another angel.
Like moony said she does have a ranger feel, i get that from the earthy tones and golden light, and also the flowing ranger like tunic / garbs + accesories etc.
Theres almost an elf like anatomy to her, her face included, whilst alot of people have commented on male / female likeness - i tend to think youve captured your intended style perfectly, alot of anime heroes and portraits, are almost uni-sex being its a male with such a girlie looking complexion & vice versa. bluring the lines between sexuality, and creating a non sex biased hero, ie they arent simple a male or female hero but more of just a hero.
Just a note while the lower half of the picture is quite quick, i think her left leg from the knee down is twisted at quite a strange angle almost like shes bow legged.
Bravo for such a nice piece, in paticular the hair, halo, and wings IMO look fantastic, and if you absolutely had to add something to the wings - i think adding slight length to some of the outer feathers would really make a difference, or for more of in impact you could perhaps introduce some trailing feathers ( ie one or 2 that actually stick out alot further than the rest from the wingtips )
Dude... spiffy. You've come quite a long way. Remember this dude: http://www.artofbrain.com/jason.jpg @:-)
Keep rockin' Jason!
Aven: Thanks, that LCD problem is so annoying. Mine is a new LCD, though it's colour representation still isn't as accurate as a CRT. I suppose since the majority of users are still CRT users that it's better to get it looking good on a CRT.
Moon: Yeah I wouldn't overdo the wings, though i think they can be pushed slightly more. I can see where your 'ranger outlaw feel is coming from'. I didn't want her to be a prissy, feminine angel, I wanted her to have more 'omph' behind who she is. She's very strong willed etc..
Hazard, thanks for your point of view I appreciate it. I'm not going to add huge wings as yes, that would take away from the character and just put her into an even more stereotypical role. I can feel the elfish quality you describe, and I'm really glad you sense the purpose for the androgeny. I tried putting pinker cheeks and making her more 'girly' but it just looked wrong. It didn't encapsulate her personality.
My main impression of who she is supposed to be is someone very head strong and arrogant. She isn't timid at all.
Yeah I see the bowlegged thing. To be honest I'm not too good at anatomy in that position, though the reason for the sketchiness is to draw more focus to the head and body where detail is the tightest. I like to let the edges of my images fade into blurriness. It also helps me to stay loose instead of overrendering every part (which I am guilty of doing a lot!).
Thanks for your suggestions, the trailing feathers idea is great!
Brain: ACK!!! I can't believe you still have that! I've lost all my old images in a computer crash, but I'm glad you posted it. I think it was my second tablet pic?? Back in the day. lol.
hello, thats some really lovely work there, i didnt catch much of the androgeny as others see,,
as what happens with wings on most characters pictures that have arms aswell they always look stuck on sort of with sticky tape,, very hard to get them to feel apart of the character, her pose is rather menacing with the fist and the almost clawing left hand, and her left sleeve at her forarm looks liek its bulging wierdly,,
i love the ranger feel to it and the pose is excellent, the colours too, al browns and yellows looks great,
i love her hair and her face esp with the shadows,
and im new here so hello :O)
Wow. That looks really sweet :D The colour use really suits it.
I have to admit that I looked at it before reading you post and was supprised when you sadi it was a she. She has such a masculine body and face.
Personal gripe, but smaller feathers don't really do it for me. Especially on such an important angel (if she is meant to be as important as Gabriel). It feels like the more important and angel is, the longer and larger their feathers should be. As I said though, that is just a personal choice.
Great work :)