Independent

[NoWayMe]

Hello everyone!

I wanted to have your opinion on my ideas for July's contest. I did what Lee White suggested and chose my 4 favorite thumbnails to share here and see what your thoughts are. I have 2 completely different ideas.

1. Kid leaving his house because his parents are fighting. I tried to play with light on these one. In the first one the boy is lit by the front porch light, the house is like a city townhouse, we see him packing his trolley. In the second one the setting is more "neighborhood" and he is lit by a streetlamp and walking confidently away from his house.

2. Young girl leaving for university. The illustration would have two "parts" or sections. First one showing the parents and the second one the daughter. I have two ideas for each which can be mixed and matched. For the parents, I was thinking of having them either looking at a wall of their daughter's picture showing her growing up or looking at her empty bedroom. For the girl, I was thinking of showing her either happily lying down on her dorm room bed, with boxes all around her or showing her also looking at a picture of her family.

Any thoughts ?! Thanks!

[evilrobot]

I like the first image but I think it would work better if the boy was like in the second image. Walking away from the house pulling his wagon walking towards us. The second idea is great but I think it might be hard to pull off the story. The second image on the bottom might be read as the first part the parents are looking at the girl but in the second part of it could be read that the mother is sitting in the empty room looking at the picture of her daughter because she may have died or something happened to her. Anyway they are both good ideas but I think the second one would be tougher to make read correctly.

[NoWayMe]

Hello again!

Here is what I have so far for my "independent" illustration. I wanted to see if anyone has any feedback before I start rendering more. (of course the trolley/objects in it will not stay all purple!)

Thanks!!

[stringfellowart]

The image breaks my heart, but I love the colors and lighting so far.

[bnewman]

This is really well done, I love your style. However I feel the prompt is lost because the image of the parents arguing is so powerful. This makes me feel sad and sorry for the wee man who must be feeling all sorts of negative emotions. Love the kitty peeking out the doorway.

[evilrobot]

I love it. Super strong story telling.

[Tyson Ranes]

Awesome work. It's cool the way the parents arms are looking like puzzle pieces in relation to each other and also the high contrast of light and dark.

[tombarrettillo]

a couple quick things: I would make him more determined, maybe a tad angry or upset, like he is sick and tired with the fighting, and leaving, bound to find something better on his own, making the "independent" theme stronger.

I like the position of the fathers right hand, and think the other should come down in a similar manner, as in a "I don't know what you want me to do" manner. The mother's position is accusatory, so having both the dad's hands as I suggest would strengthen that part of the story. And while I might be stretching it a bit, his left hand could read as the beginnings of abuse.

[NoWayMe]

@tombarrettillo @evilrobot @Tyson-Ranes @stringfellowart @bnewman

Thank you all for the comments!
At first I was hesitant to do such a sad image, but I just couldn't get the idea out of my head so I decided to go with it. @tombarrettillo , in my sketch he had more of a determined look on his face, I think it was lost a little in the painting process, I will definitely work on it. I will also try something for the arms!

Thanks again!

[NoWayMe]

Another update! Thanks for the tips @tombarrettillo - Really helped

I think it's almost done... any tips on how to improve it ?

[RHirsch]

@nowayme I love the pose of every character. I think the only thing I might change would be that I would have the boy looking straight ahead, like he's marching bravely off to his future. With his eyes looking down he looks sad to me. Great storytelling elements, you lead the viewer right through the piece.

[NoWayMe]

@rhirsch Good point! I will try that