Looking for some feedback on this. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, but fresh eyes always kick up points to improve on.
This is my first attempt at this kind of composite portrait. The original was taken a few years back and it's now completely transformed. Any advise/learning links are always welcome.
Thanks.
https://fstoppers.com/photo/82716
Jerry, I love your passive/aggressive reply :)
Appreciate anyone taking the time out to review my work and write about it. Im heading to bed... but will elaborate some more in the morning.
Wow, so Jerry where do I start? I did my time at art college/university (4 years in total) so a little sad it hasn't paid off haha.
I should probably explain my motivation behind the piece. Basically the original (which you can see here http://s14.postimg.org/k9jxua0pt/IMG_0103.jpg ) was one of maybe 100 shots taken 3/4 years ago for a hairdresser. I took on this little project as something to tinker with on my lunch breaks at work rather than just watching videos of people being attacked by cats.
Maybe that's the problem, I just played around and didn't really have a finished goal, just simply what looked nice to me. I value your comments, but I don't think everything has to be so literal and digital art gives us the freedom to play around with alternative realities of sorts. I'm inspired by fine artists such as Audrey Kawasaki, John Dyer Baizley, Richey Beckett & Jacob Bannon to name a few. Definitely worth checking out, and I'm sure they'll tell you that there is a large market of people over 14 that like skulls & that'll be reflected in their bank balance :)
My day job is as a photographer and graphic designer So I guess my style is going to be graphical and sparse rather than something realistic. So the look is intentional.
As for the model, how she looks in the image is how she looks in real life, not very shapely & I find your comments about "more space between her legs" and adding curves alien as I think you should present people as you find them (more or less), but that's personal opinion.
I like the sword idea and totally agree about the stance if I wanted something more fierce and literal. This isn't me being facetious but I'd genuinely love to upload the RAW file and let you have a pop at it, i'd genuinely love to see someone else's treatment.
As for the title, again, I didn't overthink it... It was a song a was listening to a lot and it stuck. Thanks again Jerry.
Dude! It's a head dress.... as if someone would have horns :)
I just don't like altering people's body shape, I'm too PC haha.
Ha! Jerry you're a crazy cat! Yeah Its kinda cool, definitely thibk there's a lot we can learn from other artists and mediums.
I have to agree with most of what Jerry said. Especially the dimensional aspects. Add in some shadow to the different elements like beneath the skull, the feet and tail feathers of the crows. I would even drop the exposure on your character a little. Seems like this type of composite should be a bit more dark and moody. Add in some dirt and grime to the character. She's too clean to be a huntress. Like Jerry said give her a weapon. Unless of course the crows are her weapons. If that's the case make them look more like weapons. I would also recommend blending the colors of your background and foreground. You can use a function in photoshop called "average" to achieve this. Solo on your bg layer, duplicate it, average it, invert it, put that layer on top of your character layer set the blend mode to color and adjust the opacity to match. Viola! Also, take a look at Aaron Nace's site. He's an amazing compositor with a lot of great tuts on how to build a composite. www.phlearn.com
Hey Justin, cheers for the feedback. The average tip is one I'll try for sure.
Need to do some more of these as really it's just a starting point.
Already over the Phlearn site :)
So soooo good.
Hi Joe,
I'm kinda in agreement with these two, man. I think you've got a lot of potential, i really do. And it hurts to have someone come down with so many suggestions on how to change something you worked so hard on. But... I think you may have developed a lot of skills in some technical aspects... And may need to revisit some more base factors like the strength of the silhouette.
I did feel for you when you stepped back in order to not over-react to the first post. I respect you for that! You certainly didn't lose anything when you made this image; you exercised and imporved skills. They would have been put to better use with a form with a stronger pose, though.
My suggestion: next time, don't look at a pic and think "what can i do with this"... Instead, start with an image in your head, and strive for that. My apologies if you actually wanted that form to begin with.
Hey Tom, thanks so much for your positive post... I haven't logged onto here for a while as I've been busy out and about.
I actually really appreciate people taking the time out to write ANYTHING, so I don't mind all of the suggestions :)
You're definitely right about having a vision and working from that at the very beginning. My biggest problem is I have so many ideas and things I want to do, it's hard to narrow them down. I often feel like a jack of all trades master of none, but that has helped me in the professional arena and I guess at least earn a good salary doing photography/design.
Now I just need to do more of this type of work. Appreciate the encouragement man.