I'm for once in decent time to make my yearly Christmas card. I'm not putting it up on DeviantArt yet since that is frequented by people that will be getting the card.

I'm specifically looking for critique before sending this off to the printers. After some feedback I'll be taking it down again until the point I put it up "officially" on DA (original is a massive 7930x4735 and there are a lot of details hard to see in smaller size).


(Click for much larger DA version - recommended!)

Good neighbours
There are lots of myths about giants in old Scandinavian lore. Giants where not necessarily evil creatures - there are many stories making clear that if one was just nice to them and respected their dwellings they could be quite friendly and help humans out. So better be the good neighbor! Here a family has set out to spread some neighborhood Christmas mirth.

As said, critique is requested before this goes off to be a Christmas card. Thanks!
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Griatch

Envious I am of your talents Griatch. Thanks for the early card. Like the gentle giant concept here.

That is really beautiful Griatch.Thanks for sharing it.
I have always been nice to giants so they do not squish me. =)

Peace and God Bless

Griatch, awesome picture! The only suggestion I have is to add some "Christmas coloring" to it. Your coloring technique is so vivid and connected, it actually makes me feel cold. Shouldn't I feel warm? Perhaps a lighted lantern or some fir trees. Otherwise the wind and snow gives me actual shivers.

This is in no way criticism of your talent. It just goes to show how well you have captured the feel and color of winter. Amazing, magnificently amazing...

Nice!!

Thanks for the comments and feedback!

@mahvin

Thanks for the critique. Yeah, I hear you, and that's after me even havened reddened this image a bit already, it was even colder in my first iteration... :/
It's a tricky balance - since if I tune it to be even warmer it might become more "Christmas-y" (a good thing for a card), but it also becomes a different image. The lanterns are a good idea; I could put some on the horse and cart, but to make them actually visible one would need to make the whole image darker too. For once I wanted to make a little lighter image... my Christmas cards are usually very dark.
Further ideas on how to make it feel more "Christmas-y" are welcome.
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Griatch

I would not change a thing in your painting, it is finished as it is!. To make it more "Christmassy" , You could add a "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" message . In Swedish or English. A nice scripted message need not detract from the scene and turns a wintery scene into a Christmas Card!

Great Stuff Griatch

I agree with wbool63. I love the lighter color values and the look of a watercolor.
The colors are nice and clean and crisp and I like the way you grayed your colors off into the distance to give the depth.
IMO, this is the best one I have seen you do so far. Of coarse I am not into dark pics, too much like oils and being a water color artist, my preference is light with lots of contrast.....

I think this would be a great Christmas card the way it is...

I like it just as it is. I want to hug the giant, he is so appealing. I think the wrapped package the giant has in his hand makes it Christmasy enough.

It's beautiful, Griatch, as all of your paintings are.

Thanks for the feedback people!!

I have decided to combine some of the suggestions and print this on a card with a text strip below the main image.

I took down this sneak peek for now, I'll put it back up once it goes up "officially". Thanks again.
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Griatch

Griatch, do you have your past Christmas card designs up somewhere? I would love to see them.

Sure, they are all up on DeviantArt (that's where I print from too):

2007 ("We're THIS tight!):


2008 ("Night in the Troll forest"):


2009 ("Gift of trolls"):

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Griatch

The Christmas cards are now back from the printers and I've put it up on Deviantart here. So I put the image link back up again in the first post. An early Merry Christmas to y'all!
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Griatch

I love your work Griatch it always amazes me, but as for criticism I it looks a bit blurry to me on the overall design, maybe make it a bit more detailed, and his right foot looks really blurred too, but that's really all I could think of after looking at it, but still another remarkable painting by Griatch to amaze us all lol

Thanks for sharing Griatch. They are all beautiful.

I am so jealous! Your work is second to none!!

Love it...but I'm not sure if I am seeing it correctly. Is the giant giving a gift to the people or visa-versa? If so, it would be nice if the people had something for the giant although I can't imagine what...anything they have would be so tiny to the giant! I love the pleased look that the giant has, and the gentle way he is holding the present. To me, the coloring doesn't feel cold, it's more the misty look as you see toward the background that gives it a chilly feel. But of course, it would naturally be cold in December in the north!

Thought I already commented on this one (may have at GT). Again, another fantastic result and thanks for the card Griatch.

edit:

Arggh; I scrolled throught the thread too fast. Still, like I said earlier, I envy true artistic talent.

Those are so amazing.

Thanks for the comments everyone!



Thanks for the critique, always good to get feedback! I can't really agree on the "low detail" part here though, this is an 8000 pixel image and there are plenty of details that is not even visible at this smaller size (one needs to get a print for thatl ). So I can guarantee that it is not "blurry" per se. I think maybe what you refer to is the relatively low contrast in this image compared to other images I've done - and you'd be perfectly correct. This is a comparably bright and low-contrast image with a lot more dull colours than I usually do. It's very interesting that this can come across as "blurry" too, good to know. Thanks again.



I intended it as it being the people giving gifts to the giant, not the other way around. I tried to convey this by the left-to-right orientation of the image (also the cart full for presents the humans have might give a clue). But it's clear you can interpret this either way (and that's fine). As for what to give him, I'd like to think it could maybe something that big nose of his might appreciate - maybe a huge bundle of lavender or something, the size would not matter as much if it was just for smelling nice!.
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Griatch