Blue_Tornado

[`Poet.]

Quick question. Do you have a tablet? :3

I'll get an actual critique/reply up either today or tomorrow ^^

[Blue_Tornado]

I have my laptop...that is it XD

[`Poet.]

Oh, come on. It's not an epic failure. You're still learning!

I actually think it looks pretty cool

Anyway, I think it definitely needs some more fly-aways, rather than just being one big chunk. If you want to go back, and smudge it, here's what I'd recommend:

Put the smudge tool on around 80% strength, or enough that you can really drag some strands out. Then just alter your brush sizes, dragging the mane out until you have some more individual strands.

Then you can paint in some highlights/lowlights, or use the burn and dodge tool.

Oh, I also made you a little walkthrough, if you want to try it out :3 i55.tinypic.com/j6rhxd.jpg

ONE MORE THING. I'm giving you one free pass, so that you can skip any assignment. I'd appreciate it if you'd at least try, but if you just can't do it, then use the pass.

One of my other students wanted to skip an assignment, so I feel it's only fair to give all of my students a pass. xD

So, your next assignment is just to re-work the mane until it has more "flow", and more highlights/lowlights/variations in color :3

Good luck! PM me if you need anything. <3

[Blue_Tornado]

Alright, I think I did pretty okay. Bear in mind this is my first time attempting something like this XD I've been working on this for the past...3+ hours so...hopefully it looks okay.

farm5.static.flickr.com/4109/5063718844_0324cbf307_b.jpg

[`Poet.]

Hey, that looks much better! That hard work really payed off, huh? ;D

It flows so much better than the first one. Also has a nice variety of colors in it - good job on the color palette, too. I always find those to be helpful.

The only thing I can say is in the future, try and make the darker strands, and lighter ones, a little more vivid. They look almost blurred. And also, if you want to take a small brush and smudge a few flyaways, it'd look nice

But other than that, I think you did an amazing job - especially for only having your laptop, no tablet!

Next I'd like you to work on the forelock and tail. Use the same technique that you used for the mane.

I just made a quick little walkthrough for the taill, and what the process might look like: i51.tinypic.com/2wp2ijp.jpg

I didn't explain much because it's basically just the same thing that you did for the mane. And the forelocks are pretty easy ^^

So, just make sure that the tail flows. I don't want it to be one big "chunk." It needs lots of fly-aways, although it still needs a good "base."

Please PM me if you have any trouble with it :3

<3

[Blue_Tornado]

Hey, sorry it took me so freaking long. I actually forgot about this and then when I did remember, I had to wait til I had a day off school to tackle it XD

So I realize I didn't do the forelock yet, I'm gonna do it tomorrow. And yeah, after I finished the tail I realized how uber small it is...But there was no way I was going back and re-doing it. NONE! So the horse is just gonna have to deal XD
www.flickr.com/photos/blue_tornadopix/5102716994/

[Blue_Tornado]

www.flickr.com/photos/blue_tornadopix/5105917814/

Alright forelock is done

[`Poet.]

Gorgeous! With every step (mane, tail, and then forelock) I can see you improving! It looks really nice

Now... before we move on to putting the horse on the background, is there anything else you wanted to do to the horse? (Painting on highlights and lowlights on the body, enhancing the eye, etc?)

Let me know!

Thanks! <333

[Blue_Tornado]

I'd like to learn how to do the eyes

[`Poet.]

Eyes it is!

So follow this image when I'm explaining it to you: img593.imageshack.us/img593/8508/eyes.jpg

Step 1: Zoom in on your horse's face, until you can see the eye really well. (Don't worry if it's pixely!)

Step 2: Choose a base color from the original eye (using the color-picker tool.) I've chosen a dark, dark brown.

Step 3: Now, using a hard brush, paint over the eye (but make sure to keep it that same shape!)

Step 4: Take your smudging tool and smudge the outer edges of the eye a bit, so that it blends a little better and doesn't look so fake and sharp.

Step 5: Get a very small hard brush and paint in a pure-white happy face, as shown. Make one "eye" smaller than the other, and make the "smile" follow the bottom curve.

Step 6: Smudge the edges of the smile to blend better, and if you want, you can smudge the 2 dots or "eyes" a bit, but that's just optional.

Then we're finished!

Or another version:

Do the same thing as above, except make the smiley face only have one eye or dot! Then smudge the smile, etc., etc.

The 2 versions don't seem that different, but as you can see when you zoom out, they have entirely different effects!

Good luck, and PM me if you have any questions!

<3

[Blue_Tornado]

Oh sorry! I JUST saw this XD

I'll get to work on it ASAP (btw I'm never looking at eyes the same again, that smiley face thing really adjusted my perspective)