Sketchbook Reiter May,2012

I think this is my first time posting in this section, can't remember. Anyhow, I started off inspired by reiters' armour and their use of guns. So I worked up some thumbnails and tried to paint something...I haven't struggled this much in a long time. Soooooo much repainting and recropping and selecting and moving!

It is working better now that I scrapped the colours (they seemed really dead and unnatural no matter what I did for some reason). I'm not sure if this is salvageable, but I'd at least like some input to this as it's really been bothering me.

I guess my goal is to try and fix the composition, especially how the background and foreground shapes interact with each other, as right now it feels very clumsy (like between the reiter's arm and the horse). I'm also not entirely sure how to handle the background, since I originally intended for a number of guys in battle to be there, but it looks too chaotic without a flatter value like it is now. I've encountered some difficulty with posing the guy being shot without his silhouette infringing too much on the horse or getting overly confusing--right now he is standing there with his arms at his sides haha. Redlines/paintovers are very welcome.
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