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lutrasilvereye — Balance
Published: 2010-03-14 14:41:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 1396; Favourites: 17; Downloads: 28
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#The-Artkin 's first assignment was on balance: [link]I was going for a radial balance, but only loosely. I'm not sure how well this worked actually.
I think I would have done better if I had stuck to something with more exact symmetry such as in celtic designs (which is where I got this idea from originally).Comments & critique encouraged!
Also tried a more 'rough', speedpainterly kind of colouring with a brush I made. I like it but I need to work on blending I think.
No references used. Tails are probably too large..
Original sketch in pencil ~ 2-3 hours
Digital painting in Photoshop CS3 ~ 10 hours over 3 days
(c) me
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Comments: 28
Ooh wow thanks! I love it. Very nice.
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Thanks so much! And 
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Nice attempt at a difficult form of balance! I think it feels a little like a horizontally balanced piece, due to the placement & perspective on the foxes, but still a beautiful work. I think, perhaps, the best way of getting radial balance plainly is by doing a graphic piece - the only problem with doing it on an angle, as you have, is that you have to deal with contrast issues - the shadows, vs the shapes.
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Thank you for your lovely comment. Yes the shadows were a problem for me, and I see what you mean about it being more of a horizontally balanced piece. What do you mean by "graphic piece"? Do you mean flat (like 2D foxes rather than 3D)? If so I think that would work better too.
Thanks for your critique, most helpful.
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The shadows look excellent! I wasn't saying anything about their form - I was saying that when you have to balance *how* something is shaded versus a 2D principle like radial balance, then it becomes extremely difficult.
By graphic, I mean flat - 2D, as you said. It's a lot easier to get away with, because then you focus on the principles more than when you're shading, and things like color and contrast compete with the principle.
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Ok thanks!
(sorry for the late reply)
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it balances well for me ^^
the only thing i suggest is that their movement is a bit static
the foxes look like they're cut out from the background, maybe blur their outlines a bit here and there
anywho, i like it
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Thanks!
In my mind the foxes weren't all supposed to be there at the same time I guess. In a way it was like three snapshots of movement, or if anything, them following another. Another viewpoint could be that they were following one another, but at the same time it's the same fox (like chasing its' tail). So the fact that they don't really interact with each other was on purpose. 
I like the idea of blurring them at the edges to make it look like as if they were moving.
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oh yeh you mentioned they were inspired by celtic designs too, so the lack of interaction makes sense
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Yes, I did think that it wasn't too uncommon to have this kind of theme with animals. Yours is done beautifully!
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Hmm, I like this one a lot, it seems really original and I love how you used the foxes for balance. But the one fox in the right that's licking his leg is bugging me... I don't know but it seems like he should have his head raised up instead of down.
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You mean to keep the balance his head should be looking up? Yeah I guess that would make the circle 'flow' better.
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Yeah. It just stuck out to me, so I thought I should point it out
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Thanks. I want people to tell me these things.
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I've seen this symbolism usually represented with snakes, but this is very creative and original.
Three Thumbs Up!
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Thank you!
I have seen it done by *puimun , I suppose that's where I got the idea to use foxes from. Couldn't find it in her gallery but here it is from her website: [link]
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You're very welcome.
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