Dude Boromir looked so real that when i first looked at him i was like "wait... did they just do some edits on photoshop or something ?THIS LOOKS GREAT
Dude! That is pretty cool for a first attempt at oils. ^_^
The characters may not be quite exact but you can definately tell who they are and the shades and tones are awesome.
For starters, the good points: Love that coloring and blending of the paints. It is smooth and shows that a lot of patience and work went into the piece. The details on Gimli's helmet and axe are solid enough you can almost literally "feel" the metal.
And then . . . the not-so-good. Minor flaws. The highlights on the hobbits' hair sorta distracts me, because edge-highlighs like that imply backlighting, which seems a little out of place considering that the hobbits are in the front row. And while your realistic shading is very commendable, realism is a notoriously unforgiving target; this one sits on the edge of the Uncanny Valley where it looks right, but doesn't quite feel right. Boromir and Merry look fine, for example, but I'm not so sure about the other Fellowship members. I notice Gandalf's nose seems to be a little on the large side (though not to the extent of a Cyrano de Bergerac ;)) , and Aragorn's eyes seem a little too twinkly for me (I never considered Aragorn to be the "bright eyes" type). The faces feel 'off' in the slightest way, and when a character's face doesn't look right, it bogs down the piece as a whole, more so than it honestly should.
Those are really minor flaws. You nailed the blending and shading overall, it's the subtleties that slightly demerit the overall experience. And subtleties aren't something that one can just look at and point out how to easily fix them (I find from they are often defined during the conceptual phase, before applying any shading or blending of actual colors onto the surface); they're like the Matrix in that you can't be told what they are, you have to see it for yourself. For lack of a better term, it's sort of a "zen" thing.
So, wrapping this up -- great blending, good perseverance to work through a large-sized painting, only a minor stumble here and there to watch out for. It's good work, so keep up the studies on how to master the subtle points.
WHOA! that is awesome! they look so real!!! Frodo's a little too happy though..really, like 90% of all three movies, he had such a sad look on his face! and i saw another movie with the actor in it, i didn't know who he was until he got sad.. anyway, awesome job, faved it.