Mara's back! I wanted some new artwork to replace the old images on the An Ember in the Wind webpage, since many of them are out-of-date. Eventually this may become a promotional poster for the book, when it's done.



{ Link to Full Version }

The first book has been out for a while, and the last page directs people to the Ember website - so it needs to be spiffed up.

MyPaint + GIMP, about 2.5 hours.

Beautiful. I love how those rays of light break through the trees.

Nice image, very well done.

merrak: it's a very beautiful picture, i love the rays of light and mara's joyful gesture. but i was looking at the way light falls on mara and it doesn't seem entirely right - wouldn't her back be catching the most of the light and her front be slightly more in shade? i like the way she's submerged in sunlight, but i don't fully believe it, if you get my meaning.

I believe the way she has her head tilted back explains the sun bathed face and front. Looks very good to me.
Nicely done and good luck with your books!

Lovely work Merrak. The lighting is excellent.

Thanks This is the first time I've been happy with how I've pulled off that effect. Dodge layers are nice.



Thank you

Anmal + Rod:

Hmmm.. these things are always tricky for me to get right. She's leaning back a bit into the sunbeam, and twisted - at least, that's the intention. (What Rod said, basically). Part of her back is also in a shadow.

Thanks for commenting!



Thanks I'd like to have a nice poster to have printed up and maybe hung in my office somewhere - something to get people to ask "what is that?"



Thanks!

I really like the light through the trees and the overall naturalistic scene you made here - it does feel like an early spring morning to me. The light of the image as a whole is great.

As others point out, the lighting on Mara herself is not really consistent - she is back-lit which would make her a lot darker. Notably you would not see as much colour and shadowy structure on her skirt. It's a difficult lighting condition and you are probably best off looking at some reference for it. Along her edges the light will pass and reflect partially under the skin giving a warm reddish hue. The dodge/burn tool is useful for such effects.

Anyway, good job, this your best overall lighting to date I think. It will work well as a promotional poster and conveys the wonder of discovery very well indeed.
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Griatch

I love it, you are very talented.

lovely work

Wow! That is absolutely beautiful. Has an awakening feeling to me and joy in the beauty.

The way her arm closest to us connects looks a bit awkward to me, and her leg closest to us too, but that could be my eyes. xD

I think you've gotten worlds better! Good work!

Wonderfully wow Merrick. Really like the surreal lighting you achieved.

Thanks for the comments everyone

@Griatch ~ I played with the lighting a bit. Does this look like an improvement? She's a bit darker now, and I added a touch of red hue to the edges. (Maybe not enough?)

I don't have any good photo references, and Google didn't turn up much, either.




@Moko ~ Maybe it was just that part of her leg and arm were lit incorrectly, like Griatch pointed out?

@Merrak

Yes, that looks better to me. The skirt stands out less this way while you can still sense the self-color of it. You could maybe experiment more with red along her in-light edges if you want to make them stand out more but I don't think more is really needed at this distance. Very nice!
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Griatch

Thanks for looking it over!

I think I might need to do another close-up study to experiment with the lighting better.