CGAN Jan 2015 Challenge - White as Snow - WIPs

Some more feedback for everyone

Dom - I have to agree with Valence that it's too much of a tangent between the edge of the snow and the front man's arm even if I didn't react on it before Valence said so But I know how you can break that edge/tangent. Icicles!

Valence - you should stop being so hard on yourself! I think your portrait is coming along nicely and I remember the workshop that inspired you. It's a good idea for this challenge! My one thought about your current wip might be to try to use pale but saturated colours for shadows; purples, greens or blues. A bit like the shadows in snow maybe. So values would all be light and colours would determine the shadows. (Frank Frazetta has done some lovely watercolors with bright purple shadows...) It's just an idea though, but I felt the shadow colour around her nose is currently a bit "muddy"/grey.

oaktree - The simple background is lovely already, and definately making me feel the winter. It's not all that clear that we're seeing a huntsman, though. Maybe we can see a bow or a quiver of arrows or an old fashion rifle over his shoulder? And if you want to make the connection to Snowwhite you could consider some sort of emblem of the wicked queen on his clothes. A mirror or a red apple, perhaps. Just a couple of thoughts

micro - I don't have anything to suggest here, just keep working and I'm looking forward to seeing the details progress!

Schizo - I love the character in this one. I don't think she looks "manly" per se even though her face does remind me a bit of the singer in the Pogues (back in the old skinny days). I think she's quite obviously female though, and I'm looking forward to seeing her finished!

Mindbender - Not sure which part of Sweden you're in but where I am most of the snow has rained away (just leaving enough ice on the streets to make getting to and from work a kind of russian roulette). I think you have the icy colours down but it could be clearer which areas are in light and which are in shadow (normally "warm" snow would be lit and the blues would be shadows, but in several areas in your image they pretty much alternate in the same space... if that makes sense...)

Cheeeerrrrry - where are you!?

Thanks for feedback. Good progress all of you. Charlotte, I live 1 hour from Stockholm. Tried to add some darks in order to create depth and define forms further. Todays update:

I live 1,5 hours from Stockholm (by train) so I'm guessing it's mostly wet and windy where you are too (Mom and sis lives up north - I think they still have snow)

Thanks for the comment folks.
Here is a quick update I've added to the background to give a better feeling of depth I hope.
I'm not happy with the face, the character I wanted is not there yet plus I just flipped the image and its not good.
I have been finding it hard to get some ideas going for the huntsman, I did try a bow but it was not working for me how I had it but many thanks to Charlotte who has pointed out some more ideas.
It's good to be reminded of Sweden I spent a little time there around Uppsala and Gimo, about two years.

I had never even heard of a place called Gimo You learn something new everyday!

The feedback has been perfect! Thanks everyone for that!

Val: I am very much loving those eyes. Very pretty painting. I don't know if you will keep the painterly feel, but I think you should. It looks great.

Mindbender: (I was going to abbreviate that to Bender, but that has a rather dubious connotation here in the UK!) Again, really really like this. It's like a pallet knife painting! Beautiful stuff do far.

Oak: Background is good. It helps to tie the work together. Let's see some colour in the character!

Again, thank you for the feedback guys! Her legs are terrible and need looking at, so a good spot Charlotte! Can't believe I didn't spot the tangent of the arm!.. Must be slipping in my old age!

Mindbender. Agree with Dom, it's got a lovely thick impasto feel to it. The left hand side looks a little too uniform. Some little value/colour changes to separate the middle ground and the distant mountain would really help.

Oaktree. The background gets even better! Now get some nice warm colours in that face, it'll look great.

Here's a quick unofficial wip of mine.



I say unofficial because I've been finger-poking on my tablet rather than proper PC painting but it's still progression so...
Charlotte's right about the greys, and she's still right about it as I've been focussing less on colours and more on the actual 3D form of the face. And I think I've finally managed to get the kind of shape that I wanted. It certainly looks much less naive and for all its faults I think I have something I'm happier with and I can now look forward to developing this further next week instead of being embarrassed and frustrated by it.

Thanks for the comments added some colour and a start on equipment for the guy.

Charlotte - I'm here!

wow there are a lot of really great work this time! I finally found some time to start my pic now... thought about a scene of frozen action.

Both bosses aren't at work this week - I think I'll get enough time to finish it