May Contest Sweet 16 Rocked!

[Kim Rosenlof]

I like how what is important is more crisp and focused and the background is more soft. The girl, cat, and ant are fun characters. I am trying to figure out what the white thing is. Is it a fence, water, or something else? If it is water then I would make the lines subtle and horizontal and not diagonal, so they follow the lines of the shore or some type of ripples.

[TessaW]

Great piece Jeremy! I think my biggest crit for this is that I'm not quite sure about the match of tone between the color palette and the rest of the elements. The current palette is really beautiful, but feels a little serious for how you've depicted the scene and her expression. Imo, the current palette might work better if the girl was acting like a super fierce pirate, and the gesture/angle was a little more epic. With her pose and expression as-is, I think a cheerier dusky/sunsety palette would work better.

[Jeremy Ross]

Thank you @Kim-Rosenlof! It’s a fence, but I can see how that might not be clear. Thank you for your insight!

[Jeremy Ross]

Hi @TessaW, thank you so much for your great feedback! I can definitely see how color effects tone and will work this in my practice. Thank you!

[aprilshin]

Hi Jeremy! It was so great seeing this piece progress in the forums. Here's my take on the critique. I used the soft airbrush with white to really tone down the background. And then on another layer, I did the same thing but with some of the red from the berry the ant is holding in order to unify the colors more (not sure if it's working, lol). I also punched up the red on the ant because I felt like it was getting lost, and I put some highlights on it so you really can't miss him. I also swapped other purple elements to red as well. This is such a fun and cute image! Can't wait to see what you bring to the table for this month's challenge!

[Jeremy Ross]

Thanks @aprilshin! Very interesting paint overs, much appreciated!

[Kevin Longueil]

@Jeremy-Ross Hey Jeremy - i did a quick cut and pasty draw over - i'm not the best with color so forgive me - my thoughts were to lighten things up mainly - it also feels like the purple and green are fighting each other in some way - another thought was to maybe reduce the sword size...it really feels like the focal point... i just keep coming back to it - especially the notch in front of the ant... other thought was to maybe have a bit more story somehow? By switching out the ant for something more emotive? annoyed squirrel reading a book in a mole hole makes no sense but it is what i came up with -great image - i think you did an especially awesome job on her face

it still could use more lighting but i am thinking you are going for overcast'ish light

[TessaW]

@Kevin-Longueil Do my eyes deceive me? Did you just bust out a squirrel reading a book in a mole hole in a paint over?

[chrisaakins]

@TessaW @Kevin-Longueil I mean, why not? Do y’all know who the sweet 16 were this time?

[Jeremy Ross]

Very cool @Kevin-Longueil! Thanks for your input, definitely interesting! Appreciate you taking the time to add your insight!

[TessaW]

@chrisaakins -
@Tom-Shannon Spooky Ghost
@Lucky-Platt Doggies in Windows
@jdubz Frog Looking at Moon
@ArtofAleksey Pirate Livingroom
@James Toogood Sprout and Fish
@taislemos Snow Globe Lovers
@franksandovalart Space Monkey
@anika voight Lonely City Playground
@Neha-Rawat Firefly Jar
@Elena-Marengoni Sad Museum Exhibits
@dinamata Building Windows
@drawnbyshawn Angry Cat
@PieterVanDerBeek Happy Sun Monsters
@esgoldman Dreamy Scientist
@Braden-Hallett Tree House Isolation

[TessaW]

Oh and @van spittael jean- Donkey Kong Prison

[chrisaakins]

@TessaW thanks! I loved these! So sad I missed it.

[aprilshin]

@Kevin-Longueil Lol, Kevin! The mole's expression is priceless!

[Jeremy Ross]

Thanks @TessaW!

[ArtofAleksey]

@TessaW haha my dyslexia read “private livingroom”

[carlianne]

@Jeremy-Ross

Hi Jeremy!! This was a tough round for sure! Glad you were able to get some feedback.

Looking at this piece I'm wondering if your brushes are at the correct resolution? It almost looks blurry through out. It might be that you just need to vary hard and soft line work, but it also might be that your brush is at the wrong resolution. Lee talks about it in the making your own Photoshop brushes video.

[TessaW]

@ArtofAleksey I'm the one who wrote it, and I also read it as "Private Livingroom" When I gave the list a read back.

[ArtofAleksey]

@TessaW hahaha

[Jeremy Ross]

Thanks @carlianne, I’ll check out Lee’s course!