abstr.

[Smear]

yo

[Madsen]

okay, sexy new colors, great. smudge makes next to no sense though, tbh i'm pretty shit at smudging myself but i can tell you that's not what you should be aiming for with a smudge tag haha

great smudges are very fine, precise and detailed, serving as tools to accentuate the focal and whilst you may have achieved this, you left a lot of basic concepts behind, so you've got no lightning, weak flow and no depth. even when you're smudging, you have to base your tag around some obvious basic concepts and just make the smudge a part of that; ill be frank easiest way to smudge kinda well is to use a splatter brush and smudge with the small splatters around the main body; you're basically doing what you're supposed to - smudging with a small surface area - only on multiple spots so it's done faster and with less frustration. also, try to keep the base smudge one color and it's variations and then more smudge in a color that highlights certain areas

 

disclaimer, i'm doing this because smear told me to <3

[chairman ali]

i did a few adjustments because I wanted to experiment with a few ideas I had in mind

 

 

I think the main thing you need to focus on is your colours. For now, as a beginner or someone who's just starting (I know a lot of people hate the word beginner), just look up the colour theory and follow it. Let me tell you from now that the colour theory is "suggestive". It shouldn't be followed but if it is then you will get good results.

 

I think what you need to do is create more atmosphere. You should've used a bit more of the render (probably to the chest). It will yield better results simply because only adding a head won't be dramatic enough.

 

And if you want to take it to the next level, experiment with textures. So this means duplicate your current tag 3 times or however many times you want and in each one try different textures with different modes and stuff.

[-DG-]

I agree with Ali.  I'm not much of an expert when it comes to tags, but I did notice that this seems rather empty.  Lacks lighting and there's alot of "empty" space even with the smudges, perhaps make them more dramatic and less straight to add more emphasis to them.