CGMythology's Sketchbook (nudity)

Overall I'd say it looks great, but that arm still bugs me a bit and I'm thinking it's because the shield is right next to her. With the angle of her shield holding arm, that would make her upper arm tiny. But if she's angling the arm out from her body the shield would be further away and the shadow would fall differently on it. I think...

Charlotte:  Thanks!  I might rework the arm in the future, will go back to this one after a while to rectify the said mistakes.  Thanks for your feedback!

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Time for a new painting!  I finished up a sketch, was in the mood to sketch an angelic figure.  I'm planning on doing something really dynamic with the lighting on this one, but  I would love to hear any input before I begin painting just to make sure everything is just right, so any input would be appreciated!  Below is the sketch:

 
 

Finally finished the painting process for the image.  Lots of fun tackling the lighting here.  The wings were very, very time consuming however, had to do several passes on them to get it just right but I hope the image is stronger as a result.  Here is the final image followed by a step by step animation, hope you find it useful.  Feedback is always appreciated, so if something looks off please feel free to let me know!

 

 

 

Did some minor updates to the image, I'm calling it done for now!  Here's the final image:

 

Love the serene expression and that intense light on the wings!

Valence:  Thank you, appreciate it!

............And time for another illustration!  This is for a friend, I previously illustrated her as 'Lady Justice' and will keep the same concept, but a totally different execution.  Going for a classical feel with this one, really excited to begin painting it in soon.  Please feel free to let me know any feedback on the linework, however!  Here's the current sketch:

   

It's beautiful as always but I do have a few issues with it.

The most major one is the scales. It's held below the eye-level/horizon line so we shouldn't see the bottom of it. It's so close to the horizon line we' barely see the top either but the top if anything. We also see the left sides of it in spite of it simultaneously looking like we're seeing it head on (both sides are the same length, both bowls the same size and there's no tapering towards the horizon). Seeing as she's slightly turned to our left, if she holds the scales "straight" in front of her, we'd see a wee bit of the right sides of the scale.

A smaller thing is that the sword doesn't seem to align with the hand that hold it. The "line" of the sword ought to follow the lines of her knuckles, I believe.

Lastly is more a thought/suggestion. Since one side is covered in a cloak, we can't quite see the shape of her body and it makes her appear slightly heftier than I suspect is intended. One way to handle that - and judging by all the candles in the background you might have planned for that already - would be to let the light partially shine through the cloth so that we can still read the other side of her body, at least approximately/partially. (There are a lot of folds though, so I guess not much light would actually get through. Another option might be to make her a bit "too skinny" by reducing the amount of hip we see... It might just be me, but my brain thinks there's the same amount of body on each side of her head, when I can't see the full pose...)
Of course it might also appear differently once she's coloured and shaded.

As always looking forward to the finished piece

Charlotte:  Some really excellent input there, thank you!  I agree with pretty much all your critiques and I updated the sketch accordingly before proceeding to paint, hopefully it's an improvement!

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I began the painting process, it's at a very early stage but I'm quite happy with how the lighting in particular is shaping up.  Still have a long way to go but I'm  having fun bringing this image to life.  Here is the current update:

 
 

Two things catch my eye at the moment. First the facial features look a little bit skewed so it might be worthwhile flipping the pic and working on the mirrored version for a while. The angle of the eyes doesn't line up with the angle of the mouth (the right side eye may be a little to high) and the tip of the nose seems to turn towards us. I think adding more cheekbone to the left side might help too.
And secondly the shadow cast on the top hand makes the pose hard to read as a thumbnail. This issue may improve naturally as you work the shading but it's worth keeping an eye on it as the pic develops.

Valence:  Yep, good point regarding the facial features, I'll flip it on the next update and revise it accordingly.  I revised the lighting as well, hopefully it's improved now!  Thanks for your input, very much appreciated as always!

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Here's the latest update, revised the values significantly to make it more coherent and refined the image as a whole.  I think it's at a point where I can now begin some serious detail work which should help bring it to life.  Feedback welcome as always!