[WIP] The young warlock studies

[Danielclarc]

Hi I'm working on piece for personal training and I could really use some feedback

Here it goes:


the setting is a library where the young horned boy is doing some reading, on the center of the ceiling is a flame-coloured crystal that is the source of light

things I still plan to do:
-fill the last bookshelves (and the bottom row of the second)
-remove the symmetry from the books on the bookshelves
-add shading on the hair
-add shading no the shelves
-add a background after the bookshelves
*maybe i'll do some subtle animation

The most frustrating thing by now is that the books doesn't look like books to me hehe

[Danielclarc]

*redid the shading on the hair
*did some minor shading on the shelves
*added some light on the table
*added some background
*more books
*removed that ugly crystal for now

still can't figure out how to make better books, does anyone know a way to make them fit better on the image?
 

[Curly]

Nice improvement
I like the books
The biggest problem is that the background stands out too much. If you change its saturation that would help with the blending of the hair and the shelves too.

[PixelPiledriver]

Nice! 

Sniped by Curly.

There's a lot of color reuse, which is nice.
But it doesn't help create a sense of depth.
Modify the palette for major changes in layer distance.

[Danielclarc]

Thanks fro the advice! ^^

Another edit,
*tried desaturating the background, I liked it, but don't know if can get better( never tried that before)
*separated the two middle bookshelves a little
*added some books on top of the table
*tried some backlight on the character (tell me if it is unnecessary, actually done very little backlight on other works)
*tried some dithering on the darkest places (promise this is the last time I'll say that I didn't tried something before  )

I'm really enjoying this process. I'm actually trying a lot of things I've didn't tried before (and I'm really liking the results ^^)

[fily]

Good edit, maybe try altering a few of the books on each side so it's not perfectly symmetrical.

[jun]

Good edit, maybe try altering a few of the books on each side so it's not perfectly symmetrical.

I actually agree!

Crush the symmetry. Make it more random. Show some books fallen flat on the shelves, Show a few books that are inserted flipped, etc etc. I think it'll make the piece more interesting.

[fily]

+1 Jun, that's what I meant, I should have elaborated 

[Danielclarc]

Thank you all for the constructive comments ^^

*broke the symmetry on the books
*desaturated the distant shelves a little more to divide the picture in 3 planes(table, bookshelves, distant bookshelves)
*made some more interesting books (including a massive book that needs a reinforced shelf)
*decorated the books shelves a little
*made the character less chubby

learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn...

[MysteryMeat]

if you can, add his hands to the book. that bit of interaction makes it feel all the more real and would give him more of a slouched over studious look

[Danielclarc]

It's excelent that you've raised that point,

At first I was thinking of making he magicaly (with some indication like his horns glowing) turn the page after reading for a while (this is part of a series of thoughts that I have about how magic users would make their lifes easier with simple tricks  ). but I'm kinda giving up on animating this. Since then, I was thinking on working on some better interaction of the character with the scene. Surely will try that hehe

[wzl]

Hey man, i really like the piece. but like it was pointed out before, i feel it is far too busy.
if you squint and look at it, everything tries to get the same amount of attention. all the books in the far back are piercing the eyes, but dont really add to the picture all that much.
the variation in the closer bookkshelves is nice, it helps break up the monotony, and makes the library look used, good job on that.
but some of the details on them are too bright as well. its hard to determine whats foreground and whats background.
the thing that puzzled me is the light source. is it from above? from behind? the shadows and highlights are not clear in that. little highlights on the cheekbones, rimlight on the coat, light hits the book, casting a shadow of the head presumably, but the table is entirely in shadow. try to think where the lightsource is and how it hits everything.
that said, i feel like the mood of this piece is a bit too sober. If this is a demon warlock studying the mystics from the nether realm it feels a bit odd if he sits in fully eluminated room, but thats just my own take on it.
I tried to take this into account in the edit. Things i'd generally like to see you address are

focus: what is the point of the picture? the library, or the warlock?
posing and expression: your warlock right now looks pretty much like a hunched over student learning for his economy exam
design: aside from the horns there's not a lot that would actually identify him as a demon, satyr, and he might just be another dude.



Also i got rid of the far shelves in order to add some windows. it makes the image feel more open and less busy.
The candle light setting is a bit harsh and a big deviation from yours, admittedly, but i really wanted to try it out
Hope you can take something away from it

[Danielclarc]

The concept I was trying to take on is a young (17-20 years old) warlock (taking warlock for a magic user that focus his studies on demons and dark spells) studying, that said, I was trying to take the idea with a lighter mood. Imagine him as a real and normal college guy (like me hehe), he is not even sure if this is what he wants to do for his life. The library itself is some kind of giant library of a magic school (supporting every type of magic user, that's why I didn't wanted to give it a darker mood).

That said, really liked your opinion, will work on the farthest bookshelves (really liked the window idea) and on the interaction of the character with the scene, since the focus is definitely the character

The light source would be a big fire-coloured crystal working as a chandelier on the center of the ceiling (something the higher mages worked on to supply the library with light. ^^)

Thanks

[Danielclarc]

So.. long time since the last edit.

I've desaturated the books a little, and made some statues to make the background a little less boring.
worked a little on the interaction of the character with the book in front of him

For now I'll take this as finished, It's time to move on I guess.
Thank you all for the help, it sure made a big difference and I learned a lot

[Jim16]

The statues look too bright, and could do with de-saturating to make them fit in well in the background. I do like that you've de-saturated the back as it really pushes the character into the foreground.

Light source seems to be a strong and from behind, yet the warlock doesn't cast a shadow as strong as the rest of the objects on the table. I'd also change the lighting around the hoodie to be more of a rim lighting, right now it looks a bit noisy and doesn't make much sense. I also think that there should be less light on the characters face, and instead you should work more with shadows.

I'm not sure why he hasn't got a mouth? Something simple to add to his expression might go a long way to helping us understand how he's feeling, bored, excited, afraid?

Overall it looks pretty good though, so if you're finished, then that's that.

[Danielclarc]

Thank you, I really have some trouble with mouths, hands and feet and I really have to stop running away form them

Other than that, most of the time I feel afraid of taking too heavy on the shadows (I know that's not a good excuse, but it's true)
I'll try to focus my next pieces on these little troublemakers for me.

On this piece I've learned a lot about separating background from foreground and setting a focus on the image. Still, I have much to learn.

Oh god, I just can't leave this as finished right now hahaha, but I promise I won't be trying to add anything new. I'll just... fix... things