Aazhie

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 08:03:51 -0000

Hey, thank you SO much. Very helpful and just what i needed. The poses and clothing were vaguely referenced from a small image, so my clothing will definately need more work in later drawings. I would have preferred to get a more definatel lighting source, but rushed the piece more than I would have liked. I will definatly be keeping your comment about lighting sources in mind. I don't think I have any other questions, you've covered it all pretty well. Thank you again!!

Gauguin Cheetah

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 03:40:36 -0000

Hi there, Aazhie! First off, well done on attempting a bit of a complicated piece! Characters interacting can always be tricky, and making a believable dancing picture can be difficult sometimes. I really like the pose you have going here, and you have a fantastic start. Now, you mentioned that you were looking for a good dance studio reference, and that's good. I'm wondering, did you use a reference for this picture? The first big thing I notice, is that according to this dancing position, we should definitely be seeing the male's hand, as it would be resting on the female's waist. I see that you have an uncolored right shoulder in there, perhaps you were adding the arm later? The clothing folds, namely in the male's sleeves and pant legs, look as though they were placed without thought to the flow of the clothing. If you haven't already, reference some photos of similar clothing(in similar poses if you can) and note the directions in which the fabric pulls according to the placement of the legs/arms. Clothing folds are a difficult mistress; they can be hard to do properly, but researching the way clothes folds makes it much easier over time. :) You have made some well-contrasted lights and shadows in this piece, and the coloring is very nice. However, I'm having trouble distinguishing a light source. Often artists will place shadows according to where they might look nice, not accoutning for a light source that would be affecting where shadows and highlights would lie. I do notice, however, that MOST of your light seems to be coming from the left - with a but coming from the right as well. Given that this piece is hand-drawn and shading is hard to fix at this point, you can make this work by placing lights accordingly in your background. Perhaps a larger source on the left, with a smaller light on the right. Be aware of where your light is coming from -or will come from- at all times. There aren't a lot of glaring anatomy errors here, that I can see. The male's left hand (the one holding her hand) looks off, but I cannot quite distinguish why, due to the darkness of it. It may be because the viewer shouldn't be able to see an instance of a thumb from this view. Another thing I really like about this piece is the expressions, especially the female. You captured a solid mood in this piece, well done. Now, to your question - is this good enough for ArtSpots? In this reviewer's opinion, no. However, you aren't far. You have a good grasp on anatomy, the interaction and poses are well done, and your colorwork is very pretty. I feel that if you work on the things I mentioned, and remember to apply them to other pieces you work on, you'll be a shoe-in. :) I would also love to see this with a background, so I can make a better assumption of how well it would do in a portfolio, for example. I hope I've helped you! Please let me know if you need any clarification or want to ask a specific question. :)

Aazhie

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:50:03 -0000

How does this hold up? I plan on a background, but i'm a little stuck getting some good refs for a dance studio. I'd like to know what you think of the coloring and anatomy mostly. Do you think it would look professional enough for this site after I added a background- or does what is here need more work? Thanks!

JaxPad Forum Topic - Dancers picture for review!

Aazhie

Gauguin Cheetah

Aazhie