Too much drama?

I'm going to post WIPs of a signature that I've had in the works for a while in the hopes that it motivates me to work on it. Tbh I keep starting work on it then getting intimidated because of all the detail I want to put in but then getting anxiety that I'm not going to get it "right". Ah, anxiety.

This was the original sketch and color fill:


I did some sketching on paper for the dress and the horse on paper and decided I wanted to do a signature cause of reasons and came up with this new sketch:



Then after being kind of sick I did a color fill with super dramatic and different lighting than I originally intended?


I'm not sure about the lighting compared to the tone of the original color fill?
Idk I'm going to take a break and do Yeon's ref then come back to it. Any suggestions in the mean time would be awesome! :)

I love this! Personally I prefer the new lighting to the old.

I agree with Aglet the second lighting looks way better to me. Love the details as well.

I love the second one simply because the girl IS holding a bloody sword and the tone I sperfect. The first is way to happy. The sound demonstrates terror or a revenge tone. Plus, the highlights and details are wayyyyy better. :)

:O stunning!

this looks great! im with Aglet too, I think the lighting and perspective on the second one is much more flattering ♥

so cool! but yeah i totally know that anxiety feeling especially when i get the sketch just perfect and then i go to paint it and its crap XD

the second one i think its the perfect amount of drama and the lighting is gorgeous! :O
i cannot wait to see this finished :D

It sort of reminds me of the pixelated game Kingdom (I've been obsessed with it).

Okay. no. this second one is AMAZING in comparison to the first. sure the first is a standard cutesy happy background scheme, except you know the blood and the bits of fire, that I didn't even see the first time around. This second one, The colors are SO MUCH BETTER. It really tells the story a lot more, like wars been ravaging all night and on break of day the city's burning but that lovely queen and her daring unicorn are still alive a break of day. It's freaking beautiful even just blocked with color, I can feel it.
I have ten tons of faith that even if it's not "just right" in your eyes it will be absolutely amazing to me. I don't think I have any suggestions for you besides, finish it someday.

Also this pose configuration? was totally similar to one of the manip ideas I had back in high school, I never figured out people enough to actually do it, but I think you're definitely doing better than I ever would have been able too.
also the dress? I'm excited for that because the sketch is awesome.

I agree with everyone that the lighting in the second version is more fitting to the content - it definitely works.

To me something about the perspective with the tower and figures seems off, however. Either the tower rampart etc needs to be higher up in the overall ground of the picture and flatter (at a shallower angle - squash the circular ground into more of a tight oval) and the figures slightly smaller and higher up, or else the figures need to overall be quite a bit smaller and positioned perhaps further up and to the right. It overall feels to me like the tower is both too low and too small, and it should feel like the princess and unicorn are far higher up than they are, and should be somewhat smaller to reflect that perspective.

Last edited on 2016-05-24 at 21:01:55 by River

I prefer the sig it looks very nice now, I can't wait to see the finished product.

If this is going to be for sale here then I'd AB the crap out of that because I have a character that is heir to the throne of a warstruck land but is also a cavalry general (hence the sword) and has a horse friend. Amazing job with the lighting! I love the tone it conveys.

I would love to have this as a sig

I just find it amazing you get past the sketching stage, that's the part I always get stuck on. :c

Second one is perfect, stick some wings on that pon and I have the perfect pairs in mind if you sell recolours. o3o