portrait

[JWW]

I'm workin on this portrait but i can't decide whether to keep this ambient light or not.  Let me know what you think and c+c is welcome. =)
with:
without:

[Larwick]

Looks great so far. I'd say keep the ambient lighting, as for the moment it helps give the piece more depth.

[Terley]

love it  .. yeah keep the ambient lighting..

Im tryin to get hair similar to that, atm I've just got a wog..  , it helps to wear a hat 

keep it up, just don't let the neck make it look as if he'd bending to the right..

[JWW]

thanks larwick and terley =)

and thanks for the heads up about the neck, ill make sure not to do that.

[Andy Tran]

 The ambient really did make a cool effect. Looks like a WIP.

[JWW]

thanks =) yea its most definitely a wip :F, i just needed to get opinions on the ambience before i went further.

[Ryuria]

Looks too sexy. Something seems weird with the face though, near the mouth area.

[baccaman21]

i'd say keep the rim lighting... But then I would wouldn't I ?

(see avatar)

[JWW]

@ryuria
thanks, but your comment isnt too helpful :/
@baccaman21
=P ok

[Fool]

It looks good to me either with or without light - if it's stand alone portrait.
But I would definetly kill that shiness on his hose it looks like zit a bit.=)

[Ryumaru]

i like how this portrait is the same, maybe even better quality than your avatar. but its in your own style. nice!

[Skull]

Amazing work so far. I like it with the lighting.. it adds to the piece.

[ndchristie]

it sorta looks like he got socked in the mouth and everything just stayed pushed over to the left side of his face.  still though its quite good, kudos.  i like the lighting better but maybe make it a less stereotypical color?  i mean seriously, how often is there _actually_ a royal blue ambient outside Seiken Densetsu and everyone that has copied it?

[JWW]

@skull - thanks man =)

@adarias - well im not sure how to fix the 'socked jaw', mainly because i don't really see it.  Any tips?  As for the ambient lighting, i was not thinking of seiken densetsu but just wanted a highly contrasted colour :/

EDIT: hmm i tried moving some features over to fix that look, yea i think you're right.  And changed the hair a bit, although im not really happy with it.  I'll add the ambience back at the end.

[Fool]

Mouth looks fine, it just a deep shadow of nose on the front creates twisting.
Rough edit, if it helps=)

[JWW]

thanks fool that helps a lot =)

update: smoothed hair, changed around the nose

EDIT: the palette was a little too washed out for my tastes
but im not sure which palette do you guys like better?

[Larwick]

Great updates JWW. The most recent one looks very good, and i think you should do the non-2ndlighting one now (although i realise you are)  Like Adarias said, it's a tad cliched methinks now. I'd like to see that neck area done up a little bit more next, 'cus the thick lines are distracting me atm... heheh. 

EDIT// Woah, the new palette is quite striking. Not sure what i think of it, because when i first looked it was a little overpowering, but it's growing on me i think, the hair looks good in it. But i think the face is a tad too contrasted atm.

[JWW]

thanks larwick, ill tone down the contrast a bit and get the neck done.

[alkaline]

i agree about the pallette, kind of over contrasted and tiny bit too much red, looks weird with your darkest color when put together.

looks good jww, but i still kinda find the mouth to be mushed to the left, try moving the bottom lip shading over to the right of his face more, maybe even the lip highlight as well.

[CrumbBread]

it is Sean Bean!

[JWW]

well after a long while, i finished it.  Started it up again over the past few days.
Final versions: