Hey guys, me again

[Y?sen]

Been a while since I opened a new topic here. I posted some stuff in here: http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=15666.0

Anyway, I have a couple of WIPs and one "completed" piece (which can be subject to change because I feel the colors really need fixing on it.)

Here are the two WIPs I'm working on, at the moment:


This is my first time incorporating two styles into one image (Vexeling and Tablet Drawing/Painting). The entire idea of this piece isn't all presented in it's current stage at the moment. There will some sort of creature (probably an animal) on the left side of the piece which will act as some sort of representation of the human's sign/aura/etc on the right. Considering the current colors (subject to change), I'm think maybe an approach of some sort of Zodiac sign concept should be incorporated here? (Just throwing ideas out there).

Anyway, would be nice to get some crit and advice for this.




I took a different route for the perspective on this one. It's in a very basic sketch at the moment. Some of it will be drawn more precisely and some of it will also be vexeled (but I plan on trying to mesh the two styles together so that the two styles don't conflict with each other too much, in terms of separate appeal. I will try to do this for the 1st WIP as well.). Most of the ideas in this piece are already presented in the image already, but at a very base level of execution. Current colors are definitely not final. And yes, the ground is breaking/splitting, but not in a realistic physics sense. Rather fictional way and cartoon-y.

Some ideas and advice would be very helpful and appreciated.



Here's the completed piece:


I feel like I got some of the colors in here a bit wrong. May I get some crit and advice on this too please? Thanks in advance.

[Charlieton]

I'm sorry I can't help much with specifics, but here are at least some general impressions of this piece.

The landscape and objects are good and evocative. It's an image that you can get lost in looking for details and trying to recognize familiar shapes and objects.

But, as you state, there's something a bit off about the colours. Frankly, they're dull. And though the colour scheme is varied the overall impression is bleak. Sadly, I'm missing the right vocabulary regarding colour theory and such to put into words why I feel the piece fails in this aspect. However, I do feel that it all ultimately comes down to the way that the lighting is handled. For example, you could do a lot more with contrast between bright and dark. Let the light sources leave a stronger impact. Be bold with cast shadows and brightness variations within the same hue. For example, you have an obvious, big light source in the center of the image, but it's effects are downplayed. A setting sun should produce a very bright, yellow or orange-tinged light, while the shadows are very dark and have sharp outlines.

A minor thing that is distracting to me is the white glow you've applied to the edges of some shapes, namely in the bottom left and top right. The only purpose it seems so serve is to arbitrarily make some parts of the image blurry. It's also counter to the general style that the rest of the piece is made up of.

I hope these observations are of some use to you. I'm not sure my solutions are what's really needed. Heck, maybe they are contrary to what you are trying to achieve with the piece!

Anyway, good luck! I hope to see more.

[Y?sen]

I'm sorry I can't help much with specifics, but here are at least some general impressions of this piece.

The landscape and objects are good and evocative. It's an image that you can get lost in looking for details and trying to recognize familiar shapes and objects.

But, as you state, there's something a bit off about the colours. Frankly, they're dull. And though the colour scheme is varied the overall impression is bleak. Sadly, I'm missing the right vocabulary regarding colour theory and such to put into words why I feel the piece fails in this aspect. However, I do feel that it all ultimately comes down to the way that the lighting is handled. For example, you could do a lot more with contrast between bright and dark. Let the light sources leave a stronger impact. Be bold with cast shadows and brightness variations within the same hue. For example, you have an obvious, big light source in the center of the image, but it's effects are downplayed. A setting sun should produce a very bright, yellow or orange-tinged light, while the shadows are very dark and have sharp outlines.

A minor thing that is distracting to me is the white glow you've applied to the edges of some shapes, namely in the bottom left and top right. The only purpose it seems so serve is to arbitrarily make some parts of the image blurry. It's also counter to the general style that the rest of the piece is made up of.

I hope these observations are of some use to you. I'm not sure my solutions are what's really needed. Heck, maybe they are contrary to what you are trying to achieve with the piece!

Anyway, good luck! I hope to see more.

Ahh I see. I knew something didn't seem right, and you're 100% correct about the loss of color for the sunset theme of the colors.

Those white spots were suppose to act as glares for the light reflections shining off of the windows. I guess I got the perspective of that wrong 

Arghh I will attack that piece like as soon as I'm finished with the other two! 

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Update on the 1st WIP:



Colors are still being put aside for now and aren't final. Still drawing and vexeling up the composition. Any input?

[Y?sen]

Small update:

I was trying to create some sort of mountain city on the previous screenshot, but the details were too small and the idea came out a bit wrong.

So I decided to take an iso-metric grassy area approach for that area of the image.



As you can see it's not very iso yet because I still need to do the corners.

[Y?sen]

Update:



Slight revamp on composition and colors. The sketches will be squiggly arms, kind of like these http://i.imgur.com/F8AFjWq.jpg , but with my own colors and touches to them. The sketched objects on the "hand" of the arms will be a brush/pen. After that I will do some color fixes and shadowing and then I guess I'll be done with that piece, for now.

[Y?sen]

small progress:

   

Octopus incoming :I

[Charlieton]

It looks really cool

A thought on the way the composition seems to be going: it looks a bit heavy/crowded on the right side now you've introduced the octopus' body. It's about the same size as the woman's head. The left side gets fairly empty in comparison. I liked the synchronized composition in the earlier iterations. You could say the image was divided into four parts, where two pairs mirrored eachother diagonally (two crowded and two empty parts on opposite ends).

Of course, compositional dissonance is a qualified aesthetic approach, too. I don't know if that's what you're going for.

[Y?sen]

Oh darn, I wish I had added another update within the post. I decided to "finish" the piece for now... but I didn't get to see your comments until just now  Here's what it looks like though, for now



I have no time to fix it up at the moment, but I will go back into this piece as well, but for now, I need to now work on the 2nd WIP :I but wow I know exactly where you're coming from about the distant composition issues within the piece. Thanks for the advice man and idk why I didn't notice that earlier. Definitely going to look back into that when I get the chance.

[Y?sen]

A small start on my 2nd WIP:



Very early stage but hopefully you can make something out of it for now. There's two different light source reflections on here because im going to incorporate two different theme settings for the image. Daytime theme lights and elements on the left side and nighttime theme and elements on the right side.

Comment would be very appreciated.