WIP thumbnail help?（*>人<）

[Daisy]

Hello!

I am hoping to benefit from your expertise. I don't have much experience making full illustrations and i want to paint this inkober piece. I want to add a cloud as a framing device, but I cannot make up my mind if I want to include a tree branch for the swing. What do you guys think? My husband says that not including the tree branch makes it look more magical, but I'm concerned it looks incomplete without it. (also the blue blobs are jellyfish XD, I haven't decided if I want them out of the water as well).

Thank you so much for reading my post
Daisy

[Jeremy Ross]

Hi @Daisy, I agree with your hubby. Also, you might even consider swapping the rope for jelly fish tentacles. Look forward to seeing the finished piece.

[Daisy]

@Jeremy-Ross Oh no! +1 to hubby XD
Thanks for the feedback!

[baileyvidler]

@Daisy This is so cute! Very Ghibli. I like it with the tree branch. Without the tree branch, I'm left wondering what the rope is attached to. Also, I like how the tree branch frames the boy.

I totally think you should put the jellyfish out of the water because, um, that's awesome?!?

I like the clouds as a framing device. However, they're very vertical, which, coupled with the boy, girl, and ropes, I feel like its a little too vertical. What if you stretched the clouds out horizontally so the left and right edges are cropped off? Clouds in nature are usually pretty sprawling.

Hope this helps!

[Daisy]

@baileymvidler Hmm... you've given me plenty to think about... I am aiming for a vertical look because I am making this into a 11x17 print... but I'll try out versions of the clouds that are more horizontal. I'm so bad at thumbnailing tho lol! I like adjusting the painting as I go. And yes, flying jellies it is!

Thanks for your help!

[Daisy]

WIP! Been at it for 2 days I'm so slow T_T

Decided to keep the vertical-ity with the water bisecting it so illustrate their two different worlds. I'll also add seagulls to Sousuke's part to mirror the jellies that will be underwater. Critique welcome! Hopefully I'll finish tomorrow.

[Daisy]

Hey! can I ask for your help again? Which of these looks better? I added blur the the bottom half of the left one to make it look more "underwatery" but I don't know if it's just distracting? Sorry for the low quality, I scaled it down maybe a bit too much.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@Daisy they both look amazing!

[Neha Rawat]

@Daisy This is soo amazing! Beautiful concept, art and composition!

I can barely make out the blur, but I would vote for the non-blurred one. I don't feel the focal point should be blurred unless absolutely required, it can be a little annoying to see IMO. Here, it is very obvious that the girl is underwater so I feel it can be omitted.

You could consider adding a 1-2 waves underwater to make it look more underwatery (just simple swoopy lines with some other blend effect).

Love this!

[Daisy]

@Nyrryl-Cadiz @Neha-Rawat thanks for the encouragement! I think with everything going on in the world I've been a bit stressed and not happy with my work, so thanks for cheering me up a bit

@Neha-Rawat oh I see. I'll experiment with the waves idea and see if I can come up with something satisfactory! Thanks!

[baileyvidler]

@Daisy This looks fantastic!

[Kevin Longueil]

@Daisy This looks awesome! I'm away from my ipad right now so I did not try this out before posting but I am wanting to put a layer of the aqua/blue over the girl (either an overly or color layer?) and then reduce the opacity of that layer until it looks like her colors are being affected by the water between us and her but that we can still make out that she is wearing a red dress - maybe a few bubbles between us and her? - really nice piece

[Daisy]

@baileymvidler thank you! ^_^

@Kevin-Longueil We think alike! I already had a semi-transparent green layer set to overlay over ponyo, so she's a brighter red than it shows, but I beefed it up after your comment. Thanks!

Here's the final:

Thanks for all the help everyone! This is a really great forum I can count on

EDIT: I'm still open to critique! I just don't think I'll be making any more changes to this one. Gotta move forward! But I'd keep in mind any criticism and try to apply it to future work