Created a piece for a good friend of mine. What could I improve on?
#Shading+readability/clarity help
dry isle
gray wren
wary elk
Great question about readability and clarity. So important to think about, and a lot of people don't. It's good you're thinking about it, and I also think it could be improved in this piece. From a drawing standpoint, there are a lot of tangents. The silhouette is also not clear.
Where is the light coming from?
dry isle
Where is the light coming from?
Worked on the piece a for bit. However, I remember hearing about tangents, never thought they’d be vital for the readability of an artwork. Furthermore, I curious as to how I can improve the silhouette as well. Also, the white scribble is where I generally assumed light.
wary elk
Is the light in front of the character, behind, or exactly to the side?
dry isle
Is the light in front of the character, behind, or exactly to the side?
to the side and a little to the front; behind the right leg and in front of the right arm.
I hope that made it clear
wary elk
Yes, thank you!
Is the light literally there in the scene, or is it further away and that placement just indicates the direction?
Sorry for all the questions. Just trying to understand your intentions!
dry isle
Is the light literally there in the scene, or is it further away and that placem...
It indicates the direction
👍
wraith horizon
Oki, this might be a dumb question but imma ask anyways since if I'm confused, someone else looking at it might also be. Is the purple on the left wings or part of the background? Because if wings, there's too much dark flat purple so o couldn't really tell and if background, please adjust the purple shadow on the (character's right) leg (viewer's left side) so its not the same purple as the background (just make the outline of the leg more clear) because currently. It looks like either 1. Part of that leg has a hole/fades into the background or... if those are wings... they look like background sky
If the purple is indeed background (which is looks like) maybe add a bit more pink into the purple shadows on the leg so it blends more smoothly to look like purple shadows are cast on the leg but the leg's base color is still pink. Because that purple shadow currently looks like that section of the leg is clear/white with the purple shadow casting on it (does that make sense?)
Other than that, great work! Looks absolutely gorgeous! Love the colors and style!
dry isle
Oki, this might be a dumb question but imma ask anyways since if I'm confused, s...
Those purple things behind that beast are wings!!
wraith horizon
Those purple things behind that beast are wings!!
Oki, perfect, I thought they might be due to the black line art. Add some highlights and shadows along the sides of the lines in your line art to make the wings look more dimensional (where you have bones, you can add highlights on the side of the bone where the light is coming from. And shadows on the other side of that bone so that it looks like it's more 3d) you do a great job of making the jaws on the left head look like ot's popping out of the page, so similarly (and it doesn't have to be as dramatic as the head obviously because it's further back), but add a bit of lighter shading where your light source hits the bones on the wings
