[Digital Painting] - Game Poster/Cover art

[Corinthian Baby]

Hm, alright it was meant to look like his eyes were closed, not just looking down. Here's a quick edit that shows him with eyes.

The looking off screen thing is a good tech, always brings me back to that Blade Runner poster, which is a good thing. 2nd one is me playing with placement.

@Liksmaskaren
Really cool edit, a lot more evocative of those samurai refs I posted. I like the suggested action, unsure about the placement despite employing rule of thirds. Will experiment further and post results.

[Liksmaskaren]

The upper right corner is the one that has the most authority. The lower left is the one has none.
I made this edit to include a Fibonacci spiral in it.

Sloppy edit, but that spiral makes everything look more interesting. The edit doesn't follow the spiral that good but I simply didn't have the time to make a better edit.
Just throwing some ideas in there for you. Don't think that I don't like the image, because I do.

[Corinthian Baby]

Here's another 1x version. Tried to develop the face more, played with the sky/clouds to be more dynamic. Put the portal back in only more portal/auraish/cloud-splitting. Do his eyes look alright? Is the perspective in line with the downward view?

Shifting my ref a bit to this (The kid flipped horizontally that is):

(Which is a great game btw, http://wadjeteyegames.com/gemini-rue.html and a successful poster: http://www.hardydev.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/GruePoster-small.png) Also wondering about the black bars, if I should nix them and keep the top for the title, fade them, or keep them as is.

@Liksmaskaren
I guess I never thought of which section commands the most power of an image, is there a specific reason the top right is most demanding? I've thought about moving him to the left or right to have more empty space on either side. Eliminating the black bars would heighten this as well. The composition in your edit seems more square based than spiral, although I appreciate the idea. I'm hesitant to change it so drastically because I want to finish this piece in the next week or so.

[StaticSails]

I think you need a photo references. Pull up a few and work from that. I think working from that painting is hurting you.

[Corinthian Baby]

Hard finding refs but working through this:

Liking the BG developments, maybe his face is still a bit off? Better than previous iteration but still tweaking.
face ref:
http://www.allposters.co.uk/-sp/Face-of-a-Woman-with-Ruffled-Hair-Looking-Down-Posters_i2546096_.htm
pose ref:

Also, I accidentally saved and started working in the smaller res version without knowing. Trying to reconstruct the orig res, but should I continue work on that one or the smaller version? (which is the size I posted here and has the layer integrity intact.) I could also upres the smaller version and paint over it, but is this worth it if I just scale it back down at the end?

[Ai]

Also, I accidentally saved and started working in the smaller res version without knowing. Trying to reconstruct the orig res, but should I continue work on that one or the smaller version? (which is the size I posted here and has the layer integrity intact.) I could also upres the smaller version and paint over it, but is this worth it if I just scale it back down at the end?

Increasing the resolution of the smaller version could be profitable, if (a) you're willing to do some repainting to restore edge sharpness, and (b) you use a sophisticated scaling algorithm like GMIC's 'smart rescale', rather than a pedestrian one like bicubic.

[Corinthian Baby]

Rebooting this poster with a new sketch for composition:

Pose based on roningai ref I posted a while ago.