Whatcha think???

[ADgoat]

This picture set my mind blurring into a revelations of sorts. I was using fewer layers in Photoshop and stopped trying to work the program over backwards and just painting. I kind of blinked at one moment of creating this and realized that I was happier with the quality of what I was creating for the first time while still in the process of painting it. I asked myself "Am I that in love with scarecrows?" and it dawned on me that what I was doing, and I'm sure a lot of digital artists do, was trying to let the program paint for me and what I should be doing is just painting. I realized that I didn't have to be a Photoshop expert to pain great using Photoshop. It's nothing but a tool to aid the artist, not the artist its self. The background is kind of a contradiction to my revelation, for it is rendered clouds from the filter option in Photoshop, but I was just excited to get it out. I'm planning on coming back to it and finishing an actual background soon. Let me know what you think about it. This may not look as great as a lot of the artists out there, but look out. Because from now on, every picture I create is going to be better than the last.

[SWAQ0502]

FAP FAP FAP!!!!
HOT

[Kashi]

It reminds me of Mr. Hanky from South Park.

[ADgoat]

lol. Yeah I guess it kind of does look like Mr. Hanky doesn't it? Well, maybe not as creative as I originally thought, but I'm still happy with it. And I'm glad it's fap fap fap hot for you.

[VividGrim]

That's pretty bad, guy. Firstly, his face is just... messed up. Even for a scarecrow. The shadows are barely distinguishable from the base colour - use darker, more saturated shadows. I also suggest you stick to flat backgrounds until you've got your foregrounds down. And for the love of god, stay away from lens flares.

[ADgoat]

I'm sorry you didn't like it at all, but I'm taking your suggestions into account. I can definetly see what you are talking about with the shading. I should have used darker tones for the shading. The lens flare was one of those last minute additions to it. I'm not sure why I decided to use it, considering I don't believe I've ever used it and kept it on one of my paintings before. The face is just a matter of opinion upon the art though. It's all fugly and stuff, but that was kind of what I was going for really. I believe that if I would have used darker shading tones, as suggested by you, it would have brought it out quite a bit more though. I also looked at the art you have submitted and have to say you are a talented artist. I'm extremely grateful that you took the time to look at my picture and to comment suggestions to me. That's what I've been trying to receive for months now and you are the first artist to actually take the time to help me out with hints of wisdom as to how to improve my work. Thank you.

[hypeserver]

Even as a scarecrow, the sketch needs better shading as mentioned before. The lens flare seems like an effect you just threw in there to try and seem 'artsy'. It's a cheap gimmick used to try and give a false impression that something is art.

To try and not be an overall ass, I will offer some suggestions though. As suggested earlier I would use a darker brush for shadows. Sometimes it even helps to use a pure black brush on shadowing and just changing the opacity. A pure white can with transparencies can also be useful for doing highlights in the image.

The area below the head needs more shading and there does not seem to be a distinguishable source of light in the image. If you're going for the look of a scarecrow I would suggest adding more texture to the actual face and body. Either using a texture such as canvas or burlap wouldn't be too hard to replicate and would give a better idea of what you're trying to convey.

The final recommendation that I would suggest would be working a little more on the neck. The neck on your character does curve slightly, but looks more like two parallel lines rather than a neck. The shading between the neck and chin is also very faint so I'd add a little more darker shading around that area to see how it would look.