Lately I've been making works with minimal effects, and they seem to be looking good, so I made this since I was getting bored of my other sig, cnc please . v2:
I think for this image you really need to isolate the lighting more; make the background darker, and the area around the flame brighter. It is looking very flat atm, which would be greatly added by making the lighting better.
I feel like you could cut off 1/3 of the sig because it's so empty/dull. I vote, yeah, work on the lighting, and coloring maybe too.. As is it's pretty bland imo Edit: maybe bring out her lips or something.. I feel like I'm looking at the hand rather than the flame/lips area
I like the lighting more on the new one, but I think the colors aren't really quite right in it, especially on her hand, the darker colors and higher contrast there just seem off.
I actually like the original colors and width. I think the striped pattern of the trees frames the subject nicely on the left. The color and contrast make it look "oldey", which is also cool, and her look and hat actually fit in with that. The suggestion to make her lips red is nice and might look good on the original. I would try it lighter tho, just a hint of red and see what that looks like. But I like the image just as it is. It has a nice feel to it.
I like the second one personally. Although, IMO, it would benefit if the lips were in a color range that complimented the rest of the signature, they do an excellent job at defining where the focal is. Good smudging as always, lighting looks much better in the second. The only thing that I feel is dragging this down some at the moment is the fact that the focal (the lips as I see it) are a part of the background. Perhaps that's just because they appear more apparent than the lighter on account of their color. Overall, it looks sick though, man.
Forgot to mention, I dun like the border in either. Personally, I think it would look better without one.