@jensclaessens

Paintover

Nice work! Tie all the elements together into a theme. Your main theme is a mermaid in a kiddie pool. So, I’ve placed the mermaid in a backyard instead of a random forest. The story is that the boy wakes up early in the morning because of splashing noises under his window and finds the mermaid. You can use the garden theme to find fun elements to add to your illustration. The boy is wearing pajamas now and could be peeking from the house to further add to the theme. Drawing-wise, the lower part of the body is too small. Make the tail bigger and use the weight of the tail to deform the pool. Lighting can come from the bulb on the mermaid's head. This creates a central light on the center of the face that becomes weaker the further out it goes.

@fosco

Paintover

Hey! Really great work here! The foundation is solid, but I don’t think the value range you chose fits the mood you’re aiming for. If the goal is to create a more “horror-like” or unsettling atmosphere, having the scene mostly within a lighter value range works against that idea. First, because the lighting itself doesn’t stand out enough. And second, because it doesn’t really communicate the narrative or mood effectively, especially if the intention is to create something eerie or horror-related. Using a darker value range would help the storytelling much more because it gives you the opportunity to create a more dramatic lighting setup with the creature acting as the main light source. Notice that only the areas closest to the light source should receive the strongest illumination, while the rest of the scene remains dimly lit or mostly in shadow. As for the composition, it’s generally not ideal to crop the main character this way. You could reduce the size of the character slightly so parts of the antenna and the pool don’t get cut off. Doing this would also create more breathing room between the foreground character and the edges of the composition, while giving you space to include a simple background. Since the scene appears to take place in the middle of a forest, something as simple as silhouettes of trees or bushes would already be enough to establish the environment. Hope this helps!