You're very good, Christene. Love your work!

fantastic work!

Hey there, didn't see any pictures with a "Write A Critique" option, so I suppose it's just best to leave the critique as a comment. As promised, here is the critique:

This has to be your most promising picture in your whole gallery, mostly because it really appears that you gave a lot of attention and emphasis to the lady and her skin tone (with some gradients thrown in for good measure, perhaps?). There's an overall good agreement there, but there are various disagreements with the environment.

Probably the first thing I would take a look at is the composition. (Now given this is probably a personal preference and you might have a specific narrative idea, take it how you will.) The woman is placed smack dab in the center of the image, which immediately diminishes the importance of all the other elements of the picture right off the bat. Something else that her current placement does is it puts her on display...she becomes an object of desire, rather than a subject of expression. I'm led to ask the question about why she is presented nude in this picture, and what purpose eroticism might possibly have in this image. Intimacy? Anatomy practice? The reason for her being presented the way that she is seems a little unclear.

The next thing that comes to mind is the perspective of the symbolic ellipse surrounding her. My guess is that she is meant to be seen as presented in the center of the circle, but current perspective suggests she sits a little off to the right.

The next thing I might pay attention to is diminishing the importance of that rock. It presents itself as an isolated element all the way off to the left instead of as an ambient part of the scenery (I'm guessing this was what you intended, right? Or is there some significance to that stone being there?) I guess on the whole, I would suggest that the image make better use of atmospheric perspective and the illusion of depth it provides.

After that my thoughts go to the hair. With all the time spent on making her skin appear natural and realistic, her hair reduces the lady as a whole to a cartoon. Again this boils down to how much you want the viewer to take this character -- and subsequently the artwork -- seriously. If you're looking for something in between fantasy and reality or as an anime character, then the strandy hair may be enough of a discordant element to make your intended image successful. Otherwise, you might want to take a look at 's tutorial on hair to get a better understanding on how to make photorealistic hair. It all boils down to what you're really wanting out of the images you make, though.

So for the anatomy, you have a pretty successful general structure, but there are parts, such as the tibia tubercle and patella on her left leg being unaccounted for. And because these bone structures are not fully considered, the anatomical left leg appears to be slightly deflated. On a side note, the anatomical left foot and leg appear very awkwardly positioned under her gluteal muscles. If someone were actually sitting like that, it might be uncomfortable to sit like that for a long period of time. (Especially if she's reciting some incantation that might make her stay awhile....!) Of course if you're insistent about the position, then you might want to soften the hard edges around her anatomical left foot to reduce spatial disagreement.

The next thing that comes to mind is the area around the glabella. The lady does not have any real eyebrow ridge... and so cranium projects forward a little like a neanderthal. The eyebrow ridge would push the eyebrow part of the profile forward creating a peak, and then the cranium would gradually begin to recede backwards into the hairline. Also, the hair appears to serve as a cover up for a lack of fullness in the cranium. It hides it well, but if the cranial structure were drawn out for the current position, it would be pretty deformed.

The lady's toes also appear to be thrown in pretty haphazardly. I would say that this is probably the weakest part of your image, primarily because joints and tarsal bones were not taken into consideration when the feet and toes were placed.

Something seems a little strange about the pelvis. If you were to imagine a skeletal figure for her body right now, her pelvis would sit crushed right underneath the rib cage. It either does not take into account the extra lumbar vertebra, or the extra length of the pelvis tipped backwards in space (because her body would be arched). Her body is positioned upright, and yet the neck suggests that she's trying to lean forward. So something has to give: either her entire torso must further lean forward to compensate for the somewhat overextended neck, or the head must be brought back to reach an agreement with the torso. Adjusting the head is probably the best bet, because the fullness of her neck is noticeably absent; the deep shadow next to her sternocleidomastoid seems a bit awkward. Presented like an écorché almost.

The next image you work on, keep in mind that all objects always emit and bounce light around in relation to other objects -- some more than others. This is called radiosity; when color from one object bleeds onto another object. In particular, the bowl she's holding in her hands appears like a cardboard cutout because the bowl's natural emissive light does not bounce onto the lady's hand. And vice versa; there appears to be a lack of some lighter warmer skin tones bouncing onto the bowl, and so the two objects appear almost deliberately and distinctly separate. They are united as separate, in other words. (Also, the ellipse towards the back of the bowl ellipse is broken, which creates another dischordant element...)

Also in re light, I would be mindful of leaving halos around her body, such as the slight green aura halo coming up her backside.

And lastly, be careful of making her lips appear too much like caked lipstick. Which again begs the question of what sort of lips you're trying to make... are they cosmetic, or are they intended to be au naturale? If the latter is the case, then the lips need to blend more with the color of the skin. (I'm inclined to believe, however, that because her nail beds are painted, that the lips are intended to be cosmetic as well). If nothing else, take a look at Enayla's lips tutorial. You might find that useful.

All in all though, you have a pretty successful expressive effect on your image. Above are just some areas that could improve on this image, if you ever decide that you wish to do so. Good luck!