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Sori-Eminia β Redeemed
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#digitalart #portrait
Published: 2019-05-28 12:21:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 315; Favourites: 57; Downloads: 2
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Description
Finally going somewhere with stronger shadows and higher contrast! Fulfilling a long-time art goal of mineΒ ΒRelated content
Comments: 17
is there anywhere else u happen to share ur art. i want to gain some traction kek. also how was the exam
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I only post my art here. Exam was surprisingly easy - I think the fact that I studied extra (cuz I thought I'd fail, haha) paid off. Hbu?
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Pretty sure i passed so everythings all gucci for me too. Can't wait to do maths. something im familiar with haha
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I love the colors you used hear.
And the shading works too.
But she looks a little stiff.
Maybe try some lose sketchs?
That helps me.
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Thank you! I agree, they do look stiff. I've never really done loose sketches - it sounds like a really good idea. Thank you for the tip!
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Your welcome. : ]
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Hello there, I am a recently-invited member of ProjectComment , a DeviantArt group of professional and hobbyist commenters dedicated to writing wholesome, constructive comments (and sometimes critiques, if requested) on deviations we perceive to be artistic masterpieces in one way or another, according to our fields of experience. I spotted your deviation because someone (if not yourself) submitted it to one of the various gallery folders of ProjectComment, and I was immediately notified of it because I am not just a member of this group, but also a watcher of this group.
So, what is my perception of this deviation? Letβs start with the title: I think the title, Redeemed, has a two-fold meaning: it may imply that you were struggling in the past with some art technique (like shading, shadowing, and contrast, according to your deviationβs description), but it may also imply that the character portrayed in this portrait (either an original character [OC] of yours or maybe yourself) had her own share of internal or external struggles (like having a serious fear of something, losing a family member, being dumped by a boyfriend, failing an important school test or class, etc./γͺγ©/usw.) that were hampering some aspect of her life. When you finally got to master this difficult technique, and/or when this character finally overcame these struggles (fear, grieving, social loss, academia,Β etc./γͺγ©/usw.), that may have translated into the sudden light bathing this character from behind and the various visual effects I will further discuss below.
And now I move on to the deviation itself: most specifically, the shading and the contrast. Letβs start with shading: you wanted light to bathe her from behind, am I right? And for that you wanted shadows in front of her. I do see that the lighter shades are concentrated around her silhouette (most prominently around her shoulders, cheeks, and her outer locks and bangs of hair), and the darker shades (or shadows) progress farther from the silhouette inwards into the rest of her physical body (torso, neck, face, and forehead); I also notice some very dark shadows on her armpits, where almost no light would come in. But I also notice a straight horizontal line of lighter shading centered on her bosom, which might only be explained if she were standing in front of a mirror and let some of that light coming from behind her reflect back from the mirror onto her chest; possibly this mirror might be also somewhat responsible for bouncing back some light onto her face enough to cast a visible shadow from her chin onto the top portion of her neck. Nice complex visual effect if that was your intention all this time! Now for the contrast: I believe you chose to do this deviation in black and white (and various shades of gray) because it is easier to play with contrast when only dealing with shades of gray (rather than shades of red, green, blue, and/or their various combinations). Because in monochromatic art, contrast is closely correlated with shading; the math between shading and contrast may get more complex when you add colors to the equation.
With all said, I think you pulled off a success on this deviation, reinforced by your choice of title. And you were lucky to have this deviation exhibited in this gallery; otherwise I may have missed this all along. Now I have questions for you, and they have all to do with the characterβs eyes: Is she blind or otherwise visually impaired? Because her eyes are almost bleached out in the same overall shade of grey β no perceived pupils on her eyes. And what about those lozenge-shaped (rhomboid or diamond-shaped) figures replacing her pupils? Are you trying to express some emotion here with those rhombi or diamonds on her eyes? What is that emotion? Does it have something to do with the title?
Thankee for taking your time to read this!
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Thank you so much for taking the time to review my work! I love if my art can be considered thought-provoking in some way, and I'm really honoured you spent the time to analyse my work. I'll try my best to respond to everything in full!
About the lighting and title: my thought process was something along the lines of the viewer being the one redeemed, and they're facing the personification of Redemption. I figured a small amount of light would bounce off of the person standing in front of Redemption, hence the light on their nose and chest. To me, someone offering redemption involves strength of character and a good heart, but also a bit of innocence and trust that allows them to be willing to give second chances. Someone offering redemption is offering a sometimes impossible level of kindness and forgiveness, hence the gentle and hopeful expression. I tried to make the strong lighting give a sense of power in reference to the aforementioned strength of character, the way that the redeemer is the only one with the power to assuage the viewer's guilt, and to make the redeemer look like an angel (the light is supposed to mimic an angel's heavenly glow) when they do offer a way for the guilty to redeem themselves. I do really like the idea of the person standing in front of a mirror, though! That offers a whole host of other interpretations which would be a lot of fun to dissect, but I won't because 1) irrelevant and 2) length.
About the choice of hue: Yes, value contrast is so much easier to do in grey-scale. I wanted to play with the idea that people and decisions aren't always black and white, right and wrong - there are shades of grey to everything. Redemption can be difficult, and sometimes it's not the right choice. And people, of course, are too complex to box in that easily. I gave everything a purple-blue hue, though, to give a slightly cooler, melancholy feeling. I felt like this hue suggested just a little bit of iciness and cold logic to Redemption, instead of the friendly warmth of a warm hue. That's also why I used a jagged splatter brush for the background instead of a smooth gradient - I wanted a feel of hidden conflict. In my experience, even though the redeemer themselves may look like an angel, there's emotional turmoil behind their decision to forgive and give you a second chance. It's not all rainbows and roses and happy endings.
About the eyes and other artistic choices: Frankly, this is heavily based off of a friend's OC (my friend isn't on DA, and I believe she wants her characters to remain anonymous for now), so I can't say that some of the details here were deliberate choices of mine, but I can try to justify them in hindsight, nonetheless. The flowers on the sleeves are actually Chinese cloverleaf knots with crystals (I think diamonds) at the centre. The knots represent luck, which is to show that Redemption doesn't always come to you. It isn't guaranteed, so you need a bit of luck to be given it. And it takes strength from the redeemer. Offering forgiveness and second chances is really hard and takes effort, hence the diamonds. I like your interpretation of Redemption possibly being blind, since sometimes, redemption is offered not because the guilty deserve it, but because the redeemer is too forgiving as a rule (the OC isn't supposed to be blind, but that's probably the only way I can justify the white eyes). Diamond pupils - cat's pupils! Cats see a lot better at night (i.e. a time of uncertainty and conflict) than humans. In difficult times after you've done something very wrong, it can be very difficult to see the way forward, hence the need for eyes accustomed to seeing in the dark (you know the expression "take a shot in the dark"? The cat eyes represent the opposite of that, because Redemption is a clear way out of the confusion and guilt). I realize this is a discrepancy from stating earlier that the eyes could be white from blindness, but I think I'll reason that while the person doing the redeeming could be blind to others' faults, the person being redeemed can suddenly see a way to escape their guilt. Perhaps the guilty (the viewer) will see themselves reflected in the cat pupils, while Redemption can't see out of their own eyes.
I hope this clears things up! Again, thank you so much for reviewing my work! It's a lot of fun to trade analyses and interpretations like this, and I'm really happy that a work of mine could kick-start a discussion.
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I accept your response above. I have many friends on DeviantArt, Discord, and Twitter that are undergoing their own struggles and sufferings similar to what was discussed above, and the fav.me link to this deviation of yours could be used to instill on such needy friends of mine the motivation they need to improve their self-esteem and hopefully seek that redemption they need. Thankee!
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Ur nailing the splatter brushes, im definitely gonna try that out with my art next time I really need to learn how u do those backgrounds!!!
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Thank you!! It's mainly just using the soft eraser a lot to get a nice gradient on the splatter, plus using multiple layers w/ different opacities. One day, I'll record my process and link the YouTube video (I keep forgetting).
Good luck on the Galaxies exam later today!!
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Thank you so much!!
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