Hi Clay,
#Foliage masses are great, you HAVE to be happy with the improvement.
Your tips about the foliage were good ones. I like them much better like this.
#Your shadow line is a little too harsh, try blending it slightly into the light area. You will only get a hard shadow line like that with artificial light and on smooth texture.
I'll try that next time, thanks.
#Al is correct. your jins are stiff and awkward. You are creating now and will have to find a more appealing image even if this could actually happen in nature. Try sketching different experimental solutions off of your drawing to see what flows well with what you have already done.
I think I'll have to draw the dead branches to harmonize with the living branches. They should have grown in the same way before they died. I guess that's what wrong with the ones in my drawings. I'll try to give them a bit more movement too.
#I see nothing wrong with your #2 tree (except the jins). Fudging on reality is what art is all about. You can get as bizzare as you want. Your final product has to be appealing though.
OK, Ill remember that. This is one of the things that makes drawing from your fantasy much more fun then copying an image. You can create anything that comes to mind. I love this !!
Thanks Clay !
To all forum readers,
I hope you don't mind me posting drawings all the time. I known it's not really bonsai related but it is the only way for me to get feedback like Al and Clay have given me. I've looked in art forums but the standards there are so high that I don't have the nerve to post anything
regards, René