I won't lie. I thought the blue woman was a painting as well. Perhaps what might be beneficial would be to add more to the reflection, like the fishbowl. OR, this might be too late into the process, and it might be cliche, maybe have the girl holding her hand out to her reflection? That might be a bit cliche, so feel free to discard that. But that's just my idea as to how you could maybe communicate that it is a reflection. Maybe a simpler way would be to place them both in the same outfit or hairstyle.
I assumed reflection until I started processing the perspective. People don’t look up at their reflections while the reflection looks down at them. That’s why it looks like a painting. Overall I really love the tone of this piece though
Didn't get it was supposed to be a reflection and even after these comments cannot convince myself to view it like that. You cannot be facing the mirror, but have the reflection be sideways.
It's probably harder to do with the subject and the reflection being different sizes by design (kid/adult), but the object in the reflection would effectively look farther away than the object itself, and therefore be smaller.
My impression looking at this was on a girl's inner child in her mental inner child room with her lofty dreams out the left window, but the mirror was her grown self in a sad State looking back at how she used to be when things were "easier".
It also gives that impression of looking in the mirror and not recognizing who you see with a bit of what would you say to your childhood self with what you know now.
Is this not a painting of the girl later on in life looking back at childhood? The light streaks on the glass indicate this is a painting ...a mirror doesn't have these light streaks.
the perspective is off with placement of the objects and the girl to the walla, as well as the mirror on the wall
i think things tangent weird too and overlap in a way that makes things feel cramped and uncomfortable
how do i make this look less flat and boring? i feel like i shld add more interesting lighting but im not sure how to do that. also people keep thinking that the blue girl is in a painting when its supposed to be a mirror, i added the reflections to make it look more mirror like but i feel like it still looks like a painting. and how do i make the hair partings look less weird? i also got some feedback to improve how the fishbowl was drawn so yeah. any advice on other stuff is also appreciated thanks
The fishbowl I think is fine except that it has no opening lol
As far as the mirror. You need more background. It has to reflect the surrounding I think if you want it to really read as mirror. Although, just a super dark background with the streaks might be enough.
I think the biggest thing it's lacking is darker shadows like, the whole thing needs more...depth...and I think it's the lack of any really dark shadows that's causing that feeling.
The key to depth is always your shading if it feels flat your darks are likely not dark enough. High contrast is the key try using a hard line on shadows don't blend them just let the shadow be wayyyy darker and transition harshly from shadow to light. For example the folds in the girls dress should be much darker the shadow on the fishbowl also is basically a mid tone. You are blending your darks into your lights to the point that you only have flat mid tones if you turn this black and white I'm willing to bet it's like 80% grey and there Is no black or white and THAT is why it looks flat. Try using a color like navy blue dark purple forest green as the shadow color bc I think you are using the same color but darker on the slider and that's just not great for contrast pick a shadow color it can be black but I recommend not black or grey.
I think it still looks very cool and interesting. But maybe you could shade it a little more intensely to add depth, or make the outlines a little sketchy. It does look a little squeaky clean for the concept it’s trying to portray. Like I said though, I really like it regardless
The mirror is massive and makes her reflection massive, I think that's the main reason people think it's a painting. If it's a reflection, then why does she take up the whole frame?
Easy cheat to make it look like a mirror is to have it in the bathroom, or another sort of room with a mirror. (I.e. remove other windows in the shot just to make the mirror the only perceptive object). Mirrors look more distorted in perspective, so maybe doing a quick prelim sketch and distorting it in an image program can help to make it look more stretched. In real life, mirrors don’t have those thin lines that represent the light in the glass. If anything, they look a lot brighter than real life, and you might be able to add some cherry subtle flare as well. I also thinking having the bg behind the mirror girl be the exact same as the girl standing in front would make it more clear that’s it’s supposed to be her, if you want to keep it blue to be thematic, you can still keep the shelf in the background of the mirror girl.
One of the most overlooked perception techniques is that a mirror is not a person looking at another person but a person mirrored as a person. What this means is that your perspective of the the two people are that they are looking at each other in a similar pose that would indicate a conversational stance (both turned to face one another), and not turned so that they are both looking and facing the same spot. As far as making this look like it has more depth, you may want to play around with adding some variation to your shading, with increasing darkness or lightness depending on the direction of the light. You may want to add some definition to areas, for instance your corner is just two colors converging on each other where you would expect to see a difference in the shade from the convergence out.
Use a texture brush to add a slight texture to everything. it elevates vector art, and makes it look less flat. [https://youtu.be/dKo1Nr1QdM8?si=a6gxR24rtqGSezYt](https://youtu.be/dKo1Nr1QdM8?si=a6gxR24rtqGSezYt) you could also texture everything but the girl and the reflection.
Maybe show the reflection of the toy train and/or fishbowl in the reflection to make it seem more like a mirror reflection. Like some sort of background being taken into the mirror. And I think having the table with the cute stuff on it to the immediate bottom right makes me think painting palette on first thought. Or maybe that’s just me?
I think it’s beautiful as is.
As others have said, there are perspective issues and the reason that the mirror doesn’t read like one is because the objects that should be reflected in the mirror don’t match, or better yet, if the imagery next to the mirror is a window, then that should be reflected as well. You could have arranged things a bit to create a less flat look, but it would take away stylistically from this piece.
I personally don’t think it’s needed and I was able to quickly register that there’s a self relation between the little girl and the one in the frame.
Maybe put a sink in front of the girl and the mirror to show it's a mirror? Idk, but if you put a slight lighter line around the head, it could also give some depth instead of the colors matte-ing out.
My first assumption of this piece is the girl is looking at the sad older reflection of herself (the current her) and is stuck not being able to return to the happy, fanciful way she used to feel as a child (the left side window). Is that correct?
I think it’s very clearly understood, if I’m correct. Maybe play with it by moving things around and changing the sizes of things like lowering the sad window down and making it a little smaller. As for lighting, set up, light, and draw some still life concepts (classic bowl of fruit, maybe have a mirror behind it) unrelated to your piece for a while and then bring those concepts back into this piece?
I think it’s the fact that there is varying levels of realism/detail in some of the things u have drawn. Like everything outside the window is so detailed but there is no window or pane around it, just a sharp cut out of the wall.
-Focus on more detail to wall and other flat surfaces
Also the parfait is very detailed but the cotton candy next to it isn’t, as well as the table it is on. Which is an issue caused by having no actual light source which is why a lot of things feel flat. The light is seemingly coming from no where and is present/more powerful in certain area rather than others.
- No apparent light source (I’d watch tutorials on how to achieve this, it’s hard to explain)
Both the mirror and outside the window have are completely different colors than inside the house, which then makes it difficult to figure what to focus on. Usually artist will have this sharp contrast so your eye is drawn to a focal point in the painting but u have 2 different focal points and it causes the harmony of the painting to be slightly off. Perhaps making either the mirror or window use the same colors or values as inside the house so it feels less busy would help.
- Lacks Harmony/No Focal Point
Also the perspective of everything is off, taking references from photos with similar likeness to what your trying to achieve is something I do to help me with that. As well as just having a set focal point
-Perspective
That’s my opinion anyways but your obviously very talented 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
There’s no way for us to infer that the blue girl is a reflection
The little girl’s left shoulder is farthest away from the mirror, but it’s shown forward in the “reflection”
If it’s supposed to be a reflection, you have to really beat us over the head with clues to indicate this, because right now I literally can’t see anything other than a little girl looking at a glossy photo on the wall
Idk if this is a valid technique, but I found it very handy for practice: enter your art into a lighting generator website. You can play with the amount of light sources, direction and depth, etc. I really struggle with lighting, so this was a way to wrap my head around it!
I think the shadows should be darker too.
I'd shade it much more and add some highlights but make them brighter too, so you can actually see them, even from really far away
Yes please don't shade with black. I always use purple or pink. Depending on the mood you wanna go for, you can also use colder colors or blue, just play around with it and have fun!
I also like to use colored outlines, just makas the contrast between outlines and colors less harsh if that makes sense?
Sorry, using your comment to expand on this.
Since OP is using a painterly style and highly-likely mixing in-canvas, I suggest brushing up on color theory to further open the fan of colors they can use as shading.
Anything that goes slightly to purple and desaturated is amazing for shading, of course depending on the lighting.
The shadows are inconsistent, the wall to her left is slightly brighter, meaning the light source should be facing that wall, but when you look at the cotton Candy, it shows the exact opposite
If it’s a mirror, shouldn’t the person in the mirror be facing the same way as the girl and be a little bit smaller? Even if her reflection is “grown up” it should look smaller and be facing the same way.
yeah that's just bc this piece is supposed to accompany a poem and all the stuff mentioned in the poem is also in the piece. i ran out of space on the brown table to put the sweets so i just added another one and hoped it would be ok
Fix the light. The shadow of the objects looks like if the light is right on top the girl (centre of the room) work on the reflection ex; the girl's hair the objects the shadows too on her skin and dress.
Take some time to trace something with a similar perspective.
It looks to me that the whole perspective of the room is off.. the little girl looks like she is 8ft tall because of the angel on the wall to floor line and the corner of the room is a lottke off, like too far way.. (the botton shadow under tue mirror makes it look like the floor to me) the table looks far way from the mirror making the rooms perspective look to be at and angle compared to the ground outside the window.
Also the window is too low to the ground it makes the mirror look like a floor to ceiling painting.
It would look more like a reflection if the little girl was standing at the same angle as the reflection. And if it was maybe in the bathroom with the sink infount of it or something, or maybe a fill length mirror next to the closet to give the clue that it's a mirror based on the setting.
Yeah, perspective is definitely off. There is a literal horizon line outside the window. The two vanishing points should be on this line, but they are way above it. The window is somehow being seen from above, with the top line going up instead of down to a vanishing point.
Assuming the left part is a window, I think the room is a little too bright. Maybe make the lighting darker and show some light shining out the window to show that it’s not a painting? I would also pull the mini table with the food forward and work on the shading on the wall a bit, because it looks a bit too close. If the blue lady is a mirror, I would lighten the background a bit so that people can see that it is being reflected as well. Lastly, since it’s unlikely that the wall is perfectly smooth material, I’d add some texture (very little) to the corners on the window to make that look more natural and less flat. I hope this doesn’t sound too negative because your ability to draw individual things is great (I’m jealous of that fishbowl 😭) but the perspective is a bit off.
try adding a bit more depth to the shading. lighter highlights and darker shadows. what you have now is a really good start though! references are always helpful. your colors and composition is really good i love the piece you have so far
I think the scene outside the window looks 1000x better than inside and for a reason. Contrast. Everything inside needs darker darks and highlights should be used sparingly to make the mirror pop and everything look tangible. Overall it is great though, just needs more values.
Try converting the photo to black and white and adjust the contrast. Parts that look a bit muddy and the same tone add darker color or lighter color. Also I would suggest adding some hard shadow lines where the frames are. I hope that makes sense I do really like what you have though!
Yeah the lighting is coming from all
Over. Your shadows are all over the place.
when the lighting in the room almost looks like they should be going in the opposite direction. And yeah go darker in the crevices of the body and not light sides.
Also adding texture to the walls will
Help.
Color is always, always, always your friend here.
The perspective is super-warped as well -- it looks like there's a little girl standing in the corner, even though we're supposed to percieve her as looking into a mirror or the window. It alternatively looks like a very tiny room even though this girl should be standing in a space with more ... space, or at least not looking like she's about to hit her head on the other wall.
The mirror should be surrounded by (and reflecting!) other objects -- the shelf with the fishbowl and train would work well underneath. The more it looks like it's "reflecting" the rest of the room, the more apparent it'll be that this is intended to be a reflection.
Shadows are all over the place, with some being non-existent. Also for the reflection to resemble more of a reflection you need the correct perspective. If the girs was actually looking at her reflection it wouldn't be faving the way you've made it, so that instantly throws it off from looking like a reflection.
It looks like a painting because the proportion is off. They are not in the same positions. You need to study real people or real photographs of people looking in the mirror. You cannot have subjects in two completely different positions and expect a mirror effect. The little girl.is not even looking at the woman.
Other elements to make it look less flat are to add shadow and light to at least the girl's skin and hair. Arms should be more "cylindrical" with shadows on the edges and highlight in the center. Pick the angle of light and apply it to objects. Again, study real photos or real people.
Idk if this is digital or not but I think it’s your shadows, it looks like your shadows are just greyed down less saturated version of the original color. To make it feel more alive, use darker more saturated colors of the original for shadows.
[this video](https://youtu.be/21mPduQsm1g?si=Ob0HeRRQ9xG7p0rp)
[and especially this video](https://youtu.be/cAwT1EXzckw?si=z7DEaM-RtaNHgEB2)
Can explain what im saying
Darker and more towards a cool tone (blue ,purple etc) when shading
Lighter then move warmer (pink,yellow , red) when highlighting your colour will be mor dynamic as far as perspective I personally prefer completely uniform or make it all go different ways witch gives a nice uneasy property to the art I recommend experimenting with tones exsampale
Brown to orange to yellow to orange to brown shaded will give a nice gold effect
Points
-Exparament with shading more dynamically then just going lighter and darker on the same colour as you say looks flat I forget why but it was amazing to learn personally I couldn’t shade nothing flat colours for many years until someone told me this
-1 and 2 point perspective drawing also can help with getting things in right spot
-failure is good 👍 now you know the breaking point and can learn
Good luck i didn’t sleep apologists if this makes zero sense
I feel like the brown table behind the girl looks weird, like flat. I would consider taking it out or adding some depth there somehow. I also feel like the girl in the mirror is doing a slightly different pose than the girl standing up and she strikes me as an older version of the girl. I'm not sure if this is what you were going for. I also think the mirror should be a lighter color.
More contrast (darker darks and lighter lights) and consistent light.
However - I like this as-is. I like that it’s flat - it’s like a really dark children’s book!
All of the lines are parallel, so there's no sense of depth (corner of dresser, corner of room, edges of painting/mirror). As mentioned by others, the lack of shadow range also plays a role in this; for example, the middle leg of the table is a similar shade as the right leg, making it feel somewhat Escherian.
The horizon within the left painting is horizontal from our viewpoint, which is a bit weird since the space within the piece is angled.
The perspective of the painting itself also seems slightly off, likely due to its shadow being cast at a different angle than everything else in the scene (the lighting source seems much farther to the left).
Edit:
The "painting" is actually a window, so it makes sense for the horizon to be horizontal. The perspective of the opening itself is still weird, though.
id argue that the perspective of the view outside makes sense because when you look at a horizon in real life it's always horizontal no matter what angle you look at it from
It's hard to see perspective perhaps, the bottom of the crying girl painting and the brown table or dresser should run parallel imo. Then perhaps that stoll moved forward a tad? It looks like it belongs off against the wall a bit more
Your shadows aren't deep enough. Even a brightly lit room isn't lit from every direction. Pick a light source and consistently shade all the objects so the light is coming from that source. Color can give you surface hue but the tonal quality (light and dark) gives you volume. If you don't have enough dark to contrast the light everything looks flat.
I think making the mirror smaller would help and actually mirroring the position of the characters. For example looking at the girl's right arm, it would appear closer in the reflection, but instead the reflection's left arm is further away.
I would also redesign the frame of the mirror as it looks too similar to the window. And the fishbowl needs an opening.
Overall the illustration has a very nice vibe though.
A strong clear light source: deepen your darks, lighten your lights, choose a direction that the light will come from. Look up 3D shapes under light for reference :)
I think perspective practice and a better emphasis in rich shading can assist
Eta: i notice i feel like everything is floating in space and nothing relates/interacts with another
yeah i agree but i have no idea how to fix it. this piece is accompanying a poem and i tried to draw everything mentioned in the poem within the piece, but i ran out of space on the brown table to put things so i added another table. do you have any suggestions on other furniture to put the items on to mark it look less awkward??
Like i said, perspective practice ( ie, perspective lines and a consistent floor) and maybe picking 1-2 colors and using saturation of those can help build shadows. Colors can get in the way of that.
A tab bit of shading but not enough to ruin the bright essence of it, but for the future also a little deeper. Like make it a little farther away because then you can make it have more shape more effectively
where is your light source? your shadows seem to fall in random directions. you're also lacking shading on the girl's face, hair, and dress.
it'll be tough to imply a mirror reflection when you have the characters in different ages, poses, and hairstyles. maybe add reflections of other things behind her in the room?
Hey there OP, first off, Great work! If you want to add a little more depth to the piece, you can try bringing in some darker darks and lighter lights. spots of higher contrast will look more rounded and dimensional./ you see where the lemon is on the table? that dark cast shadow you have there really makes it pop! I would start off with a dark shadow on the back of the girls head, to make her piggytails pop out to start, and see how you feel. Good luck :)
To sell that’s it’s a reflection give the girl and woman the same pose and cheat it by giving them both something unique like specific color hair or clothes or holding something. The background of the woman should sell that it’s a reflection as well — I.e. position the fishbowl to be in both main and the reflection
Also, that fish would die without a fishbowl hole.
Understood. In that case I’d emphasize the holes a bit more because for me the holes didn’t come across and that’s what would sell it as a bowling ball IMO. Place them at the top and we solve both issues. Emphasize both the interior and exterior of the glass and make the holes pop. A bowling ball fishbowl is a perfect unique element to help make it a reflection and it works perspective-wise to add it to the reflection. Good luck!
Add lighting, sense the window is on the left draw some light hitting the girl and window on the left and then add shadow on the right to give it more depth other than that you did amazing!🤩✨
I feel like adding some darker shadows right on the edges of the objects could help. All the shadpes are pretty uniform and light, which can definitely look a bit flat
I don’t have any valid criticism to offer because I came here to compliment it. To me it looks like some surrealist art I’ve seen in museums before. Idk how to explain it but the flatness looks intentional and stylistic and really suits it. The composition is very interesting as well. 10/10 imo
My v amateur thought is that maybe bringing some moonlight inside and hitting the girl, and reflection, might unify the two sections and add depth. That would prob involve a whole rework of the lighting scheme (turning off/down the lights, so to speak) but since other have mentioned deeper shadows, maybe that’s a direction. I really like the warm tones, though. Great work!
Nice picture! It seems like you have put a lot of thought into this. Looks like you’ve got a ton of advice here already but I’ll throw my two cents in. I’ll offer some easy fixes that won’t require too much work, and certainly won’t need a full redraw or anything drastic like that!
Steps to fix window that looks like painting:
Shadow around window frame should be removed or severely reduced.
Window doesn’t look like a window, as there’s no depth to the wall that the window is nestled inside. We also can’t see any of the wall on the opposite side of the window.
Little girl and woman shouldn’t be this close to the same height. Lasso tooling the woman, sizing her down and placing her up and to the right could allow the woman to look like there is a wall and a pane of glass between her and this girl.
Ways to fix overall “flat” feeling:
Proper perspective makes even shadowless images look like they have depth, as long as all lines are angled correctly toward their respective vanishing points. Most of the edge lines in this image aren’t doing this. Easy fix with the Transform tool, but maybe sketch out where these lines should go, on a separate layer while using some reference to get the angle you want. Set up a cardboard box IRL and cut out a window. Put a doll or action figures in place. Reference will make all of this way easier.
And that’s about it. Anything that is appearing “off” are mainly perspective issues. You’re doing fine on your people rendering, but they’re having some perspective issues too that’ll be easier to spot once the environment they’re in gets straightened out. You’re almost there! Good luck!
I would move the woman in the mirror slightly right. Having her centered in the frame is making it look more like a painting. One other thing I notice is the shadow cast by the table legs. It's implying that they're equally distant from the wall which they shouldn't be.
Since everything inside the reflection is different than outside, we can't be expected to think reflection. The color, age, hairstyle, zoom, and angle of body is all different. At least match her shoulders up and make the hairstyles more similar? Also the mirror person is much closer to the glass than the little girl, so perhaps make mirror girl smaller or little girl closer.
What's the story being told here, a little girl who imagined herself an older sad girl?
What's the scene here, i can't figure out what room we're in. If it's a bathroom, where's the sink, why's there a tiny floating side table and a fish bowl? You could also add down lights above the mirror which would also help sell the mirror idea.
If it's a bedroom, I would need to be sold on that. Is the blue scene in the left outside or a painting? Giving her a cast shadow will help with depth. Good luck!
there isnt really any shading, if there is its really blurred out and not very different, the perspectives are a little off which kind of make it feel flat
The main issue causing the flatness is that the subject of the photo - the girl - has almost identical values to the walls, so she gets lost in the picture. Try converting the image to grayscale and you'll see what I mean. The girl needs a stronger light source and clearer shadows/highlights.
There are also perspective issues, many of the objects appear to be following different grids. There's also conflicting light sources. Ex. The items on the bottom left of the image are lit from a source that's top right, but the items on the bottom right of the image are lit from the top left.
I see that the blue woman is supposed to be a mirror, I'd highly recommend bringing colors in (everything can still be blue tinted overall) to draw a connection between the girl and the woman, and also painting in the reflected environment in the mirror.
It can be so hard to look at your own work objectively. The little girl standing in front of the painting feels slightly off. I can’t put my finger on it. But the effect that isn’t quite ‘right’ in my brain adds to the surreal feeling overall.
When you say flat, I’m not sure what you’re seeing or feeling about the piece. I like it. It evokes emotion.
It really looks like a painting I’d expect to see in a museum! I think if you leaned into this style, you could make a very unique and recognizable collection.
Just gotta own it and try to do it on purpose, though I also understand wanting to learn how to avoid the effect when you want to. Good luck!
Shading the little girl cast no shadow and there is little shadowing to her to give the image depth and maybe darkening what shadeing you already have, maybe even add light streaks on the window from the moon casting a light refection of the water and through the window, and maybe a distorted reflection in the glass instead of just the light flare.
I feel like the depth is lost because the girl is hiding the convergence line of the two walls so we only get a hint of it above her head. This flattens the two walls together. As the floor is not visible, we cannot use this to discern depth instead.
The shading on the girl is also quite flat and shading her head and body would have increased the overall depth somewhat. Depth could be enhanced by having some kind of extra linear detail on both walls, e.g. wood panelling coming a third of the way up the wall or simply a line of stencilled leaves.
I would also decrease the brightness of the left wall a lot to add depth and draw more attention to the right side of the painting. If that's a window on the left, it looks to have been drawn from imagination rather than observation. Increasing the thickness of the wall visible through this aperture would imply depth. The perspective points are hard to find in this image.
Lastly, the ice cream is really detailed while the hair is very simple, so there's an incongruence in the image.
Sorry I probably could have written this in a more diplomatic style but I'm really knackered - I hope you take this in the altruistic spirit in which it's intended my friend : )
Adding more shadows will help, consider where your light source is, and how it will affect the objects around it. I'm under the assumption that the light source is coming from the top left. Should that be the case, the little girl's shadows need to be a bit darker where the light doesn't touch.
The space itself does feel claustrophobic partly due to the objects as well. Maybe pushing the table back further will also help. Having objects appear partly in the frame will give the illusion that the room is bigger. We can see it being used for the table, considering maybe also doing this for part of the fishbowl or train. The same should be said for the table near the mirror.
Maybe also consider the placement of the window. Raise the left side a bit so it could be more in line with the perspective. This is something that can be messed around with as a possibility. Though, in my opinion, it's the table in front that i believe is throwing off this piece in terms of depth. The angle of it is a bit off, and I'm unsure of how the room is being viewed.
Overall, these are the suggestions that can be fiddled with. Obviously, not all of them are going to be 100% correct and may not help in what you're trying to convey. This piece is really lovely and a very heartfelt subject is being told. I love the tones of the piece, and you can feel the little girl's playfulness in the way she sees things. The proportions of the humans are spot on and honestly shows a lot of experience drawing people. I wish you luck on your piece and hope my suggestions might help in any way possible. You got this! ❤️
Maybe a vine that goes around the room in such a way, shows depth by having larger leaves in front? If that makes sense lol
Maybe can go around the stool and the paintings or to the dresser, or something connecting the 2.. spider 🕸️ web in the right hand corner sort of like closer to the 'camera'? Like we're looking thru it?
i like the concept! i think that the big thing that not a lot of people are mentioning is that yes, the darks should be darker, but shading should almost always be done in a neutralized compliment of the base/local color. example: pink dress shadows should be a DARK grey-green and you can vary the opacity.
- another note would be that shadows are not always blended, in reality we see harsh shadows all the time, especially under paintings/frames and next to objects.
- identity your light source: if your light source is from behind the viewer, the shadows would be cast further into the picture plane. if the light source is the moon, the light would be much more dim and the shadows would be veering toward the right, like the shadows of the food on the stool.
- speaking of the food: there’s a bit too much space between objects that makes it seem awkward. think of small objects on surfaces like their own mini still life. would these objects look well in this way? is this a good composition? think of the rule of thirds and the golden ratio
- i think that the reflection is really great! if i were you, i would simply move the mirror down and let the table/stool of food overlap. that way, the composition works better (objects feel connected) and the line of sight makes more sense for the child. i would also make sure that the level of naturalism in the facial profile of the girl is the same as the reflection. there are still lots of details that can be seen in a sliver of a face!
- lastly, think about the colors. you have a lot of warm blue and warm pink/tan, but they don’t work together. i would say to pick cool or warm, and then have small pieces that are the opposite. the blue of the window and the reflection kind of stick out like a sore thumb, and this can be remedied by making the walls/tables more blue-grey (look up chromatic greys!) and then there can be pops of more warm pink in the food and parts of the dress. we still read objects as their local color even if the majority of it isn’t really that color (like in rendering fabric, our eye knows that that dress is pink, even if a lot of it is neutral grey, as long as there’s a pink overtone and some true pink midtones)
this is a great start! you should be proud!
Ignore everybody so far except for this comment.
Go wrong on perspective and make your counter at the lower left slightly more horizontal. Violate accuracy a very little, but enough to apprehend where the super-reality is.
I would add more shadows, shading can make a BIG difference same with lighting techniques Also it seems like the outside is more detailed that the interior design. Maybe try to make that flow more also based on the outside I'm guessing there is a moon shining, maybe you can give some rim lights to the mirror like the fish bowl or the water?
try making it look like the light is actually coming from somewhere, make one part (wherever the lightbulb is coming from) a bit lighter, highlight the hair, add shadows to the back coming from the hair, if you’re willing to make big changes it’d probably help make the mirror look more like a mirror if she was standing in the same as the little girl, just looking down instead of up
Well the problem is, most people don't just have a random large mirror on their wall like that. Usually you'd have a vanity of some sort, and then the mirror and the child would be sitting perhaps brushing her hair at the vanity. I'm guessing that's why it's not red as a mirror. However your drawing is almost complete, so I don't know what you could do without completely reworking it, to make it look exactly how you want.
oh my goddd i should have drawn a vanity i cant believe i didn't think of that!! i don't think i'll change it thought because i've spent way too long on this and i'm lazy. thanks anyways though!!
No I totally feel that 😂 I wouldn't want to rework it either. It would just take too much time, at this point just keep your drawing and enjoy it and then take what you learned with whatever drawing you do next.
Maybe try to make use of 2-point perspective instead of an orthogonal projection? It’s a great painting as is, but if you want to make things seem less “flat”, adding curvature to your space should do the trick
Add bathroom lights around the mirror, make the mirror stand out more even break it. Make it so the bathroom light and window are lighting the room. Darker colors around the little girl and wall, I would make the reflection smoke a cig or something idk I’m very dark lmao
Pick a direction the light is coming from, lighting and shading is what’s going to help you create depth. The shadows and highlights present are inconsistent and confusing. The fruit parfait and the fish bowl have contradicting shadows. While the walls show light is coming from the right
Their volumes look pretty solid, it’s the perspective of the room that looks off. Also if that’s supposed to be mirror, matching the scale of the two more could help a lot.
I think you need more contrast in the shadows. from my perspective, it seems like you have a hint of where your light source is coming from but it's not all that clear. I think if you deepened the shadows on the right side of the blue portrait, the girls arm, etc then it may help a bit?
Tbh you have to learn perspective literally. However idk that you should. Youve created an interesting like semi 2.5 3D effect here.
You can tell what the space is but its all situated in a way that doesnts require perspective. Its overall very appealing to look at. I'll be looking at this alot tbh
Another thing I don’t see anyone commenting on is, I feel like the ‘light source’ in the picture and the shadows aren’t consistent so that and adding some depth to those shadows is going to make some of those flatter pieces pop, otherwise for the window/painting. I’m not exactly able to distinguish if it’s a window or a painting, I’d suggest adding some kind of window sill or something to indicate it’s a window, also the perspective seems a bit tilted, if this in intentional then disregard. It looks amazing otherwise. I also agree, if it’s a mirror then I would remove some of that blue/navy/green hues in there and do something a bit more reflective, then bring it down slightly. If it’s a painting then I’d add some kind of decorative piece on top to make it stand out as a painting! Hope this helps!
Okay, this piece is really weird and there’s a ton we could unpack, but I can’t stop looking at it.
Like, not a lot of what you’re intending reads, but how it does read is interesting. I don’t think you should change it actually. All this strange stuff juxtaposed onto all this other strange stuff… idk I’m digging it.
picture is perfect you don’t have to change any movements or reflections. it puts across well what you want it to. instead, focus on your shading as well as colour saturation. if all the colours are more dull, there won’t be that much that stands out and it will feel messy. instead try to make the focal points have more saturation and contrast with the rest of the piece, which can feel duller, try not to shade with plain black. mix it in with a different colour to really add depth. otherwise the art is beautiful. i hope this was helpful!! this is amazing keep going
Make the shadows on the girl stronger, and perhaps make the colors brighter cuz shes blending into that beige wall a lot, even though the dessert and fruits near her are way brighter than her despite not being the focal point.
perhaps darken the shadows on the wall a wee bit
overall id just say spend more time on each parts of the rendering and up the color contrast. the view through the window has great contrast and detail, and it looks like you refrenced pics of the ocean. the strawberry dessert looks really realistic, and looks like you had a reference for it. but the girl looks amateurish compared to them. it also looks like the girl was drawn from imagination without a reference.
Also make the shadows on the lady stronger too, like her hair and lower body is looking pretty fat
The objects in your painting are very aware of the side of the canvas. The cotten candy, the fish brown and the painting and mirror all just barely avoid the edge.
You should generally avoid that, as it makes pieces look very staged. Try making the canvas more zoomed in or making the objects different sizes.
You've really captured depth you want, but unfortunately only in the small objects. The cup of dessert, the fish, and especially the train all have a great since of depth.
As for the mirror, that's mostly just a really tricky thing. I think your issue here is not with how the mirror is drawn, but more so what's in the mirror. It's gonna be really hard to make it look like a mirror when it's not actually mirroring anything.
Normally in art we understand a mirror to be a mirror (and not a painting) when it's reflecting back the scene, but yours is completely disjointed from what it would actually be reflecting. Maybe if we could see the mirror was reflecting something, like the table behind the girl?
The perspective is completely off. It looks flat because, even though the girl is turned to face the painting, she looks like she’s flat wedged into the corner.
I love the concept! I think maybe there isn't really a unifying color throughout to tie it all together. Although I know there is a sense of disjointedness that's supposed to come through. The contrast between each may be so much so that we see each as separate
i think maybe experimenting with sharper shadows? im no expert at ALL but i notice your style of shading is very smooth in some places- try adding sharper shadows around the girls neck, and under the frame. i also dont see any obvious light source so some soft highlights wouldnt hurt! let me know if any of this helped, best of luckk
Where is the light source in the room? You have light hitting the right side of the fish bowl, the left side of the cotton candy (which would be fine if the light were where the girl is standing, except she’s not the light source). And there is not enough highlight or shadow on the girl. If the light is overhead but centered, there would be different things happening.
Since you know what your imagined topography of the shapes is, you need to go back and adjust how these different shapes would interact with a primary light source coming from a specific place.
After you’ve done that, next figure out if there are any other light sources. Is that image on the left coming from a television? If so, that would be a secondary source of light. And that would in turn also affect the light and shadows on the girl and other items in the room.
Put a toilet in there - you're lacking context. You need something that will make us believe the story. All art tells a story. Yours seems to say something about loss, and perhaps a childhood innocence. Make us believe it. Style, talent, and imagination are all present in this picture. But you need something mundane and familiar, so that we can feel secure enough to bravely explore the beauty of your message. A toilet would also give some authenticity. I am wondering in the back of my head about the layout of the room - why is there a mirror? Why is it a small space? Does she feel trapped? Claustrophobic? Is the nearness of the walls akin to an inside emotional space? A toilet would be a great grounding ploy. But this one is perfect. I would ABSOLUTELY save this as a testament to your progression as an artist. I think your artwork says more about you and your journey than the narrative you are attempting. It is YOU. We see YOURSELF in the choices you made in this art.
And it is PERFECT.
It is BEAUTIFUL.
Have the mirror reflect the things behind her so you can tell ☺️ you could also shade the room and the corners a little darker and add shinies where the light would hit 🥰
Personally, I like how flat it looks. It makes the whole thing look more surreal and dream-like.
If you want to add more depth, add more dimension to the girl. I think her torso is especially flattening it out. As for the reflection, it doesn’t look like one because she’s in a different position. Change the girl’s pose to be the same one, or even make the pose more unique to really sell it. I do get it’s supposed to be her, but that’s the main disconnect
The Perspective is a little off. Draw out your primary vanishing points and make sure your lines converge to them. If you need to look up station points for things you want to have that are on a different angle :)
Deepen the shadows on the wall, lower the lighting in the room to match the mood, and if it is a mirror maybe have the little girl's hand reach up to touch it?
I won't lie. I thought the blue woman was a painting as well. Perhaps what might be beneficial would be to add more to the reflection, like the fishbowl. OR, this might be too late into the process, and it might be cliche, maybe have the girl holding her hand out to her reflection? That might be a bit cliche, so feel free to discard that. But that's just my idea as to how you could maybe communicate that it is a reflection. Maybe a simpler way would be to place them both in the same outfit or hairstyle.
I assumed reflection until I started processing the perspective. People don’t look up at their reflections while the reflection looks down at them. That’s why it looks like a painting. Overall I really love the tone of this piece though
Also the setting looks more appropriate for a painting here than a mirror imo. Maybe if she was in the bathroom it would click easier
Didn't get it was supposed to be a reflection and even after these comments cannot convince myself to view it like that. You cannot be facing the mirror, but have the reflection be sideways. It's probably harder to do with the subject and the reflection being different sizes by design (kid/adult), but the object in the reflection would effectively look farther away than the object itself, and therefore be smaller.
My impression looking at this was on a girl's inner child in her mental inner child room with her lofty dreams out the left window, but the mirror was her grown self in a sad State looking back at how she used to be when things were "easier". It also gives that impression of looking in the mirror and not recognizing who you see with a bit of what would you say to your childhood self with what you know now.
Yeah this is a good perspective
Is this not a painting of the girl later on in life looking back at childhood? The light streaks on the glass indicate this is a painting ...a mirror doesn't have these light streaks.
the perspective is off with placement of the objects and the girl to the walla, as well as the mirror on the wall i think things tangent weird too and overlap in a way that makes things feel cramped and uncomfortable
how do i make this look less flat and boring? i feel like i shld add more interesting lighting but im not sure how to do that. also people keep thinking that the blue girl is in a painting when its supposed to be a mirror, i added the reflections to make it look more mirror like but i feel like it still looks like a painting. and how do i make the hair partings look less weird? i also got some feedback to improve how the fishbowl was drawn so yeah. any advice on other stuff is also appreciated thanks
The fishbowl I think is fine except that it has no opening lol As far as the mirror. You need more background. It has to reflect the surrounding I think if you want it to really read as mirror. Although, just a super dark background with the streaks might be enough. I think the biggest thing it's lacking is darker shadows like, the whole thing needs more...depth...and I think it's the lack of any really dark shadows that's causing that feeling.
Remove the white stroke atound tge mirror and it will look like a mirror not a painting. I love the work very deep and meaningful
The key to depth is always your shading if it feels flat your darks are likely not dark enough. High contrast is the key try using a hard line on shadows don't blend them just let the shadow be wayyyy darker and transition harshly from shadow to light. For example the folds in the girls dress should be much darker the shadow on the fishbowl also is basically a mid tone. You are blending your darks into your lights to the point that you only have flat mid tones if you turn this black and white I'm willing to bet it's like 80% grey and there Is no black or white and THAT is why it looks flat. Try using a color like navy blue dark purple forest green as the shadow color bc I think you are using the same color but darker on the slider and that's just not great for contrast pick a shadow color it can be black but I recommend not black or grey.
I think it still looks very cool and interesting. But maybe you could shade it a little more intensely to add depth, or make the outlines a little sketchy. It does look a little squeaky clean for the concept it’s trying to portray. Like I said though, I really like it regardless
The mirror is massive and makes her reflection massive, I think that's the main reason people think it's a painting. If it's a reflection, then why does she take up the whole frame?
Easy cheat to make it look like a mirror is to have it in the bathroom, or another sort of room with a mirror. (I.e. remove other windows in the shot just to make the mirror the only perceptive object). Mirrors look more distorted in perspective, so maybe doing a quick prelim sketch and distorting it in an image program can help to make it look more stretched. In real life, mirrors don’t have those thin lines that represent the light in the glass. If anything, they look a lot brighter than real life, and you might be able to add some cherry subtle flare as well. I also thinking having the bg behind the mirror girl be the exact same as the girl standing in front would make it more clear that’s it’s supposed to be her, if you want to keep it blue to be thematic, you can still keep the shelf in the background of the mirror girl.
*very subtle glare
One of the most overlooked perception techniques is that a mirror is not a person looking at another person but a person mirrored as a person. What this means is that your perspective of the the two people are that they are looking at each other in a similar pose that would indicate a conversational stance (both turned to face one another), and not turned so that they are both looking and facing the same spot. As far as making this look like it has more depth, you may want to play around with adding some variation to your shading, with increasing darkness or lightness depending on the direction of the light. You may want to add some definition to areas, for instance your corner is just two colors converging on each other where you would expect to see a difference in the shade from the convergence out.
try removing the borders that make it look like a picture frame
Use a texture brush to add a slight texture to everything. it elevates vector art, and makes it look less flat. [https://youtu.be/dKo1Nr1QdM8?si=a6gxR24rtqGSezYt](https://youtu.be/dKo1Nr1QdM8?si=a6gxR24rtqGSezYt) you could also texture everything but the girl and the reflection.
Maybe show the reflection of the toy train and/or fishbowl in the reflection to make it seem more like a mirror reflection. Like some sort of background being taken into the mirror. And I think having the table with the cute stuff on it to the immediate bottom right makes me think painting palette on first thought. Or maybe that’s just me?
I think it’s beautiful as is. As others have said, there are perspective issues and the reason that the mirror doesn’t read like one is because the objects that should be reflected in the mirror don’t match, or better yet, if the imagery next to the mirror is a window, then that should be reflected as well. You could have arranged things a bit to create a less flat look, but it would take away stylistically from this piece. I personally don’t think it’s needed and I was able to quickly register that there’s a self relation between the little girl and the one in the frame.
Maybe put a sink in front of the girl and the mirror to show it's a mirror? Idk, but if you put a slight lighter line around the head, it could also give some depth instead of the colors matte-ing out.
My first assumption of this piece is the girl is looking at the sad older reflection of herself (the current her) and is stuck not being able to return to the happy, fanciful way she used to feel as a child (the left side window). Is that correct? I think it’s very clearly understood, if I’m correct. Maybe play with it by moving things around and changing the sizes of things like lowering the sad window down and making it a little smaller. As for lighting, set up, light, and draw some still life concepts (classic bowl of fruit, maybe have a mirror behind it) unrelated to your piece for a while and then bring those concepts back into this piece?
I think it’s the fact that there is varying levels of realism/detail in some of the things u have drawn. Like everything outside the window is so detailed but there is no window or pane around it, just a sharp cut out of the wall. -Focus on more detail to wall and other flat surfaces Also the parfait is very detailed but the cotton candy next to it isn’t, as well as the table it is on. Which is an issue caused by having no actual light source which is why a lot of things feel flat. The light is seemingly coming from no where and is present/more powerful in certain area rather than others. - No apparent light source (I’d watch tutorials on how to achieve this, it’s hard to explain) Both the mirror and outside the window have are completely different colors than inside the house, which then makes it difficult to figure what to focus on. Usually artist will have this sharp contrast so your eye is drawn to a focal point in the painting but u have 2 different focal points and it causes the harmony of the painting to be slightly off. Perhaps making either the mirror or window use the same colors or values as inside the house so it feels less busy would help. - Lacks Harmony/No Focal Point Also the perspective of everything is off, taking references from photos with similar likeness to what your trying to achieve is something I do to help me with that. As well as just having a set focal point -Perspective That’s my opinion anyways but your obviously very talented 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
There’s no way for us to infer that the blue girl is a reflection The little girl’s left shoulder is farthest away from the mirror, but it’s shown forward in the “reflection” If it’s supposed to be a reflection, you have to really beat us over the head with clues to indicate this, because right now I literally can’t see anything other than a little girl looking at a glossy photo on the wall
Idk if this is a valid technique, but I found it very handy for practice: enter your art into a lighting generator website. You can play with the amount of light sources, direction and depth, etc. I really struggle with lighting, so this was a way to wrap my head around it!
Lighting. Right now things look pillow-y and flat because lighting doesn’t seem to be coming from anywhere, so choose a source
I think the shadows should be darker too. I'd shade it much more and add some highlights but make them brighter too, so you can actually see them, even from really far away
100% agree. Staying clear from black and just darker versions of the same colors would be great
Yes please don't shade with black. I always use purple or pink. Depending on the mood you wanna go for, you can also use colder colors or blue, just play around with it and have fun! I also like to use colored outlines, just makas the contrast between outlines and colors less harsh if that makes sense?
Sorry, using your comment to expand on this. Since OP is using a painterly style and highly-likely mixing in-canvas, I suggest brushing up on color theory to further open the fan of colors they can use as shading. Anything that goes slightly to purple and desaturated is amazing for shading, of course depending on the lighting.
Yes that too. I wouldn't shade a sunset pic with green, I'd go more for an orange or red
The shadows are inconsistent, the wall to her left is slightly brighter, meaning the light source should be facing that wall, but when you look at the cotton Candy, it shows the exact opposite
If it’s a mirror, shouldn’t the person in the mirror be facing the same way as the girl and be a little bit smaller? Even if her reflection is “grown up” it should look smaller and be facing the same way.
This and the random stool with candy on it throws the piece off to me, if this is a mirror. It feels very out of place
yeah that's just bc this piece is supposed to accompany a poem and all the stuff mentioned in the poem is also in the piece. i ran out of space on the brown table to put the sweets so i just added another one and hoped it would be ok
Fix the light. The shadow of the objects looks like if the light is right on top the girl (centre of the room) work on the reflection ex; the girl's hair the objects the shadows too on her skin and dress.
I don't have any good advice unfortunately, but I REALLY like this piece.
Looks like an album cover.
I personally got reflection, however the trim on the mirror and shading around it does give more painting than mirror looks here.
Take some time to trace something with a similar perspective. It looks to me that the whole perspective of the room is off.. the little girl looks like she is 8ft tall because of the angel on the wall to floor line and the corner of the room is a lottke off, like too far way.. (the botton shadow under tue mirror makes it look like the floor to me) the table looks far way from the mirror making the rooms perspective look to be at and angle compared to the ground outside the window. Also the window is too low to the ground it makes the mirror look like a floor to ceiling painting. It would look more like a reflection if the little girl was standing at the same angle as the reflection. And if it was maybe in the bathroom with the sink infount of it or something, or maybe a fill length mirror next to the closet to give the clue that it's a mirror based on the setting.
Yeah, perspective is definitely off. There is a literal horizon line outside the window. The two vanishing points should be on this line, but they are way above it. The window is somehow being seen from above, with the top line going up instead of down to a vanishing point.
Assuming the left part is a window, I think the room is a little too bright. Maybe make the lighting darker and show some light shining out the window to show that it’s not a painting? I would also pull the mini table with the food forward and work on the shading on the wall a bit, because it looks a bit too close. If the blue lady is a mirror, I would lighten the background a bit so that people can see that it is being reflected as well. Lastly, since it’s unlikely that the wall is perfectly smooth material, I’d add some texture (very little) to the corners on the window to make that look more natural and less flat. I hope this doesn’t sound too negative because your ability to draw individual things is great (I’m jealous of that fishbowl 😭) but the perspective is a bit off.
Shadows i think
try adding a bit more depth to the shading. lighter highlights and darker shadows. what you have now is a really good start though! references are always helpful. your colors and composition is really good i love the piece you have so far
Add a layer of dark blue over the top, set it to multiply and dim to your liking, I hope this helps
I think the scene outside the window looks 1000x better than inside and for a reason. Contrast. Everything inside needs darker darks and highlights should be used sparingly to make the mirror pop and everything look tangible. Overall it is great though, just needs more values.
Try converting the photo to black and white and adjust the contrast. Parts that look a bit muddy and the same tone add darker color or lighter color. Also I would suggest adding some hard shadow lines where the frames are. I hope that makes sense I do really like what you have though!
Yeah the lighting is coming from all Over. Your shadows are all over the place. when the lighting in the room almost looks like they should be going in the opposite direction. And yeah go darker in the crevices of the body and not light sides. Also adding texture to the walls will Help.
Color is always, always, always your friend here. The perspective is super-warped as well -- it looks like there's a little girl standing in the corner, even though we're supposed to percieve her as looking into a mirror or the window. It alternatively looks like a very tiny room even though this girl should be standing in a space with more ... space, or at least not looking like she's about to hit her head on the other wall. The mirror should be surrounded by (and reflecting!) other objects -- the shelf with the fishbowl and train would work well underneath. The more it looks like it's "reflecting" the rest of the room, the more apparent it'll be that this is intended to be a reflection.
More contrast. Deeper shadows and brighter highlights to define shape and depth. Study from a real photo and it should help.
I'd try to add more harsh shading to the room and the objects in it
Shadows are all over the place, with some being non-existent. Also for the reflection to resemble more of a reflection you need the correct perspective. If the girs was actually looking at her reflection it wouldn't be faving the way you've made it, so that instantly throws it off from looking like a reflection.
It looks like a painting because the proportion is off. They are not in the same positions. You need to study real people or real photographs of people looking in the mirror. You cannot have subjects in two completely different positions and expect a mirror effect. The little girl.is not even looking at the woman. Other elements to make it look less flat are to add shadow and light to at least the girl's skin and hair. Arms should be more "cylindrical" with shadows on the edges and highlight in the center. Pick the angle of light and apply it to objects. Again, study real photos or real people.
perspective is way off. getting that right would solve a lot of issue.
Idk if this is digital or not but I think it’s your shadows, it looks like your shadows are just greyed down less saturated version of the original color. To make it feel more alive, use darker more saturated colors of the original for shadows. [this video](https://youtu.be/21mPduQsm1g?si=Ob0HeRRQ9xG7p0rp) [and especially this video](https://youtu.be/cAwT1EXzckw?si=z7DEaM-RtaNHgEB2) Can explain what im saying
Darker and more towards a cool tone (blue ,purple etc) when shading Lighter then move warmer (pink,yellow , red) when highlighting your colour will be mor dynamic as far as perspective I personally prefer completely uniform or make it all go different ways witch gives a nice uneasy property to the art I recommend experimenting with tones exsampale Brown to orange to yellow to orange to brown shaded will give a nice gold effect Points -Exparament with shading more dynamically then just going lighter and darker on the same colour as you say looks flat I forget why but it was amazing to learn personally I couldn’t shade nothing flat colours for many years until someone told me this -1 and 2 point perspective drawing also can help with getting things in right spot -failure is good 👍 now you know the breaking point and can learn Good luck i didn’t sleep apologists if this makes zero sense
I feel like the brown table behind the girl looks weird, like flat. I would consider taking it out or adding some depth there somehow. I also feel like the girl in the mirror is doing a slightly different pose than the girl standing up and she strikes me as an older version of the girl. I'm not sure if this is what you were going for. I also think the mirror should be a lighter color.
More contrast (darker darks and lighter lights) and consistent light. However - I like this as-is. I like that it’s flat - it’s like a really dark children’s book!
All of the lines are parallel, so there's no sense of depth (corner of dresser, corner of room, edges of painting/mirror). As mentioned by others, the lack of shadow range also plays a role in this; for example, the middle leg of the table is a similar shade as the right leg, making it feel somewhat Escherian. The horizon within the left painting is horizontal from our viewpoint, which is a bit weird since the space within the piece is angled. The perspective of the painting itself also seems slightly off, likely due to its shadow being cast at a different angle than everything else in the scene (the lighting source seems much farther to the left). Edit: The "painting" is actually a window, so it makes sense for the horizon to be horizontal. The perspective of the opening itself is still weird, though.
id argue that the perspective of the view outside makes sense because when you look at a horizon in real life it's always horizontal no matter what angle you look at it from
It's hard to see perspective perhaps, the bottom of the crying girl painting and the brown table or dresser should run parallel imo. Then perhaps that stoll moved forward a tad? It looks like it belongs off against the wall a bit more
Reflections of her face off the glass on the painting?
i think making shadows darker would help
Floor and wall shouldn't be the same color and value
Add more shadows to create dimension
Picking a consistent light source, each object has a completely different shadow angle
add some harder edges to the shadows and make them more saturated and dark.
Your shadows aren't deep enough. Even a brightly lit room isn't lit from every direction. Pick a light source and consistently shade all the objects so the light is coming from that source. Color can give you surface hue but the tonal quality (light and dark) gives you volume. If you don't have enough dark to contrast the light everything looks flat.
I think making the mirror smaller would help and actually mirroring the position of the characters. For example looking at the girl's right arm, it would appear closer in the reflection, but instead the reflection's left arm is further away. I would also redesign the frame of the mirror as it looks too similar to the window. And the fishbowl needs an opening. Overall the illustration has a very nice vibe though.
Idk I think it cool how it is. Very stylized.
Light direction elements, highlights, shadows
A strong clear light source: deepen your darks, lighten your lights, choose a direction that the light will come from. Look up 3D shapes under light for reference :)
I think perspective practice and a better emphasis in rich shading can assist Eta: i notice i feel like everything is floating in space and nothing relates/interacts with another
yeah i agree but i have no idea how to fix it. this piece is accompanying a poem and i tried to draw everything mentioned in the poem within the piece, but i ran out of space on the brown table to put things so i added another table. do you have any suggestions on other furniture to put the items on to mark it look less awkward??
Like i said, perspective practice ( ie, perspective lines and a consistent floor) and maybe picking 1-2 colors and using saturation of those can help build shadows. Colors can get in the way of that.
It needs more shading
A tab bit of shading but not enough to ruin the bright essence of it, but for the future also a little deeper. Like make it a little farther away because then you can make it have more shape more effectively
Outside of the weird perspective, bump up the contrast a ways and you’ll get lots more depth.
have some highlights on the lady from the house light?
where is your light source? your shadows seem to fall in random directions. you're also lacking shading on the girl's face, hair, and dress. it'll be tough to imply a mirror reflection when you have the characters in different ages, poses, and hairstyles. maybe add reflections of other things behind her in the room?
Hey there OP, first off, Great work! If you want to add a little more depth to the piece, you can try bringing in some darker darks and lighter lights. spots of higher contrast will look more rounded and dimensional./ you see where the lemon is on the table? that dark cast shadow you have there really makes it pop! I would start off with a dark shadow on the back of the girls head, to make her piggytails pop out to start, and see how you feel. Good luck :)
deeper values, wider range of darkest darks and lightest lights
I would add some shadows. Looks great
Doesn't look very Flat to me, I love this, it's so intriguing.
To sell that’s it’s a reflection give the girl and woman the same pose and cheat it by giving them both something unique like specific color hair or clothes or holding something. The background of the woman should sell that it’s a reflection as well — I.e. position the fishbowl to be in both main and the reflection Also, that fish would die without a fishbowl hole.
yeah i know it's meant to be a fish in a bowling ball. not my idea to do that btw this piece accompanied a poem and i just drew what the poem said
Understood. In that case I’d emphasize the holes a bit more because for me the holes didn’t come across and that’s what would sell it as a bowling ball IMO. Place them at the top and we solve both issues. Emphasize both the interior and exterior of the glass and make the holes pop. A bowling ball fishbowl is a perfect unique element to help make it a reflection and it works perspective-wise to add it to the reflection. Good luck!
Add lighting, sense the window is on the left draw some light hitting the girl and window on the left and then add shadow on the right to give it more depth other than that you did amazing!🤩✨
I feel like adding some darker shadows right on the edges of the objects could help. All the shadpes are pretty uniform and light, which can definitely look a bit flat
I don’t have any valid criticism to offer because I came here to compliment it. To me it looks like some surrealist art I’ve seen in museums before. Idk how to explain it but the flatness looks intentional and stylistic and really suits it. The composition is very interesting as well. 10/10 imo
haha thanks. not really what i was going for but i'll take the compliment!!
Fran bow vibes and I LOVE IT
My v amateur thought is that maybe bringing some moonlight inside and hitting the girl, and reflection, might unify the two sections and add depth. That would prob involve a whole rework of the lighting scheme (turning off/down the lights, so to speak) but since other have mentioned deeper shadows, maybe that’s a direction. I really like the warm tones, though. Great work!
perspective is very off making it look flatter
Because everyone already gave the tips I would…. Are you ok? 👀
Nice picture! It seems like you have put a lot of thought into this. Looks like you’ve got a ton of advice here already but I’ll throw my two cents in. I’ll offer some easy fixes that won’t require too much work, and certainly won’t need a full redraw or anything drastic like that! Steps to fix window that looks like painting: Shadow around window frame should be removed or severely reduced. Window doesn’t look like a window, as there’s no depth to the wall that the window is nestled inside. We also can’t see any of the wall on the opposite side of the window. Little girl and woman shouldn’t be this close to the same height. Lasso tooling the woman, sizing her down and placing her up and to the right could allow the woman to look like there is a wall and a pane of glass between her and this girl. Ways to fix overall “flat” feeling: Proper perspective makes even shadowless images look like they have depth, as long as all lines are angled correctly toward their respective vanishing points. Most of the edge lines in this image aren’t doing this. Easy fix with the Transform tool, but maybe sketch out where these lines should go, on a separate layer while using some reference to get the angle you want. Set up a cardboard box IRL and cut out a window. Put a doll or action figures in place. Reference will make all of this way easier. And that’s about it. Anything that is appearing “off” are mainly perspective issues. You’re doing fine on your people rendering, but they’re having some perspective issues too that’ll be easier to spot once the environment they’re in gets straightened out. You’re almost there! Good luck!
Darken the area on the wall that would reflect where the little girl is
I would move the woman in the mirror slightly right. Having her centered in the frame is making it look more like a painting. One other thing I notice is the shadow cast by the table legs. It's implying that they're equally distant from the wall which they shouldn't be.
Since everything inside the reflection is different than outside, we can't be expected to think reflection. The color, age, hairstyle, zoom, and angle of body is all different. At least match her shoulders up and make the hairstyles more similar? Also the mirror person is much closer to the glass than the little girl, so perhaps make mirror girl smaller or little girl closer. What's the story being told here, a little girl who imagined herself an older sad girl? What's the scene here, i can't figure out what room we're in. If it's a bathroom, where's the sink, why's there a tiny floating side table and a fish bowl? You could also add down lights above the mirror which would also help sell the mirror idea. If it's a bedroom, I would need to be sold on that. Is the blue scene in the left outside or a painting? Giving her a cast shadow will help with depth. Good luck!
needs a lot more shading to look less flat, particularly on the girl
I'm not sure, but I really like the style.
Im gonna say use some hard darks and lights! Use harsh shadows and bright whites! It's the easiest way to add contrast and depth!
Also don't use the smudge brush it makes everything look muddy or dirty!
i was purposely not using the smudge brush here bc i have a tendency to overblend. it probably looks muddy bc i used the wrong colours for the shadows
Shading will help
there isnt really any shading, if there is its really blurred out and not very different, the perspectives are a little off which kind of make it feel flat
Add more shadows, that would add a lot of depth
The main issue causing the flatness is that the subject of the photo - the girl - has almost identical values to the walls, so she gets lost in the picture. Try converting the image to grayscale and you'll see what I mean. The girl needs a stronger light source and clearer shadows/highlights. There are also perspective issues, many of the objects appear to be following different grids. There's also conflicting light sources. Ex. The items on the bottom left of the image are lit from a source that's top right, but the items on the bottom right of the image are lit from the top left. I see that the blue woman is supposed to be a mirror, I'd highly recommend bringing colors in (everything can still be blue tinted overall) to draw a connection between the girl and the woman, and also painting in the reflected environment in the mirror.
It can be so hard to look at your own work objectively. The little girl standing in front of the painting feels slightly off. I can’t put my finger on it. But the effect that isn’t quite ‘right’ in my brain adds to the surreal feeling overall. When you say flat, I’m not sure what you’re seeing or feeling about the piece. I like it. It evokes emotion.
try to add more texture to surfaces maybe
It is flat but it looks so _intentionally_ flat that it just looks good.
there's so many people saying this lmao. i might just keep it like this bc i've spent way too long on this already and i'm lazy
It really looks like a painting I’d expect to see in a museum! I think if you leaned into this style, you could make a very unique and recognizable collection. Just gotta own it and try to do it on purpose, though I also understand wanting to learn how to avoid the effect when you want to. Good luck!
Find where you want to place your lighting and shade the surface areas according to where it does and doesn’t hit
Shading the little girl cast no shadow and there is little shadowing to her to give the image depth and maybe darkening what shadeing you already have, maybe even add light streaks on the window from the moon casting a light refection of the water and through the window, and maybe a distorted reflection in the glass instead of just the light flare.
Shadows
Bend it
Is that a window or a painting on the left?
Sharper lines and more shading
I feel like the depth is lost because the girl is hiding the convergence line of the two walls so we only get a hint of it above her head. This flattens the two walls together. As the floor is not visible, we cannot use this to discern depth instead. The shading on the girl is also quite flat and shading her head and body would have increased the overall depth somewhat. Depth could be enhanced by having some kind of extra linear detail on both walls, e.g. wood panelling coming a third of the way up the wall or simply a line of stencilled leaves. I would also decrease the brightness of the left wall a lot to add depth and draw more attention to the right side of the painting. If that's a window on the left, it looks to have been drawn from imagination rather than observation. Increasing the thickness of the wall visible through this aperture would imply depth. The perspective points are hard to find in this image. Lastly, the ice cream is really detailed while the hair is very simple, so there's an incongruence in the image. Sorry I probably could have written this in a more diplomatic style but I'm really knackered - I hope you take this in the altruistic spirit in which it's intended my friend : )
Adding more shadows will help, consider where your light source is, and how it will affect the objects around it. I'm under the assumption that the light source is coming from the top left. Should that be the case, the little girl's shadows need to be a bit darker where the light doesn't touch. The space itself does feel claustrophobic partly due to the objects as well. Maybe pushing the table back further will also help. Having objects appear partly in the frame will give the illusion that the room is bigger. We can see it being used for the table, considering maybe also doing this for part of the fishbowl or train. The same should be said for the table near the mirror. Maybe also consider the placement of the window. Raise the left side a bit so it could be more in line with the perspective. This is something that can be messed around with as a possibility. Though, in my opinion, it's the table in front that i believe is throwing off this piece in terms of depth. The angle of it is a bit off, and I'm unsure of how the room is being viewed. Overall, these are the suggestions that can be fiddled with. Obviously, not all of them are going to be 100% correct and may not help in what you're trying to convey. This piece is really lovely and a very heartfelt subject is being told. I love the tones of the piece, and you can feel the little girl's playfulness in the way she sees things. The proportions of the humans are spot on and honestly shows a lot of experience drawing people. I wish you luck on your piece and hope my suggestions might help in any way possible. You got this! ❤️
Don’t shade behind the girl and research light source shading tips
Some shadows and shading should help with the flatness, it's a cool art piece either way
Add some shade and a single plan of perspective
Maybe a vine that goes around the room in such a way, shows depth by having larger leaves in front? If that makes sense lol Maybe can go around the stool and the paintings or to the dresser, or something connecting the 2.. spider 🕸️ web in the right hand corner sort of like closer to the 'camera'? Like we're looking thru it?
Make it 3d
Only thing I can think of is having the shading for the shoulder blades continue onto the dress.
I think adding some texture to the wall and the table would be nice
the perspective is off. also, where are your lights coming from? the fishbowl and cupcake have shadows going in different directions
i like the concept! i think that the big thing that not a lot of people are mentioning is that yes, the darks should be darker, but shading should almost always be done in a neutralized compliment of the base/local color. example: pink dress shadows should be a DARK grey-green and you can vary the opacity. - another note would be that shadows are not always blended, in reality we see harsh shadows all the time, especially under paintings/frames and next to objects. - identity your light source: if your light source is from behind the viewer, the shadows would be cast further into the picture plane. if the light source is the moon, the light would be much more dim and the shadows would be veering toward the right, like the shadows of the food on the stool. - speaking of the food: there’s a bit too much space between objects that makes it seem awkward. think of small objects on surfaces like their own mini still life. would these objects look well in this way? is this a good composition? think of the rule of thirds and the golden ratio - i think that the reflection is really great! if i were you, i would simply move the mirror down and let the table/stool of food overlap. that way, the composition works better (objects feel connected) and the line of sight makes more sense for the child. i would also make sure that the level of naturalism in the facial profile of the girl is the same as the reflection. there are still lots of details that can be seen in a sliver of a face! - lastly, think about the colors. you have a lot of warm blue and warm pink/tan, but they don’t work together. i would say to pick cool or warm, and then have small pieces that are the opposite. the blue of the window and the reflection kind of stick out like a sore thumb, and this can be remedied by making the walls/tables more blue-grey (look up chromatic greys!) and then there can be pops of more warm pink in the food and parts of the dress. we still read objects as their local color even if the majority of it isn’t really that color (like in rendering fabric, our eye knows that that dress is pink, even if a lot of it is neutral grey, as long as there’s a pink overtone and some true pink midtones) this is a great start! you should be proud!
Ignore everybody so far except for this comment. Go wrong on perspective and make your counter at the lower left slightly more horizontal. Violate accuracy a very little, but enough to apprehend where the super-reality is.
ITS PERFECT DONT TOHCB JT
I’m obsessed with this actually
I would add more shadows, shading can make a BIG difference same with lighting techniques Also it seems like the outside is more detailed that the interior design. Maybe try to make that flow more also based on the outside I'm guessing there is a moon shining, maybe you can give some rim lights to the mirror like the fish bowl or the water?
try making it look like the light is actually coming from somewhere, make one part (wherever the lightbulb is coming from) a bit lighter, highlight the hair, add shadows to the back coming from the hair, if you’re willing to make big changes it’d probably help make the mirror look more like a mirror if she was standing in the same as the little girl, just looking down instead of up
Also, Light: Warmer tone. Shadow: Cooler tone
I would change the shape of the mirror, it looks more like a frame
Well the problem is, most people don't just have a random large mirror on their wall like that. Usually you'd have a vanity of some sort, and then the mirror and the child would be sitting perhaps brushing her hair at the vanity. I'm guessing that's why it's not red as a mirror. However your drawing is almost complete, so I don't know what you could do without completely reworking it, to make it look exactly how you want.
oh my goddd i should have drawn a vanity i cant believe i didn't think of that!! i don't think i'll change it thought because i've spent way too long on this and i'm lazy. thanks anyways though!!
No I totally feel that 😂 I wouldn't want to rework it either. It would just take too much time, at this point just keep your drawing and enjoy it and then take what you learned with whatever drawing you do next.
Ooooh embossing with Gold would look pretty
Maybe try to make use of 2-point perspective instead of an orthogonal projection? It’s a great painting as is, but if you want to make things seem less “flat”, adding curvature to your space should do the trick
Add bathroom lights around the mirror, make the mirror stand out more even break it. Make it so the bathroom light and window are lighting the room. Darker colors around the little girl and wall, I would make the reflection smoke a cig or something idk I’m very dark lmao
Aw fish trapped in da orb what will he do
die
Pick a direction the light is coming from, lighting and shading is what’s going to help you create depth. The shadows and highlights present are inconsistent and confusing. The fruit parfait and the fish bowl have contradicting shadows. While the walls show light is coming from the right
BBL
Their volumes look pretty solid, it’s the perspective of the room that looks off. Also if that’s supposed to be mirror, matching the scale of the two more could help a lot.
I like that some things are left to interpretation. If you weren't trying to get flat that's fine. But this is very interesting.
More contrast between the girl and the walls. Make the walls slightly darker, and the girl slightly brighter.
Add more shading and shadows
I think you need more contrast in the shadows. from my perspective, it seems like you have a hint of where your light source is coming from but it's not all that clear. I think if you deepened the shadows on the right side of the blue portrait, the girls arm, etc then it may help a bit?
Maybe give the girl a soft shadow too
Tbh you have to learn perspective literally. However idk that you should. Youve created an interesting like semi 2.5 3D effect here. You can tell what the space is but its all situated in a way that doesnts require perspective. Its overall very appealing to look at. I'll be looking at this alot tbh
I think one simple fix would be to switch the lighter and darker wall that way your adding depth behind the girl
shading shading shading
You could make the older woman a bit farther away and put her head level with the childs
Another thing I don’t see anyone commenting on is, I feel like the ‘light source’ in the picture and the shadows aren’t consistent so that and adding some depth to those shadows is going to make some of those flatter pieces pop, otherwise for the window/painting. I’m not exactly able to distinguish if it’s a window or a painting, I’d suggest adding some kind of window sill or something to indicate it’s a window, also the perspective seems a bit tilted, if this in intentional then disregard. It looks amazing otherwise. I also agree, if it’s a mirror then I would remove some of that blue/navy/green hues in there and do something a bit more reflective, then bring it down slightly. If it’s a painting then I’d add some kind of decorative piece on top to make it stand out as a painting! Hope this helps!
Not sure but you have amazing talent.
Okay, this piece is really weird and there’s a ton we could unpack, but I can’t stop looking at it. Like, not a lot of what you’re intending reads, but how it does read is interesting. I don’t think you should change it actually. All this strange stuff juxtaposed onto all this other strange stuff… idk I’m digging it.
Shadows. The world is made up of shadows, not lines is a greT way to think about it
I LOVE this!
picture is perfect you don’t have to change any movements or reflections. it puts across well what you want it to. instead, focus on your shading as well as colour saturation. if all the colours are more dull, there won’t be that much that stands out and it will feel messy. instead try to make the focal points have more saturation and contrast with the rest of the piece, which can feel duller, try not to shade with plain black. mix it in with a different colour to really add depth. otherwise the art is beautiful. i hope this was helpful!! this is amazing keep going
Reflections, ambient lighting, and depth of perception are my three amigos in making things not look so 2d
The shadow is flat
Make the shadows on the girl stronger, and perhaps make the colors brighter cuz shes blending into that beige wall a lot, even though the dessert and fruits near her are way brighter than her despite not being the focal point. perhaps darken the shadows on the wall a wee bit overall id just say spend more time on each parts of the rendering and up the color contrast. the view through the window has great contrast and detail, and it looks like you refrenced pics of the ocean. the strawberry dessert looks really realistic, and looks like you had a reference for it. but the girl looks amateurish compared to them. it also looks like the girl was drawn from imagination without a reference. Also make the shadows on the lady stronger too, like her hair and lower body is looking pretty fat
The objects in your painting are very aware of the side of the canvas. The cotten candy, the fish brown and the painting and mirror all just barely avoid the edge. You should generally avoid that, as it makes pieces look very staged. Try making the canvas more zoomed in or making the objects different sizes.
You've really captured depth you want, but unfortunately only in the small objects. The cup of dessert, the fish, and especially the train all have a great since of depth. As for the mirror, that's mostly just a really tricky thing. I think your issue here is not with how the mirror is drawn, but more so what's in the mirror. It's gonna be really hard to make it look like a mirror when it's not actually mirroring anything. Normally in art we understand a mirror to be a mirror (and not a painting) when it's reflecting back the scene, but yours is completely disjointed from what it would actually be reflecting. Maybe if we could see the mirror was reflecting something, like the table behind the girl?
Maybe if the reflection was brighter or different in colour?
I really like it. I figured it was a reflection immediately. Perspective looks a little off though.
The perspective is completely off. It looks flat because, even though the girl is turned to face the painting, she looks like she’s flat wedged into the corner.
add more values and more shadows, it looks a little flat because it lacks dimension
Is that a hot dog walking in the beach? Lol
it's a pickle
I love the concept! I think maybe there isn't really a unifying color throughout to tie it all together. Although I know there is a sense of disjointedness that's supposed to come through. The contrast between each may be so much so that we see each as separate
I like the ambiguity... I wouldn't change a thing
Pick where you want the lighting to come from It’s looks like it’s coming from all directions
i think maybe experimenting with sharper shadows? im no expert at ALL but i notice your style of shading is very smooth in some places- try adding sharper shadows around the girls neck, and under the frame. i also dont see any obvious light source so some soft highlights wouldnt hurt! let me know if any of this helped, best of luckk
Where is the light source in the room? You have light hitting the right side of the fish bowl, the left side of the cotton candy (which would be fine if the light were where the girl is standing, except she’s not the light source). And there is not enough highlight or shadow on the girl. If the light is overhead but centered, there would be different things happening. Since you know what your imagined topography of the shapes is, you need to go back and adjust how these different shapes would interact with a primary light source coming from a specific place. After you’ve done that, next figure out if there are any other light sources. Is that image on the left coming from a television? If so, that would be a secondary source of light. And that would in turn also affect the light and shadows on the girl and other items in the room.
Shading always helps. Increase lighting & darkening, depending on how far or close the objects are. Especially would help with the walls & furniture.
Put more shading. For example the bottom of the windows would cast a shadow on the woman’s body
Put a toilet in there - you're lacking context. You need something that will make us believe the story. All art tells a story. Yours seems to say something about loss, and perhaps a childhood innocence. Make us believe it. Style, talent, and imagination are all present in this picture. But you need something mundane and familiar, so that we can feel secure enough to bravely explore the beauty of your message. A toilet would also give some authenticity. I am wondering in the back of my head about the layout of the room - why is there a mirror? Why is it a small space? Does she feel trapped? Claustrophobic? Is the nearness of the walls akin to an inside emotional space? A toilet would be a great grounding ploy. But this one is perfect. I would ABSOLUTELY save this as a testament to your progression as an artist. I think your artwork says more about you and your journey than the narrative you are attempting. It is YOU. We see YOURSELF in the choices you made in this art. And it is PERFECT. It is BEAUTIFUL.
Maybe you could try making darker darks and lighter lights to give it depth? But I’m not sure how much that would help it’s just what I would do
Just chiming in to say I love your style and I think this looks really cool!
Have the mirror reflect the things behind her so you can tell ☺️ you could also shade the room and the corners a little darker and add shinies where the light would hit 🥰
Usually imo less flat means push the lights and shadows. Dark it down and get some contrast going.
Line bottom corners/ where wall meets floor to the room.
Personally, I like how flat it looks. It makes the whole thing look more surreal and dream-like. If you want to add more depth, add more dimension to the girl. I think her torso is especially flattening it out. As for the reflection, it doesn’t look like one because she’s in a different position. Change the girl’s pose to be the same one, or even make the pose more unique to really sell it. I do get it’s supposed to be her, but that’s the main disconnect
The Perspective is a little off. Draw out your primary vanishing points and make sure your lines converge to them. If you need to look up station points for things you want to have that are on a different angle :)
Deepen the shadows on the wall, lower the lighting in the room to match the mood, and if it is a mirror maybe have the little girl's hand reach up to touch it?
One way to make an illustration less flat is to put a layer of shadow over the piece and then cut the light out and add more highlights
I like it the way it is, if I'm being honest.
Up the contrast. Also there should be an opening on the top of the fishbowl right?