I wanted to see if I could help by just simplifying and warping shapes around in an attempt to bring some more gesture into the image, removing at least some of the "stiffness" that can often happen in a portrait piece. Some of it is just composition and expression and exaggeration. I looked at some of Ben Elben's work and how he conveys the structure of the face and how that results in what feels like a "satisfying" illustration. I also cropped the image, there was nothing going on at the top so there was no need for that extra space. I also just made sure the focus point of the piece is the face, by darkening around the whole piece and making the head bigger. I would definitely say doing a lot of gesture practice helps, think about who the character is. How do they act? How would they move?
Paintovers (1)
Storm
Artist's notes:
I've been painting digitally for some time, but this is the first time I've uploaded a piece to an artist community to receive feedback. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I'm a bit proud of this piece because, for the first time, something clicked in my brain and allowed me to draw some of the 3D forms I admire in the work of artists like Max Grecke and Ben Eblen. The thing that bothers me most about this piece is the stiff pose, which doesn't fit the character's powerful presence. The light is another point. This is the first time that I design the light for a piece. Thank you to everyone in the wonderful ArtWod community. I hope to participate more from now on.