Friday, January 9, 2009

Illustration Friday: "Contained"




Hi, all: this is my first official post and it's kind of a sorry one at that ^_^ I'm a terribly slow worker with a huge case of artist block, so that's why the WIP is in differing states of line and color.



For IF, I wanted to show a little girl with a magical...something...pearl, maybe. The pearl itself will radiate swirling colors of...blue light. I'm not sure what to do with background or her surroundings yet (I'm sure it'll take me another week to come up with something), but any advice/critique about what I have now is definitely welcome (especially her proportion and the location of her feet). I'm using markers, so I'll probably airbrush the swirling colors last. This was supposed to be for last week's theme (ha!) but, like I said, I get blocked and then I just plow through as best I can. I got stuck on the head and before I knew it, it's a new theme -_-

I'll keep working on a background in the meantime.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I think it looks great - it's an interesting angle - and the color work on her face is going quite a deal towards showing how nice this will look by the end.

There are 3 things I see as possible problems.

1. my nemesis is tangents. I see her hair creating bits of tangents - first, both pig tails curl around and tangent the main hair (it strikes me more on her right side than her left) and she has two curls that tangent with each shoulder. To fix this all you'd need to do is either raise up the hair or shorten it.

2. Her left arm - there's the forearm which is fine - but the...what do you call it? aft arm? the top part of the arm (her left arm) curves in a little bit too much. I feel like it should either be more of a tube, or curve as her right arm does.

3. and finally - the feet. With the angle you have it at - I think the feet are curled towards the figure too much. They should come out more so you could see the tops of the shoes, and not so much of the bottoms of them. It might help to create a perspective grid (that's how I'd fix it) to line up the feet with the rest of her (which all looks like it works together).

So those are my thoughts. Hope they help...

kris fulk said...

Isaac, thank you so much for raising my awareness of tangents. I will try to be more conscious of them from now on.

I am definitely going to incorporate your suggestions. Thank you for helping tremendously :D

Pixiewinkle said...

Ditto on the tangent information. Immediate love was my first impression. The color is very nice and can't wait to see the rest filled in. I agree with Isaac on the arm angle. I don't know what age she's supposed to be, but under 4 the arms are slightly chubbier up top- not a lot, but you might consider a little extra curve. I agree again with Isaac on the feet, and I feel they are somewhat pigeon toed. Would you consider angling them out a bit? Isaac's suggestion may remedy this, but I feel like they are too petite for her size. Maybe a little larger. Regardless, I really like this image and can't wait to see the final. If it makes you feel any better I am half way through my IF from last week. I have put it aside and am working on today's prompt so I can get one in on time;)

pete said...

I like the way you handle skin tones! Also, you've added depth to her eyes...which capture her expression well. I like paintings that convey emotion, and yours does that marvelously!

The first thing I went to, for critique, was the shoes as mentioned above. I think we should be seeing more of the tips and laces...or you could widen her feet so they're not a 6 o'clock (maybe like 4 and 8 o'clock).

Very nice start. I can't wait to see it done. And I appreciate artists block...that can be a tough one to battle through. My block right now is a 12 week old daughter that won't sleep at night so I can get some work done. But she's cute so I forgive her. :)

Christy/Tiddly Inks Digitals said...

I love it and and I agree with the feet suggestion from above, but I didn't notice the tangents or the arms so much though. :) Her eyes are very expressive and I think maybe she is so sad, she needs to be holding something gloomy....like a black pearl. LOL
She really is wonderful (I love gloomy stuff, actually!) and I want to see the rest colored.
Christy

kris fulk said...

Patricia, Pete - thanks for the advice! I was definitely having problems with her feet - which was why I left them unlined. The best thing for me is to resketch and relign (hopefully *not* on the same paper as the final version -_-) because the crit has given me a lot of things to think about. Thanks all!

kris fulk said...

Christy, I totally agree with you - I had been thinking about why she looks so sad, and I like the idea of the black pearl or something like that, that she shouldn't have unleashed (a la Pandora's box, maybe). Hrmmmm, creative juices are flowing in my veins again. This is great lol!

sara.b said...

Wow, I come back and everything has been said. Well done everyone! Love it! I too found this piece to be very strong emotionally. Hopefully the feel will add more, because I think it's the feel that makes her feel doll like to me. Or maybe it's the rouge on her cheeks. o.O But don't change the cheeks, I like 'em. :D As for background, why not have her sitting on her bed, or on the floor, or {gasp} she could be Alice about to open a box with a tag that says something like "Do Not Open" or something like that.

I think the color is going to look fab in this! Take your time, if it's starting up your inspiration again, let it be what it's going to be without deadlines (since were all about breakin' those. hehe). :)

Carmen Medlin said...

Oh I love that suggestion of turning her into Alice, maybe about to eat something she oughtn't!
I agree she has an expression that draws me in and makes me wonder what her story is. Beautiful eyes.
I agree about the shoes but that's been said already. :) Can't wait to see what you do with this!

kris fulk said...

Ohhh alice! I like that idea! I actually have a photography book by Anna Gaskell and I'm going to visit it for inspiration (well, it probably won't be as dark/weird as Gaskell's though lol).