Isolation Landscape WIP - critiques welcome

[theprairiefox]

Another WIP update.

I am not convinced that I like the amount of color texture with the washes. I almost find it too distracting.

Let me know what you think. Everything is still editable, very little is glued yet.

On to the characters...

[theprairiefox]

Okay, here is the first version with everything. Questions abound, would love to hear your thoughts.

• Do the mountains have TOO much contrast? Are they distracting?
• Does the color of the girl work? Should she be redder and less orange?
• Does the person walking convey mailman? I made him slightly blue and added a hat and letter.
• Does the border work? I thought it added some professionalism... I might be crazy though.

Thanks for the input.

Note I will retake the photo playing with lighting as well.

[A Former User]

@theprairiefox It's really well done. The only thing I think is a little distracting is the white unpainted parts of the background.

[carriecopadraws]

@theprairiefox This is really interesting! The mountains are a bit distracting. I am wondering if the mountains could have an additional blue wash over them in the same tint as the mailman? That would bring in that color more and might make the mountains more subtle too.

Very fun to experiment with!

[Mara Price]

@theprairiefox I love the textures and the variation of the color. Love it!

[theprairiefox]

Here is the landscape for the prairie picture.

I am going to try to get the characters on today and then I will have to decide which to submit?!?!?

[theprairiefox]

Here is the final(ish) for the second one.

Any feedback on this one is welcome.

Also, which do you think better fits this month's prompt?

[Braxton]

@theprairiefox looking good! To me the first one (with the little girl small) fits the prompt better, as her scale and distance from the viewer makes her feel more isolated. I do like the greater degree of contrast in the second image though.

[korilynneillo]

@theprairiefox

I think the second is a better image, but the first fits the prompt better. I agree that the mountains are too busy - the postman is also getting lost a little bit, it took me a second to find him. What if you made the postman a similar color to the little girl?

[theprairiefox]

Okay, I cleaned up the mountains. Did a little repositioning. Straightened the house in the prairie scene. And retook the pictures for each.

These are final...

Let me know which you think is better for the contest this month. I am having a hard time deciding. I will post it up to the main thread tomorrow.

[TessaW]

I would go with the prairie scene for the contest, currently it's more striking because of the values and color combo and out of the two it feels more like "isolation"- though that could be a subjective read on my part. The mountain scene, I love it overall, but I think it is too contrasted in the textures of the mountains and therefore not quite as striking.

That being said, this technique is gorgeous. I'd love to see more of this from you.

[theprairiefox]

@TessaW thanks. I really love the depth and texture I was able to do with these. Once past the learning curve it is a pretty simple process as well.

I think I will try this for one of my book dummies.

I may try mixing the paper cutting with printmaking as well. I love to experiment.

[Braxton]

@theprairiefox I agree with everything @TessaW said. Really cool to follow the process!

[theprairiefox]

@TessaW & @Braxton thanks for the responses. I have to agree that I think the prairie has a more isolating feel. I am going to go with that one.

I did retake the picture one last time (I thought the girl wasn't straight enough. Here is the 'final final'!