Fire Sprite

[Spectrum]

This is an X-Men universe character I made up. Took a bit of playing around with blend modes to get the skin right, but I think I'll put in a developed background. I made this as a promo for a fictional X-Men tv series.

Model is Jessica Truscott, and the image is from faestock.deviantart.com.

 

[Inkz]

A mighty fine job you did there good sir...

Really nice Faestock, we are all familiar with her lol.

Well done.

 

[Spectrum]

A mighty fine job you did there good sir...

Really nice Faestock, we are all familiar with her lol.

Well done.

Cheers. I'm doing Spider Woman next, then a second Human Torch with a different image from the first one.

 

[chrisdesign]

Very cool image Spectrum!

 

[tomross]

This is really really nice! I love what you've done with the hair, which is a tricky effect to get right. You somehow got it flowing really nicely and with a great weight to it though, whilst keeping the awesome fire effect.

I'd love to see a few more facial details retains. Where you get some finer details/lines in the ear/nostrils I think that's actually the strongest area of the face.

Also maybe it's just me, but the only bit feeling off is the whites of her eyes. I feel like the entire eye should be aflame, with perhaps just a deeper/darker/more intense area for the iris. Right now the whites of the eye are definitely very striking and draw you into the piece. However, they also flatten it for me a little.

Really impressive work though! And faestock is awesome .

 

[Spectrum]

This is really really nice! I love what you've done with the hair, which is a tricky effect to get right. You somehow got it flowing really nicely and with a great weight to it though, whilst keeping the awesome fire effect.

I'd love to see a few more facial details retains. Where you get some finer details/lines in the ear/nostrils I think that's actually the strongest area of the face.

Also maybe it's just me, but the only bit feeling off is the whites of her eyes. I feel like the entire eye should be aflame, with perhaps just a deeper/darker/more intense area for the iris. Right now the whites of the eye are definitely very striking and draw you into the piece. However, they also flatten it for me a little.

Really impressive work though! And faestock is awesome .

Cheers for the feedback Tom.

I agree with you that the face needs to stand out a bit more, but the blending mode needed for the skin effect, and the cracks in the skin to jump out with a decent level of luminance meant that the features are hidden a bit, but I'll play with the settings a bit and see if I can get the face to stand out more.

As for the eyes, I agree they are a bit too white, but I did want them to jump out, showing that while she's a mutant, she's not a monster. I wanted her humanity to be in her eyes, but again, I'll tweak it a bit and see how it looks.

The hair is actually made up of 7 images. Used a lot of soft brushes and colour balancing to blend, and a heavy use of the warp function to shape the fire, and give it the look of being affected by gravity, while as the same time appearing to move as fire does.

 

[tomross]

No problem!

It's been a while since I worked on a piece like that, but I do remember it being a nightmare with blending skin etc! Perhaps some good old fashioned digital painting would work to bring out some of the features slightly?

I like the idea of showing her humanity. I think all it was is that the whites of the eyes looked entirely white, which was flattening them. I'd like to see humanity in the eyes, but with some roundness/depth to the eye balls.

I've attached a quick variation below. Let me know what you think .

Very cool techniques with the hair btw! Which images did you work with for the fire?

 

[Spectrum]

No problem!

It's been a while since I worked on a piece like that, but I do remember it being a nightmare with blending skin etc! Perhaps some good old fashioned digital painting would work to bring out some of the features slightly?

I like the idea of showing her humanity. I think all it was is that the whites of the eyes looked entirely white, which was flattening them. I'd like to see humanity in the eyes, but with some roundness/depth to the eye balls.

I've attached a quick variation below. Let me know what you think .

Very cool techniques with the hair btw! Which images did you work with for the fire?

View attachment 37462

Yep. I like the whites of the eyes better in your version, but I will keep the light coloured irises, because part of the character lore which I made up was that her irises change to a firey colour and glow when she shifts from human to fire form.

The flame images I found on Google. Just searched fire or flames until I found the right size/comp shots I needed. Can't remember the exact sites where I found them.

Thanks for the preview!

 

[tomross]

Glad you liked it Spectrum! I'd love to see how it looks with the brighter irises, but less flat whites.

 

[Paul]

They both look heavily saturated to me if i am honest, and the boundaries between hair and fireskin are looking like totally separate entities.
And what's with the badly smudged cheek?

 

[Spectrum]

They both look heavily saturated to me if i am honest, and the boundaries between hair and fireskin are looking like totally separate entities.
And what's with the badly smudged cheek?

The cheek needs to be fixed, sure, it was a blending error from the skin crack layer, not a smudge. Perhaps you could explain how you would fix what you see as a problem with the hair? As for over saturation, she's a mutant, so expecting human skin saturation levels is a moot point.

 

[Paul]

This is an X-Men universe character I made up. Took a bit of playing around with blend modes to get the skin right, but I think I'll put in a developed background. I made this as a promo for a fictional X-Men tv series.

But you didn't did you, as for the hair i would of blended the edges between hair and fire in a varying way around the hairline on the face, looks to stuck on almost wig like.

 

[Spectrum]

But you didn't did you, as for the hair i would of blended the edges between hair and fire in a varying way around the hairline on the face, looks to stuck on almost wig like.

Its not meant to look like natural hair. Ever look at the bottom of a fire? Its really bright, then gets less intense toward the ends of the flames. Her hair is essentially lighting up from her scalp. You're looking at it from the perspective of trying to make it look natural, as if a person's hair were on fire. Its a super power. Its not meant to look the same as reality because this isn't reality. Your point about the cheek is valid, the rest misses the point that this is fantasy, so creating an effect which replicates exact realism is pointless.

 

[Paul]

Not confused at all, your blending is off the hair looks wig like to me, accepting just the good comments doesn't improve your ability.

 

[Spectrum]

Not confused at all, your blending is off the hair looks wig like to me, accepting just the good comments doesn't improve your ability.

I didn't accept just the good comments. Tom showed me that the eyes looked better when they were toned down a bit, and I agreed with him. You don't seem to understand th difference between trying to create fire which behaves naturally, and a fantasy based fire, which her hair is.

 

[Paul]

Last word on this to you, i do understand the dynamics of real over illustration/photoshop, you asked for critiques i have given you my view points on the hair/flames blending you obviously do not like them.

 

[Spectrum]

Last word on this to you, i do understand the dynamics of real over illustration/photoshop, you asked for critiques i have given you my view points on the hair/flames blending you obviously do not like them.

Its not that I don't like them, but I just don't agree. I value all input, but the defined edge of her hairline/flame was the look I wanted. The fire comes FROM her hair, it isn't supposed to replace it, so it adds volume - like a wig does. Your comments on the cheek blending however, is duely noted.

 

[Spectrum]

Okay made some edits, and this is the updated version.

 

[Paul]

I see you 'blended' the non realistic hairline a little mate:mrgreen:

JUST PULLING YOUR CHAIN.

 

[Spectrum]

I see you 'blended' the non realistic hairline a little mate:mrgreen:

JUST PULLING YOUR CHAIN.

Well I had a think about it. I was thinking in terms of the character lore, where the fire is created from an unnatural source, and so does not behave like natural fire, but then I realised that a lot of people who see it might not realise that, and so from a random viewer's perspective, I guess it does look a bit unrealistic if you're expecting real-to-life fire, so while initially I was adhering strictly to a comic representation of the character, for the benefit of those who aren't familiar with comic styling, I think a more natural look is best for viewers all round.