Mamma

Some stunning work being posted lately!

A study of a mother and her offspring for practice and such...

Comments

[William B. Hand]

I really like the general look of this animal and your (consistently) naturalistic aesthetic. I'm especially fond of the baby, the adult's ear, the embedded horn, and the overall look of the adult's legs and feet. You did a good job of describing the baby's form using the mother's shadow, too.

A couple of unrequested constructive crits:

the scaly bits on the mom create a dominant focal area, but I don't think it's what you wanted and they seem almost independent from the rest of the image -- they certainly don't bolster it. To remedy that, you might tone down the contrast in that area slightly, add a few more scales that break up the island of focus and follow the drawn flesh of the front leg, and also maybe add a few more here and there that guide the eyes over other parts.

Additionally, while you were careful with the incorporation of the baby's tail and rump, in the adult you lost those forms... as you have it now, the whole back and spine, beginning at the base of the neck all the way down to the tail, looks like a tubular rail. You need to light that area differently and find the soft flat upper plane of the back and haunches. Think about the strength of your sun... how it is not only creating the nice dark shadow that crafts the baby, but how it will also be brightening, unifying, and revealing the huge upper planes of your adult. I hope this helps. :)

[Brynn Metheney]

Hey William! Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy the piece :)

Great advice too! ;) I did feel weird about those scales in the mid section of the mother - I felt that they were too distracting. I can totally see what your talking about in the rump of the female! :O Awesome observation! I think just rounding our her hind quarters would help a bit. I probably won't go back into this one soon but I will keep you in the back of my head as I'm drawing the next beastie. Thanks again William, I don't always respond to your crits (honestly, I sometimes forget to hehe) but know that they are always appreciated and never go unnoticed ;)