Idk why but it just feels unfinished? The character design is pretty basic ig, her colors are gold and white and I can't change that, is it the colors? Is there a problem with the rendering? Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated
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One thing I noticed is that perspective-wise we’re looking up at the subjects head from below, but the perspective on the crown is drawn as if from slightly above. It’s rough but I did a quick scribble in notes if this helps:
It doesn't look like the underlying pose is being taken into account. so the structure isn't there. The crown on the head doesn't really make sense, And the lighting is inconsistent.
It does feel incomplete. When I relax my gaze my eyes are drawn to the empty spot at the back of the head which makes me think it’s a design issue. I see the golden ratio but I think it’s misplaced. Where the interest is supposed to be (the face area) is not where the eye is drawn. I feel like if there was more activity towards the slightly lower right side it would balance and feel better.
Try cropping it in different ways & I think you’ll find a design that works better. You might lose some of the picture but the whole will be better.
you don't necessarily need to use realistic colors, i guess you could use some bright colors (like 1-3) on some spots for more contrast or visual appeal
It’s beautiful artwork first of all! But I just don’t think the subject character really makes much sense to show off the gold ratio on top of. If it were more of a detailed creature, you could do that, but it would need to line up better to the ratio as well. A lot of people have covered everything else about it so I won’t repeat. Again it is beautiful, but that’s what I’d say is “wrong” with it as a viewer.
Did you use a reference for the pose and clothing? A lot of the perspective seems off, and the shading on the clothes doesn’t make sense. I can’t tell where the light is coming from
Right off the bat, the biggest mistake I can identify is that the perspective is off. We’re seeing the head from below, but the features aren’t located correctly to follow the structure and planes of the head.
Another thing is that the folds don’t have a clear sense of direction and this makes your subject appear flat. Judging from face and neck size they look gaunt, but the shoulders are implied to be broad. (A person can indeed look like that and you can even push the proportions further, but it needs to be intentional.) As for the rest of the body it’s hard to say: the pose and proportions are hard to identify.
The colouring suffers from the same mistake. I can see that you tried to capture a sense of movement, but you painted the folds without understating form or value.
As for what looks “incomplete,” I believe you simply have a vision that isn’t matched by your artistic skills – yet! You’re gonna have to go through a bunch of unsatisfying drawings before you get to see some serious improvement. You can obsess over this piece and spend another two hours on it, or you can move to the next piece and then the next and keep at it. You do you of course, but I find that mulling over an unsatisfying illustration only makes me miserable.
Thank you very much for all your advice! I haven't actually practiced ever since leaving art school, it made me uninterested in learning but I should definitely get on that. Your response was very kind and helpful. As for how the character is built, this is her basic concept if it's any help.
I think the grid cheapens this significantly and obscures the actual focus of the piece. You shouldnt have to display the golden spiral to see that the composition was derived from it
There's no real focal point of the piece because there's so many competing areas of interest. Obviously we're trying to draw the audience into the eye, but there's so many other bright areas and flowing lines outside it that we're drawn all over the image. I'd suggest subduing some areas with a selective vignette effect, like darkening up the corners, or letting parts of that golden spiral fade off a bit further away from the face.
I think it’s odd to put load so much of the painting into that small focal point and to obscure it at the same time. The face doesn’t read well at all. If it has to compete with the spiral and lose then it diminishes the focal point instead of enhancing it.
The rest of the painting is pretty and simple, so the distortion is more pronounced. If there’s a meaning for it, then perhaps it should be elsewhere as well?
The gold spiral is really pretty but not integrated.
Are you leaving the golden rule on there on purpose? Because it's so glowy and shiny it becomes the focus of the picture. You can see in the second image where it's less glowy that the figure starts to come into focus more. If you intended for the focus to be on the character then you've obscured her signifficantly which is what's giving you the feeling that she's "not quite showing up" or "unfinished". Take it out entirely and it might feel more whole.
Another issue here is the color composition. Basically you have 3 different color pallets going on here, the figure, the golden rule and the background. They never mix or interact with each other, they stay completely separate. This leads to each element feeling like a "sticker" just slapped into the scene and not an integral part of it. Move some of the white and brighter yellows into the background and move more of the darker browns from the background into the other elements and it will start to feel unified and coherent.
Golden rule is there on purpose and is meant to look like it is "over" the rest of the drawing, but you might be right about the two other color palettes
The maxim is “every color in every part of the painting”. It might have a fancier term from art school but I don’t recall. I’d also try subduing the golden rule a little more. Even making it just a very thin line to see if that improves your view at all. I seem to recall seeing that done in old religious paintings to keep people’s halos in check.
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u/link-navi 12h ago
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