Slowpid, seriously stop apologising. I always have serious doubts about any “artist” willing to jump into an art forum, start ranting, and then defend those rants with “I’ve been in the industry “X” number of years”, like that gives them some divine right to be obtuse. The most talented people I know, are also some of the nicest. They have the work to back it up too. Ignore le’ troll. 
I can’t help myself but say: Don’t take Zsoka seriously.
Those kinds of ridiculous and insulting criticisms tend to come from commenters with very weak or nonexistent personal work, suggesting that they like to spend their time creating conflict instead of art.
Responding is a waste of energy better invested in your strong piece of work, which I’d call “Afraid of the Dark”.
cheers
This is really coming along nicely and the hair is making a big improvement to the image as a whole.
I’ve just been reading over some of the earlier comments in this thread and I’m surprised at all the fuss that is going on. I noticed the comment that said it looks as though the woman is about to have her neck snapped and I have to say that I really don’t see it like that.
I thought that the hands where trying to show her something, almost like she has done a deal with evil and now she must see the consequences of her choices.
Great stuff!
I just want to finish with this quote
>Fifthly, I asked a colleague of mine what he as a martial arts expert thinks about the position of the hands. He said that they were within the tolerance of snapping her neck and considering her lack of robust stature and the apparent strength of the hands he suggested that this was indeed a serious position for her to find herself in.
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA well thats that then I suppose. I mean the guys a martial arts expert so you cant argue with that. 
Thank you Zsoka you have made me laugh a lot today.
Wow that was a very weird comment read. The piece looks amazing man! I’m enrolled in a game university and by no means I know any first year who is able to create such a stunning image. Looking really good! Look forward to seeing what you do with the hand FX then 
Haha, Leo said it!
I wouldn’t take Zsoka too seriously. Most accomplished artist in the industry don’t really boast about the times they worked in the industry to criticize someone’s work (From what I’ve seen). And if he’s really that experienced I don’t see how he has the time to come here and type down a big wall of text just to defend his/her statement about your piece. Experience and practice is going to take you far because this piece is already a fine piece of work!
Keep up the good work and dont let the critic bring you down ( From what I’ve seen from your comments you’re not going to !)
Sorry for my english!
One of the goals for an artist is to make discussion , both negative or positive doesn’t matter at the end…there are hundreds of examples around photographers , painters , musicians or writers. Art in itself cant be positive or good for everyone of course , because it is the personal expression of an individual…if someone wants to take distance from a particular piece of art cause he finds it disturbing or provocative well take distance, one is free to judge ok no problem…responsibly the artist should take distance as well without explain his art first and without excuses.
I cant imagine a very well known and acclaimed artist as Giger say “excuse” for an inverted cross, just to make an easy example.
Btw i see the “female portrait” not an image that push the violence propaganda against women absolutely or represent a scene like that…i thought about a woman with her own fears…this feels to me, so i don’t see the black hands like real human hands…i’ve thought also about a woman disturbed mentally captured by her own demons…i don’t know…a strong piece where everyone has his own emotions and cant be indifferent.
Sorry for my english i’m italian guys aahah.
Personally, slowpid, I like what your doing with this. When I first saw it, my impression as to what it portrayed was definately not “murder”, but, as others have already stated, I saw “fear”. Keep doing what you love to do and ignore the Pissy Mood Syndroms. There are a lot more people that like your image than there are that dislike it. small_orange_diamond
small_orange_diamond “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”
Good work Slowpid, in my opinion the tear is too much, I think your image portrays the feeling you are trying to get across way better without it.
Zsoka: Have you been traumatized by big black hands or something? Maybe you should try some of those aggressive pieces you were talking about, you definitely have a feel for it!
Go enjoy your own art, if you even have any.
Oh and by the way Zsoka, I got the impression this piece was a metaphor for a woman being held captive by her own fears, maybe you should try and figure out if there’s more to piece than meets the eye, but then again you might be too juvenile.
P.S. I have found a piece of art which doesn’t have direct influences by the big bad game-industry, I though you’d might like it:
I find this a very intense and thought provoking piece. At this point, I am inclined to interpret it as being in the grip of one’s own fears… However, I am interested to see how you will treat the hands, ….the work unfolds, conveying more…
For the record, I am an old artist , but utterly new to zbrush.
I will be going for an effect like this for the hands, except that smoke will be shadow, so dark, instead of light. This will give me a chance to do something better with the background, instead of having it pitch black.
the highres images:
a:http://i.imgur.com/InVYTxO.jpg
b:http://i.imgur.com/Bxe4KbX.jpg
c:http://i.imgur.com/LnqWbZW.jpg
sidebyside:http://i.imgur.com/TjXwrT3.jpg
Some lighting options:
i like all of them!! go with any of them! i relaly hope you make a tutorial or breakdown when this piece is finished would love to know your workflow!
Thanks Zborn.
Not sure where I’m going with this anymore. First, the hands as smoke thing isn’t really what I was going for, and I’m starting to feel worse and worse about modifying what I had an what I liked because people didn’t like the vibe.
I think my new plan is to say **** it, and finish the piece the way I’d envisioned it. The concession here is probably that it won’t end up in my portfolio. Reason being that, as it is, maybe a hundred or more people will see it on any given place I post it, that being polycount, zbrushcentral, and CGHUB. okay. Out of those couple hundred, I really won’t feel that bad if several have a negative reaction to it. That said, I won’t put it in my portfolio for fear of offending and HR person or a lead looking through my work. Simple enough I guess.
I think it’s been good though, it led me to do a lot of thinking about responsibility and art, and through that lens, the responsibility of game designers and artists in particular.
I do a lot of writing. Nobody here knows that or cares. Point being I thought I would take the time to write an anti-censorship argument for games and realistic CG, but it turned into something larger. If I finish it, I’ll post it here or over in general discussion.
Strangely, I never thought I would start an anti-censorship argument with the words, “My dad was a handsome guy,” but I did.
As for that, I’m still playing with lighting and composition and the piece itself, and here’s the current:
and for my portfolio, I am considering something simple like this:
Fantastic render matey
Hopefully you finish it the way you imagined it in the first place. Your last lighting is the best, I think.
As to your portfolio:
Most creative people are more likely to be impressed than offended by an ambiguous, maybe even controversial piece.
The girl itself is fine, but nothing that stands out as much.
And as an artist I wouldn’t be to afraid of showing your work. Just imo.
Quote everything, don’t be afraid to show provocative art if it represents you.
The thing with crits is that sometimes they’re useless to what u want to do and listening to them leads to a generic boringer and we do have plenty of those. Just do what u’ve envisioned and don’t bother with what others think if you feel that it clashes with your idea. Especially with stuff that’s close to realism, 3d folk start to dissect it too much and instead of the character they concentrate on the technical issues [ not enough spec breakup or such like]…
I love the idea btw Keep going!
Lovely portrait, about the comments, i think the same of Intervain, people worry too much about techiniques, shader, lighting, and stuff and they forgot about the beauty which is create an appealing piece of work, keep it up!
ps: some breakdown would be great! :rolleyes:
Jpericles, thanks for the words. You and zborn and one or two others, and a couple by pm now, have asked for a breakdown/tutorial. I’d just like to say that I don’t mind putting up a couple of shots of how over been doing this, or answering questions people have, but I’d like to say that knowledge and skill wise I don’t have much to offer, 9/10th of this board are artists more skilled than me, so certainly there are better more qualified answers around here.
also, I just wanted to say thanks for everyone’s input and everything, so thanks.