Castlevania 2 Done

Awright done! I made some final changes to the face.
I wasn't happy with the way that the fact was looking, especially the chin.

I went back and looked at the face again in Daz studio, and added the lighting tool.
I think that I will use this from now on to help with the painting of humans.
This will save me from a lot of re-painting and fixing on the back end once things are done.

As a last and final step, I went back and fixed the sword. It was looking a little boxy during the first go 'round. I used a reference to fix the handle, did some last checking over and voila, done.

Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest Part 2

Ok so here is the latest on this piece. I have learned to really slow down and work out the details on a piece so that I am not rushing through things just for the sake of getting them done.
I think that this is the longest that I have ever taken on a piece before (about 2 weeks so far).
At the last post I had reached a point where I had the major structure and composition done.
However there were some things that I didn't like about the piece. So I continued working on and made the following edits:

-The cross was not working, so I decided to make Simon holding a whip instead. That seemed to fit the theme of the painting a lot more.
-I worked on the details of the vamipre more...making him more beastly and grotesque
-I also decided to add flame effects as if the vampire is bursting into flames in the sunlight.
-I tweaked the colors to make it a bit more vibrant
I really like this taking your time thing, it's pretty great and the end slower is a lot better. It gives you time to look over what you have done and really work things to perfection.

I am still not sure about Simon's face...I might work on it some more (faces are the worst for me I think...) so that will take some practice. Overall through I dig how it's coming.

Maybe I will give it a day and noodle over it some more before I call it done. We'll see, but I am happy with it so far.

Castlevania2: Simon's Quest- WIP

I am working on a new painting and after going mid way through the process, I learned a few things.
First it's better to keep the painting into two main groups, the characters and foreground in one group or layer. Then a mid group/layer and then finally a background layer for sky/cloud and background elements. I can then create groups for the foreground, mid-ground and background pieces, and can add as is necessary.  I also can add in adjustment layers (multiply and overlay and screen etc.) and "merge the group" but still keep the three pieces separate.

I use a modeling program called Daz studio to model the human characters. It's a process that is pretty lengthy yet helpful. Instead of modeling the entire scene and then painting it, I can just model the parts that I need help with. Hands, head, face etc. It's a much more effective use of the program and of my time.

I used all of the above on the above "Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest" piece. It's a WIP, but I will be adding more as I go along. I will post the final once of course.