I've been studying lighting - this face is supposed to have two light sources - a warmer source from the left and a cooler source from the right. Any critiques would be appreciated - thanks.

Artloader your result is really beautiful, I love it. well done about light and shadows. it may be a bit better if you applied colours vibrancy on your artwork. just try it.

It is a very nice rendering, but I believe, from the look of the warm light source, you should see it on more that just the side of the face. Unless, or course, it is a tight 'spot'.

@Wallace: Thanks - more eye lashes? Yes I think you're right - I'll give it a go .

@Issabella: Thanks - is that a Gimp function? I'll have a look and give it a go .

@Steven8: Thanks - I was indeed going for a tight spot - but great feedback anyway - thanks Steven . Maybe I should have made the spot a bit tighter?

The Braid looks quite nice, I think a little might lighting on the warm side (not shadow!) would liven it up a bit.
I also thought the warm light could have been added a bit to the other side too; But I see you did that on purpose so no biggy. xD

Thanks for the feedback Mokonafan yeah I think you are right about livening the picture up with more warm light although I was going for a general colder lighting setup with a localised warm shaft of light - I've seen this technique used to great effect by professional concept artists and was trying to emulate them.

Beautifully done. I find the warm to cool contrast subtle but effective and I especially like the braid. The only negative is the shadow under her chin, imho it’s too dark, my eye is continually drawn to it.

Steve

@Steve: Thanks Steve, good spot about that shadow - my eyes are drawn there too now that you've pointed it out! I'll add that to the list of updates for this piece .

The dual light-source can be pretty difficult to pull off but I think you've done a good job here. I personally tend to find this type of more subtle light hard to keep to the end of an image - my preference tend to drift towards starker contrasts.

The shadow under her chin does stand out, but when looking at the overall composition, it has a counterpoint (in a saturation-sense) around her eyes. It could probably be more colored into blue/skin to have it merge better, but otherwise I think that shadow works well to balance the face.
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Griatch

Awesome work Artloader! That is a beautiful and haunting fantasy portrait. Perhaps the shadow under the chin could be a little narrower as the light is coming from the sides and not the top but as Griatch pointed out, I don't think it is a big deal. I have personally never tried such unusual lighting but I ought to give it a go someday! Nice work again! AnMal is really impressed as well.

Two of the finest masters of both fantasy and lighting are the brothers Hildebrandt. An excellent study.

The Brothers Hildebrandt

@Griatch: Thanks for the comments - you have the opposite problem to me then - I seem to be too timid when it comes to my value ranges - I tend not to put in enough contrast. I have taken on board your advice and tried to merge in the chin shadow a bit more .

@Erisian and AnMal: Thank you very much - I'm finding it great fun playing about with lighting - indeed you should give it a go when you get chance Erisian .

@Steven8: Thanks - I will have to study these brothers when I get chance .

Anyway here's an update, I've localised the warm light a little more, refined the chin shadow and added more eye lashes:

Nice improvements.

The changes are subtle but I think the more distinct light from her right and the slightly more blended chin-shadow is a good improvement.
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Griatch