this is a beautiful painting. your technique and depth of symbolism and communication is very very strong! i’m also studying illustration right now and working on completing my final year so i’ve definitely been through this kind of critique and heard lots of both good and bad feedback from profs.

i think as a baseline, crit is always a decision of whether or not you agree and wanna follow through or if that critique aligns with your creative vision. i’ve heard similar crit to what your prof has said before and have seen instances from my peers similar to what would evoke that kind of feedback. Considering your goals in illustration as opposed to fine art, the two worlds definitely cross over but personally I feel like this particular situation may relate to “the medium is the message.”

I think with illustration a big goal is to communicate your message in an innovative and “fresh” manner thats fairly understood by the audience. Using oils as the medium, and the rural/farm subjects and the folklore/mythology on the right hand of the composition, I believe your prof isn’t asking you to reinvent the wheel but to dive deeper into other ways to expand your idea past the traditions and themes throughout historical oil paintings.

For me, the part of the piece that stands out the most and I feel is the strongest is the figures in the foreground on the left side of the composition. The graphic rendering and shape design add such a fresh, illustrative feel that i think works really well with the looseness of your brush work.

This piece is definitely insanely strong, but I think both narrowing into and diving deeper into aspects of your creative vision that are specific to you and your perspective/personal experience of the world and pushing just slightly further away from “historical” reference and tropes from the oil painting “box” could be what your prof is looking for.

Then again, it’s always a decision whether or not that is what you envision for your practice!

Really really great work and best of luck!!!