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Darker is definitely the way to go, but you need to decrease the saturation there. Way too much blue now.

Well done, Kastchey, and the rest of you as well
Let's commence a new round now.

Even though I got annoyed when it happened, because there was a huge controversy about it and everyone was all worked up, I can't help but smile when I read it in retrospect:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=30394.msg389040#msg389040

Ah well, I think this will be the last and final version.

You have very valid points about her expression, but the blankness was certainly a key aspect of this image right from the start - I wanted a loose grip of the sword and a neutral face, that's simply a part of the symbolism. I did not want this to be a fierce Xena ready to slash you open



In this last edit I've continued to change her overall appearance, changed the angle of her arm and made her shoulder more integrated in her body, so to speak...
Also changed some values throughout the painting to get rid of the cyans and make the colour scheme more uniform. Then some minor detail work.

About her breasts...I guess they're pretty flat, but then again she's leaning forward, so a completely flat chest would actually be drawn inward, to meet the waist further down. Besides, I don't want to fall into the typical large-breasted warrior princess stereotype...

This image wasn't properly planned from the beginning, so there are compositional flaws that I simply can't be bothered to adjust anymore. Unless you can spot anything downright erroneous, I think I'm pretty done with it.

That what the font reminds me bloody of.

Who am i to tell you not to use it. I was just wondering what the hell it reminded me of.

Dualnames, we're not asking for literary masterpieces, but try to put some effort in your posts. Right now it seems you spit out oneliners just as an excuse to swear.

Hm, I recognise that photo, I might have used it for reference early on. Interestingly, I have no idea who Morgan Webb is. I guess I should change the face to avoid the resemblance, since two people have pointed it out already...
To be continued.

Latest edit: Changed/added details on hands
Ok, finally gave up the idea of having her skintone that icy and cold, and gave her a more natural tone instead. I think I lost a nice effect, but overall the impression is better now, I guess.

Also changed her face a bit to make her less masculine, and also reduced make-up, which was why I think she resembled this Morgan Webb so much.
I hope this is an improvement...



Oh yeah, I flipped it horisontally to refresh the view, but forgot to change my copyright and name...lol

Good lord, hasn't this thread stopped yet

Ok, after 5 days of voting it's pretty obvious that Loominous won, so congratulations and may you come up with a good new topic!

Ah, that's brilliant!
I never thought of placing the horison that high, allowing more landscape behind.
(And you who mentioned lowered camera angle and everthing!)
The weird shapes and the lake is definitely something I will go for...it's a bit Mona-Lisa-esque with the landscape just rolling on in the background...

I have absolutely no gripes with the "new" composition, although as you say the simplicity of the original diagonal shape is lost, but what the heck really...

Edit:
Uploaded a version with new horison. I was reluctant to add as much highlight as Loomy used, as I envision the light source "in front" of the scene, shining down against the woman. Also made lips blend a bit more with the face.

PS:
Ok, I've spotted the anatomical issue with the shoulder/arm...basically her left shoulder (the near one) is positioned too low and too close to the chest. It should be lifted and moved out a bit. Of course, this will cause problem with the lower arm and plenty of other stuff...
An option would be to lower the head and move it towards the other shoulder, but that's an equally tedious task...

PS 2:
Made one attempt to correct shoulder issue. I think this is an improvement; not only does it look more anatomically correct, but she also assumes a more defensive stance which I think makes more sense.

Oy, please use the stickies in this forum like everybody else

You already started one thread about your game, and you can atually use your GiP thread to advertise for assistance as well.

Most of the face is pretty much built from scratch, which is why it looks pretty generic. These are some pictures I've looked at for separate parts of the face and shading and stuff.

Fruittree, yeah the grip issue is a valid point. I really wanted her to hold whatever she's holding very loosely, so that there would be an element of gracefullness and balance rather than force. When I decided for the sword, the loose grip remained. I might change the thumb in due time.

Loomy:
Yeah the background is far from finished, and right now I agree about its dullness. I'm not sure what to put there. At first I had the ambition to depict a huge siege, and extend the canvas to the right (that would also give room for the sword) but I don't want it to be too messy. Also, I have this aversion to very wide formats, since they're forever doomed to be resized in forums and whatnot.
I agree with the background depth, and also with your reservation against overdone depth; some people simply can't get enough of overlapping layers and tend to add a dozen layers of distant hills.

When it comes to realism, I think I'm going to strive to give most central objects a very detailed, refined look, but the hair alone is probably gonna take me two days to sort out so I'm ignoring it right now.

Oh and how could I forget the lowered camera angle! After all, lowered camera angle to picture composition is what Gandalf was to the fellowhip
Ah well, next time!

But is there a point in having lots of pixels if you don't use them?
320x200 would be so much easier for you, not having to fill all that space with weird pixels and awkward textures.

Not a very original theme but I've been lacking ideas lately.



It was hell to find good references for the hands, so I ended up taking cellphone shots of my own in weird positions, so I can't guarantee they're very anatomical...

Large parts are still pretty unfinished, so if you have any ideas, please share them.

I don't know really what the purpose of different skin tones was, I just thought it looked cool. Maybe there's a single sun ray hitting the hands, or maybe there's warmth coming up from the sword, I don't know really.

Latest edit:
Added details to the sea, added details on her neck (sinews/muscles), other minor changes

A picture speaks a thousand words, so I present "colourdepth":




I have to say I really like your style, it's refreshing to see some traditional techniques once in a while.

Besides, Darth collects ad money from his 250 websites, so he can laugh any employer in the face.

Oh and Meowster; no I moved back years ago. Still miss it though! Brighton was awesome.

When you attempt to emulate another person's art, it's important not to take short cuts just to create quick look-alikes...I think here you have focused too much on style and atmosphere instead of looking at the basic craft of painting.

First of all, I think you should have a more solid idea of what you want to paint, and get some references. You need more substance in your picture before you start shading and applying lighting effects.

At this point, the scene is too dark and too uniformly blue, and the moon is too out of focus.

Small edit:
Adding whites over the eyes is a simple way of creating anger/excitement/madness



I also took the liberty of reducing the contrasts a bit, and added some pixels here and there.

Well...errr....I meant it is not parallel to anything else in the room. On its own, from the point of view of perspective (heheh), the desk is fine, no?

It doesn't matter if it's parallel in comparison to something else; as long as an object or shape is made up of parallel lines, when extended those lines should converge along the horizon line.

I'm not saying the desk in particular is a major issue, except for its rather small size, but let's just get the terminology straight

Actually, I don't think perspective is the major problem here. The only parallel objects in that room seem to be the carpet and the (almost hidden) couch in the back. And the buildings in the background.

Hm, unless the surface of that desk is rhombical, I'd say its sides are indeed parallel.

I'd say there's a large number of issues with these backgrounds, and I'm inclined to agree Geratuza; start off with learning basic drawing instead of putting together big, disparate photo collages.