Art Nouveau Woe (Updated)

[Ali]

This isn't for a game, but I could do with a little help. I've been working on an Art Nouveau poster in the vein of Mucha. I feel I've got most of the ingredients right, but something about her face isn't quite right. I can't put my finger on it, though.



I thought it best to ask you guys to take a look at it to see if you can spot what I'm blind to. I welcome any suggestions or paintovers, and more broad criticism. I should mention that the angle of her head has to stay like that, but all else is malleable.

Also, the message of the poster is: 'Smoking is cool and elegant.'

[Misj']

This isn't for a game, but I could do with a little help. I've been working on an Art Nouveau poster in the vein of Mucha. I feel I've got most of the ingredients right, but something about her face isn't quite right. I can't put my finger on it, though.

I thought it best to ask you guys to take a look at it to see if you can spot what I'm blind to. I welcome any suggestions or paintovers, and more broad criticism. I should mention that the angle of her head has to stay like that, but all else is malleable.

Hi,

Well, first off: Art Nouveau and Jugendstil are not really my thing (some people love it, I don't). So I won't get into that other than that I think you've captured the right style/mood, and as such I can appreciate it.

My first impression is, that the hand is not entirely anatomically correct (maybe it's just a tad to small or something)...but it distracts me, and - due to it's position - it adds to something 'odd' in the face. The second think that I felt was this: her neck looks a little bit too much (straight) on top of the body, while it should be a little more 'attached' to the front. These are just my first impressions...the things my eyes were drawn to as 'something's slightly off'.

Next I searched the net for some random images of Mucha to compare some things in style:

I noticed is, that Mucha (at least in these images) uses thick outlines, and soft lines within the objects (notice the lines of the fingers in the first two images). This adds to the 'stained glass' feeling that his images kinda have. So that's something I think you should do soften the 'inines', and accentuate the outline.

Misj'

[1] [2] [3]

Sources:
[1] http://www.unaaldia.net/wp-content/mucha002.jpg
[2] http://www.artchive.com/artchive/m/mucha/mucha_dance.jpg
[3] http://www.artchive.com/artchive/m/mucha/mucha_job.jpg

[MashPotato]

Ah, I love Mucha's stuff

I really like what you've done so far, particularly with the hair and textures, I think you really nailed it .
I did a quick edit (not really a paintover, because i just moved things around and scaled).  Mine is on the right:


Changes:
-decreased shoulder span (although looking at it now I think I might have gone a little too far with that)
-increased the size of her right (our left) forearm and hand
-shifted her left arm up, shortened upper arm
-increased size of mouth
-added a defining nose line (just as an idea, the one i drew doesn't look good really)
-anything else that is painted is me just trying to fill up empty space, not suggestions
Hope this helps.

Looks good so far, looking forward to the finished piece!

[Snarky]

It looks great, Ali!

The one thing I think you should work on is the smoke streaming from her cigarette. The way it curls looks random and doesn't contribute to the design, and the way the curls join the cloud just looks odd. It would look better if the smoke followed some definite shape or curve, more like the flowing hair in your and especially Mucha's posters. As for the cloud, I think you should either just lose it or let the smoke curls widen much more gradually.

[Evil]

Both arms are rather skinny, and I feel the text isn't really incorperated into the image.

If the "angle" has to stay that way, the face is slightly contorted. I didn't do a great job, but hopefully you'll see what I mean.

[markbilly]

All of MashPotato's changes are spot on. You just need to concentrate on redoing these bits and I it'll look fab. Changing the position of that left arm especially is an important edit.

[bspeers]

Mash takes the expression from "snide" to "fulfilled" and that's the main problem with her expression.  The other examples people have shown have a similarly satisfied look, so I would also go with Mash's edits.  Except for the white lines, obviously, but I don't think those are intended.

[Vel]

Hey, I love art nouveau and I think you've certainly caught its spirit! The only change I'd make are the colours - they're too bland in my opinion - Mucha uses much brighter ones. Other than that, spot on!

[LUniqueDan]

Mannnnnnnn. I'll give my soul to see an adventure game with those in a QFG-4 speech style. I'm still crying since they shoot at Many. It's amazing great work, btw.

[Ali]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It was very useful, I haven't made all the suggested changes, but I think it looks a little better. If I'm honest, I didn't understand much of LUniqueDan's post, but it seemed complimentary, so I'm happy.

Here's the latest version:

[Babar]

heh...the longish neck, the oddly positioned hand, the expression, the colours...all vaguely Egyptianish. It reminds me of "Cleopatra Cigarettes" you used to be able to get in Egypt. I'd show you a picture, but they seemed to have changed the pack completely.


Anyhow....I am meaning a good thing. Sorry I don't have anything constructive to say.

[ildu]

Like this?

[loominous]

Think the lower parts n crown thing looks really gorgeous, and you could have easily fooled me that they actually were from an ad back when.

The face does bother me though, and the upper part with the logo as well.



About the face: I think evil pretty much nailed the eyes with his edit; her left eye is placed above her right for some reason.

Atop of that I'd remove the dark lines at the sides of the eyes, and the one at the nose/brow intersection (dunno why people tend to place an outline there). Outlines is such a selective technique, and if you leave out most lines, the ones you do put in need to be mighty important, or people will look like they have scars or extremely defined sockets.

Also, her left cheek/eyesocket line looked rather weird, with very defined curves, which are to my knowledge rarely seen at that angle.

The mouth were facing front sort of, and I made it curve around the face a bit more.

Last thing, her eye brows looked a bit too high, even for a snooty empress.

-

About the whole thing, I think it looks rather boring when looked at from a distance. It's nice  to always have a small view of the document open, to get a sense of the piece as a whole, like painters do when they move back from a painting.

This is a very quick crappy attempt, using the pattern the smoke makes to create a pattern in the upper section of the pic:



It might be too detailed or whatnot, but I think it makes the whole more interesting, as you get a sort of vertical division, instead of an upper part that's a less interesting version of the lower.

-

Anyway, as I said before, apart from a few things it's a gorgeous piece!

[Ali]

Thanks for the paintover loominous. It was very useful and I've made the changes you suggested. It looks a lot better now, thanks! I'll try to upload a finished version at the next opportunity I get.



And here is the poster in situ. Thanks again to mashpotato, loominous and everyone else who helped me out with this!

[Vel]

Awesome, really, really awesome!

[MashPotato]

Looks very cool... the new backdrop really helps tie everything together into a unified piece.  Great job!

[tube]

I love it. This would look awesome as a good sized poster. How much for a print?

[markbilly]

That is incredibly well done. It looks very close to real (which I presume it isn't? ). The reflections are excellent.

[Ali]

I'm glad you guys like it. I forgot to say that it wasn't real, I wasn't trying to fool you. I'm afraid it's only really A4 size so there could be no big prints!

[Phemar]

Haha very Grim Fandango, I love it!