CGMythology's Sketchbook (nudity)

Time for a new illustration!  I wanted to tackle another take on Jade from the 'Mortal Kombat' series without a mask, and a full body image as opposed to the portrait I recently painted.  Should be fun!  Any feedback on the sketch would be most helpful as I'd like to get that as close to perfect as possible before begin painting.  Below is the sketch:  

 

Looks like both hands should be behind the staff?

I kind of find her feet looking odd. The one to our right looks like it should be the one to the left, and the raised one to the left looks like there's a slightly weird bend of the lower leg. Well, the lower, lower leg. Ankle.

Charlotte:  Great input!  I made some changes especially to the legs, hopefully things look more natural now!

...............I went ahead and painted the image in after revising the sketch a bit based on the feedback received.  The colors came out exactly as I intended from the start which is a welcome change of pace, usually I need to experiment a bit before finalizing the color palette but things went really smoothly here.  Below is the image followed by some steps for those interested.  Please let me know if something feels off as there's still time to make some minor adjustments if needed!


 


 

  

Did some minor refinements to the image, mostly in regards to lighting.  I think I'm calling this finished for now as I'd like to move on to a new painting.  Here is the final:

 
 Next up is a new sketch depicting a statue coming to life.  I've tackled this concept before but I thought it would be more interesting if it was more of a portrait piece.  I had a reference for the statue which was the main inspiration for the image which you can view  here .  Below is the sketch, any feedback would be appreciated before I begin work with colors!
 

I like the colours on that, the green lighting is pretty effective. If I have one criticism it's that your character looks a little like they have been pasted into a background (which may be the intended design). If you brought the darkest value and saturation of the foreground (maybe just the area of the ground with the skulls, that she is standing on) up to the same level as the character, she would sit in the environment rather than on top of it. A second thing is maybe the hand (her right, our left) is a little strange in the way the fingers rest on the staff.

EDIT - And you posted as I was writing lol. I think I actually preferred the way your green lighting was in the previous version. The updated one the direction of the light on the background seems wrong as it's light from above, when she is actually in front of and some distance away from them.

Banj:  Thanks!  I wanted to make the character pop against the background, so it's a bit intentional.  I just added some darker values on the foreground to bring the image more together.  I agree with the lighting in the environment as well, just updated it.  Thanks for your honest input!


.........

Some updates on the 'Jade' image, did some refinements to the lighting, hopefully it's an improvement!

 



Next I finished work on the new image, I think it's definitely one of my strongest pieces.  I'd love to hear any feedback on this image so if something feels off feel free to let me know!  Below is the current preview followed by some steps for those interested!


 


 

 

I like the addition of the birdies and the warmth of the skin.
The only change I'd think of making is to remove the dark outline of the circle behind the head. It looks a little awkward next to the blurry background. Depth of field and outlines don't always go well together and I think the unlined edges of the statue wings look much more natural against that background.

Valence:  Thank you!  I refined the 'halo' a bit, hopefully it looks more natural now!

................ Lots of updates today!  First up is the recent image, I think I pretty much finalized it now.  Basically did some final refinements to push the details and textures even further.  I feel I overworked the image a bit so I'm calling it done for now, unless something major is off so please let me know!  Here is the current progress:    Next up are some movie still studies from various movies.  What I looked for when researching the stills were dynamic lighting.  So far I consider these studies successful as I have a better understanding of how lighting works, so I'll continue to do them.  I'm not trying to refine these too much as well, want to keep the style loose and 'finish' once it looks decent enough and I've learned what I need to:

 

 

   And finally I began work on a new illustration.  The theme for this one is steampunk, and I wanted a landscape look for this one as I want to emphasize the environment a bit and I might also offer this as a wallpaper, we shall see.  Below is the current sketch, any feedback on it would be most appreciated as I want to get it 100% right before begin work with colors:      

Nice studies.

For the new sketch, I'm not sure how to read her hand. It looks a bit like she has one pinky on either side of the grip of the gun, but maybe those are ornaments and it's be clearer once coloured. The thumb also looks rather odd, though it is a difficult angle, but I think it might benefit from reaching a bit higher on the grip.

Apart from that I just think it looks a bit "constructed" to have gears on the windows in places they can't possibly serve a purpose. Maybe just have something more "ornamental" in those places and if you want gears, put some "crank wheels" (not sure what they're called) on the open ended pipes instead? Or just on some of them. Having lots of open pipes right into your room doesn't really make sense, either. Depending on what's in them, I guess.

Oh and I love her jewellery - I want those earrings for myself!
(Though I'd have to fix my holes so I can actually use earrings again, post pandemic....)

That Star Wars landscape is really nice. I initially scrolled up past it thinking it was a photo you were using as reference for something.