Experimental Illustration WIP

[ravells]

Very nice - I love that spooky washed out colour scheme!

I think you can work on the composition a little more (although I'm no expert at this). There is no focus of interest - all the major elements compete with each other. The Indian, human skull, cactus and cow skull each occupy a corner which doesn't help.

I've done a little thumbnail which addresses some (but not all) of the compositional points.

I've decided that the focus of interest is going to be the two mountains marking the start of the valley in the middle distance. I've placed the valley in the 'golden triangle' , ie the top third of the page and made it smaller. To lead the eye to it, there is a road, with a repeated cactus element. I would also give it a subtle colour (red?) so it stands out. As objects in the distance are more washed out anyway, I'd make the background sky and skull a lot fainter and subtler. I'd work on making the perspective of the sky/clouds match that of the land - easily done by using Bryce.

It's a good idea just to play with little sketch thumbnails like this to bottom out your composition. Do a google on the web on composition you'll find tonnes of stuff.

Great Graphic Design tip I read:

Contrast
Repetition
Alignment
Proximity

As you can see, easy to remember from the first letters!

Great Stuff, though!

Ravs