Most of the painting is actually pretty simple in texture, because instead of hard surfaces like floors and walls, the background is predominantly made of loads and loads of drapery/fabrics. Composition and flow are established using the lines of the fabrics' folds, and the play of light/colour.

Normally in character art, I make sure to give a lot of attention the characters' faces so that you automatically focus on them first, and that they're making eye contact with the viewer.

In this painting, however, the two characters are NOT looking out of the painting; one of them is looking down with eyes closed, and the other has the face partially obscured, and you only really see part of the eye.

The faces, therefore, have less "draw" than the typical "making eye contact" face. The result is that out of the whole painting, the mandolin stands out, because it is more detailed and has straight lines that contrast with the rest of the painting, which consists mostly of more organic curves from flesh and fabric. It doesn't help that the folds of the loose shirt point down towards the mandolin. I used a lighting trick to draw attention to the faces (one of the characters has luminous blond hair), but the balance of focus is fairly delicate. I don't want to mess the balance up too much, LOL

Some say I think too much even for basic portrait, I'm sweating over the "Golden Ratio" or "Rule of Thirds" composition, haha

Loki!

Thanks. TMango!

Progress...

softer how, exactly? I'm doing this according to the commissioner's requests, but I'd like feedback from others as well, in case I draw him again for future art projects

This post has been edited by DragonReine: Sep 24 2012, 10:07 PM

Ohhh, that, haha yes, he is deep in the loony pit by the time of The Avengers, with the psycho smiles and everything, hehe. The client wanted something more solemn, though, as if he is posing for an official portrait or something. It's meant to be a gift for a girl who's a big fan of Loki, haha!

The zippers are going to be difficult ;_;

@ Agito

Thank you! Yeah, I didn't give the greyscale underpainting much contrast because Color mode won't look nice on too light and too dark pixels. The contrast would change when I start painting on Overlay anyway, hehe, so it didn't matter to me.

Hmm, it's not really that different from working off a tonal underpainting when painting with oils. Obviously the underpainting for oils is a lot less opaque, but the concept is the same, haha! And thank you!

---

Added on September 26, 2012, 5:09 pmUsing the grayscale + Colour layer method has its weaknesses, yes. I always finish painting on Normal, to get the right colour variety and detail

Nah, it would work for cartoon style too, as long as the shading technique is "realistic" or 3D-ish.

For cell shading, however, it's better to just work purely in colour

This post has been edited by DragonReine: Sep 26 2012, 05:09 PM

BONCHI! Hello! Yes, you should be studying if you have exams But it's a nice WIP you've posted there!

@ Loto: I don't know why, but I love the fact that most of your drawings are of anthropomorphic rodents. It's adorable.

--------

Progress... Refining things on a Normal painting layer now. and he FINALLY looks like Tom Hiddleston, haha

Aw [hug] Just tahan a little longer, eh? Once the year is over, you're FREE.

(Until you have to start looking for a job, but let's not worry about that till later )

SO PRETTY-FUL.

I want to paint/colour this so bad, you have no idea ;_;

Ugh, this will be the last piece where I work directly in colour without making a tonal underpainting first. So difficult to polish and correct...



===============

Busy busy busy... can't complain, even if sometimes I just want to take an extended vacation >_<

Yeah Big mistake over there, erk.

Oh, VERY nice. Love the watercolour + airbrush effect, makes it very stand-out Especially the lined-paper texture, makes it look "authentic"

Her face, though, a bit too round, I think? Not much definition to her jawline/chin, looks a bit too egg-shaped in my eyes... although I personally have a preference for chiselled faces, so this might just be my prejudice speaking

---

Added on October 9, 2012, 10:13 pmROFL, this is hilarious. Although, if I may suggest, make the straps more like straps? Right now it just looks like those flimsy stick-on things ladies wear under backless dresses.. unless that was your intention, in which case, ignore me XD


This post has been edited by DragonReine: Oct 9 2012, 10:13 PM

Oh, poop, sorry, I meant the part that wraps around and hooks behind the body... CHEST BAND, forgot the name for that bit XD

EDIT: And this coming from someone of gender that wears bras the most often, geeze, I am fail at this XD

This post has been edited by DragonReine: Oct 9 2012, 10:36 PM

Bleh...

Spoilered, because a bit large



Painting the locket that'll go onto his right hand is going to be a b**** XD

This post has been edited by DragonReine: Oct 17 2012, 06:48 AM

@ Loto

Have you tried making soft pastel tonal studies? Get some pastel sticks and work fast and loose to capture the form of real-life things. The softness of pastel forces you to work on big shapes instead of the details, so you're more or less pushed into focusing on the light/shadow forms of an object to create its likeness.


===============

Quickie, about 2 hours...

Skyrim is indeed awesome

I prefer using Khajit, though, since I like playing thief classes

Still working on the Vincent Valentine painting... now cleaning up the Lucrecia pendant

Haha, I have a drawing. It's a work-in-progress, though, and currently low on the my art priority list



His name is Ma'Lik. Lives in Hjerim, spends a lot of time sneaking around and stealing anything that is valuable and isn't bolted down.

This post has been edited by DragonReine: Nov 5 2012, 12:45 AM