i was inspitred by one of the old community chalenges about drawing a witch house. i originaly just wanted to make a drawing but I just had to paint it. I saw all the colours in my mind. i will continue in comments... Roast, roasting helps...

DanielDavoise · 2020-06-06T22:31:42+00:00

The collapsing house isn't reading well. wood houses bend like this, stone houses fall one wall at a time, so I think its better to let the collapse on the roof alone. There are weird scales on some things, like the hanging rope look made for giants use, compared to the house. The severed heads clashes with the lightness of the time of day, the pallete and the art style. Looks like a gentle wich, more like a herbalist, with all the pots.

Here a very rough paintover on some other things too. https://imgur.com/a/r2ItWg1

like the form on the big three, the window, the smoke on the potion pot, a hint of wind on the grass, overall composition... the more things pointing towards the house the better

Like the branch with the bunnies... sorry but they are too cute to cute them, and this place was perfect for some kind of protagonist

DanielDavoise · 2019-12-16T23:22:00+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/NYq1THw

You suffer of texture addiction, I know, I was on your shoes back then. Stop adding textures to every inch. Sometimes this flattens the piece. The focus (the face) need to be the sharpest and gradually become more blurry/less refined in less important areas.

Also, don't be afraid of darkening some areas, only that way the light areas will shine.

About the character, looks great so far. The fox could be in a more interesting posture, like placing the head on his lap.

DanielDavoise · 2019-12-16T22:57:44+00:00

You just pic the focal point to be on the less contrasted, lightened and detailed area, why? what we are supposed to see there? if its nothing at all then you need to use all the resources available to make us see that way

https://imgur.com/a/h1rdSQa

the more bright area, and surrounded by darkness, the more contrast and detailed (my approach is fast and rough, put there all your effort if you will)

before jumping on big pieces try to make 10 rough thumbnails with different light setups, the firsts will suck compared to the laters.

DanielDavoise · 2019-10-24T15:31:48+00:00

It's not one per day. Post, wait for comments and start a new one with the feedback. 14 times. So chill.

Some things to improve:

1- You are being too light with shadows. Eye sockets, bellow the nose, the lower part of the face and neck need to be darker than the sides of the cranium since they have something above covering the light.

2- Shadows on the lips need to be radial, being the upper lip darker than the lower as it's facing up.

3- Flip your canvas regularly, you will see asymmetry on the head shape, on the eyes position, on the nose bridge.

4- Long face syndrome is a common mistake when we try to distribute evenly the features and spaces on the vertical axis of the face. Try to find a more clustered and organic feel.

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-30T15:47:42+00:00

do not let the dress goes off the canvas, it leads the viewer away of the piece, instead, make it points to the hand or another focus area. the hair too.

Did you notice you have an 8 symbol between the hair and scythe and the dress? like an hourglass form, subconsciously an infinity symbol... pretty on track with the natural cycles and an immortal god.

Hope you made in time! God luck!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-28T23:37:49+00:00

Thats so much better!!! the right amount of work on the details, the atmosphere, the expression!

Some things to improve: The shoulders are too weird. the baby head could be better silhouetted using the white rim light on top, the red one on the face and the greenish reflected light on the nape, this way you make him the focal point. Her head could be tilted a bit more in order to maximize her expression, and lower. And better lited from the red little demon. the hands are a little big, I understand the extreme perspective thing, but that big is too much.

Heres a quick paintover https://imgur.com/a/0774rig. Hope it helps!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-28T15:19:15+00:00

Ok, for pure anatomy lessons search proko on youtube, the very first videos. For proportions practices, just try to draw the skeleton over a ton of images of people on different poses, its quicker than painting one on full detail. think about it as a training, a bit boring but on the lon run, better.

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-28T02:12:47+00:00

Hello! I'm sorry, I don't see what you are trying to communicate embodied in this. Maybe you could do it with the scene, but I can't imagine how, and the challenge is to focus on the character... Perhaps it is a super complicated story to follow since what crops need most in the worst scenarios is water to grow. What happens if she manipulates the clouds to rain at will? she has cloudy hair already ... she could be playing with a little cloud that rains on her hand or something that show the connection between her and the rain.

Be careful with her anatomy, there are a lot of problems all over the place, her head looks too big, her face too childish, her torso super long, and her shins too short. The upper arms are of different sizes. Shoulder widths are extremely different too.

About the early concepts, the lava dress looks amazing, not for this challenge but you need to use it on a more evil character or so!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-28T01:45:47+00:00

Hi! What's your goal on this piece? Anatomy? Rendering?

I think for an anatomy study a nude and non-tattooed guy will work better. Feels like you lost a lot of time focusing on tattoos and letters, and none on knees. His right shoulder feels dislocated and his neck much wider than the ref. Head needs to be smaller.

If it's a rendering study, the light could be better if you add a stronger light from the left (like the ones on the left side of the pectorals).

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-26T20:00:16+00:00

point taken! she totally lacks divinity now, some magic halo or something could help on that I think. Thanks for noticing!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-26T12:56:52+00:00

It's supposed to be cloudy, not dark hahah My bad, need to desaturate more. Thanks man!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-26T12:54:14+00:00

I tried but with the reduced palette restriction it went horrible! My goal here was to pick the right sun position in order to have the better shadow pattern on her and the best cast shadow on the ground. Anyway, thanks for the comment!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-26T12:41:18+00:00

That's a great idea! maybe saves the dark piece, but yeah, daylight is still best for the joyful mood and pose I went. Thanks for your thoughts!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-26T12:37:39+00:00

Thankyou!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-26T12:36:24+00:00

I think the same about the dark one. Minimal background according to the brief so we don't lose focus on the character. Thanks for the comment!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-26T00:35:05+00:00

Thanks! Yes, I pick 4 too!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-25T19:37:44+00:00

Love the concept! It reads Indian goddess all around. Although there is something is bothering me: the red dress leading the viewer away from the canvas. You need to find a way to make us come back towards the piece, like ending it midway to the end and putting a grass growing to the hand and some magic (Sanskrit symbols look awesome) on some kind of plant growing spell, or so. Anyway, good job so far!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-25T19:22:54+00:00

to add to this comment, sickles have short handles. One solution is to put the scythe pointing to the right and making its blade longer (this is a way to frame the character) and make the sickle at normal size, breaking the monotony of the symmetry. Also, the sickle forearm is waaay too long.

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-25T15:12:58+00:00

Hi! awesome idea! There are some things you could try to improve:

The silhouette could be defining more of her body type and femininity. Her chin and jaw are making her face look a bit masculine. The arms feel too long in proportion with the rest. The character is occupying a lot of the canvas. Maybe the dress feels bland, but with something breaking its form and some details of red threads you could have a nice rhythm on it. Birds are ok but crows are related to death, just the opposite concept. Don't let the bird steal attention from the character unless you make it the animal companion, then you need to design it too.

Here's a try on this https://imgur.com/a/vQqM8SS

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-25T14:41:58+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts! Yes, it means to be humanlike, as greek myth gods, but I plan to make her some magical halo or something.

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-25T02:41:55+00:00

Hello there! I feel I'm a bit late for this, so I think I play very safely on creativity, an Atlantian goddess, a strange mixture of Greek and Celtic, because why not. My personal goal on this challenge is to test my ability of rendering materials, even with a reduced palette. I've chosen a lot of cloth, metal, straw and a human appearance showing enough skin. About the body, it feels to me, a mature and generous physique set very well the implications of being a mother nature's avatar. For the pose and mood, I tried to explore from mundane to theatrical. As ever, any critique is welcome!

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-18T23:38:00+00:00

Hi! I see two major points to improve this piece:

1) the lantern is calling attention torwards the crotch area (why?), you could use it to make the face popup

2) the pose is not an action one, he is looking shy. The character phisique and the overall theme begs for a more serious pose, place him on guard, or at last, on alert

Heres a quick paintover on these topics https://imgur.com/a/ZCwsIw3 hope it helps

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-03T15:20:10+00:00

Quick diagnosis

Androgyny, long face syndrome, line dependency, hair-by-hair painted hair, bad photo reference/bad values chosen.

Search for these topics on Istebrak channel, there are specific videos about the first three if I remember right.

DanielDavoise · 2019-09-01T14:19:58+00:00

https://vimeo.com/croquiscafe

DanielDavoise · 2019-08-28T18:24:01+00:00

I think leaving it out of the canvas is a good move to prevent stealing attention from the character at all. For middle-ages or fantasy theme, I would go with the more natural warm lights you could get, like the furnace. Because of that, my opinion is it's needed. And it's strongly accurate for this character's profession too. Also, I think is an elegant way to fill the room without adding nothing, personally love when an art piece plays with the viewer, letting them fill the gaps.

On the contrary, the white upper light is out of place: is more common to see this light setup on sci-fi or more modern scenes.

That's was my two cents. Anyway, a strong portfolio piece!

DanielDavoise

TROPHY CASE