Dave-O vs. JWin | Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!

[Dave-O]

I'm looking for a good long battle.

I've had this idea in my head for a couple of weeks, and just got time to make it, I think it came out pretty nice.

Rules:
600 x 400
Rotation is allowed
Use element from previous volley
Try to keep turnaround time under 2 weeks, but no rush

Please give crits

[lefteyewilly]

Dave-o, nice starting image. I love the color balance you have there.

I don't know what your stocks are, so i cant' comment on what you've possibly blended. It looks like one photo, which is fine....some of the best have just one stock photo.

But, it seems like a some of the grundging effect is misplaced a bit. The bottom of the couch on teh right hand side seems to have too much grundge while the part behind the woman's legs are just shadowed. I can tell you've used the burn tool on that grunged part.

Now, the type. I like what it says...it pulls the image together beautifully. I'm not quite liking the thin font on "alone I sit here"...it's not the font itself, it's how it's sitting on the image.

You've excentuated the "I" in "in" on the next line. While i think the real word that you should have made stronger is "fear". Or more likely "constant fear"...

sorry for the nitpicks and i'm sure others would be able to put it in better words....good luck with the battle man, i know i had fun in ours

[Dave-O]

nitpicks are welcome and thanks for them, help me to improve

it's mainly 1 stock, i added some bg on the top/rightish but it deffinately isn't major.

[JWin]

Hey man, I should have some free time at work for the next couple weeks so I will give ya a go if you want

[Dave-O]

sounds good to me

[Phix]

If you don't mind I'd like to try my hand.

Just for clarification, by "element" from last volley, any of the elements in the image or...

[lefteyewilly]

jwin called it phix, if you're itching to post, try hitting up the Open Kung Fu battle...it's open for everyone.

[MasterRex]

I would have accepted... but I have no idea how to volley that.

Seems like you have an opponent now, anyway. Good luck, guys.

[Phix]

jwin called it phix, if you're itching to post, try hitting up the Open Kung Fu battle...it's open for everyone.

Joo got it. Gotta be faster...

[JWin]

Hey man just lettin you know I'm still here, it's taken me this long just to come up with a suitable idea (extreme lack of creative juices). Anyway, I'll have something today or tomorrow.

[JWin]

Welp, I was sittin here lookin at it asking myself wtf is missing. Did 2 simple things and now I'm not nearly as disgusted with it as I was earlier hah.

[Dave-O]

jwin, nice composition but something feels a bit off i've come back to it a few times in the last few hours and still can't put my finger on it...

but it gives me alot to work with

[lefteyewilly]

jwin, did you draw that tree by hand? The reason why i ask, is because it looks softer and lacking the sharp details that the rest of the image has.

I love the text and color.

Cool.

[JWin]

The tree came from a kind of bad black and white photo, but was the perfect tree and I didn't wanna hold it up any more. I added a green tint to and then used a saturation mask to bring out the greys to make it look like a dead/mossy kinda tree. Theres a slight black outter glow set to darken which may be part of whats makin it seem soft/blurred.

There are parts of this one I like and parts I don't like. I'll do better next round, I'll have a few less things on my mind and hopefully find my creativity again.

willy feel free to say somethin sux

[lefteyewilly]

willy feel free to say somethin sux

i can't if i truly don't feel something sux. see, there's always something good i'll find in an image, and the parts that i don't like usually aren't necisarilly bad, just need tweaking, so i'll specify what those things are, but i still get my point across from my point of view without hurting egos. That's just my style.

and I think that after you're done with this battle, it's you and me in the ring

[ViRGo_RK]

What was the element previously used? I can't seem to find it...

I have to agree, something just feels a tad off. Possibly as previously mentioned the tree is softer, and as a main component it should probably contrast instead of blend in. I feel it tends to get lost on the upper left darker sky, but I'm beating a dead horse.

I do like the filed bleeding over the border like that. It could have been executed differently, but I feel this way definitely works.

[creativeinsomnia]

What was the element previously used? I can't seem to find it...

My guess is that he used the flowers from her dress and put them on the tree.

[ViRGo_RK]

Ah yes, now I see it.

[JWin]

and I think that after you're done with this battle, it's you and me in the ring

Deeefinately. And if some things work out, my job soon will allow me lots of free time.

[Phix]

Well done JWin... good turnaround. But I'm sensin something "off" as well. Can't put my finger on it, but regardless, a very strong image.

I had a prob finding the element as well. Good catch on that.