Ankle Lockby ~JonKinCommentsFirst off, I appreciate the feedback you've given me, Dual. there are two things I wanted to response to. The light source in this pic was supposed to be directly above the to, though I did a poor job on conveying this. Getting the shadowing right is hard, but I have to keep practicing at it.
As far as the background, I agree with ya. Originally, this pic didn't even have a background when I originally drew it. I could've added some more details, but I have to admit that I got lazy in that area. There's little point in practice without a foundation. The best thing to do is always use real life as a basis for your approach, and lighting is no different. I don't claim to be an expert, but I find that it's best to consider the exact shape that you're applying a shadow to. It's not just about putting a darker version of the color on an edge. The shadow should contour to the shape of the object you're lighting. Light hits areas facing the light source and shadow hits areas that aren't hit by the light. It's a simple concept in theory but it requires paying attention, and it's very easy to get wrong (I do, often). Referencing photos and reading up on tutorials about light (there are plenty of them out there, for instance: [link] though it's quite involved) will put you on the path to the next level of improving your illustration.
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Proportions are all over the place though. The prone woman looks significantly larger and taller than Jhazira; not sure if that's what you were going for but it caught my attention, as did the hands. I don't know if you do this or not, but I get the impression that you drew the hands (particularly the leader's hands) out of your head with no reference. A little practice can go a long way, and you have the perfect reference material available whenever you want right at the end of your own wrists.
I'm glad to see you're putting a some shadows in your work, but just remember that the size and depth of shadows depends on the light source in the scene. Just off the top of my head, the shadows on the defeated leader should be denser than those on Jhazira because she'd be more distant from the light source. Not only that, but Jhazira herself should be casting some shadows on the leader, and shadows are never truly black. Use a dark blue blended into the colors; if your software doesn't have blending modes, try using lower opacity.
I think you could have put more effort into the background details. I find that things like foliage and other natural terrain elements are pretty hard to get wrong; you don't have to rely on perspective or measurements, but you could have done a lot more than what you did. Take a look at some real life or photos of trees and bushes and simplify what you see, but add some detail to them. Some lines for the dents and breaches in tree bark, some more defined shapes for the leaves that make up bushes, some rocks and gravel drawn by hand instead of a simple texture on the ground; these things can go a long way toward improving the visual quality of your work and all it takes is a bit more effort.