click to enlarge.
This is the result of a character design, that I tried to turn into piece that ended up as an experiment and learning experience. I originally drew Eliana as a Dungeons and Dragons character (Eladrin Warlord) for my wife. I thought that if I made her pretty enough and if I created a back story for her that would involve her being a princess that my wife would be willing to play. Fast forward a year later, I hadn't been drawing as much as I would have liked and I kept coming across this drawing. I felt that when people saw it they didn't see what I saw when I looked at it, and I had been wanting to try my hand at digital coloring so I decided to use this one. After months of learning, studying, practicing and a little bit of coloring, I made it to this point. I had originally planned to do more with it, as I tried to add more to the picture, I kind of realized that it's very rare and very difficult to add to a picture an emotion or action that you hadn't originally intended to be there from the start. At least, not once you've arrived at this point, and this is the point I was at when I tried to add more.
Anyway, I really pushed my personal limits coloring Eliana. I tried some things that I had never tried before and I feel very satisfied with the results. I also learned a lot on this one. When I started coloring this image, I thought it was going to be one of my best, and by the time I was halfway through, I decided it was crap and I could do better.
Anyway, I can see some things that I like about this image and some things that kind of bother me, but I am curious to see what others think when they see it. What looks good to you? What do you think could be improved?
Oh, and BTW. One thing I learned a little too late is Web Safe colors. In my opinion, the colors look great on my monitor. But when I look on it on my work monitor all the colors look bland and faded, and the skin looks orange. When I look at it on my wife's iPad, it looks kind of in between. Let me know how they look on your screen, I am hoping they look better on more monitors than not.
It looks good on my screen. Colors look normal, no orange skin. It looks really good. I really like the hair, the colors look good together.
ReplyDeleteIt looks great to me! My computer picks up colors really well so my blog often looks weird on other computers :P But I would definitely say this is one of the best pictures of yours I've seen (though I haven't seen a lot of your pictures in a long time). I love the colors on this. I love the colors in her hair. That is just an awesome design right there. And I really love her armor. I love how it is shiny without the colors being too vibrant. I've seen a lot of people use really vibrant colors when they are trying to give their pictures a shiny look. I actually prefer the more subtle shine in pictures. The colors in this are a little more muted without being flat. Very sophisticated in my opinion. Also the face proportions are very very nice and I know that is something you have struggled with. I really like this.
ReplyDeleteYou know what this picture makes me think. The walls in my house are still pretty bare. Some really cool artwork would be just awesome. Especially if I could say "My super awesome brother drew that." :P
Thanks for the comments. I'm super glad that you both commented on the colors. I actually spent some time studying the color wheel and color theory, so I made a conscious effort to pick colors that wouldn't clash and that would fit well together. You might have noticed that I chose to do the ink in a very dark purple instead of just black. It was in an attempt to bring a lot of the colors together and hopefully not only bring out her eyes but also help fit them in with the rest of the image. Thanks again for the comments!
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