Restart

Ok I started again, even though everyone one has been telling me not to, I just feel it inmy gut that if I start again n an entirely new technique I will get a better outcome, this time I wont draw an outline and colour it in, this time I will use just colour and use layers to build up an image, so far it has been going well and I have a better feeling towards it, below is a basic 5 min progression of the technique I hope to work in

I used some reference images of male torso's and muscle groups and simply drew a realy rough colour block of head and torso shape and then I created a new layer and drew a rough head shape and features such as the coller bones and shoulder indentations. I the erased the outside of the line and started using rough colours to highlight and lowlight shadows and facial features. Already I feel better about this concept

best so far

So after some more feed back from my contacts, iv managed to get it looking as best I can, I'm still fed up of it looking so cartoon like. I have been mirroring the image to get a different perspective on it and I realised how out of proportion the top right of the head was in comparison, its funny because at the angle iv been working at, i thought the face was fine and in proportion, strange how your image of something can be distorted by changing the perpective. Had i kept working at one angle i wouldnt have seen this huge fault. below is the comparison between the before and after of my character after working at a new angle

As you can see the whole top right of the face and eye has been brought in and lifted. I'v also worked into it a little bit more, the eyes ruin it for me though, if you cover them the rest of the image looks a higher quality. Im really leaning towards the idea of starting again.