aiel - twilight

Alright, I generally don't write critiques (let alone to people I've never talked to in my life XD), but there's a few things I'd like to touch on.

First off, this is a great piece. I can tell that you've worked hard on this. The colour choice is wonderful; the overall tone and blending is extremely well done, and there are no shades that do look out of place.

The background is exceptionally well done. The clouds and coloration looks very natural and it flows smoothly with the work's overall theme. It also fits well with the character represented here, and that can be a tricky thing to do.

In truth, there isn't really anything I can critique about the background since it is already very well done. The only thing I can say that is in some places the clouds look just a bit too smudged on some of the highlights. I'd suggest trying to limit the use of the smudge tool a little in those areas. Otherwise, the background is great, as I stated before. ^^

Next, I'll move on to the part I'd like to talk about more in depth: the character and the character's shading.

The fire spirit (I assume that's what he/she/it is, seeing as you stated that in the artist's comments)has an interesting design. It fits well with the background, which is a good thing. However, there are a few things that are bothering me:

For one, the legs seem a bit, well, odd. I'm not saying they're bad, I'm only stating that they don't look right in my opinion. The paws are fine, don't worry about them - it's the elbows which seem a bit out of place. The shoulder seems a bit too round, and the part which connects to the arm is too thin. I believe that it should be thinner at the top of the shoulder and be thicker by the time it reaches the elbow; that way, it will look more believable. The elbow looks too round as well - it should be a tad sharper, so it has more of an effect. Also, the shoulder should go over the arm, meaning that you should put a shadow there, not a highlight.

Now, the leg farther away from us (the non-decorated one) looks mostly alright, although the shoulder should not be visible, thus meaning the whole arm should be moved higher up.

The tail seems off, too. It looks a bit weird, since it's physically impossible for anything to bend like that. If you wanted it to look like it's bending, then I would suggest you draw more of the spirit's body, so that it stretches down along the right frame of the picture down to the bottom. Then, a short distance away, I would put the end of the tail as if it was coming out of the bottom frame.

(I'm really sorry if that section sounded too harsh. :/ I just wanted to give my opinion on the anatomy, eheheh.)

Now, on to the shading. It looks very nice; all the shadows and highlights look in place, nothing looks like it doesn't fit. The shadows are well balanced, and so are the highlights. Nothing looks too sharp, it all flows very well. ^^

However, I do suggest trying to work with textures a little more, and perhaps making your shading a little more furry, if that's the look you're going for. It's always good to add textures - they add depth, and they make whatever you're drawing look more alive and real.

All in all, excellent work, hopefully you'll find this helpful. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Smile) - "/>

thanks for reading! Keep up the great work!
~Owl