Creation unravels

Tabyling

I drew this for a laptop design competition, taken from a larger work that i did


A medicine man who is in the midst of his journey into the spirit world. I used the background to portray the wild energies that are contained within the spirit realm. His mind is being opened by gaining some incredible knowledge in his journey.

this is the original drawing



im not sure if this last bit is aloud so if it isn't please let me know and i will take it out and i am really sorry, i couldn't find anything in the rules saying it was bad.

If you think my design is really nice please vote for it here, i have to get in the top 25 most voted for it to be judged.

http://www.makeityours.asia/au/view_work.php?id=1908

thankyou.

srsizzy

Asking us to vote for your thing on some website doesn't exactly jive with the rules, I don't think.

I don't know what you mean about the "last bit being allowed." This forum is for critiquing and advice on art. I'm not sure if you're looking for a critique or just votes for a competition.

I like the black-and-white version more, particularly the lower part (the body), which looks like it's rendered much cleaner and with more thought. The skin on the face kind of looks like it's falling off, but that might be the point, and the crown lacks the depth, contrast, and clarity of the actual body. You have some awesome textures in the top part, I just don't think the design is working in your favor so much, it seems kind of messy.

I just noticed the plants growing out of the face, and those are working great. The background also feels really messy, though when I focus on it, there seems to be some sort of intention with it (oh, I just noticed the cave drawings). Overall, I think my gaze gets lost in the details, and the fact that the face is really flat takes away a lot of the effect.

To avoid this problem (the viewer not being able to focus on anything) it's best to use contrast (light/dark), perspective, and general layout to your advantage. I think this piece could benefit from more "breathing room," as there is a huge subject matter and relatively little space for it, which adds to the cramped quality. There seems to almost be a "light on top, dark on bottom" layout, but it's not fully present and I definitely think it would help if it had been.

As for the color version, it doesn't work well and it doesn't seem like you have the experience in doing digital work to make that be the best it could be. It looks like what people would call "Photoshopped," and though Photoshop can do a lot of great things, there is a lot to learn to achieve those things. What you have now (in the colored version) is really messy. The hue changes are obvious and not integrated as well as they can be, and the backdrop looks like it was low resolution or stretched out and then blurred, which is is a really bad thing to do.

The sparks of energy around the end in the colored version look nice, but they're lost in the blurred/low-quality background and I didn't notice them at first. This could be fixed by finding a clearer background and making it more subtle, especially so that the main element (the head) stands out more. All the hues are the same tone and value, which takes away from contrast, adding to the messiness and "mixed-up-ness" of it. The magenta/blue hues almost never work (for me) when they're that saturated, either.

So this is a critique of the work (which is what the forum is for), and if you're done with this piece for good, I hope it helps you in your future projects.