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Insane-eyeball — An ancient predator
by-nc-nd
Published: 2010-08-03 15:22:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 13262; Favourites: 356; Downloads: 151
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Description
"Cổ Ngư""Cổ" = old or ancient
"Ngư"= fish or some aquatic animals
When I first heard of that Vietnamese word, I thought it was implying an old or ancient kind of fish or aquatic animals. The word sounded great to my ears so that I had grown a bunch of magnificent manifestations, such as one that you're seeing. The nautiluses are used in the pic because of their bizarre looks (at least in my opinion) and the fact that they are historically living fossils, which is related to the "ancient" theme.
However, recently I've found the word "Cổ Ngư" was actually misspelled due to the fact that it's easier to pronounce than the original word: "Cố Ngự" (which means "to fortify").
Painted with Photoshop as usual. Refs loosely used for the nautiluses, anemones and jellies.
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Comments: 91
Beautiful detail... Really quite lovely. Your lighting is wonderful as well. I almost feel like there's not quite enough going on in the background to compete with the foreground... Hmm.
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Thanks a lot for the comment 
There's no need for the background to compete, as the foreground consists of the main things to stand out 
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Right, I just feel like you need MORE in the background to... How do you say, BALANCE the foreground with it?
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Excellent use of colours here !!! I love complexe shading and details ; they prefectly go with the colours, the whole composition is ful of grace !! The concept is great too !!
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Thank you very much for your hearty comment. It's my pleasure ! 
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It has a wonderful, almost 3D appearance. Very lovely work!
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Thank you very much
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Mới nhìn cứ tưởng nàng tiên cá
Áo dài đẹp ghê Đáng bóng và sáng tối rất mượt
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So beautiful!!! Love it!!!
...Is she a mermaid????
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Thank you very much for the comment.
Not really. She's just an aquatic "ancient predator", as the title implies
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wow the details are amazing in this!
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Nice color you've used there. The idea is great and there's a mood I can feel in this painting. However I think it's lacking something important: the overall shading. I'm not a pro in this but, quotes from my teacher:
"Some artists work with forms and only use shading to make those forms clear to the viewer. That's the way book illustrators work. The forms are clear, viewers can clearly see the structure of what you're drawing. But, you (me) should do it another way, for your works isn't an illustration. It's drawing from life. Everything has its shading. It isn't important to make every little detail pop out. You can make it in a way to let viewers see it for themselves."
He keeps telling me that 4-6 times in classtime so it's in my blood now.
Back to your painting, I have some advice for you ( I know some seem weird but it's for a good cause ) :
Firstly, you might want to re-check the anatomy. It seems to be too long from the neck to the hips, or the upper part of her is too small in width. The stomach is in a strange shape and it looks like her body was crushed or something 
Secondly, when something is not important, you can cut it out or make it less visible. In this case it's the cloth at the bottom, it seems to draw attention away from the hair, which is more important.
Then, you might want to add some details to her hair, this is a case that looks good with little details.
You could also make some parts of her darker. Dark pixels add light to the bright ones next to them.
The, um, jellyfish (?!) can be made brighter for a ghostly look.
Lastly, you can expand your painting for more background. It seems a bit too tight for her with too many unneccessary details and no spaces left for background. Any works of art must be tight and loose enough at the right place.
That's all. Hope it helps 
( I think it's a little bit too much to ask, but, well, can't stop myself 
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Thank you sooo much for your VERY constructive comment Đạt (luv u boy 
*Overall shading:
Actually there's one: the upper body is brighter than the lower body (including her legs which are further from the our viewpoint). I applied this shading from the very beginning, but maybe it's partly got lost after the detailed shadings are added. But it should have been there.
*Anatomy
True, and that's my existing problem. I often start the sketch with random curves and shapes with nice ratios (architectural way of working). When I'm satisfied with them, I insert the characters and try to stretch and bend their anatomy out to match the built shapes. I force the characters to follow the originally shaped ideas despite the anatomy. I respect the original overall shapes - which often contradict the anatomy - more than the characters themselves, and I just consider them parts of my concept. I know anatomy is important, and I'm still on the way of practising to satisfy both requirements.
*The cloth in the bottom:
Sometimes I love stirring up the viewers' eyes hehehe. This is what I learn from a favourite Vietnamese artist of mine: "I tend to create my artworks in a way that whenever viewers look at them, they discover something new, unusual, something they did not notice in their previous views
*Her hair:
I was fed up you know. Working on the hair was very time-consuming haha 
*Darker or not ?
This is what I want to achieve in this painting: using a more neutral/desaturate palette (màu xỉn, màu trầm) than my usual style. Something too dark or too bright may break this goal.
*Jellies:
They shouldn't be made brighter because, as you said, I consider them unimportant
*Background:
I know that. Fully-filled canvas is just my style at the moment. I agree with you that "Any works of art must be tight and loose enough at the right place.", but according to my experience, it's correct when you reach master levels, with which you can create masterpieces just be drawing very simple topics. Currently my skills are still too weak to do that, and details build the value of my art... sadly... 
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( I just wrote it as much as I wan't to hear from others about my works. Glad you don't think it's too long
About the overall shading I know what breaks your intention - the specularity of the cloth. It's just so much that viewers would think it's the color of the cloth. From my experience in still life drawing, specular fields in the dark is very subtle. They only need to be a little brighter than things near it. They will recognize it anyway.
For the anatomy and sketches, I know a program called Alchemy that is great for making up concepts for your artwork. You should check it out [link]
And, the background. I know it's hard to make the "loose and tight.." thing, but it's really important. It's not just about the shape, but the color, details and shading as well. It's hard to explain, only when you realize adding something to your art would ruin it do you know the "loose and tight.." rule exists. Besides, you should know that hidden features make your art interesting to look at, that cause the viewer to guess and actually what make them see new things in your old art
The rest depends on your intention and concepts for this , about which I'm not sure so I'll stop here
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Thanks again for your lovely comments. I appreciate so much your enthusiasm. Alchemy seems to be a great software and I'll try. To tell you the truth, I'm very busy and we are having no summer holidays now. 
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You're going to graduate next year aren't you ? Good luck. Art can wait 
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you keep upping the detail in these. Fantastic work
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Thanks a lot for the compliment Andy
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