Planet: Mercury

Howdy, I'm here from the Project Comment, weekly commenting project.

So let's start with good things, ok? First of all, this is a very cool picture (otherwise it wouldn't catch my eye for commenting ) and a really good concept overall. The allegory of a Mercury as a human(oid) with an ash-encrusted double skin is great, the two orbs (the hot and cold, I presume) he holds in his hands are very well made, and the background is really good. His eyes in particular are great, and really the idea of a teenage-like, slightly androgynous Mercury I think fits well with the classical depiction of him from mythology.

Now, that being said, the main problem of this entire picture is that it really seems like two pictures just overlaid one over another. The cutout around Mercury in some places is really obvious (his but and back, for instance). You should have made his shining outline much more blury and diffuse, like the part around his neck and left shoulder, that's pretty much the only part where the blending has been done good. The second big problem is IMHO lightning: with sun being behind him, he should really have been mostly in shadow, only his outlines and arms illuminated. This way it looks as if he is illuminated from various light sources, and this of course diminishes the overall concept of the picture, with the sun shining behind him.

There are also some minor issues with his anatomy: his but and back in particular, and his head doesn't seem screwed right on his neck for this kind of posture. The cracks in ash crust are really well done on his palms, and particularly on his left arm (the one with red orb). However, they don't look so well on his right forearm and his face, and really bad on his belly. And IMHO there should be more cracks and a greater contrast (in color, texture, etc.) between his upper skin and lower skin. Finally, his lips and nostrils look a bit too cartoonish - compared to the rest of the picture, they look kinda unfinished.

You should also add some practice to your hair painting. Overall, his hair is pretty well made (particularly the part around his neck where light shines through it), but lacks details/texturing to make it look really good and natural. You should add things like stray/indivdual hairs, blending with skin and background, etc. The individual locks of hair are well made, but with just that, it looks too much like a helmet or a wig.

Hope you find my comment helpful, useful or at least not a complete waste of time/characters Cheers and keep up the good work!