The Boar

[ehwhy]

Hi, I've never posted on Pixelation before (been lurking for about two years, however) , but it's good to see it's on its way to resurrection.  And... here's this thing, tell me what you think about it:

[lief]

my god this has style
some obvious flaws but the potential is amazing
not sure everyone will agree with me, i'll hang out to see what other people say
what is in the foreground on left?

[Mercury Rising]

Very nice!  Yet, few problems, I realize it is supposed to be dark and hiding the people/things spying but its too dark and then it just goes straight to plain white.  You could tone down the white a bit.  Also the boar looks, odd.  What is it that he is doing?

[ehwhy]

lief: It's a mechanical bird/statue/wounded battleship taking its dying breath.  Really it's not anything in particular, just some abstract stuff.

BrotherInWar: I lightened the forest ground instead, since I'd rather not change the white.  Yes, the boar is a mess of anatomy issues and lightsource inconsistencies.  He is supposed to be striking a heroic pose in the glorious light of salvation or something similar. 

Update on the background:

[Mercury Rising]

Then maybe change the light to be a beam of light, the plain white backround is just too eye melting.  Also, I see and upside down U of white to the west of the boar.  What is that?

[crab2selout.png]

No, no, the white bg is what makes this so amazing to the eye; it pushes the boar into the viewers eye. I can't really think of any thing that I'd like ot see improved here. I love the jagged feel of it, and the way you've used the light to make it so wonderfully atmospheric. This kind of reminds me of ICO for PS2 in the way the cold characters in that game would contrast with the wonderfully warm outdoors areas. Well it's sort of the opposite in the way that you have a warm character/ cold background, but I still love the atmosphere it creates.

[Rox]

Mm, that looks tasty...
... oh god, I'm SO rusty.. I can't think of anything to make it better..! Gah! I've lost my critiquing ability! Oh god... let me think...

...

Yeah, first of all, I like the general setup of the thing, with the dark foreground framing the white and the main character in the middle of it. I like the pose and the super-contrasty deal with the background. I have to suggest to other viewers, though; Copy the image and paste it on an eternal sea of black. It makes much more justice to it than this... milky grey deal.. bleh.

Oh, now I know! You've done good with dramatic highlights on the obscure foreground thingies, but the boar itself has no highlights at all. Might try giving it some to bring out the volume of it, because as is it now, I find it makes the whole image look somewhat flat. You could even try using the colors you shaded the clothes with to highlight his fur. It might work quite well.

[ehwhy]

I made some more changes, but nothing overly significant.


BrotherInWar: I stuck some trees in to lessen the area of the light.  The U is... well, it's... um.  It's a shiny thing.

crab2selout.png: Thanks!

Rox: I put in a few small highlights, although I should probably redo the whole lighting of the boar instead. 

Here is a floating torso.

[lief]

That is looking really good. The last edit was a great choice, the white still really shines well along the edge of the boar.
this shouldn't be good composition, but it works
I can't help feeling the thing in the lower left has something to do with the story thats being told... make something of it.
You should also attempt at least some rays shining through the leaves in the trees on right.