Finishing Drills for a Chronic Dabbler.

animatosoor

@MichaelaH Thank you! That's a great point. I was honestly quite confused about how much light would be hitting the trees and bushes, haha. But you're right, they should be getting light from the fire and should be brighter. I'll work on that.

AndyIllo

@animatosoor Love the progress!! there's so much energy in that fire. good work!

Darian

Oh this is awesome!

Just see that the tip of the flame does not form a tangent with the top edge of the picture..maybe desaturate the tiny flames a little?

Are you using photoshop layer blend modes to overlay the color on the values or are you starting of with color directky with the value study as a guide?

Looking good so far!

xin li

Love the concept of the flame friend.
I took me the second look to notice the hands - which is the most interesting element of the concept for me once I saw it. I wonder if the hands could be more prominent somehow.

animatosoor

Thank you so much, @AndyIllo!

animatosoor

Thank you, @Darian! You’re right about the top of the flame potentially forming a tangent with the top edge of the picture. Thanks for pointing it out - I will make adjustments to avoid that.

As for colours: for my colour studies my approach was to use blending modes in separate layers to get a certain combination of colours. For this final, more detailed piece that I’m working on, I’m merely using the value study as a guide while I plop “fresh paint” onto the picture, if that makes sense. No more blending modes at this stage.

animatosoor

@xin-li Thank you for your feedback! I agree with your note on the hands - they could be made more prominent. I’ll explore a few different gestures for the flame and post them here.

animatosoor

Here are my updates! These are the changes I've made after the last round of feedback:

I increased the distance between the top of the flame and top edge of the picture to avoid a tangent.
I tried making some of the leaves on the trees and bushes slightly brighter.
I explored two different gestures for the flame's hands:

Critique is always welcome!

MichaelaH

It looks still great, I like the fire hands before, these little sharp long fingers...

animatosoor

Thank you, @MichaelaH! I've retained the long, sharp fingers. I just wanted to block in the arm placement in the above post, haha.

This is what I have now.:

MichaelaH

@animatosoor Something doesn't fit with the right hand, now. Maybe the right elbow doesn't fit the wrist angle. I love the long sharp fingers.

animatosoor

@MichaelaH I had a hard time figuring out the angle, haha. You were right about it being skewed. I went ahead and rendered three different versions of the flame's hands so we can see them side by side.

1: original

2:

3:

MichaelaH

If the face goes like in 2. than the right should be maybe more hidden. Hmm...
Hope it is ok, I draw over. I like the wrist and fingers from 2.picture the most, than from the 3.th picture. Shoulder and back I like the most from 1th.

animatosoor

@MichaelaH It's completely fine - I really appreciate the paint-over! Thank you so much. I'm going to try out retaining the shoulder and back from #1 and the fingers from #2. I completely forgot I'd left the face in in the above post. XD

animatosoor

Trying this, where I'm going easy on the foreground.:

MichaelaH

I think I liked it with the tree better, there was this feeling of taking a secret peek at them through the bushes. Will You do the face of the fire spirit? I like it without, because it let me think about what the spirit looks like...hi hi hi

animatosoor

Thank you, @MichaelaH! I can't decide whether I should have the trees left in or not, but have saved two different versions and like them both for the different reasons you've stated. XD It's Monday here and in the spirit of "Finished, not Perfect," I'm going to post my two versions. :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_cold_sweat:

I like the fire without the face, and left it in accidentally in that other post. There is no face in the final. Because these are all potentially going to be portfolio pieces, I'm more than willing to continue fixing them as and when I think of things to improve on.

Final(s):

ThisKateCreates

Finished another flower lady last week. Still working on the next one.

animatosoor

@ThisKateCreates I'm really liking these Flower Ladies!

animatosoor

Week 7:

I'm working out solutions for this idea I have. It is going to be a series of 3 illustrations inspired by a short story I love called The Shadow. I think it's not going to be great for children story-wise, but I'm really excited about illustrating this anyhow. :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_cold_sweat:

Exploratory sketches: