CGAN Jan 2015 Challenge - White as Snow - WIPs

kazky wrote:

The image is striking without them and if you cut the image just above the breasts, to me it has more impact. Less porn star like.

I am inclined to agree Kaz. Her face and the colour choices are virtuous and clean, so the overt sexualisation seems out of place.

I think it a very beautiful painting, but the addition of so much flesh 'cheapens' it a bit.

Hope you don't mind Val, but I did a quick paintover.

I thought the addition of a little bit of wind would look good, so that her hair is moving across her face just a bit. Also, I added some more shadow (colour-picked from the shadow in her face to balance it out) to her hair, especially around her jaw line.

I put a little more light into her eyes too, just to make them match and to reflect the white environment she must be in. It's just a rough guide, but it was easier to do a paint over than to describe the tiny changes that could be made.

Hopefully that made some sense and it comes in handy!!



Plus, I cropped it a little too. The focus should be on that gorgeous face!!

Schizo: the "cloth" actually isn't there at the moment (in that form anyway) that was just something I scrawled over the jpeg wip to stop people getting flustered at the sight of baps! Clearly that didn't work.
And Kaz the last thing I did before saving was to narrow the breasts to try and stop her looking too porny. Clearly that didn't work either.

I did say before that the intention was always to crop back at the end and the excess anatomy was to help eyeball the right proportions (with limited success) but now I'm not sure about the crop. I like the size ratio of the head to the canvas and I also like that crease between the breast and arm. Not in a fleshy fetishistic way, I just think the pic is in need of another dark edge and that one really anchors the figure to some kind of foundation.
The idea I've been playing with is to cover up but have the fabric disintegrate into snowflakes at either side, like she's clothed in snow, or perhaps she's even made of snow in a silly shapeshifting, supernatural, science-defying, fantasy way. But after a couple of experiments with that it seems like the idea sounds better in words than it actually looks on screen. I'll keep trying and if it keeps failing I'll think of something else.

Addendum after seeing Dom's post. That's terrific hair, mine is always too neat and too time consuming. I'm not entirely sure how that'd work with my snowflake idea (I'm trying to get the hair to cascade into flakes too) but now I'm wishing I'd tried this kind of hair sooner. The deadline is limiting what changes I can make there.
Oh and you've flipped it! Oh the shame! I've secretly known for some time that flipping the picture exposes far too many flaws in that face and now everyone knows!

I think the flip show how well put together the face is Val! It's a really lovely painting.

The image is well framed in the crop, if you felt you wanted to keep it that way. The shadow either side of her shoulders and her eyes form three points of a triangle, a fine compositional shape. I don't think it needs a darker edge. S'up to you though.

By way of tip, hair need not be time consuming as it is usually better to 'suggest' rather than to be literal with hair anyway. A few sharp, strand-like edge highlights are all that is needed to give the impression that there are lots of individual strands there.

Btw, the skin on this piece is absolutely wonderful Val. Really, really beautiful!

Domtopia wrote:

By way of tip, hair need not be time consuming as it is usually better to 'suggest' rather than to be literal with hair anyway. A few sharp, strand-like edge highlights are all that is needed to give the impression that there are lots of individual strands there.

Wish I could. My hair "suggestions" always look a bit confused and before you know it, out comes the one pixel brush to paint every strand! I just can't resist.

And all my comments on crop and composition were typed before seeing your reworking, they were referring to what's in my head rather than what you'd done. And you've done a great job, they're good changes and what you say makes a lot of sense. The only thing I'd query is the tangent with hair and the jaw, and it made me smile because that was the first thing I did when painting the hair. And that's why I subsequently swept it away from the face. But I think I will try and ruffle the hair a bit.
You've given me a few ideas to try out in the time I have left.

I think this will be my final update before I submit final. I added some friends so he's not so lonely !
I'm moving this weekend and most likely losing web connection till I get hooked back up at my new place, so if I don't get a chance to vote good luck everybody ! Valence looking really great, she turned out amazing, I think it was wise to crop the bosom out too, it was a just a bit too pin up like. I flipped the canvas on mine several times too, its easy to see mistakes that way and correct them.

I like this Mic. The sleigh is a great touch and is loads more friendly than the lone guy. Great work!

Val, I was meaning to ask, did you use any reference images for your painting?

I didn't want to use a direct reference for this picture as I didn't want it to be a particular portrait of a specific person (during the early struggles I regretted this for a while but I was determined to stick by it.)
Here's a montage of the pics I used (I think the eyes are still a bit like number 1.) There's four photos from tumblr and two Melanie Delon paintings. Also of good use were the original Melanie Delon Q&A from issue 70 and her Game Of Thrones cover from issue 108. I don't have digital versions of these pics but I had the magazines on hand all the time.

I had an extra late night session yesterday to do the snowflakes so that I would be able to try and redo the hair later today. So add your paintover to the list of references.

Another update
I've added a little pink tone to the skin as suggested, and put a bit of life into the eyes.