[la1uc]

Hello good people of cgHub!

So this is my first post here and it's a WIP. I need help, suggestions, advice, etc. but most of all I HAVE TO! improve.

So with this image I want to create night mood, when assassins came and took over the castle or just sneaked in to rescue their companion or princess perhaps?! anyways...that's the idea that I had in my mind but I really wanted to create dynamic composition and the moment they came through the walls. So this is it so far.

And this is where I need your help. Often when I paint, I come to a point when I don't know how to continue. I'm not much in to hyper realism. So My goal is not to create that kind of thing. Just a descent looking illustration. Hopefully this poor explanation will help you to critique and comment.

thank you so much for checking it out! much appreciated

[la1uc]

So I was working on this a bit more aaaan here's a small update.

[ecanhoj]

It looks great! I think the assassin the upper left can can have a bit more curve in his leg but I think this is for foreshortening. It can also have blurring or a dashing effect from where he came from but probably you can add this at the end or it's probably not needed at all once have made the rendering, totally up to you. I like the way you pose them like there's an ambush

[mertgenccinar]

It looks very good!
I can suggest one thing but i am not sure it's good for your composition: I think the strong and simple illustrations have just one story told and in this illustration, there are 2 assassins attacking to same target i think and they're too close.
I think it's a little bit distractive, if you focus one of them as attacker and push far the other (looks like a silhoutte) it can be more strong and simple composition. Other than that, it looks good! I hope i can help and my advice give you more satisfied result. Cheers!

By the way, you can manipulate the banners, walls, buildings etc to point your story for attention of viewer (Pro illustrator using this all the time i guess) My english is not brilliant but i hope i can tell something useful

[la1uc]

Heyooo

ecanhoj: yes! i still have to fix the leg but you're right. These "details" come at the end. Still have to figure out how to do it tho but first must fix that leg!

mertgenccinar: is this what you had in mind? well something like this. It's still a long way to go and the silhouette is very quickly done. But i think you're right...it's much clearer now. Will experiment with the bg character a bit more towards the finish of the piece. May be throw in the other guy as well. dunno. we'll see.

thanks both for comments! much appreciated!
And now! UPDATE! I dropped everything on one layer, working mostly in painter feels much more like traditional painting which is kinda easier for me i think. Or not. who knows... anyway two versions! first one is just more work done and second is idea of arrows or something. I thought there's something missing in the background...so i quickly added these arrows but i don't know...i might just go with clouds what you guys think?

[la1uc]

Yet another smaller update....I made the castle a bit taller ...I think it works better and some changes to the legs and stuff of the "flying" assassin. Any input is appreciated