I’ve been working on a Christmas project for a few weeks now, and now that it is almost* done, I’d like to share it and get some helpful feedback from real artists (as my mother isn’t a reliable source for critiques), and I’d really appreciate the help!
Since it’s not final, it’s still noisy to save render time (just 250 samples takes 30 minutes). The snow overlay was done in a separate blend file, other than that, everything is in the one file.
I’m still iffy about the fur, but I just can’t seem to get it right (like the apparent bald spots, I can’t seem to cover them up) and the combing I think is pretty pathetic. Also, I was thinking the mist was too strong. Finally, I’m not what else to add to enhance the story of the image.
First off, to my eyes the fur looks very nice. I can’t tell for sure if that is supposed to be snow or hair that is at the top of the cloth material, but to me it looks a little out of place.
I’m guessing maybe you just modeled his head and not the body, perhaps that is why you want this type of camera angle. It seems a little dark to me, your first render was a little brighter, but maybe that is the look you are going for.
But again, great job on the fur and the model in general.
I modeled most of the body, just not the feet because I never really wanted to show off his body, just his face.
And I know the snow looks out of place, but I want it to look “colder” if you know what I mean, and I really don’t know how to add snow without it looking out of place. Any suggestions?
I think the background Christmas lights, makes a nice addition and helps carry the theme. I’m just thinking out loud here… but what if you turned that cloth into more of a Santa hat, with some white fur around it… again just an idea.
Maybe a ring of fur around the edge of the hat… just like santas hat is. If you would put the fur along the edge where the hat meets the dog near his eyes, I think you would want to postiion it lower down on his snout, so you wouldn’t in any way cover up his eyes, because the eyes on this dog is one of the real nice parts of the render.
Maybe something like this? edit… but I almost think you would want to turn the scarf into a hat
the last pic is a great improvement in terms of lightning and general mood of the composition. I still dont know what to make out of the scarf thing that covers most of the dogs body/head… with so much of the facial features hidden you should accent the eyes… making them bigger maybe? An alternative would be to ditch the scarf an put a christmas candy cane into the dogs snout (just a suggestion :D)
