Final piece and evaluation

 

Once I had done my final sketch up I decided to go ahead and do the final painting of the piece.

The process of which I documented and made into a speed paint video above. Both parts had the same process of starting with a tonal painting and then adding colour and lighting . I think that starting with tonal painting allows me to focus on getting the values right and not having to consider colour at the same time . It also means I can play around with the colours later to get it exactly how I want without backpedalling. I  overall happy with this piece as I think I managed to get the anatomy fairly accurate , although more work on the hands could push this further . I also like the lighting I achieved in these pieces as I think it gives the final outcome more depth and also adds to her feeling of regality as she is lit i a rich gold light and the shadow is a deep purple , both these colours have links to the perception of nobility so frame her character nicely.

Now the project comes to a close its time for me to look back and evaluate the process and product. Firstly I think I managed to meet the idea I had a the start of this project of a tribal leader and I also used narrative items to show story, status and personality. The use of skulls as decorative pieces I acted as nice eye catching pieces as well as having a deeper meaning that matches her story.

Looking at the anatomy the anatomy of the character I believe is accurate and the balance of muscles and fat on the body. I do think the hands need to be revised as they seem a bit off , using my own reference may help to get a more accurate result if I were to go back. I was most happy with the torso and chest as I had consideration of the shape of the rib cage and hips and how the fat sits on top. I also think the way the weight falls in the breasts works well as I bared in mind that unlike fat on the leg or stomach the fat here isn't direct attached to a bone so sits more like a water balloon. 

One improvement that could be made is the shape of the skirt as the material does not hang naturally on the shape of the body underneath, this could be improved using my own reference of material whilst painting, this would mean I wasn't basing it off general reference. I also think the material itself could do with some further rendering to make it look more like cloth since its quite smooth without .

Another thing that went well is the painting of the skull as it looks fairly realistic because of the attention to detail in the shading and rendering on the skull. I particularly like the detail in the eye socket which really made sure that it looked three dimensional and didn't fall flat. I painted it in black and white and then used gradient maps to add a gold colour which worked really well as it allowed me to mess around with the colours to get the right type of gold that would complement the hair colour as I had planned in the colour tests.

Overall I think the outcome was successful, the anatomy was executed fairy well and the design itself represented the story well whilst also being appealing. The asymmetry in the character makes them look more interesting and the use of rounded shapes tells the audience that she is kind . However this is nicely contrasted by the spikes in the head piece, boosting the image of regal strength which is important to the character backstory.