CGMythology's Sketchbook (nudity)

I like the paleness of the costume and buildings. They work very well together and the similarity of tones gives a lovely harmony to the colour scheme.
The only thing I'd tweak is to maybe add a bit of reflected light to pick out the left edge of the top foot. At the moment the boot and its shadow merge together and it creates the illusion that the foot is much bigger than it actually is.

Valence:  Great observation and suggestion! I added a subtle highlight to the foot as suggested.  I posted the update on my official website if interested, don't want to post it here as it's a fairly minor update.
............ It's May which can only mean one thing... MerMay!  I think I've made it a yearly theme to illustrate on during this month.  I decided to go with more of a creature than a radiational beautiful mermaid as I feel that's overdone, plus I wanted to challenge myself with something a bit different than I usually paint.  For reference, I tried to capture the general pose of this  photo  from The Pose Archives, and I feel I was quite successful in that regard.   Spent a lot of time on the sketch bringing it to life and coming up with an interesting composition.  I have a very strong idea for the color palette as well so I probably won't do a series of color tests for this one. But before I begin the painting process I would love to hear any input on the sketch as I'd like to get that right as much as I can before beginning coloring work, so any feedback would be quite appreciated!
 

 

I think it's a nice change from the "sweet" mermaids, and I don't think I have any comments on the mermaid as such at this point.

I do think the two fish on either side of her head are a bit too mirror imaged and it should be easy enough to just redraw a fin or two on one of them. (The smaller more generic fish also look copy pasted at this time but I'm thinking that'll change as they get different shading and with some being pushed further back once the colouring is started.) And then there's the one that looks like a swimming furball. Which might change with colours and shading, but it does look rather odd as a line drawing. Then again fish can look really odd, depending on angles etc.

Charlotte:  Thank you!  Great point about the fish, went ahead and fixed that so hopefully it looks more natural now!
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I went ahead and painted the image while implementing the feedback received.  Overall I'm fairly satisfied with how it turned out.  There's still time for minor tweaks and such if necessary, so if something looks significantly off please feel free to let me know!  Below is the final followed by the steps for those interested. 
 

   ................. Next up I started on a new personal piece, very much inspired by the artwork of Magic The Gathering so I wanted to achieve a similar feel with this piece.  The figure's was referenced from Grafit Studio as well.  Any feedback on the sketch before proceeding with some color tests would be most appreciated!  

I love how the mermaid turned out, especially the two fishies I mentioned before. I do have some thoughts on the final though. For the mermaid herself I think the two blocks of colour (greenish body and purplish tail) re a bit too uniform and could do with a bit of variety, for instance cooler towards the bottom and warmer near the surface (or possible the other way around with cool light and warm refracted light from the bottom). The other thigs is that when you changed her tail it seems you drew her scales backwards.... Scales tend to follow the "flow" of the body much like body hair does, and the tips of the scales would be pointing towards he tail end, not towards her body.

I do enjoy seeing the "animated" stages and in this case I like seeing how the bottom flora changes and gets "pushed back" in favour of light and colour. I also like your new sketch though I'm not entirely convinced by her hip area... For her leg to be where it is, I'm not sure the other hip would be that high up. But it's a bit of a difficult crop for the pose, too, making it harder to read.

Charlotte:  Glad you enjoy the mermaid!  Excellent point regarding the scales, I'm used to drawing them in that angle even though it should be reversed.  Hopefully it's not too distracting.  Great suggestion regarding the color variations, might revisit the image shortly and implement just that!  I updated the hip/leg area on the new sketch, great call!

................I fixed the leg/hip area to give it a more natural look and did some quick color tests.  My favorites are A, C, and D.  Not sure which one to go with so I'll take a break for now and have another look at a later point.  I'm open to suggestions however so please let me know which you feel works best!
 

I continued to work on the image and pretty much finalized it.  I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, but I'm open to any final feedback if something looks heavily off, so please let me know!  Below is the current preview followed by the steps for those interested, hope you dig it!

   

 

Ooh, I like this one.

There's some great work on the face and expression and it gives the whole image a fantastic energy and aggression.
I'm not quite sure about that line/edge where the calf muscle transitions to the back of the knee. I'd be tempted to experiment a little more with that but, as Charlotte said, it's a difficult pose and you've done a good job to define it so well.

Valence:  Glad to hear it! I put a lot of care on the expression so I'm glad to hear it shows!  I'll check the anatomy on the ankle again shortly, but I did work on a minor update which you can view below.

................ I updated the image a bit and made some changes, hopefully it works better now.  I'm considering it finished now as I would like to move on to other paintings, but if something major is off please feel free to let me know!
   Next up is a painting I began last week. I actually started on this when my Internet was down so I just went ahead and did it without any feedback in mind, although I'm open to hearing any suggestions now that the image is pretty much finished.  Below is the image followed by the steps for those interested. 


   And one more final update!  Here is a sketch of 'Mileena' from the Mortal Kombat series.  I did this one to see how much I improved from a similar illustration I completed over a decade ago (I'll post it once this new image is finalized and compare the two).  I spent a lot of time with the expression as I wanted something really creepy here so hopefully I pulled that off.  Any feedback before I begin work on some color tests would be greatly appreciated!   

Did some color tests for the new portrait piece.  My personal favorite is the last one, 'F'.  I feel that comes closest to what I envisioned from the start so I'll likely develop that one.  I'm open to feedback however so please let me know what you feel works best!