Thomgirl's Digital Ruminations

Valence wrote: That looks like a very well done distraction.
And great work on the hands (says the man who doesn't do hands!)

If you still want to be distracted for another few minutes then you could push the lighting a bit more, those magical effects "pop" a bit more against greater contrast.
And seeing as we're all loving layers I'd use a "multiply" layer to put some darker blues on the left side and then a "screen" layer with some saturated tones to give some more glow to the magic.

Oh, and super fabric folds too!

Tempting... and probably something I'll do with the other stuff I'm working on. There's, I think, a fair reason why I'm actually not pushing saturation too far in this piece and that's because she's meant to be very 'grey'. It's something I'm trying balance of having enough color to be interesting, but not entirely loose the overall greyed out aspect. Part of me says your right, knows you're right, but ultimately, it just doesn't fit this character to me. We'll see. Nice thing about layers is you can do it and if it doesn't work, just turn it off or discard it. When I get back to the other portraits though, do crack the whip on saturation They don't have a grey-ish pall to their skin tones, so no need to hold back!

I'm echoing Val - and I'll add that I like the different but almost identical greys for her clothes and hair, and the embroidery on her clothes. Subtle but pretty
I still think the reflections in her eyes could use some work - they look kinda "dry" and not glossy like eyes do and they currently have camera lighting flash reflections rather than reflections from the fire and lightning.

Alright, Alright... I pushed some more... cause I know you guys are right... hoping this is working. I'm not practiced with reflections, so crossing fingers I did enough and wasn't too scared.

Yep, that works a treat.
It emphasises the magic, adds to the mood of the picture and doesn't detract from the character or the personality you wanted to express.

And the best thing about digital art is that you don't have to be scared because you can't really ruin anything. Unlike other media!
I'm frequently terrified of fiddling with traditional paintings!

Valence wrote: And the best thing about digital art is that you don't have to be scared because you can't really ruin anything. Unlike other media!
I'm frequently terrified of fiddling with traditional paintings!

Yeah, I was a long time traditional artist, so old habits die hard. But you guys were right! Glad I worked on it more and thanks to you all for bringing it to its final!

Long way to go, but of course bringing it in for the critical eyes. Linen shirt color is going to be adjusted to a more worn creamy-greyish deal, there's a lot of shading/lighting stuff to sort out, but just this is just first layer work so far so I can get an idea of how things are shaping up. Lips have not even been touched, they need more depth/tone work... lot of little texture details too to be added down the road for the armor/attire.

Hope everyone is doing well and getting some quality art time in with the craziness. It's been too long since I've been here. Think of you all often!

Latest sketch, initial work for another character portrait. C&C always welcome

Hey, Thomgirl! *waves*

Great to see you and your work again.
And that's a fantastic one to return with. The horse looks realistic already and the the way it curls around and down acts as a lovely frame for the human character.
Hope the crazy time will give you chance to develop it further.