Overall

Vision Vision

Originality Originality

Technique Technique

Impact Impact

Ok, usually I don't do critiques, so bare with me if this is super long winded!Overall I really like the piece, it's a great snippet into Rowena and how she deals with her issues lol. I can definitely appreciate the angle you were going for, and I like the idea as a whole.In terms of lifting it up to the next level, I do have some points on technique. First of all I would say that the shading in areas or her skin is a little too dark/muddy. A lot of brown on skin can kill the luminosity of the tones. I can appreciate that looking at this, there was obviously some high contrast lighting going on, which is always tough. I would suggest if you have dark areas of skin like this, rather than using such a brown palette, work in some purples and some rougey tones as well to help build shade and contrast and blend it through. A -really- useful tute I basically refer to as my bible is www.deviantart.com/art/Tutoria… Some goldish tones in areas of highlight can also help lift the skin too. If it's a bit off your reference photos you can always adjust the Levels to bring them around to the right hue.Also, her hair looks a little hard and over worked, I think perhaps because you've gone in for your texturing with a brush that is slightly too hard. Big brushes are fab for building up your initial shapes, but particularly once you hit the highlighting, a much smaller, slightly softened round brush of around 2 pixels with around 80% (my favourite tool for defining hair) can add the definition you're looking for with a few cleverly placed strokes. These peaks of light that bounce off hair, especially with waves such as Rowena's, can really make it come to life.Finally, the hamster looks REALLY fantastic and lifelike, her lighting could just use a little tweaking to have her line up with Rowena's and make her look a better fit in the picture. That and a little shadowing being cast against Rowena's fingers from her will help integrate her in much more smoothly. This with a slight desaturation to match up her general colours with Rowena's more subdued tones will help her blend much more effectively.Overall though, as I say, I do really like the painting, it's a fun concept and a great likeness of Rowena with a lot of personality e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b… " width="15" height="15" alt="" data-embed-type="emoticon" data-embed-id="366" title="(Big Grin)"/>