Accepting any comments and possibly redlines or criticism for improvement of this image. Especially regarding the lights, the anatomy of the background people, her hands and the blade...well, anything that might look misshapen, overly cartoony (i.e. unfinished, in need of more detailing) or flat. View image for full view:

In any case I made it in order to illustrate a scene from a roleplay I had with a friend and also to practice painting colored lightsources. I am still working on it but as of now I'm just...not quite happy with the image and I want to improve it any way possible.

Thank you in advance!

I quite like this :3 It's a great piece and it sure packs a punch of impression. I will point out the couple things I saw but please keep in mind I'm self-taught (and currently at a lower digital painting level than you) so this is not an educated opinion! I just know the "not quite happy" feeling, and hope another set of eyes will help.

The use of light is excellent, and the quality of the different types of light. I think with the way you did the candlelight really translates in both feel and accuracy. You managed to make the hooded figures even more eerie and the bright light? It shows the wings to advantage. I don't think she's cartoony, and you did a good job on her arms (even with the difficult pose of her left arm). I think if anything might be off in that area it would actually be the neck/shoulder area. The shoulders look a bit high/tense and the neck could be a little longer. Oh bless me, maybe just playing with the shadows around there to offer a division between the light area of the face and the light area of her shoulders/chest? Well it's possible that the shoulders are wanted elements, I'm really not sure. It's a judgement call more than a "...Um that's a nice dog... or is it a horse?" kind of thing. Another judgement call is the robes of the kneeling figure. The robes are a bit flat compared to the quality of the other robes. Just a little as far as texture goes. I personally think that is adds to the highlighting of the winged figure, and lets the pose speak for itself. You may think otherwise though, perhaps that was what was bothering you?

That's all I've got. I hope you enjoyed that RP, it looks like a wicked plot XD

Thanks a lot for the feedback! Is this any better? I moved her neck a couple of pixels higher, but left the shoulders unchanged for now, instead changing the outline of her halter top a bit. I added some stronger shadows and highlights to the kneeling figure. Also drew some faces to the background to imply that there are more people in the room than her and the cloaked figures. Played around with filters a bit, made the candles warmer to offer contrast (arguably sacrificing some of the eerie feeling).

And yeah, I did enjoy that RP. :P Still do, as hopefully it'll continue seeing as it ended on a cliffhanger. Basically she's an angel who had to escape to Earth after being declared a traitor due to helping a half-demon. She drifted about a bit before finally being taken in by what was basically a society of fallen angels and angel-descendants residing in Paris. Pretty nice guys, though dead-certain that they could return to Heaven on Judgement Day and thus carrying a strong end-of-the-world-cult feel. Well, they were pretty nice guys up until someone tipped them off on a ritual to "summon a saint" and this happened... Needless to say the thing that had tipped them off had not been what it claimed to be and the thing that was summoned was not what they expected either. o.o

Oh yesssss I think it adds a clearer division between the two pale areas of face and shoulders! And you managed to make the candlelight even better with that change of contrast O.O The most important bit though, is how do you feel about it? Oh and you're very welcome for the feedback! Thank you for taking my words into account ^-^ Holy.... wow, yeah I'd want to see that RP continued too! Here's hoping yeah?

Wow!! The only thing that really stands out as a little weird is the blade... it looks like it's parallel to the viewer, when it should be almost perpendicular..