CGMythology's Sketchbook (nudity)

I began the painting process, never used a color palette quite like this so it was fairly challenging in that regard. I'm happy with the skin tones as well, feel very natural with this environment so I'm glad I got that part down at this stage of the painting process. Still has a way to go but I think it's looking promising:

Love the composition of this one. It has lots of interesting angles that add a kind of dynamic tension making it an interesting pic to look over.
It's just like a cover of a 50's pulp sci-fi novel. And I agree about the skin tones. They really pull the woman forward into the light to create an impressive depth behind.

I almost expected to see the Alien in the container putting his hand onto the glass, where her's is at.

Valence: Thank you! Glad you enjoy all those elements you mentioned as a lot of though went into them, much appreciated!

Digital Dave: Ha! That's a great idea actually, might try it out although it might be too distracting. We shall see!

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I haven't had a lot of free time lately so I haven't found time to work on the image until today. It's coming along pretty well I hope, any feedback appreciated as always!

OK I worked the image to death and I think I'm calling it final for now, very pleased with how it turned out. There's still some time for some minor tweaks and such, so if you have any input feel free to let me know! Here is the image:

That looks excellent. You've really pushed the lighting with this one, the glow and sheen that you've got on all the surfaces is very impressive.
The only thing that looks slightly off is the yellow/black stripey bits. In the previous wip I read those bits as being raised like a step, partly because of the way the leg shadow coincided with the dark bit, but now that I realise that it's part of the floor plane, the perspective of the stripes just seems slightly awkward.

Valence: Thank you! I always love to push light so I'm glad I was successful in that regard! Excellent point about the stripes, those gave me a lot of trouble. I should have planned them out better in the sketch faze but I might revisit this piece in the future and see if I can fix it. Thanks for your honesty!!

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I started on a new illustration, the story of Ceyx and Alcyone which is one of my favorite tales from Greek Mythology. I remember reading this story as a child and was highly inspired, so I thought it would make for a fun painting. Here is the line art, any input would be especially helpful before I begin painting!

I wasn't familiar with this myth (in spite of a long interest in mythology!) so I had to google a bit first. I understand why you'd want to illustrate it, and I think the sketch is mostly well done. The composition works and the dead guy looks right to me. But the woman could use some more work in my opinion. Her legs look a bit odd and her feet too small (especially the higher one, which I understand to be further back, but the lower legs are not much different in length - I think maybe the left one should be more strongly foreshortened?). And her wings currently look more like pleated cloth. If she's about to turn into a kingfisher, maybe they should look more bird-like?

Charlotte: Thank you! I reworked the wings significantly and finished up the image!

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I managed to find some free time this week, so I painted the image to the best of my ability. I reworked the clothing and the wings of the figure, I think it's a solid improvement. Other than that, I'm pretty much ready to call this finished unless there's some really big problems with the image, so please feel free to offer any critiques or advice. Below is the final image followed by some steps of the process, I hope you find it useful!

Still not sure about that transition from "human" to "birdy wings".
It's a bit like that old Dragon vs Wyvern problem where you have to work out how many limbs fantasy creatures should have and how they connect together without having any real world reference to help. I always struggle with that and never really know how to solve it.
Everything else here looks fantastic. The unified colouring of the background is lovely and that light catching the hair is absolutely beautiful.