EDIT: TRYING TO KEEP ALL MY JUNK IN ONE THREAD, SO PLEASE SKIP TO LATER PAGES FOR OTHER PIECES ^__^ ~dema

 

Without the time to concentrate on new and original art, I've been finding more and more that I've been looking back at older work and messing with it to update it. I've been working on this one picture that I did around Xmas 2004.

(Original)

 

If I remember correctly, this was traced from a pic on one of those Best Something Something galleries that lads mags like to throw up now and again. Alas I don't have the original picture anywhere (I looked). It was mostly an experiment in layer styles and getting patterns to conform to shapes (as in the leaves on her top), but its one of my favourite attempts at this character, though looking at it now I can see copious room for improvement. Instead of drawing it from scratch (time lacking!) I decided to find out the original PSD file and play with that. I didn't even own a copy of Painter back then, so my first step was smoothing out some of the lines and stuff, as well as adding back in the background that I had used originally.

 

In my novel, the character now wears a skirt, so that was one thing I wanted to change. I also didn't like the rather huge chest and the roundness of her face, nor do the Sidhe in the novel have pointy ears, so all of these details now had to go or be changed. A rough paintover smoothed out a lot of the details - including the incredibly scratty hair - but I still was very unhappy with the rather generic face. Instead I found a rather nice photo of Scarlet Johansson to base the face off. This is where the problems arise.

Its possibly just because I haven't painted in the hair and finished the face shading and stuff properly yet, but when zoomed out to this distance, the highlights on her face seem to pop far too much, whereas zoomed in they look okay - though unfinished. I need to lighten up the skintone all over a fair amount. Scarlet is notoriously pale, but the character is not. I wanted to kinda meet halfway between the dark-skinned look and the pale, and I'm getting there on the face, but not quite there yet.

 

I'm just after comments so far, especially tips on how I can sort out that pop issue when zoomed out: is it something that will rectify itself when the area around is detailed better?

 

Oh, a couple of notes since someone is bound to point out the weird eyes. The sidhe in my fiction have cat-slit eyes, usually golden or silvery (or in v.rare cases, ice-blue) so thats why they look a bit odd. Not quite sure I have the slit pupils right just yet, but they look okay for this stage.

So, what do we think so far? What do I need to work on the most? All comments welcome :D

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~Demajen
http://www.demajen.co.uk/gallery.php

The colours on the face and body match up okasy, but there's a strange light patch on the right side (screen left) of her forehead which looks like a skin condition. I think that's the main problem.

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I'd also say the arms look pretty thin at the moment too.

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"Live life like a fantasy. Reality is only in your mind!" - Fabledgoat

Cool, thanks guys. I'll work on the head and hair a bit more over the next couple of days when I can find the time. Looking at it its definitely not right: such is the price I pay for completely changing her original hairstyle. Still gotta decide if I'm gonna put the flower back in there. Lots of bits n pieces I want to change. ;D

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~Demajen
http://www.demajen.co.uk/gallery.php

Decided to work on the painting today instead of writing (bad Demajen! naughty!) but hey, as long as I'm being creative in some fashion on my Sundays I'm a happy...well, I'm a bit big to be a bunny...but you get the idea.

First thing I tried to do was sort out that skin condition. Think I've got a better grasp of that now than I had before, though it still looks a bit flat, so I'm gonna go back to it.

I found my original reference photo and decided to match up the anatomy more closely. This meant moving the arms a bit as they were quite a bit off previously. I also decided to be less lazy and actually do something with her right arm rather than having it just trail off behind her skirt. 

The crystals are something I've been meaning to get into my paintings for a while -- they play an understated but pivotal role in the backstory of my trilogy of novels (work in progress) and its about time I got some practise at painting them. The one on her neck was referenced from a nice necklace. The one in her hand I mostly made up, which is probably why it looks a bit naff in comparison. I need to get some shiny translucency to it.

Lemme know what you think (and if you know any tricksNtips to painting crystals :P)

 

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~Demajen
http://www.demajen.co.uk/gallery.php

wow thats a massive improvement demajen this is looking really lovely, as to the crystal, i'd just get as many ref pics as you can, they're not easy to make look realistic.

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^__^ 5 years and huge software improvements (and a ton of practise) make a lot of difference. I'm quite chuffed with this so far.

 Google is being reasonably helpful for the crystal references, as is an old folder of Final Fantasy XI screenshots. Lots of big crystals in the game, though sadly they're all fairly low-res.

Hands, pockets and pleated skirts are next on my agenda methinks!

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~Demajen
http://www.demajen.co.uk/gallery.php

Face certainly looks like Scarlett, and it's a big improvement on the original, kudos sir!

However the face is still the big issue for me. I think the features within the face are too big, also her eyes are two different sizes. Although the features may look too big in the face because of that smaller eye, I'm not really sure. I would also say the head is a bit too big and too high up. However I don't think you will ever get it to look completely right because of how good the likeness is, as everyone knows that Scarlett doesn't have dark skin.

Crystals will have pretty reflective surfaces, so I would suggest figuring out exactly where your light source is, and then adding some pretty light value/colour to the facesof the crystal closest to/facing the source. It will depend on if the crystals are the naturally occuring kind, or the processed human created kind. The natural kind will not have as highly reflective surfaces as the man made kind, which will almost be like painting glass.

 

Good luck, Peace! 

Glad to see your not "hiding hands" the new artist best trick for not embarrassing self lol. the other hand might benefit from a sassy hip hold. Other then that nose seems odd, eyes, and belt is wobbly

Y'know the face has been niggling me for a while and I couldn't put my finger on it, but you're right. The one eye is definitely smaller. I'll scale it up slightly, as Scarlet does have quite large, striking eyes.

The nose is an interesting one, as its almost identical to the one in the ref pic I'm using, but it does look a little odd. I have a feeling this is a case of the human eye wanting things to be "more perfect" (ewww that's so grammatically lame!) in art than in real life. I'll see if I can "perfect" her up a bit more (if that's even possible with a woman this gorgeous >_>)!

I've removed the belt entirely on the latest version of the pic, and am gonna do some work on the actual top and bottom hems of the skirt to make it seem more realistic. I like the hip-holding idea so I'll find myself some reference for that (which should be easy enough: sassy hip-holding is all the rage on the red carpet. I can probably even find a pic of Scarlet doing it if I look hard enough.)

I was gonna scale back the tan a bit more, but this is the Summer Queen and I just can't see her as a pasty person, even though as you point out its never gonna look quite right seeing a really tanned ScaJo.

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~Demajen
http://www.demajen.co.uk/gallery.php

I think even just scaling back the brown in her skin a bit, and adding more oranges and pinks would probably go some way to helping.  

not much new I can say that hasn't been said but it is definitely looking better.

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"Live life like a fantasy. Reality is only in your mind!" - Fabledgoat

Finally had a chance to do a bit more on this today. Lightened the skintones up a bit using some adjustment layers and various colour brushes. Big changes include the arm and hand, though. Unfortunately big, thickset guy (ie. me!) does not make best reference for skinny sexy girl (the Summer Queen) so I think it looks a bit iffy. Anyone gonna leap in to be my saviour and tell me what's wrong, as I've been fiddling with it for the last hour and it's probably so obvious I'm not seeing it -- does the whole arm have to come down more? (I know its thicker than the other one; just tryin to get the angle right at the minute) >_<

Also, is the hand holding the crystal too manly? (Surprisingly enough I don't have long, manicured nails >_>)

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~Demajen
http://www.demajen.co.uk/gallery.php

Methinks that looks better. Still concerned about the hand though. Too big/butch?

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~Demajen
http://www.demajen.co.uk/gallery.php

looking good dem but right now you have some really dark blacks around her face and it's looking out of place because the rest of the image doesn't have that deep of shadows. I don't think she's too butch though. She's actually reminding me of Eliza Dushku. but with green hair.

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"Live life like a fantasy. Reality is only in your mind!" - Fabledgoat