What could I have done?

[Ajoura]

This has been buggin' me for days man...
You see, I entered in this competition a few weeks ago called Bird's Nest. It's an OC contest based on the best interpretation of the OC "Sharahs".

Here's my entry. [X]

I worked all weekend on it, and this was the result. I feel happy about how hard I tried on it. Especially since this is my 2nd art contest ( The 1st one being here. 3nodding )

Now here's the problem: My picture ended up bright. A little too bright. And I've been fickle about changing the skin tone because I believe this one fits the best. However, it doesn't fit very well in a white background. I could've worked more on the shadow tones, but...

Is there anything that I could have done to improve my entry?  

[Quvi]

I duplicated the image and set the top layer on multiply. The outline was unintentional, but it works, too sweatdrop  

[xxXSleepy_NinjaXxx]

@Moonflower: whoa that bright. i think what Quvi did is so much less hurtful to the eyes.  

[Pandiecakes]

I love that duplicate layer, multiply trick. It really brings a lot of my art to life. Though sometimes it overpowers it. sweatdrop  

[Magezian]

For this one, I used two programs~ (but it works the same in photo shop where you adjust the contrasts and brightness) I kind of played at it~ I changed the saturation to -20. Then, I got another layer and make it fully black. I also blurred the picture so the edges won't look too choppy. I clipped it to the picture and put it to overlay (with the opacity about 70%) Also, I finally added bit of glow to it (it's white by the way) while making it to about half the size:

 

[onipanda379]

Your best bet is to duplicate and multiply if you don't want to redraw the ehole thing. But if that is not enough, add an abstract background.

Example:


To make that background is really easy. Though, I use GIMP so I can't tell you how to do it in Photoshop.

All I did was use an ink pen like brush. and put it at 50% opacity.
I smeared the brush over the area three times. It sort of bleeds and speads on its own. Do NOT release the brush until you stroked over once. Then you do it again. That gives it that layer of darker color.

I hope this helps. It sure helped me. :3  

[Ajoura]

I see how the multiplied layer works, but it exposes the distinct colors between the face and the arms. The arms & neck end up looking...umm, "rougher" compared to the appearance of the face. It just seems to bother me so much! scream
I guess my best option is to edit the skin tone once more. This time, if necessary, I will duplicate and multiply. Adding an abstract background also sounds useful. If I'm lucky, I'll get to replace my previous image. Thank-you, everyone. biggrin  

[onipanda379]

I almost forgot! I also blured the background layer by 10 pixels. To soften the BG so its not so distracting from the figure.  

[Ajoura]

Okay! I changed the skin tone completely. It should look darker now...