First of all, I finished it. That makes it pretty damn rare in and of itself.
Secondly of all, it's a little cartoony-er than most of what I've been doing since about 2000, with a heavier outline around the figures.
Thirdly, it's got a lot of energy, and that's something I struggle with. The blonde is really putting her weight and her upper body into that punch. I have a tendency to always want to show both fighters' faces, because faces always convey the emotion of the moment. The down side to that is that it makes for some awkward poses. In this case, though, I let the blonde's face be concealed by her arm. We don't know if she's angry, determined, struggling through injuries the redhead has inflicted, or what. But we know she can throw a punch.
And fourth, this piece has pretty good color intensity. I find that a lot of my work looks washed-out as it approaches completion. Sometimes I can fix that by tweaking the colors in Photoshop, but sometimes I can't.
I have given myself little exercises to force the use of a more saturated palette. That's helped some, but it hasn't cured the problem.
In this case, though, I seem to have gotten it right. I wish I could remember what I did differently.
I'll get into the background in a future post.
I really like the facial expression on the redhead, and the intensity of the blonde's punch. Wonderful piece!
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that some of your work has had a more cartoony air to them, but I had no idea that was pre 2000 material! Makes me feel old somehow.
ReplyDeleteI liked them as well however.
About this picture however, I do love the skin tones and light glare (flare? I am no artist so excuse me if that doesnt make any sense at all).