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Kitsune64 — Street Dancer
Published: 2009-07-24 00:47:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 8183; Favourites: 159; Downloads: 0
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Description
The dancer Maiemdera, giving a performance on the streets of Ibarat. She's accompanied by a small band, the only member of which to make it in the picture with her being Jarandi, the drummer. He looks like he's having fun.
Getting back to my Medan stuff. After doing the Centaur and Satyr Dancers sketches, I decided to go ahead and color one in. I wanted a city scene, which took the centaurs out of the running, and I don't think I've colored a female satyr yet, so the lady it was! (and yes, that's an Areli in the background)
Tried out a new way of doing the lighting/shading for this one, based on a tutorial from the May issue of ImagineFX magazine on how to incorporate more than one light source. Also tried to add more texture into the piece as a whole through different brushes. Took several days, but I think I'm making progress. ^^
By the way, I have found a new Hell, and that Hell's name is cobblestones.
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Comments: 33
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*hears drumming to see where it's coming from*
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Don't worry, just a couple of street performers. ^^
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Nice, nice, very nice! Cute satyrgirl dancing. Those cobblestones may have been horrible, but they look great! I can practically hear her hooves as she dances! Yeah, the drummer is 'getting down!'.
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The lighting is so subtle, so wonderful, I can almost feel the heat of the fire on my skin.
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Sweet. Mission accomplished!
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They may have given you hell, but the cobblestones turned out very well indeed. Nice job on the transparency with the skirt as well, though the veil in her hand could look more substantial with some sort of outline, etc. He certainly does seem to be enjoying himself. I wish her face has a little more expression. Nice job with the lighting coming from outside the picture. adds a lot of depth.
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Thanks for the in-depth comment - they're always helpful. ^_^ I think you're definitely right about the veil.
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Cool! I love your Satyrs. Seem like a fun species to know
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*laughs* I'm still getting to know them, myself.
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This is just.... just... how can you say you love it without saying love? Wait? I just said love? Oh dear...
Awesome job on this! The boy just hammering away at the drums sets the feel (he's just great) and the dancer makes the piece flow. Only thing I could say looks off (not saying it is... hard to tell) would be the girl's pelvic area. It just seems... off. I can't say how.
I still love this piece. The feel is different from your other works.
First it was book shelves and book... now cobble stones? What new hardship will you find for yourself next!
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*laughs* Ooh, tough call as to which was worse, the library or the cobblestones... Eh, they say challenging yourself is the way to improvement.
You're right about her pelvic area. It's been bugging me ever since I started doing the lighting, just that little nagging voice going, "Hi, 'scuse me, I know it's a little late now, but something's wrong. Kay, bye!
Anyways, I think I finally figured it out. The torso from the ribcage down is too long, which really shows up on her abdomen. At least, that's my current theory on what's wrong. 
In any case, torso issues aside, glad you like it! ^_^
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To only have that as a problem (and have everyone probably only go 'nagging feeling' on the problem is very minor. And seen as it is all digital... I'm sure you can fix it. Depends upon layer setup, and time you feel like putting into it.
I'm actually thinking it's the general shape of it... but it could also easily be as you say too. Can be very hard to tell sometimes without trying to fix it first.
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*considers the pic for a moment*
I think I can see what you're saying. I still think the length of the torso exacerbates the problem, though. Possibly the width of the midsection, too...
*laughs* Yeeeah, the layers thing is what makes fixing it hard. Because I was trying a few new things, the layers weren't ordered as well as they could have been, so the problem would have had to be spotted in the line art phase (as opposed to several hours in).
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Photoshop?
Gather all the layers that effect the area you plan on changing. Then, select all the layers, and make the selection of the exact area you want to chance. Then use Edit->Transform->Warp. I find that the warp tool for small areas can really fix massively mutilated areas. Yeah... can you tell I've had to fix more than a little hip problem before?
I had to correct arms being the wrong size and proportions after I did full color and shading. As long as you still have the separate layers... you can fix this and play with it till you find what is truly wrong.
But... I still like this despite the nagging feeling with it. It's still a good piece.
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*laughs* I've resized things before (including, um, heads), but only in either the line-art stage or when the pertinent layers have been merged. I'll play around and see if I can do anything. Never tried the warp feature before...
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Warp is great for fixing shape problems... but it can also make things look funky quickly too if your not careful.
It can also be great for say... fixing the torso as you where talking about while not causing a need to fix where your arm is... as she seems the right height anyway. Basically... explore and play?
And you should be able to transform (free or otherwise) with more than one selected layer... if you're using photoshop. I've had to do it. Color and shading does make it harder... but you can still do it.
Either that or you can copy all the layers in question, merge it, and then copy the merged layer. Play with it. Paste a new layer, play with that (as you paste your original non-altered layer) and repeat till you find a solution that you like best. Sometimes it takes a few tried to see which is the best solution... or you slowly realize that your first solution was your best, despite what you first though. (Sometimes you can surprise yourself, so it's best to keep a record of things as best you can.) (Selecting the area in question with layers you don't want edited hidden and using a copy merged selection also works. I think I called that the right name?)
I always categorize my layers in folders, each folder pertains to a certain character. Only thing I don't separate is my original lineart (as I've scanned that in as a hand drawn piece. A little harder to separate out... or just more work.
Can you tell I've had to edit a LOT of my works? I'm very bad (or at least I was) at proportions and perspective. I've gotten better... but I've learned a thing or three on how to fix some rather extensive damage to my art... including drink and eraser stains...
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*laughs* I have to confess that while I'm proficient with photoshop, I am not an expert - there are a lot of areas I haven't delved into. I'll play around for a bit, but unless I really make some progress, this is probably the final version.
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Wow, very well done!
haha, I know what you mean. I did a piece waaay back, and the ground still has only half cobblestones... it's with it's unfinished friends... under my bed.
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Thanks!
Ah, the under-the-bed work... I think I tried cobblestones once before, several years ago... in pencil. Took WAY less time than doing it digitally, and I still didn't finish that one!
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man, people say I'm one of the most tenacious people they know... but sometimes I dont have the enthusiasm to finish a standard normal piece...
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Believe me, I know the feeling. There are so many unfinished things sitting on my hard drive...
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Quite excellent work as usual. I think i see the multiple light sources you were mentioning.
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Thank you! One light source is the lavender-ish light from the sky. More of a soft ambient light. The second one is the more intense light from the out-of-shot fire to the right.
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