Zyra - Lethal Nature

Firstly I'd like to say good job with what you have done here, regardless of the execution of your technique you were, in the end, still able to convey a message with the piece, so good job on that part. Other strengths would be the intensity of her eyes and your over all color control. The weaknesses in this piece however is your values and textures.

The values in your piece are not uniform with a light source, and are also portrayed in a unbelievable manner again in consideration of your light source/s. This is noticeable by the intense rim light on her chin, implying that the main light is coming from beneath, but then that same intensity is not shown on the hair, which is then shaded with the implication that its main light source is coming from the somewhere near the camera. Considering that there are two light sources (one ambient one near the camera and a key light from below) your face then is poorly lighted; the area on her forehead above where the eyebrows meet captures light, implying ambiance, but in relation to that the area of the cheeks closest to the camera should have the most ambient lighting within the cheeks, and they do not. the quick value shift from the chin to the face also gives the appearance that her face is very flat and unrealistic, and even more so that you used that same lighting on the nose, but allowed it to go over the bend of its furthermost point and travel up the bridge, which is impossible for light to do and would require that 2nd light source from in front of her.

TL;DR=your shading doesn't make sense and makes her look unbelievable and flat

Now as for your texture. Your texture in some areas is really good; specifically your representation of hair; but you've "cookie cut" it onto the piece; an example of this is the bang trailing from her forehead that ends about at nose level. Against the plant part on her head your hair line is a perfect solid, but the texture of her hair implies empty space within the hair itself; and thus looks silly and unbelievable when you have the two together; it's as if you took a sticker of her hair and applied it over your face. The part that's really lacking is the texture of her eyebrows. While it also has that sticker like appearance, your controls on the values give it a mushy appearance because you have no definition and all your values just blend into each other.

That about sum's it up. I'd give the piece a 3.2 out of 5 overall. Continue the good work, and I hope you continue to improve as well <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Big Grin)"/>