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Khezix — Clear Skies Tonight
Published: 2013-09-06 23:15:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 1396; Favourites: 57; Downloads: 11
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Description
In a world full of people,Only some want to fly,
Isn't that crazy?
Seal - Crazy
I just feel like that one verse is very fitting (although I was torn between "Crazy" and the chorus of "Fly Like An Eagle" ). yes I enjoy giving my characters theme songs.
This was a really hard angle to draw why did I do this to myself. OTL
And cities... whyyyy
Okay looks like I got another character debut so here I go!
This gal here calls herself Tern and yes she has artificial wings. She always dreamed of flying so, long story short, she built herself a pair of functional wings using hoverboard technology. She's always had a strong interest in cybernetics and biological technology and worked on this project with enthusiasm. The wings generate lift using the same tech that hoverboards use, it's basically small-scale anti gravity mumbo jumbo (Clarke's Third Law might apply lol). The wings can fold up neatly against her back, although it doesn't fit under clothes very well. She usually wears a baggy sweatshirt to keep them covered when not in use. Her boots are specially designed for flight, containing the same tech used in the wings. The boots keep her body stable in the air and help her land.
The rest of the story and characters are equally off-beat haha. Pretty much all the characters do science things for the sake of science. You want to fly? Have some mecha wings. You want to shapeshift? Have some nanotechology to help with that. You want to be someone/something completely different? Have some new genes. And so on.
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Painter 11, touch up in Photoshop CS6
approx 6-8 hours
6 September 2013
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Comments: 29
I really like what you did with the perspective here. This drawing has a fair amount of movement in it, partly because of the dynamic angle that shows how high she is, and partly because of the flow of the wings, which feel very organic for metallic wings.
The perspective on her body is still somewhat off. It doesn't bother too much because she looks fairly stylized anyway, but still, her legs seem really tall compared to her body. I'd suggest using perspective lines (if you didn't already) to really get the proportions right. Perspective is really hard, tho.
Really liking the colors in this, it shows that you're trying to push to use more color. The contrast is already pretty good. I switched it to grayscale (good trick to check your contrast!) and it stays readable.
What you could afford to do is try and extend your color palette. While this one is nice (I see there's purple in there versus yellow, which breaks from the orange) the lights could've used one more highlight color, maybe. Especially the wings, which I'm assuming are metallic? Metal has a very sharp and contrasting structure, and your painting style is still a bit too soft to really convey the feeling of it.
Also, the skyline is nice, but could've done with a bit more straight lines, I think. The buildings seem kinda swoosh right now x)
Overall tho I really like the piece. I'd say what needs to be worked on most is the perspective, but you already have some idea of what you're doing. Expand on that c:
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Ah, didn't read this one before I commented on the other one, so yes, you have perspective tools readily available. Nice.
And idk, read up on it a bit, it's not so hard to understand in the end, but it is weird to apply sometimes. You're doing quite good all things considered, tho!
Man, artists fight their throats off on the saturation versus muddyness thing. No one seems to agree on what is right, because nothing is right or wrong, it depends on what you're trying to achieve. But yeh, I personally feel like experimenting with saturated art (daring to, I should say) allows you to get more confident at using saturated colors when they're right. I like working with predetermined palettes, myself, and pick unusual ones and see if I can pull 'em off.
Soft is the bane of my existence, but I've gotten a lot better at that since I started using Ceavit's square brush. She also has a triangle brush that is nice. They're .psd brushes but idk if in painter you can make custom brushes too? In any case, if you can't, you should ask Inseng or Ceavit for the link to the square and triangle brush and play a bit with those. They're fantastic. They force you to lay down color blocks and stop you from being all "blenddddddd blend all the things".
And you've def' improved on metal! Tbh I'm not really that good at it myself (I'm good at winging it xD) but what you're showing me there looks very metalic to me. The harsh contrasts are good. Only thing I would comment on is, again, do not blend steel. Do not blend shiny metal keep the hard edges as much as you can. And unless it's dented keep the lines clean and straight.
And you're very welcome! I always feel like critique is hard to come by, especially on dA, so… yeh c: Glad I can be of use!
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Ah sorry about the delay.
Perspective is a weird thing but I really love when other artists pull it off so I'm trying to that more myself. I actually didn't use perspective lines on this, I just painted what felt right. I'm starting to use perspective lines though, and Painter is equipped with a lot of handy perspective tools but I don't quite understand how to use all of them yet. 
Oh, I totally forgot the greyscale trick! I'm gonna start applying that.
Hm. I was aiming for a limited color palette, to help me think about color differently (I was in a color rut at that time). But I agree it could use more... something. Perhaps in addition to another highlight color, it could use some saturation? Comparing this to a more recent and more saturated picture I did using the same color theme (gold vs. purple), I find that the more recent, saturated drawing is far more lively than this one, despite having a much less dynamic angle and composition.... I dunno, just using your thoughts to brainstorm about my art a little more deeply. ^^
Y'know, the shading on the wings has bothered me for a while. I see what you mean about using a highlight color, I think some crisp near-white highlights would bring out the metallic shimmer.
And the softness is something I had trouble with for the longest time. When I started using Painter, I wasn't familiar with the brushes and I ended up using a lot of soft, blending brushes. Since painting this piece, I've discovered a lot of brushes and I'm reducing that fuzzy look that this "era" of my style has (srsly everything from my first doodles in Painter till... about February... is just nothing but fuzzy art)
Anyway, my point is that I feel that I've improved in that respect, here's an example of my latest attempt at a metallic surface: sta.sh/0glksrl3cme (pointers are still welcome tho, especially cuz I'm in the middle of this painting so I can apply any advice immediately!)
Oh, and the buildings are also something I'd do better nowadays, now that I discovered Painter's straight-line brush hahaha. But yes, everything besides those two things is stuff I've yet to improve on.
Thank you so much for doing this! This is nice, it's given me a lot to think about.
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Great job with the background skyline! This has an early morning breeze feel to me. I hope she has a good flight!
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I love this image! Her wings are awesome, and you did a great job with that cityscape background (I can't draw buildings at all, and I am suitably impressed) If I could, I would absolutely build wings for myself. Great work! ^_^
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Thanks! I'm proud of that city, I don't get to paint them a lot but they're a good challenge.
A lot of people want those wings haha. I guess deep down we all want to fly, don't we?
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I know I do! I'm a little obsessed with birds, wings, flight, etc...
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I know that feel. When I was about 5 years old, whenever someone asked me "what do you want to be when you grow you up?" I would say, "an eagle!" 
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Love the character idea!!! Awesome. If you make it a full finished story, I'd love to see how it goes. I'd atleast like to see more of this character, Tern.
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Thank you! I'm glad to hear someone is interested in the story, it really means a lot to me. 
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kudos on that cityscape. I hate drawing those and yours is nicely done.
And that sounds really cool, the science-for-the-sake-of-science thing. Really cool kind of spin on the "reluctant super hero" trope when they're not reluctant in their "mutations" (and aren't heroes?). ANyway that's really cool!
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Thanks! 
Thanks, again. :> I'm a sucker for crazy science experiments haha. Indeed, none of them are really hero material. It's very cyberpunk in style, setting, and characters. c;
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haha true that, still mine always come out looking like blobs rather than squares.
good luck then!
haha me too. It's always so cool to imagine what science could do to somebody (in a fictional 'verse)
cool
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Ahh more perfect limited color! I love those wings SO MUCH. Great composition again, it's very open and airy!
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I should have her build me some wings.
I love that she has a bird's name too. The position and her carefree pose is lovely and her wings look believable and flexible. Her expression is so wistful, and she's just looking like she's enjoying breaking the bonds of gravity.
The lighting is beautiful and shows just a hint of a futuristim. I look forward to seeing more info on the story.
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I know right? It'd be pretty cool to live in her world.
Thank you for the wonderful comment!
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You' re very welcome!
Ilike how they think though. I wanna fly. I'll just go and build myself some wings and antigrav boots!
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Although it may have been hard, you did a fantastic job on this one!
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I CANT HELP BUT KEEP FAVING UR ARTS
they're all so lovely D:
I love the colors and the values...
and great composition and perspective 8D it's very fitting for this charrie, to look upward at them!
awesome work overall <3
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ahhh I don't blame you cuz I'm on a roll haha. xD Thanks for all the faves and kind comments! ;u;
/squee of happiness
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Ahh thank you! Sometimes I can't tell if my ideas are cool or just plain weird. D:
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awesome design and the coloring and perspective are really well done!
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