frankwyte81 on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/frankwyte81/art/Summer-Breeze-EvgeniaVonTess-Vector-198528848frankwyte81

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Summer Breeze - EvgeniaVonTess Vector

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Still trying to improve my technique on the gradient mesh. I really enjoyed doing this piece. I was a big fan of this model before she joined Deviantart. Before I started, I enhanced the colors of the original photo in Photoshop and I vectored it. I also added some birds to balance it. No blurs or effects were used to create this piece. Enjoy! Done in Illustrator CS5. Tools used: gradient mesh, pen tool. Time completed: About 28 hours

My Deviantart Gradient Mesh Video Tutorial: frankwyte81.deviantart.com/art…

Model :iconevgeniavontess:

My Outline: :thumb198528183:
Image size
9140x13660px 12.58 MB
© 2011 - 2024 frankwyte81
Comments139
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BDT466's avatar
:star::star::star::star-empty: Overall
:star::star::star::star-empty::star-empty: Vision
:star::star::star-empty::star-empty::star-empty: Originality
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Technique
:star::star::star::star::star-empty: Impact

Please note: I have written a descriptive comment previous to me gaining a premium membership. However, I will try and go into even MORE detail for the sake of the critique <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt=":D" title=":D (Big Grin)"/>.

First of all I would like to congratulate you on such a wonderful result. You have done exceptionally well at replicating the image you started from, in turn you have actually exceeded the quality of the stock photo, that is quite an achievement!

Initial POV(Point Of View):
On first inspection the piece appears to be a wonderful photo taken via a camera. It has been captured wonderfully by the artist, near perfect composition with delightful lighting giving a very sensual feel to the piece.

POV upon further inspection:
It takes a thorough look at the piece to realize the truth of the fact, this is actually vector art! The artist has used the 'gradient mesh' tool throughout the piece to get real-to-life lighting, therefore making the shape and form absolutely spot on. It is amazingly crafted and at times I found that I kept having to remind myself that it truly is vector.

I am in awe at the detail you have implemented on this piece, it truly is utter brilliance. Possibly the most amazing aspect of this piece is the shadow implementation, although you have gotten the major part of the shadow direction and flow from the original, close inspection of both proves to show that you have added little embellishments, giving it more detail and DOF(Depth Of Field) than was originally present, this is one of the many factors that elevate it above and beyond the stock. Getting such details correct truly - no pun intended - is a work of art, even some of the greatest artists cannot do such details without direct stock resources but you have managed to carry it further and have pulled it off!

I must say, the most perfect part of this piece is most surely the face. It is absolutely and unmistakably real-to-life, it could of come straight from the camera! It has perfect lighting, the shading is spot on, DOF...everything about it is perfect, I genuinely have never seen a face quite so well made. I would especially like to commend you on the jawline and the ear, they are such hard subjects to draw but you have, once again, pulled it off extremely well.

I love the subtle touches you have added to the piece here and there, they really do make it shine. This is shown with the addition of the birds to the image, they truly do make the composition just that much better, it really does even out the piece. Similarly, the artist has a more dispersed version of the clouds in the sky, it once again improves the composition by leaps and bounds.

Details that may require inspection(IMO):
The first part I would suggest adding a touch more detail to would be the hair. In the stock photo the hair is well defined, every strand is rather prominent. Where as on this piece the hair is silky smooth, to the point of cartoon-ism. I believe a middle ground between the two is what would be most suitable for this piece.

Secondly is the 'short shorts', I believe in your adaption they are too smooth and lose too much definition for my taste. I believe some subtle work with the grain tool would rectify this problem.

Last of all I would suggest a touch more definition on the 'island' at the bottom of the piece. It may be rather hard to get a perfect balance between a touch more definition and losing DOF but I believe you can do it <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt=":)" title=":) (Smile)"/>.

With the suggested 'fixes' I truly believe it would elevate this piece even further, putting it up there with the best of them.

Conclusion:
The artists has done extremely well in capturing the essence of the human form, managing to add to the piece, improving on the failings of the photo. With some subtle changes this piece will most definitely be one of the greater pieces of vector art ever created. I for one will be following the artist and their progression as they develop there abilities even further. I truly believe that some day =frankwyte81 or QFdesigns will be among the famed `CrisVector and ^ChewedKandi.

Details of the 'Rate this deviation' section:
Vision: 3* for wonderful ability to capture the human body so wonderfully. The two deducted are due to a lot of merit going to the stock photo.

Originality: 2* due to it predominantly being a recreation of a stock photo. However I still accrued two points as this is above and beyond the quality of the stock photo.

Technique: 4.5* due to amazing work with the recreation for the photo, great use of certain tools to create perfect lighting and as a result, simply sublime shape and form. Also is the addition of certain features that improve the composition ten-fold.

Impact: 4* due to a wonderful pose that is both sensual and seductive and the artist has portrayed this well with the correct use of the right tools. One star is taken due to this being ever present in the stock photo.

My little note
I would just like to say, absolutely wonderful job on this. I hope you took something from this critique and I hope it may help you in any way that is beneficial to you. You are an amazing artist and I can tell you have a very VERY bright future ahead of you and I wish you the very best. Cheers

Random side note
Sorry for the extremely long critique but well, thats how I do things <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/let…" width="15" height="15" alt=":P" title=":P (Lick)"/>. I think I should just submit this for my English assignment, all up I have written 984 words throughout the critique, that is essentially a massive essay....and some <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/let…" width="15" height="15" alt=":P" title=":P (Lick)"/>. Who said I wasn't dedicated to supporting artists?!