Isolation May WIP - critiques welcome

[ArtofAleksey]

Ok whew really struggled with that draping. Any feedback? Feel free to do a draw over.
What i got so far:

[chrisaakins]

@ArtofAleksey all your people triangle on one side of the room. You might want to flip the girl and place her in the righthand corner.

[ArtofAleksey]

@chrisaakins good idea

[ArtofAleksey]

Ok i changed it up a bit, i think im gonna make the rug have blue wavy lines to look like water.

[Dima Eichhorn]

@ArtofAleksey I love your idea.

[braden H]

@ArtofAleksey Nice. I'm lovin' the draping on the fabric.

It took me a moment to switch back into teacher mode to decode the 'pierats' to 'pirates' Which means it's authentic kid spelling, lol

[ArtofAleksey]

@Braden-Hallett haha success!

[chrisaakins]

@ArtofAleksey this is a much better composition! I really like your idea. It looks like it could be both an editorial or a book.

[ArtofAleksey]

Ok i think the rough sketch is done. Gonna play around with colors and values now

[ArtofAleksey]

Havnt added the shadows under the couch or highlights anywhere but here are my values so far

[Jeremy Ross]

Hi @ArtofAleksey, looks awesome! I think many of us were thinking pirates! Yours is certainly well executed! Can’t wait to see your submission.

[ArtofAleksey]

@Jeremy-Ross thanks Jeremy! Yeah Pie-rats indeed

[carlianne]

@ArtofAleksey I love it! Reads really clearly.

My only comment is that the "mom" looks like a dad with long hair. I think it's the length of the nose and how sharp the shoulders are. Or you can just make it a dad shrug

[chrisaakins]

@carlianne @ArtofAleksey yeah, I am not getting a clear reading on gender, either. The hair and thinness says woman but the tie and hard looking eyes say man.. the adult's face in general does not seem as stylistically well developed as the kid's do. Also their head should be seen past the headphones in the back. I am looking forward to your development of this piece. I hope my nitpicking is helpful. I think you do great work. It always helps me when you give me specifics. But if I need to lay off, let me know.

[jdubz]

Ah, yeah I immediately read it as older brother (as opposed to a dad that may not have longer hair).

If it would be helpful I can take a picture of my own face this afternoon when I've finished home schooling all the kids and we've all been having such a magical time for the last 8 hours together... you could probably just copy the expression and it would be perfect.

[Johanna Kim]

@ArtofAleksey Love this concept. Your humor is so great!

[ArtofAleksey]

@jdubz @carlianne @chrisaakins i intentionally left it ambiguous. Unless theres a specific reason for gendering the character, like in last month’s “lisa” illustration, I leave it ambiguous because it really doesnt matter. This way also it can cover a broader scope of individuals that have gone through this time and experienced difficulties or know someone who did. Which also I realize isnt that important for the contest but it’s what i Wanted to do. Do you guys think this is a bad idea?

[ArtofAleksey]

@Johanna-Kim thanks!

[carlianne]

@ArtofAleksey I just mentioned it because you had written "mom" in an earlier post. I don't have strong opinions on being gender specific. As long as it doesn't make anyone feel confused.

[chrisaakins]

I think its distracting because it makes me focus on figuring out the puzzle I perceive rather than focusing on the story. The character is not ambiguous in a good way and does not help you tell the story. That's my perception anyway. You made the boy a boy, and the girl a girl, but the adult is confusing, and not for any compelling reason.