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Ice Queen


M

markr

Active Member
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Hey,

Coming to show off my latest creation again :D Now I know, it is a simple retouch, and it took my only 2,5 hours. But I really like the outcome. What do you guys think? As always your honest opinion is much appriciated :)

ice_queen.jpg


Credits and stock images

Model by charligal-stock link: http://charligal-stock.deviantart.com/art/Syllienna-stock-1-410614126
Snowy Mountains by ARTek92 link: http://artek92.deviantart.com/art/Snowy-mountains-184936798
The eyes by Pav02 link: http://pav02.deviantart.com/art/Eye-80861106
Hair brushes by Falln-stock link: http://falln-stock.deviantart.com/art/Hair-Brushes-Set-6-92731728

And for those interested, I recorded it too:

 
Hi Mark, not a bad job on this one.

My opinion on the overall completed image is that she is not blended well with her BG and the lighting is a off compared to the BG. It looks like a model that has been photographed in front of a backdrop.

I don't care for the painted hair additions, in the full blown view, these are very obvious especially the ones on her right shoulder.

The work on her skin, lips , and eyes is pretty good.

I hate sounding negative! But you did ask for an honest opinion.
 
Hey IamSam,


It's not negative at all. You pointed out exactly the 2 issues which I was struggling with. I should have done the hair differently, and I think I'm able to fix that. But the lighting is the one I always struggle with. I find it so hard to get my highlights and shadows right. Mainly because the lightsources of the 2 pictures are different. Maybe choosing pictures with the same lightsource would make it easier. But finding good stock images is already hard as it is. Does anyone has some good tips and tricks or a good tutorial on this subject?
 
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I really like your creation markr...

...but I agree with Sam about lighting and detail work. To me it looks like a good first draft. Now the actual work begins. This stage of blending the image parts normally takes a lot more time than everyone thinks. Start by flipping the BG horizontally , that would help to solve a little bit of the lighting problem. Then darken the left side of the girls face, hand and shoulder.
I'm very interested to see the progress of your work. Please post an update.
 
Lots of good advice above. I agree with it generally. Beautiful lady. Great eyes!

One problem I see is the quality of the image. Jpeg compression makes it difficult to work with the selection of the woman. The hair is problematic and I circled an area that looks artificial. When I make a selection and can't get the strands right, I make layers of random strands and bits of flyaway curls, etc. to simulate the missing hairs and make it look more realistic. But it can be difficult given the multicolored nature of hair.

I also played with the hair on the right shoulder. It is a tough one, especially not knowing what the problem is with the original. I'd be interested to see that.

My biggest issue is that my take on that feeling Sam mentioned of model on backdrop is independent of the lighting. The model is just dropped onto the BG. There is no interaction and loses something because of that.Blending as the guys suggested will sure help this, but it's missing something. For example, surreal clouds floating across her head or hair, snow falling on her shoulders, an object, animal, person of interest to her coming through the pass, a hawk or eagle flying over.

Anyway, this kind of thing improves by the volume! It's a good attempt, just needs some rethinking. And, as you said, it took 2 and a half hours, so that's not a lot of intensity.

Keep up the good work, and please keep posting. We love to watch each other's progress.

IceWoman.jpg
 
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Hey ibclare, thank you for the good advice. I'm going back to the drawingtable with this one and put more effort into it. I'm going to try and add something to take away that "missing" feeling :) I will keep you all posted on my progress.
 
Great. I - and others - look forward to that.

I didn't save this image when I worked on it, just copied it at the most enlarged size, so some of my compression may be from that. My caution is this: when you look for images to spend hours on, make sure they are of the highest quality you can find. Even if you see one you like a lot, if the quality, resolution, detail, etc., is lacking, move on and hunt for another. Sometimes the same image is available in differing resolutions - usually from the purchase sights where you can download a free low res image or pay scaled rates for increasing quality.

But there are many sites available for finding free stock images. I do a lot of manipulations (yikes, not lately . . . . huh) and my favorite resource is deviantarts.com, as I see it's yours also! Just be cautious since even there you can occasionally get a small or low res photo, though not usually. Be sure to download it, not copy it, IMO. Dreamstime is a site worth using. I haven't checked it in awhile. There is both free and paid artwork there. One of PSG's sweethearts is a primo artist who makes the best manipulations. Here name is Cindy Grundsten. If you haven't already discovered her, I urge you to visit her site. You will be blown away! Her art is something to aspire to, in your own style of course. Her technique is well worth studying and emulating along your path of discovery.

One other point: (not saying you don't do this; just sayin') be sure and give credits as you did, and be sure you read and follow their restrictions, etc., such as credit and sending a link to your finished work, as so on. I love to give a fav for images I use. Another way to find similar artists is to look into the favs on their sites and explore. You probably already do that. Or look at the selections to the right that say similar images or something like that. OK, one more point, we like to see not just the credits, but the images you used, so make a small composite of those and post it along with your finished work . . . if you would please!

Image sources provided by PSG members that you might want to explore:

Here is one thread

Here is another

And another
 
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Yes, I know her thx to PSG. I saw some artwork of her in some earlier posts and followed her signature to her website. She surely has some beautiful artwork. One can only dream of getting as good as her :) But there are also a great number of good artists on deviant. Sometimes I just like to sit and browse through the art and just feast my eyes :p

I will post a composition of the original images later on.

I think I might have caused the jpeg compression myself. The original image is of a high resolution and high quality. But I didn't really noticed it until you said it. I guess my eye's arent that well trained yet :p I will try to fix that too. I have learned to work non destructive, so I think I will be able to bring back the quality.
 
I like to use smart objects, especially when I am doing transforming to a crucial piece or applying filters. It's a great way to work. Smart Obj's can be very useful for groups as well. I like to keep my layers as clean as possible since some of my work can be over 50 or 60 layers. And for some manipulation artists that is a small number, lol.
 
ice queen.jpg

compilation.jpg

Ok, this is the best I can come up with. Spend hours on the lighting, but I just don't seem to get it perfect. But I think it's an improvement of the original one though. Tried tilting the background chrisdesign, but it looked weird. Just so you know that I didn't ignored your advice. I have removed the painted hair strokes and redone them with parts of the original hair. I also added a wolf ibclare :p
 
Welcome to the "yeah I spent hours on that" Club. The work you do now will serve well for the next time. It will take 15 minutes instead!

I love the fanciful changes. And I am partial to white wolves. I am still bothered by the hair. But the snow obscures most of it. Please don't be offended when I say that I think your next challenge is to work on hair extraction and reconstruction. It doesn't seem too lacking because of the setting as I said, but one area still bothers me - a lot. That bending of her hair into a twist on the left side is unnatural.. Take a look at it and you'll see how the curve of the tresses are chopped of so that you lose the logic of the hairdo.

I will probably introduce a challenge for hair extraction soon. People can work the image and add their own URLs for tutorials. Anyway, I hope you won't take my critiques personally.

I really do like and appreciate the work you did and the time you put into it. That is dedication and that is growth and learning! Keep sharing your work. It's probably time to move on to your next project. Personally, I think it would take about 10 or 15 minutes to fix that hair issue. For me, that would be completion of a good piece, then on to the next. If you have a DA account, you should be proud to put this one in your gallery, no matter an imperfection or two!
 
I'm not offended at all. I know I still have a lot to learn, so I really appriciate the time you take to guide me through my photoshop endeavors :)
 
Markr, your final result looks really great now. It was definitely worth your effort.Well done!
I like the idea with the snow, it's a lively element in your creation, and as Clare mentioned, it covers some of the flaws.
 
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