Windy painting

[MashPotato]

Hello!  It's been a while, hasn't it :)
I was finishing up a painting (my first in a long time), when I decided to do some more extensive corrections on her right hand.  And while I'm at it, I'd like any other suggestions and crit you might have to improve it.  Thanks very much!

I've got some gradient maps and such on, so feel free to comment on the colour levels.  I think it might be slightly too saturated.

[cosmicr]

Looks fantastic! The only crit I have is that its too dark around her eyes.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Perhaps the sky should be slightly pinker or another shade anyway.  I'm having a hard time catching the blowing scarf-thing with my eyes since the colors are all the same.


Oh and she's missing a freakin hand! lol Only joking.

EDIT: Perhaps once the hand is done, the scarf would be easier to see even with the colors as they are?
Anyway, forgot to say it looks excellent so far! Good work.

[Andail]

I think you have a good, very clean style. However, compared to your previous works, I have to say that this is - lacking better words - a bit boring.

The composition is very stiff and static, there are too few intriguing details - everything is bland and devoid of expression.

What if her pose was more dynamic, her feet less firmly planted on the ground, more on their toes, indicating lightness, what if there was an element of "evil" included, something to add a bit of contrast?

This comes from a person who's seen and critiqued probably all of your paintings thus far, so I hope you take it the right way...

[LimpingFish]

I don't know if boring is accurate, but I agree that a little flourish to her pose could add something extra.

There's a lightness and grace to the flow of the dress and a clever visual path from the hem, up around the shoulders, out along the cape/scarf (?) and back in again.

If anything I would angle her torso and arms as if they are being slightly pulled by the wind caught in the cape/scarf(?) (this in turn would put her on her toes, as Andail suggests), which would hopefully impart that sense of lightness to her form.

If you're happy with the current pose (and there's no strong reason why you shouldn't be), then I'd try to suggest this sense of lightness in her right hand, as the fabric is pulled through her fingers.

As for mood, it's beauty and grace for the sake of beauty and grace. It is what it is.

Very nice use of colour as usual, Mash, though perhaps a contrasting tint to either the background or foreground, to allow the eye to rest comfortably on the character, could work?

As it is, though, I like it a lot.

[MashPotato]

Thanks for the crit, guys!  I'll see what I can do about the eyes and scarf.  As for the dynamism, it's a good point, and one I'll have a think about (more as to the extent)

This comes from a person who's seen and critiqued probably all of your paintings thus far, so I hope you take it the right way...

To me, it's usually clear when people are trying to hurt or help, and I know you're doing the latter.  Thanks, and no worries!

[loominous]

Nice piece as usual - perhaps a bit bland as Andail mentioned, but still makes me happy to look at.

I think one thing that we sort of expect, and which is emphasized by the missing hand, is something in the upper left area, as we're lead there by several elements, such as the character's arm, head direction and cape thingy, and not finding anything interesting at the spot is probably one of the largest culprits for the blandish impression.

An idea, which would also emphasize the windiness and generally the atmosphere, would be to add lots of airborne objects, such as dandelion seeds, of which a large one (or intact ball) could be passing through her now missing right hand, perhaps landing on it, or being gently embraced, and with the help of some catching light be another focal point (would have to darken the background a bit around that spot to make it pop though).

Another thing is that the tight cropping might be constraining the scene, robbing it of a sort of open, free feeling that seems fitting. Perhaps try extending it horizontally a bit, at least leftwards, and you could have the flying objects sort of form a galaxy like path leading off into the distance. Or something.

Good to see your work again!

[monkey0506]

I saw the hand was missing and had to read over your post to make sure you hadn't missed something. But then I started thinking about this (reproduced) painting my mom has which hung in our living room for years. Something always bothered me about it, but my mom assured me that it was intentional.

The painting was of an 1800s period semi-formal picnic-ish scene. The part that bothered me though...one of the women in the painting had one of her arms on backwards. It was basically just like her elbow was bent the wrong way 'round.

According to my mom this intentional anatomical error was done in order to increase the value of the painting. Or something like that.

Anyway, it all made me think maybe you should just leave the hand off. I think it'd be funny in any case.