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Maeix2 — Skyfalls Ridge
Published: 2012-11-24 19:42:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 579; Favourites: 26; Downloads: 0
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Description
Skyfalls Ridge, a semicircular waterfall draining from the side of a high lake into a roaring cauldron below, is a favourite spot for the valley's pegasi. Here they come to play, young and old, frolicing in the spray.Ary was particularly fond of the games. He'd swoop down in his spirit form, shift quickly to touch the stone with a hoof as it was uncovered from the water, then extend his wings and shoot off into the sky again.
He was also careful not to let any of the humans catch him at this. What would they say, seeing the otherwise so serious stallion, prancing about as if he was a foal put out to his first pasture?
Not that there was much chance of that at the moment. With two out of the three people living at DIS, missing in action, quite literally in one case, the sole remaining member of staff had too much on his hands already to worry about an errant Nazmei or two. Jake had too much to do and too few hands to do it with.
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Ok, I admit it, this looks absolutely nothing like the painting I started painting on, background or horse
I originally intended for a far away golden waterfall with a Nazmei in semitransition between ordinary and spirit state. Well...even if it didn't go as planned it still came out nice I think 
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reference: [link]
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Comments: 56
Wishy washy certainly wasn't the intention there...so I'll try and be more consistent
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This piece is so gorgeous ;-;
I love the gentle color scheme, it really makes this more "gorgeous" than "aggressive", which I believe was the way you wanted it to go?
My number one critique all around is that the shading is a bit too flat. Sharper contrast is important to give a piece depth. The water and rocks are all well placed and done, but seem "blurry" in a way, Going back in with a small, hard brush and adding very bright and dark patches will really bring this to life.
The same goes for the horse; your shading is fantastic, but it seems like the horse is standing in a medium-well lit barn, as opposed to out under a bright sky. I'm also not sure if it's my computer, but I can't seem to see an eye on the horse, or an ear? The horse looks more like a silhouette than anything.
Again, it's a very powerful piece and has the potential to be an amazing attention grabber, it just needs a little more work in the details, especially in the rocks. c:
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aww...thanks for that. It definitely shouldn't have anything 'aggressive' in there, so that's a win right there
You just hit on one of my weakest point, contrasting shading and pinpointing a source of light 
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This is a really cool picture! I love the way you did the horse's mane! IT's gorgeous!
I noticed a few things here - where exactly is the horse jumping from? It just seems like it's gonna fall off after it's back feet land. Maybe if you included the ground or rock that it had jumped from just in the corner it would look more convincing? That's pretty much the only thing other than it might help if you added a little more detail on the rocks? They seem a little bit too rounded and flat. That's just my opinion.
This really is a great picture! I love the horse and your coloring/shading. Great job! Keep it up!
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Hehe...yeah, the hair is probably my favourite part in the whole picture. It's the first time I've managed to get it to look reasonably realistic.
Ah, there's no rock to jump from. The accompanying story in the artist's comments which will answer that question
And yup, they do need more detail.
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Yes, you really did a good job with the mane. 
Oh ooops. Sorry for not reading the story. D: I have a bad habit with not doing that. DX Anyways. That makes more sense.
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Thanks
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I want to add onto what I said earlier - it wasnt much of a critique hehe
I really like this one because of the coloring and stance, and the story of the Pegasi is awesome, it explanes why the horse only has two hooves on the rock 
You did very well on the background with the rubbing/blur effect and in doing so made the horse stand out more, although if I stare at it too long I get a headach XD I love the rainbow in the back, its so pretty and its right nrar the beautiful waterfall too! I like how the mist curls in the air around the horse too
one thing you could improve in the future is making the background visible too, and not so blurry so the viewer can take in the whole beauty of the picture, and not just the horse
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Agreed on both counts 
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Wow, wonderfully done! I love this! I really enjoy the soft 'sloppy' style of the background, it helps draw attention to the horse and it looks very nice. The horse is nicely done, but I would pay a bit of attention to the edges. They look a bit jagged in this piece. I also think there could be a bit more detail on the background near the horse. The mane and tail could be a bit thicker, but they're very realistically done. I really like this piece, you did an amazing job!
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aww, I'm glad you like the overall effect
Ah, yes...the edges
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No problem, it's such an amazing piece :3 I've added you to my watch, can't wait to see more from you!
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Thanks for the watch. I hope I won't dissappoint
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No problem, I'm sure you won't!
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(I won't lie, I saw the title and starting singing the Skyfall themetune.. Oops!)
Absolutely love this. My favourite thing is your use of colour and rough, loose brush strokes in the background. Reminds me of the artist JMW Turner. However, the contrast between the horse and the background does bother me a little. Try working into the the rock he's touching and some of the nearby water with a similar kind of detail that you've got in the horse. This will give it much better depth and make them look like one united image. I'd also try and work a little more of the background's colour into the horse, to help unify it. Bring some of the dark blues and greens in the shading and some of the lighter water spray colour into the highlights. Don't be afraid to mess with colour! Your shading on the hose is wonderful, but more colour will give it depth. You could also smooth the edges of the horse as some of the longer lines (eg stomach and chest) are a little wobbly. And I have to say, the mane and tail are stunning! Overall, an amazing image. Keep it up!
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I have to confess...I hear the James Bond theme playing in my head every time I look at that name as well
Oo, what a lovely comparison. I do enjoy his artworks...maybe some day I'll be able to do something similar to his. More practice before then though.
Those are some excellent suggestions, thanks (and you picked several of the things that I was struggling with, so you've got a good eye).
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His work is stunning, and you're definitely emulating it.
Glad to have helped!
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This piece is gorgeous. When you first look at the piece you think "how did he get there" and it leads you to question just what is going on, but when you read the story it just makes sense and things fall in place. While the background is blurred it still add so much depth. Its like as if to Ary theres not much else that hes focusing on other than his own fun, everything is just a blur. It really opens up his character. Just one thing that i personally would have done is just remove the stray bit of mane thats just kind of sticking up there? I think it just takes away from the flow a little bit. Absolutely gorgeous though and id love to see more from you
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Hehe...Thanks, that's one of the things I like the most about this piece, the questions
Oh, I agree. That stray bit of mane has been annoying me ever since I posted the dev, but I dislike going back and changing old works...more practice to try and do better on the next one and you get another picture as a bonus
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no probs! and fair enough same here
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There is no way I can say anything negative about this. I love the composition, color, anatomy, shading. For paints I think this is very nice and stylized. Though it didn't go as you had planned it still turned out beautifully.
Water man, how do you do it?
Again, gorgeous work.
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Water...hmm... that's a good question really. Practice, practice and more practice until, by now, it's finally starting to, I don't know...'click'? With waterfalls the trick seem to be to just suggest things rather than defining them outright, but honestly, I don't really know. I'm very happy that you like how it came out though, it sure gave me enough headaches while doing it
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I'm going to agree with SmileyBear6 and say that I don't see a negitive part of this piece. When I look at it I almost can hear the roaring of the water and the feel of the mist. I can almost see the horse moving to fully land on the rock. This scene has such a captivating and surreal look to it. It honestly looks like something I would dream of and wake up wishing I could go back again. XD I love the soft focus of the horse and the perfect blending of the background. Great job.
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That 'dream' quality sure is difficult to capture...so even if it was on accident this time, I'm glad it's there
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Haha! Yeah it looks great.
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When I first looked at this image it talked to me. I love the fantasy that you brought into the image. The waterfall and mountains are blurred just to the right amount that you can still see some detail with the colors but they do not take your eyes away from the horse. There is nothing negative that I can find in the image it is so amazing right down to the rainbow in the background. I can not wait to see more images from you.
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Aww...such a nice compliment. Maybe I just have to accept that I'm way more fussy about the 'wrong' bits in my artwork - it's nice being able to get an outside perspective
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the artist is always going to find something wrong with their picture that is what is great about this critique week.
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Agreed...guess we always see the things that didn't come out as expected...that does push us to improve though, so it's not all bad
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I love this. The color of the horse is beautiful and the water fall is pretty 
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Thanks...I don't always get the whole texture thing when I paint, so glad that came out
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I really like this! I've been wanting to comment since I saw it, and just didn't have the time. I love the movement and the waterfalls, it's a lovely composition. Ary looks like he's having a wonderful time.
And... aye, missing staff... I know where one of them is.
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Yay
Yeah...hehe...but she doesn't
Thanks for the fav too.
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Oh, meant to ask you if you had a good "plain" standup reference for Mae? Since collabs are "da bomb" as they say, and I like to at least attempt to render other folk's characters as close as possible.
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Ooo...you're planning something? How exciting 
Hmm...that might be troublesome. I've never really been able to 'pin her down' so to speak and most of the paintings she appears in tends to hide her face, especially when she gets upset and retreats under that cloak. This one is probably the only one that even looks remotely 'normal' though how anyone managed to get her into a dress and do her hair up I will never know. The only thing that really stands out about her is that she's quite short. [link]
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Omg, I am drooling all over myself! Stunning!
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Ha ha, the rare happenings every now and then.
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