OK you fools! =) , you've given me a serious itch for doing samurai's *dammit!* so now, I need you to comment and tell me what you like and don't like and what could be made better. =DDDDDDDDDD!
of course there's still a sh!t load of detailing to be done, but what do you guys want concerning composition, background, you get the picture.. Please don't vote on this yet.
lighting:I see that light is reflected by the sword, but I can't tell where the light is coming from. It needs to be a very dark surrounding with a very strong backlight if you would get a lighting like this. Also you would get some light on the back of the front samurai from the same lightsource that hits the sword. If I take the sword as a lightsource for the face, then I would put the lighting on the throat a bit to the left. Add reflection on the other eye (they are very reflective) and on the inside of the helmet on the right side (left for the wearer). The lighting on the top part of the helmet I'm pretty okay with, and also the armor is quite okay, maybe you could apply the same quantity of light to the armor as is on the face, since it's the same lightsource.
I have no clue how you came up with the lighting for the attacking samurai.
The shadow under him tell that there is a lightsource somewhere behind and above him, but the highlights don't follow with that. It looks like someone put a firefighters reflective suit on a ballerina, no offense.
Composition: it looks quite static, becausa both of the samurai and the swords are in vertical positions. The attacking one looks like he's dancing rather then attacking. It looks he's going for a overhead cleave, which wouldn't make sense to me because he would hit the helmet or shoulderguards.
A more unbalanced positions will give the front samurai more a sense of panic. Balanced positions give feeling of control and peace.
I like the placement of the of the attacker better in the other piece, here it looks like he still has a while to run, while in the other picture he is almost on his neck. At such a distance I would expect a samurai to be sneaking, running will make a lot of noise and give him away immidiately.
Yep, that's it for now. You don't have to agree with my views, but I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.
Wow! thanks for the in-depth critique and commentary Cyclops!
You see, the line of light on his face, is the primary 'light source' on him,
so the light is so focused anything except accenting on the armour would look out of place..
but I see what you mean, and I'll change that which you mentioned soon! =)
The light source is from above, a little bit behind the samurai, I'll show it when I'm done,
the lines on the attacking samurai behind him aren't for lighting, just blend lines and accentuation which I'll dull down later.
( their for me to see his structure better, that's how I work. )
I Lolled at the ballerina part.
Your right, I'll take the attacker back to behind the Samurai, that would make it more suspenseful. although, consider for a moment, the other attacker is not a samurai, but is using a captured blade, and imagine how you yourself as an untrained samurai might attack, the background guy is still rough draft so whatever you guys want, let me know.
and Cyclops, I appreciate the effort, I like your ideas. =)
Helix
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OK you fools! =) , you've given me a serious itch for doing samurai's *dammit!* so now, I need you to comment and tell me what you like and don't like and what could be made better. =DDDDDDDDDD!
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