or click here: [x]
=] Finished

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I've been working on this for the past few days. I've already gotten some pointers from some of my friends, but I'd like to try and get as much out of this as I can.
It is right now an incomplete piece. I'm still working somewhat on the background, and the figure will later on be casting magic. There will be small enemies around too.
I just wonder at this point what people think about it. Simple things like

What do you think of the colors? The contrast between character colors and bg colors?
How about the composition?
Anything - what do you guys think?

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Old work in progress:
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I'm not much of a critique expert, but I think it looks gorgeous so far. The colors you choose look great together. <3

Although, the lower leg in front kind of seems abit short & a little crossed. ^___^;;
...I can see where it's going and it's looking good. <3 : O

The flame on her hat, her hair and her right hand are simply amazing! I'm also liking the colors, although the background could use a bit more depth, in my opinion. Also, the foreshortening on the front leg is a bit wonky, and it looks really tiny. Otherwise, amazing job! :D

Updated the piece

=] I have taken into consideration what you both (Haru & briannamal) have said and I made some corrections on the leg, as well as added more depth into the picture. It's still not yet done. I want to add some corals or small marine life as well to the background to perhaps give it a bit of color and life.

Thanks very much for your opinions !

very nice i is very jelious.keep up the good work

=D Thanks Mistress !

Beautiful! And line-less, too! Ah, you have mad skills. I love the boldness of the colors against the background, the way her skin is shaded and the style in which you drew the fire(?) on her hat. Lovely work!

^^ its gorgeous i really love the background. All i have to say ish that the girl doesn't seem to be in proportion in terms of height she seems to need to be a tenny winny bit taller ;o

It amazing. Your anatomy is awesome. I love how you used cool and warm colors together. It's a lot better then what I could do on the computer even if it's still in the drawing process.

The only thing I could say is to work on the hair and make it look as if it's floating a bit more, not sorta clumped together. Maybe adding some bubbles would make it look more as if she was in the water and not floating in some shinny blue world. XD

=] Thanks again for commenting guys.

@Deletris: I'm pretty happy with her proportions for now. I'm kind of waiting on me to start hating on this piece and move past it to see what you see. D: I think I'm still blinded by my own awe. I didn't expect I'd be able to do something at this level quite yet. You see, most of my other projects like this have flunked :(

@Morbid_Silence: Thanks much ! I'm glad you appreciate the use of color. It was one of my concentrations. I am still considering putting in some bubbles, if at the least around the little sub vehicles. The oddness about this place though is we can breath in this water. Odd game has odd story. But yea, it would make more sense if I did. Maybe a little later, if I bother with it more, I might add some more movement to the hair ^ ^
Thanks for the suggestions. Will keep in mind !

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D: All in all, for the most part, DONE !

i wish the hat had any effect on the lighting on her body. and the spotlights coming from the machine would create a soft glow around her. since these light sources didnt happen it flattens the picture considerably and makes it look more "fake" like pieces parts put together. her legs also seem pretty wonky. i think it comes from the fact that she has no bone structure in her hips, it turns into a noodly blob there and then somewhere out of that blob comes a nicely formed leg. but since the hips have no structure it throws her legs off too. her feet are also twisted impossibly. the lifted foot would point inward and not outward, and (even tho the pic is supposed to be underwater) her other foot pointed inward with her "balancing" on it, would probably cause her to twist her ankle and lose her balance. i also do not get a sense of underwater here as i couldnt tell until someone mentioned it. and she doesnt look floating either. the cracks in the rocks are also poorly defined and "fuzzy" could definitely use harsher lighting and less smoothness to look like actual rocks. your shadows are inconsistent with your light sources as well. and with two l ightsources, two shadows would be placed at least for the girl and in theory very faintly on the monster(?) but his should be more faint anyway and further away so, that shadow might not be visible. being skinny, i know that the ribcage can be visible like that, but its not very aesthetically pleasing, it would be nice if that area was less lumpy at least, only faintly visible instead of (and granted like i said, being skinny i know it is possible) looking like a solid object being streeetched out of the skin so obviously like a fruit in jello, it just doesnt look very nice imo but thats a personal thing i guess. also, the monster, if he is small is just fine, but i get the feeling that hes supposed to be far away based on the way you shaded him so he should not be so sharply defined as the girl. i dont remember if i mentioned or not, but she doesnt look like shes floating, if she is there should be more movement overall, not just her hair but like with her bangles, her hat, and her center of gravity.

overall, the picture is aesthetically pleasing and you use colors well. you dont have a horrible sense of anatomy but there are a couple little things you need to work on defining like her hip and butt area because it just seems a little noodly compared to the rest, and her feet which look twisted but neither are too tough to fix. you have a great coloring technique as well, nice composition, tho lacking in atmosphere.
aesthetically speaking its very beautiful, technically speaking, there are quite a few kinks that need working out. they dont detract too much from t he picture necessarily but if those were fixed it would be a great improvement and look far more professional and "real".

I really need more glow on her. I was afraid to do it. Though I really want to keep building up on this piece, but I know i'm gonna get bored and move onto a new one.
Frankly, I was afraid to do some things that I should have that you mentioned. I thought that I should have added more atmosphere to the monster in the back, but at the same time, I was just happy with it, and I wanted it to contrast and be as visible as you see it there.
She does need that hip bone though. That little pelvic bone that sticks out on our side. I wasn't sure how I would go about it, so I let it be. Something my teacher would have loved to see though - for that reason I implemented the highlight on the ribs. Mine do that btw, when my back is curved in the slightest like that. I personally love it xD Something about seeing anatomy like that makes me happy. Perhaps if I expanded the highlight, made it fainter so it wouldn't seem so sharp, it might look even better. I've only began indulging with color like this, so messing with highlights and spots like that with anything other than charcoal or graphite is still new, and I will improve as I make more of these.

Now, though the piece is underwater, we don't float in this world. We're very much strangely on our feet, so I'm not worried about portraying that it is underwater. I personally think it's cool, just the scenery and colors. I mostly wanted colors. That twist on her ankles is something I do sometimes when I walk...I didn't know it until a friend took a picture of me from behind and caught the funny twist. I thought it was fun, so I implemented it, as lame as that might sound.
I could do more on the rock. I'm trying to figure out a good technique to replicate a rocky texture, though not for this piece but for future reference. For 3D texture mostly, whenever I have to paint over a UV map. This rock was worse before I changed the value and contrast too. I would deal with it more in terms of value. I do want to keep the wobbly painted style I have on it though. For the most part, I wished this whole piece was more like that. That wobble I achieved from the lighting on the statue is precisely one of the things I wanted to try for in this painting - I wanted to see more of it, but I'm still just figuring out how I came about doing it. I get how I did it, but doing it right will need more practice. I'm going to be stubborn about some things in this piece. Any changes wont be anything time consuming. All until the next piece, when I begin to implement more and more of what I learn.

Personally though, I don't care too much for perfection in this piece in particular. I just want it to look good, and for it to please the eye. I paid more attention to color, which is what got me started with it. Since value affects colors though, I am concerned about the shadow/lighting inconsistency. I'll just concentrate on that next.
I'm waiting to get over this piece (a process that I'm happy to say already started - this is a very good thing) so I can finally move onto another.

Thank you

Ehgaawd I love the colours on this one, it reminds me of a vintage print somehow :) Beautiful shading work. If I really have to be critical though - her eyes look a tad crossed, and perhaps the background could be faded more to bring the focus on your character - she is underwater after all, and things get murky real quick!
Other than that, and especially given that it's a finished piece, I reiterate - awesome piece of artwork. Especially the colours. Ah I'm a colour-freak.

Wow this is amazing! I love how you did the color and how it looks like it's under water flame. The hands are simply gorgeous and i just love the stripped socks. The detail you put into the background makes her stand out more.

wow
awesome coloring^^
i never had the nerves to color that long...
if i color to long i start to disliking the pic i'm making,and than i never finish it XD