[Ranarh]

I'd like someone to take a look at the technical side of my illustration.
This dwarf woman is from my fantasy setting Genius Loci. It's not a tolkienesque setting and dwarves are not small humans. The spacing between their eyes is farther, the nose bridge wider, and the hair very colourful. Just so that you know when you control anatomy.

The painting is not finished, of course.
I did use reference for the lighting in the face, but it's only a bust picture and doesn't help much below the chin. It was taken in early April at about eleven a.m., and I would like to keep the fresh impression of that light.
I suspect there should be harsher shadows of her sleeve against her chest?

I am painting in Painter 12 with a little help from Photoshop.

Any help is welcome.

[Ranarh]

More work on the face and lighting.

[Ranarh]

I copied and enlarged the head to get proper detail into the hair and face. I may still do some more strokes on the hair.
Mostly done now.

[Ranarh]

Finally done. I changed the colour of the spots, and tried to catch all the last minor things. I'm happy with this painting. See a larger version in my gallery, and if you like, check out the blog Starmaker's Gaze to learn more about the Genius Loci setting, which this lady comes from

[Astaldo]

Looks nice! One comment, it seems like the hair on top of her head has too little volume. It looks, to me at least, like either her skull is squarish at the top, or her hair is paper thin. I think this results from the line of her forehead on the left, I feel like the natural line of her skull is exactly where her hair ends on the top. Instead of her hair being on top of her skull, it looks like it's were her skull should be. Anyways, I like it otherwise! Hopefully I explained myself well enough to be understood.

[Ranarh]

Thanks! Yes, I understand. Dwarves are quite square, but not that much - the photogprahp I used for the hairdo was a bit fuzzy about the top of the head. I gave it a few brushstrokes, and I think this is better