I got into a creative mood one night and decided to try something I've never done before. Let me know how it turned out. This was done entirely in Photoshop. No other software was used. All shading was done by hand.
PS: If this isn't exactly your style, please avoid saying anything negative. I'll accept constructive feedback, but I understand that some people may not like this kind of style and I'd prefer less bias feedback.
What's not to like? It's exceptionally well drawn and even better shaded. The blood stands out a mile off, which i like - contrast is good for me. Especially liking the shading to the plant leaf
It's nice, but there are a few things that aren't really appeasing. It's just doesn't feel complete.
One thing I like about it is the concept. Blood running down the stem of the leaf. While simple, it's pretty interesting. I'm also very impressed by the forms of the leaf and blood. I found the mirror effect a nice touch. The lighting seems to be in it's right place too.
That said, there were some things that turned me off. One being the texture of the leaf. While it's a good texture, it didn't fit in being used for the leaf. I think it would be better suited for say, leather. I would add a touch of transparency and a different texture to give it more of a leafy look. On top of that add veins to it for an even better result.
For the blood, it looks a tad hard. Adding a brighter light to it should fix that to give it a liquidy feel. And isn't the color is abit bright? I would tone it down to a darker red for a realistic look.
The gap between the P and A caught my attention right away. Needs a little more work on the kerning there. Otherwise it's really nice. I like the leaf.
I really appreciate all the comments you guys. The feedback was great. I'll go in and make some changes to it and see what you guys think of it afterwords. Plant texture and text are going to be my editing focal points. Thanks guys, you're great.
Thanks to my macbooks display i can see the background now. I think you should lighten that background because yea, it was too dark on my Dell monitor. I think the leaf needs saturating too, maybe add a ripple where the blood hits the water?
No this is on my Dell 2007WFP monitor under XP. Can't adjust the contrast and stuff since I'm using a DVI adapter and its calibrated for print.
But yea it's completely visible on my LED macbook under OSX .
Originally Posted by OldManClayton Wait, that's water? I thought it was a super-subtle mirror-like thing. Guess my display's too dark as well...
No you're right, there is no water. It is just a subtle glossy mirror-like surface. If you look closely (unless your display is too low), you can see blood running down off the surface.
Anyway yeah, I'm on a 1000:1 Contrast ratio LCD monitor with the contrast at around 70 and the brightness at 100. My blacks are solid black and my whites are solid white and everything else seems fine in between. I'm not sure if brightening it would be the best idea.