Hey guys, I'm pretty new, but can I get a critique on this quick Rosaria painting I did a for the 1.4 Genshin announcement? Thanks! Hope y'all are doing well.
Thank you! Yeah, I’ll admit I got pretty lazy with that LMAO
I have made a couple adjustments below (according to my opinion)
.
Mainly
slant of eye, should be parallel with direction of mouth and bottom of nose
neck and body, mainly left side shoulder
added a bit of hair becouse the skull seems to narrow on the left side otherwise
See my profile page for link to showroom
I decided to do a quick paint-over
Here were the two main issues that jumped out at me immediately.
The colors were really washed out like there was a layer of gray over almost every color
Most beginners have trouble with putting too much contrast, but you have too little! Also instead of shading towards black shade towards black and more saturation, otherwise your colors will start to drift towards gray. This washed out coloring might have to do with the more important issue
There was no clear light source
When I was planning my paint over I couldn't really tell where the main light source was supposed to be. According to the hair highlights it was in all 360° around the character. According to the background it was the big light source behind her since there was no rim lighting present. But according to the hair's cast shadow it's to the right, but according to the face's highlights it's head on, so close to the viewer. Too confusing! When your shading always think about the light source, and make sure that all the objects and materials in the scene are responding to the same source(s) of light.
Besides those two things the other smaller, but still important thing is your brush work is not very confident, it looks shaky and uncertain especially at the crown. I would suggest before making a brush stroke ask yourself "what exactly is this brush stroke for?" If you can answer it clearly then go ahead, if you can't. reassess your life, or maybe just your brush stroke. You don't have to this for every stroke, but doing this every so often will help to make sure your brush strokes look more bold and confident.
Anyway good luck to you. And of course...
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hello
At 3/9/21 06:02 AM, A-lieN wrote:
I decided to do a quick paint-over
Here were the two main issues that jumped out at me immediately.
The colors were really washed out like there was a layer of gray over almost every color
Most beginners have trouble with putting too much contrast, but you have too little! Also instead of shading towards black shade towards black and more saturation, otherwise your colors will start to drift towards gray. This washed out coloring might have to do with the more important issue
There was no clear light source
When I was planning my paint over I couldn't really tell where the main light source was supposed to be. According to the hair highlights it was in all 360° around the character. According to the background it was the big light source behind her since there was no rim lighting present. But according to the hair's cast shadow it's to the right, but according to the face's highlights it's head on, so close to the viewer. Too confusing! When your shading always think about the light source, and make sure that all the objects and materials in the scene are responding to the same source(s) of light.
Besides those two things the other smaller, but still important thing is your brush work is not very confident, it looks shaky and uncertain especially at the crown. I would suggest before making a brush stroke ask yourself "what exactly is this brush stroke for?" If you can answer it clearly then go ahead, if you can't. reassess your life, or maybe just your brush stroke. You don't have to this for every stroke, but doing this every so often will help to make sure your brush strokes look more bold and confident.
Anyway good luck to you. And of course...
It looks good ngl and the shadows are quite nice
Much thank you, this was very comprehensive and helpful!!! 😭💕💕💕 I won’t give up!
Now, on to what you're really reading this for (I think I talk about something that hasn't been yet too):
- The shadows could be darker, the paining has a washed out feeling. Don't be afraid to go darker, the contrast of light and dark can go a long way. Darker shadows, and touches of red in areas like the cheeks, shoulder and nose will help liven it up and make the shadows look better. This also includes folds in the clothing.
- You may even want to try duplicating the layer and play with the vibrancy, or play with level correction. It becomes a matter of taste.
- Also, as it was already pointed out, the light source is a tad unclear. We see the light in the background, but the highlights and lighting/shading on the hair, face, skin and clothes say something else.
- I would also keep trapped shadows in mind, areas were separate things are touching that light can't directly hit will technically have a trapped shadow. Such an area to point one out would be the point were the skin of the shoulder to chest area and the fabric are touching. You have a bigger shadow there, but there should also be a smaller shadow pretty much where the cloth and skin touch. The light can't go into the shirt, but the shadow underneath the clothing piece can't escape from being in-between the fabric and skin. This one can be a little tricky and real-life studies will help.
- You could also do this with the strands of hair covering parts of her face.
- My last thing, be careful with the strands that still have thick outlines, I see one in particular that stands out in a way that may be a matter of taste, but for me, compared to the other strands, it could be a little less thick, not so thin that it makes this separate strand disappear, but just a little thinner.
- Where you want your light source will affect the things I've mentioned above.
- In the image attached, I circled sample areas that could benefit from some trapped shadow testing, fold areas that could be darker, and the one hair strand with the thick outline. I also played with the levels a bit, though only through Google photos, so it's a very general edit, so some parts might not be what a vivid filter would do entirely, I think (can't get on Clip Studio right now). It's a small difference, but you can see the effect it can have.
Hope this helps!
