NaziMage and Zerglings [CC]

[JinnDEvil]

Hi there! Long time since my last post here. 

So here's the deal. I did this piece as a Secret Santa for a friend, and although he liked it very much I think lots can still be improved.
I'm specially not satisfied with the background, something just look strange, but I don't have any idea to make it better with those colors. Any two cents?



There's also an animated version which I'm considering throw away.

[||||]

I love those colors! Especially that turquiose.
 I like the animated wings too.. but maybe they would look better with a slight animation on the main character of the image's robe; if that flowed a bit I think the movement would be balanced better throughout the image.

Hmm, about the BG.. perhaps some middle ground like a structure (wall or something trailing off into the distance. something between the foreground and smoke stack thingy.

[Quake]

Personally, I think there's a clash in regards to who is meant to be the main focus: the wizard or the bugs.

I assume he's commanding the bugs, whilst doing a nazi salute?




I'd move the wizard further to the side, and have his gesture point in the direction of the bugs.

[Tapsu]

Maybe point the gesture towards the whirling in the sky, with a little bit of magic going towards it? The first disturbing thing in the picture that I notice is that I am undecided on the focus being on the background or the foreground. But then the mage would not appear recognizable as doing a nazi salute (which he isn't already in my opinion, maybe because of the relaxed curve in the elbow and low shoulder).
Also, if I didn't know the title I would not have recognized the overlords, and then the rest of it is just generic bugs. Perhaps make the overlords more recognizable somehow? Maybe draw the closest overlord more visible?

[Manupix]

Looks great already!
I think one problem with the bg is the planet is too eye-catching in both detail and contrast, and so messes with the composition. The eye goes from wizard to planet and stops there instead of going round to bugs and back to wizard.

Gross edit:


Also the bugs are not very readable individually.
Not sure about the nazi salute: it's not obvious at all, the wizard looks nothing like a nazi, and just plain wtf 

[cels]

This is brilliant! 

- I like the animation, but I do feel that it would work better if you could see more of the bugs with fluttering wings. Now there's just one bug in the foreground that we can see clearly, and we can barely see the edges of a couple other insect wings. If there was a whole swarm of wholly visible bugs, then the fluttering wings of one individual wouldn't stand out as much. Also, instead of an animation where the wings go in and out of existence, perhaps they should be present in every frame, but with varying opacity and hue, to give an illusion of movement. It would make the animation more smooth, I think. Not as eye-catching.

- I agree with Manupix that the planet is too eye-catching.

- In regards to the hand gesture, at first glance, I thought he was leading the bugs to war. He seems to stand up like a general, his eyes on the horizon. But since he's standing on the right side, in front of the factories, I guess he's actually there to stop the bugs, telling them to go home. Whatever it is, I think it's a bit hard to understand what's going on. If he's leading them, he should be pointing them in the direction they're supposed to go. Or not pointing at all, but beckoning them towards him. If he's telling them to go home, it would be easier to understand if he was looking at them, instead of looking into the clouds.

- If you just extended the canvas 30 pixels horizontally and vertically, you could show more bugs, on the left side and below. Perhaps it would make the sea of bugs easier to read if you could see more of them, and it would also help the animation issiue.

EDIT: Amazing how morons like myself start posting without even paying attention to the thread title. My bad. So he's doing the nazi salute. Well, never mind my comments above. No point trying to make sense of a scene where a nazi wizard is saluting a swarm of zergs