"Brown and Blue Angel" by Melissa L. Withington

I like the brighter colors a lot!

Melissa L. Withington replies: "Yay!"

Wow! This is such a fantastic picture - and although I like both versions, I think this one is the stronger image. The shading is really amazing - I mean - the detail on her eyelids, the muscles in her arm - how do you do it? I'm also really impressed by the pose (if you can call flying a pose) - because she looks very realistic... and I can't make people look realistic even when they stand normally! The hair is one of my favourite parts of this picture (I want blue hair!) but the wings are also really exquisite... and again - such detail! And don't get me started on the hands, you evil 'i-can-draw-hands' person! I have no tolerance for people who can draw hands, none at all! Evil evil evil... *wanders away, mumbling*

Melissa L. Withington replies: "LOL! To tell you the truth, I usually have great difficulty with hands, but I guess I'm improving. I used a scuba diving picture for this one, as I said in the description of the original picture. That's why the foot looks so funny, because I couldn't see the foot in the picture."

I do like this one better than the other. And I'm going to burst everyone's bubble and offer some criticism! [evil roommate comes back to haunt you again! ha!]
First of all the wings are exquisite, as usual. Wings are definitely your artistic forte, although you do many things well.
Second, your hands are much improved. I have other things to compare them with, and I give you a pat on the back for the hands. Nicely done.
Now the bad news [grins]: If I really look, I can see where the legs are coming from and where they're going, but I'm having some difficulty seeing how they get there. There's something about the perspective that's a little awkward between the lower torso and the knees. Maybe even on down to the calves. Also, the wisp of fabric that overlaps the wings brings the background part forward more than it should. That's part of the awkwardness.
Above that, though, she looks great.
Sorry to bust everyone's bubble! [slinks away under a table to hide and await being flamed by email... ]

I think it loses a sense of purity that I saw in the original.

Melissa L. Withington replies: "That's something I hadn't thought of before, but I think you may be right. Does anyone else think the same way?"

The other version does look better, with the lighter, softer coloring. The bright blue hair has its own beauty though...like the fact that it's a spiffy angel with bright blue hair
Kudos to Rachel, her critiques made sense, the twist of the body does seem to loose direction somewhere...and the flare of the skirt should probably be behind the wings.
The wings are beautiful tough, and the muscles in the arms (that's one tough angel!). The position is nice though (except for the aforementioned perspective problems)
Nice feel in it. -K

Melissa L. Withington replies: "You're right about how the skirt should be behind the wings. I'm not sure why I drew it that way; I drew it realizing that I didn't quite know what I was doing"

Very nice!
It really looks like she is falling, wich is hard to get nice, but you've gotten away with it.
When I tries to draw falling people they just look like they've used to much hair-spray. ^^;

Melissa L. Withington replies: "Thank you. I didn't think too much about being able or not being able to get someone to fall nicely; I just thought the pose was neat. I always like it when someone notices something about one of my drawings that I didn't think about even when I drew it."

Fabulous hair! You don’t see every day angels with that kind of hair... ofcourse you don’t every day see angels at all...

Melissa L. Withington replies: "I just love blue. Thanks for the comments!"

Cool wings. Nice colours, detail.

those wings are awsome!!, loving the blue hair

Melissa L. Withington replies: "Hehe - thanks! "