HOME | DD
tga-leylo — -Deadly Sins-
Published: 2010-08-18 22:14:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 5485; Favourites: 268; Downloads: 60
Redirect to original
Description
"Fallen angels at my feetWhispered voices at my ear
Death before my eyes
Lying next to me, I fear
She beckons me, shall I give in
Upon my end shall I begin
Forsaking all I've
Fallen for
I rise to meet The End"
This is my commission for Thank you for being such an awesome commissioner! I loved doing your characters!
Well this picture was a trip...doing AND scanning.
While working on it I got really discouraged at one point....for about a week...and then last night I wanted to prove myself wrong and did the whole background! The end result I was really happy with because I ended up proving myself wrong.
But, anyway these are *Atomic-Clover 's characters, Lucifer and Michael. (I don't know why 2/3 commissioners had me do 2 guys?? LOL) But their concept was that it all takes place before Lucifer's fall from heaven. Michael was his friend pretty much up until then. So, I decided to draw them both consumed in a "fallen" type of way.
Lucifer's details on his outfit were ESPECIALLY fun to draw, as well as all the little day of the dead trinquets and sacrelig anti-christ symbols ( lol i'm christian no worries)
But yeah the goal was to create a dark mood...
Oh! And btw they're not supposed to be actual skulls they're laying on (just in case I get critiques about how they would look flat and unfinished and stuff if they were real)--I wanted to make it a kind of floor...I think it came out....interesting lol
It was more editing that was the disaster. My hard drive is filled to the BRIM. So I had to figure out a sequence of steps to put the 2 pics together (b/c my scanner's too small for 11x14). It kept saying my scratch disk was full so I just kept deleting stuff and trying to create as little steps as possible...
Hope you like it!
And I especially hope YOU like it, *Atomic-Clover !! Thanks for commissioning me!
It sucks I can't ask for critiques...my premium membership is GONE!! D: And I only have $6 deviantDOLLARS!! I just need to sell one more print to get it up a buck! >.<
Related content
Comments: 101
LOL thanks. XD Shiny?? Hahaha!
The characters are *Atomic-Clover 's and their names are Lucifer and Michael. Basically if you read the artist comments you'll find out that it's kind of all about how Lucifer influenced the angel, Michael's decisions and they ended up in a place like Hell that Michael was disgusted with, because of his holiness.
So basically, I guess they're both fallen angels. XD The apple symbolizes the sins they committed XD
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Late comment is laaaaaate!
I love this picture so much! The details in Lucifer's clothing and accessories are really eye-catching, especially when compared to Michael's simple design. The contrast between the two is only more evident when you look at their expressions.
The background is especially interesting. I love the skull patterned flat surface paired with the three-dimensional skulls framing the picture. Though perhaps an even more two-dimensional pattern on the ground would give a more finished feeling. The shading on the apple also looks a bit flat when compared to other parts of the picture.
The over-all mood of the picture is conveyed beautifully through the mostly stark, cool color palette and the bursts of red and gold. Great work!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Haha it's okay, I'm the exact same way these days!!
I'm so happy you like it!! I'm so happy you like the background! I totally agree with that, I struggled with trying to make it look 2d! For some reason, I thought it would be easy to pull off but when people see skulls that looked like they're stacked, they can't get around the fact that that's how they look. XD
I agree with you apple shading critique. Now that I look at it it really does look flat.
I'm glad you like it!! 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Somehow I like the skulls xD you must have spent a lot of time on them...
The details are great too
You did a great job on Lucifer's outfit, but because of how relatively simple Michael is, the picture is sort of unbalanced. I suggest making the colours on Lucifer's outfit a bit more similar, like using the same colour for shading. Perhaps that would make it a bit more balanced? I'm not sure actually xD It's hard because the original design is like that. I think you've already done quite well.
Another problem is the hands. The fingers of Lucifer's left hand are all of the same length except for the thumb...and Michael's right hand is somehow a bit flat. Sorry that I don't have time to do redlining, so instead I'll introduce you a reference website: [link] There are a lot of hands there(please ignore the first one lol) and the best thing about it is that you can turn them around for different perspectives. Hope it helps.
Anyways, it is a good work on the whole. Keep it up (:
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'm so sorry it took so long to reply to this!!
Thank you so much! I agree about the two outfits! It was hard to balance out the pic! D: I tried to do it with the wings but they just seemed to blend in.
Oh lord the hands haha--OH GOD that website is WONDERFUL FOR HANDS. I will totally be using that!! Thanks so much!
LOL I was confused when I originally got the website tho...I was like, "This is not a hand =.=" hahaha
I always look forward to your comments, thank you!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You're welcome
LOL I KNOW I was worried that you might think ewww this is disgusting Sus must be joking! When I first saw it I was a bit startled by it...especially because I'm a girl xD" but the hands are really useful. Now everytime I open the website I immediately click to the hands, avoiding the first picture LOL.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
HAHAHAHA!!!
I can totally see you jumping when you clicked the link.
And you clicking to avoid the picture.
Yeah I was just kinda liek, "Oh, well this isn't...a hand...is it? *Turns head and squints*" Hahaha!
Good reference if ya wanna draw a naked male tho!! LOL
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
There's no way I'd be drawing a naked male xD!!!!!!!!!
Omg my parents would think that I've gone insane if I did.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Gosh, I love it!! O//A//O IT AMAZING I TELL YOU!!!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
THATS AMAZING AWESOME SAUCE !!! PLEASE POST A TUTORIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
BAAHH! YEW AWR TEW NAIS! Thank you!
I would, I just didn't take pictures of this one as I was doing it...o.o
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah I know what you mean I have been wanting to do a WIP but I always forget to take pictures of the art while I do it cuz I normally dont bother lol
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Sorry again!!
Oh God I know what you mean...I would really love to make a tut or walkthru, I just always forget!! LOL It's not like I even own a working camera anyway. My phone is full with pics cuz I'm an art tard in public when I see something cool. And my mom stole MY camera because she always decides her old ones are faulty in some way. Mine is her fall-back camera. =_=
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah I only have a camra on my phone thats why I dont bother with a the tutorials just yet and things like that but one day I wish to do a spead picture.....I'll have to wait for that.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I love how this picture just seems to pop out! Great job!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you so much! I'm so happy you said it popped out! ^^
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
mother fucker i am way to tired to gush and be enthusiastic like i usually am.. great job amazing as usual im going to cut your hands off while you sleep....yeah
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Excellent, lots of things going on in this one, it's going to be a long critique (alas the woes).
Okay so figures themselves are pretty solid, although you lose a lot of structure in the hands, especially that one on the chest. I think you need to pay special attention to both line quality, and contrast. The layers for the visual depth are definitely there (I really really like that border, it's foreground, very graphic, and very distinct with the outlines), but the values to support them.
I read your description on the intention of the skulls, and I like that they are graphic, but they do not read as a floor, they need some degree of depth. I don;t know if the characters are falling, or have landed, or are suspended, and it definitely doesn't feel like a view from above The background being less soft, and lower contrast is nice, but the characters then need to be much darker. The guy on the left (I'm going to go with that being satan, what with all that symbolism) reads so much better than the guy on the right, simply because he is darker than the background. The wings, I almost didn't see, at first, because they so closely resemble the aesthetic of the skulls. We need to use line weight to distinguish between the elements, as well as selective contrast. Right now most of the image reads at about 25% gray, if you squint, only the hues distinguish things. The darkest areas, therefore become the most interesting. Unfortunately, the characters are not the darkest part, rather it is their shadows (?) that are darkest as well as those haphazard blood spots. There is almost no interest on Michael's face, what with the contrast in the folds of his shirt and below his arm stealing all of the attention. Take this image, put it in grayscale, kick up the contrast so you have maybe three values (highlight, shadow, and midtone) and then evaluate. Does it still read well? An image that doesn't read on its value scheme will not read in color, no matter how distinct the hues.
On that note, a unified lighting scheme would really help, the light should have a temperature as should the shadows, integrating all of the pieces.
My initial impression is that they are actively falling, but there is little depth in the planes of the characters to support that, so I most believe that they are on the ground. If this is the case you need to be really consistent on your cast shadows, and really aware of the VOLUME of your figures. Elements that are higher will cast wider, softer shadows, while those closer to the surface will have harder edges, but all of the directions should be similar. Why does the light have such a different effect inside and outside the lines of the figures?
You have some really outstanding elements, but they do not connect visually into one complete image, use all of your effects (the lighting, the composition, the values and the colors) to unify everything into a whole.
(I kind of recall you requesting some specific points, so if I didn't hit them, please let me know and I'll get back to you 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
First of all:WHOA THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE THIS.
That hand on the chest does look pretty limp--you're spot on with that. I'm very happy you like the strong, graphic foreground! Line quality has been a priority for me, lately. It's just so difficult for me because inking takes long in the first place so going and making some lines thicker and some that aren't is a trip for me. XD
Aww, man! They WERE laying down. XD I completely agree with you about Lucifer looking more striking. It was very difficult seperating the whites for that very reason--there was just too much white! You don't think the skulls look like a floor? I DEFINITELY didn't think that they looked real--considering how flat they are and how I shaded over top of them like it was a flat surface...
You're very right about the lack of color here. I'd tried to work in all that I could with the red splatters and patterns around the border (Skulls are white and so are their character designs' outfits--and one character's hair).
THIS WAS VERY HELPUFUL:"you need to be really consistent on your cast shadows, and really aware of the VOLUME of your figures. Elements that are higher will cast wider, softer shadows, while those closer to the surface will have harder edges"
I'll remember that for the future.
Thank you again for writing the critique! Hmm...this seems good! The only thing I still need some feedback on would be composition? In terms of where (a fresh pair of) eyes go around the image?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Okay, so for the composition on this, I was really struck by the distinct layers. The border is very distinct, as well as the characters, and then the floor. It really gave me the effect of looking through one of those diorama books (I think that's the name, took a book arts a while back, so I might be off). The border is the first level, the floor the background, with the second level equidistant between the two (this is initially why I thought they were falling). It is a really graphic layout (still talking about composition in three dimensions right now) and I would play it up.
As for two dimensional composition, I think part of what makes this read strangely for a falling pose with an upward view is that both characters have the same relative orientation, and that it is the same orientation of the page. That they are located lower on the page than center, and that their feet are cut off really gives them the same composition of two figures that are standing. In fact, it you remove the foreground and background it really feels like they are just falling sideways into each other. Either center them (usually a bad idea for composition) (actually it would be better just to get the visual center-of-balance that they share centered, or even higher than center) or get them so that their orientation is distinct. You know that pose that all the cool kids are doing (and since everyone's doing it, it must be good, peer pressure don't you know) with two figures lying on the ground oriented exactly opposite, one to the left and one to the right? While I think the composition is overused and don't really like it, it definitely reads as a view from above, simply because their orientation is so distinct they couldn't be standing. Bring that orientation concept into the piece, through your own composition choices (not the standards) and see how that works out for you.
The skulls are most certainly not real, and that reads really well, but the blood spatter actually really distracts it as a floor and dimensionally separates it from the characters. It is really sporadic, and could in no way have originated from them. Nonetheless it serves the purpose of showing that the skulls are a flat entity, as it flows regardless of the orientation of the skulls under it. Make the blood spatter more directed, show that it's from the characters, add some texture to the floor (painted, tiled, mosaic, lighting, patterned, etc.) and you should be good.
For future works just be aware of how a viewer's expectations affect the composition. For straight on works we expect characters oriented downward on the lower half of the image, where as for looking down, we expect the figures to be high on the page and looking up we expect them to be lower. As this is a straight downward view (a perfect down), you can't distinctly have them anywhere but centered, without throwing them into an implied perspective.
Thanks for the feedback, I'm really glad I was able to help
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Wow, thank you so much for these critiques. They have helped me so much in my efforts to make characters laying down as well as compition in general and how some viewers can interpret things about my art differently. It totally means the world to me that you would spend so much time and effort on helping me to improve my art.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is a great picture! The details and the outfits are awesome! I love the background as well. I think you did a great job!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
This is beautiful, I love the attention to detail and I like the 3 layered affect of the floor, characters then the frame above them. Excellent job my man.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Damn. Good job at ruining all my hopes and fantasies. I want it back to the way it was before.
Whatever.
It's still an amazing picture all the same.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
HAHA! Yus. I'm very happy I crushed every single one of them haha
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
| Next =>