[Socalin3454]

Well let me start off by saying that I am fully not expecting anyone to take me up on this, so any tips/suggestions/criticisms on the peice are welcomed.

Basically I'm posting to see if anyone would be willing to take this peice i made thats [imo] about 85-90% completed, and finish it.

My problem is that I can never seem to get my work to that polished professional look. I get to a certain point [usually about the point that this peice is at] and I hit a wall. At this point I usually end up going in circles, either too much, or too little and can never seem to find the happy medium. Ive spent a lot of time looking at already finished work but can never seem to apply it to my own art without it looking strangely out of place.

So Basically, I've been extremely impressed with the level of talent of the people on this site, and I just wanted to see if anyone could take this peice and put their own finishing touches on it so that I can kindof get an idea of what I'm doing wrong. [NOTE: I WILL NOT TAKE ANY CREDIT FOR ANYTHING
ANYONE ELSE HAS DONE TO THIS PEICE.] For all I care, anyone who finishes this can take full credit for it. This is pretty much just a peice that ive been experimenting with, using different techniques etc.

So..here it is. This is made 100% in photoshop. The character was drawn by hand using ALOT of the Smudge tool and burn/dodge tools. The background is from a stock photo that I edited to fit the peice and the foreground is from custom brushes.

Picture: http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc91/noname1112/archerscaled.jpg

I realise that its still pretty sketchy and far off so its a lot to ask but if anyone is interested, let me know and i will upload the PSD file. If not, any suggestions welcome

[EAD]

what immediately jumps out are the problems with the drawing. There is little point in taking a piece to a polished finish when the fundamentals aren't in place. If you want to paint characters you should spend your time learning to draw anatomy and gesture, you can't render something from imagination if you dont have a good understanding of its form and proportion.

[Jabo]

I'd also say that you are far away from having a good drawing base to build upon. What makes your pieces look awkward is not your finishing touches, but the basis. No matter who would work on this piece on your foundation couldn't make it any better. So instead of putting a lot of effort into finishing your pieces, you should probably spend that time on defining your anatomy, color and perspective skills. You can't rescue a piece with detail or effects. What makes a painting solid and "finished" is the basic skills. How much time have you spent on this already?
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CA SB|Flickr

[sweetums]

As you guessed, probably no one is gonna touch this thing with a 10 foot pole.

As pointed out, the anatomy is bad. His arms are way too short, and it looks like his head is sprouting out from his chest, rather than being atop a neck...

Your lighting is horrid, with something (NOT the moon!) lighting up the clouds from in front and to the right, and something else (STILL not the moon!) lighting the LH side of the figure. Consistency is as important as being able to draw accurately.

You'll never improve unless you back up and work on the basics. If you insist on painting people, start practicing BASIC anatomy structure. Draw people without big swirling capes and weird armor. Practice drawing them naked, just to work on your proportions.

Body Length is ~(approximately) 7 1/2 head lengths.
Shoulder width ~ 2 2/3 - 3 head widths
Upper arm = 1 1/2 head lengths
Forearm = 1 1/4 head lengths
Hands = 1 head length from wrist to tip of middle finger, from chin to hairline.

Practice until you can draw those basic proportions consistently. THEN start working on the capes and the armor and whatever.

Consistency in lighting is a whole 'nother kettle of fish...
Good luck.
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Life is short. Expect nothing, enjoy everything.
That which does not kill you should make you wiser...

[Socalin3454]

Gotta apologize for such a weird post. I came home from the bar the other night (after a few too many drinks) and was looking at this and couldnt figure out what wasnt right. After waking up the next morning and reading this i cringed because it was so obvious.

Like I said, this was pretty much just a practice peice that I threw a background into before posting it. I think the reason it came out looking so awkward was that it originally started out as a sort of anime looking dwarf thing that i just kindof just resclupted like a peice a clay as i worked on it, so I didnt really have a base to work from.

Again, I apologize for a waste of a post. If I have time, I'll fix it up and maybe repost the results. Thanks for your responses though.