I really dig the concept! It'd be a shame to hide those clouds, but maybe the composition needs some more depth too. Also the front dog's right hind leg seems a little too long, although I think I get what you were going for.
It was supposed to me abstracted, which I think was more obvious when I has the dog melting into the ground, as it made things read less literal. I have to decide if its worth going back into.
I feel like the added detail stuff in the deeper parts of the composition help to illustrate the volume which was sort of flat in the earlier composition. definitely get a better sense of place.
The clouds and the palette are lovely. Like it a lot overall.
The only thing I might mention is that the hound on the left seems a teeny bit too neatly "contained" by the edge of the canvas to me. I might have repositioned him a little in the composition slightly, but it's a small thing.
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miscellaneousinsanitygrass grows, birds fly, sun shines,and brother, i hurt peopleRegistered Userregular
super cool dags, love the colors
+1
BrocksMulletInto the sunrise, on a jet-ski. Natch.Registered Userregular
Nice rendering on the cars! I think the dog in the foreground looks good too. I like the composition on this one better than the other one with the dogs.
What are you working towards now? It looked like in the beginning of the thread you were doing videogame related stuff but I don't really get that sense anymore. Seems like you;re doing your own thing.
That's an accurate analysis. Basically I found a day job that covers my living expenses which took some of the pressure off, and I'm using the freedom to make are that's a little less "OMG I need an industry job!!" and try to figure out what I'm interested in again. I actually am getting back into working on a game, but I probably wont be posting anything about it for a while.
Anyway, Thanks for the compliments. That first composition is stronger, I want to turn it into a little series, so I'll give it another go in a while.
So Polycount is doing a LOL art contest, and I thought it maybe good motivation to get me out of my comfort zone. Working on the rat: http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/champions/twitch/
I wanted to do something kinda fun, and they have a lot of goofy skins, so I thought, ratatouille? I did a few thumbnails that got me here:
But I wanted to try and push it a little further and try to combat some of my tendencies to flatness. Shot a little reference and got here:
Any glaring flaws before I dig in deep? While I'm not really setting out to win the contest, I do want to focus on light and rendering for practice. Most lol stuff has extreeeme perspective with crazy dynamic poses, but I didnt have any interest in doing ridiculous ninja poses this time around.
I really like this bottom one! Very cool expression. Is that a window in the background? You could maybe use that as a way to get some reflected moonlight onto his backside. If you want to stick to the front lightsource and keep the background in darkness I would crop a little bit tighter on his right.
But yeah, definitely diggin this! It has that "there's a rat secretly brewing creepy stuff in my attic" vibe to it.
The main thing I'd suggest you do before going any further is to do a quick value study, and make sure that you're making everything clear to understand at that stage before moving further. Make sure to keep things in the background not too sharp, contrast-y, or detailed...at least in comparison to the focal point and foreground - the pot and the rat.
If you nail down a very clear and simplified composition, and a clear foreground, middle ground, and background in value, and you stick to it while you delve into color, I think that will make this a lot easier and will help direct the viewer's attention without having to worry about having the piece look overly complex and confusing. Rendering is fun so it's easy to overdo it...but try to pull yourself back if you notice that your'e spending too much time on items that are not that important, or detract from the figure at all.
Great tips, ND. I'll look at some value studies and see what I can do. Showing preliminary work is part of the contest so it would be good for me to hang out in this stage for longer than I normally do and try to work out any kinks.
I think the second one feels flatter than the first one. The background is deeper, sure, but the character in the first one feels more dynamic (lol buzzwords) and both comes towards the camera and recedes back further than the character in the second one.
It seems like the character is the second one is holding their arms closer to their body which is also reducing the 'dynamism'.
Despite a decrease in dynamo, I feel like the first one is has a weaker focus, I also feel like the shapes (his face, his tail) have a little more breathing room in the second one rather than being assaulted by shapes like you are in the first one, granted I could maybe fix that with values and omitting some of the details in the first, I don't know.
Maybe I'll shoot more reference and try and do value studies on both.
As for the tail, I think taking it off the edge of the image and then curling it back in would work well. I think if you focused on keeping the whole tail in image, it might start to get tangenty/seem squeezed into the composition
Yes yes yes, the 2nd version of this one works much better. I also agree with Wasser on the tail (and, not sure if he meant this as well, but flip the curve of the tail too).
I mean flip the tail horizontally, so it is swooping inwards, rather than swooping out and pointing to outside the picture plane. If you took it in Photoshop and did Translate:Flip:Horizontal, that would do what I'm trying to say. :P
Compositionally it's feeling like it's throwing my eye off the picture, and if you reversed the curve I feel like my attention would return to the rat's face.
worked into it a little tonight:
Pushed some values around and started to experiment:
Keeping a light touch so far but I think next session I'll start using color and refining forms and such.
So just to note: I have not worked into the right side at all, including his hand. Just wanted to post progress on colors, really. I'll start drawing into the right side next. This is like 1st pass, I would say overall I'm maybe 25% in.
So good bro, although the pot looks slightly small compared to the bottle. Maybe push the size/perspective of it further? Dunno, something just looks fishy about it, as if he's missing the pot when pouring.
Also, question thyme: your quick color passes, what kind of layer were they done on?
Possibly because the pot handles provide another visual cue for the scale and perspective. I only wonder if it starts to put too much focus on the pot
could you combine 1 and 3? use the pot handles in the wider composition (or at least the one closest to the body, because you're right, that's totally what made that image make the most sense to me) -- I think the wider comp puts less focus on the pot since it's got a better visual distribution.
Yeah I really like 3 as well but the pot really does steal focus so I'll have to say 1, however maybe lowering the canvas slightly so it doesn't cut off just in the middle of the pot.
I love all of the details in the background! It's looking sweet so far Iruka.
Maybe You could use the glowing (?) thing on the tip of the thing in their right hand to cast some secondary light to draw attention back to the face? Or maybe that would just confuse things. Also I think the light needs to be a bit more green overall.
aaahaha that is looking so cool. I feel like the stew should be a biiiit brighter, though, since the reflection on the hand and bottle are so much lighter than what the stew currently is. But you probably just haven't gotten there yet. Really great job on the face, and good choice for what to do with the tail!
I'm starting to get to the point where I don't know what else to do. I'm going to spend a little time on his outfit because that seems a little under developed now, does anything else stick out as off kilter?
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this one is just not coming together for me.
in the meantime, studies:
trying to leave these kinda rough and not spend a million hours on it, so I'm letting it go.
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
The only thing I might mention is that the hound on the left seems a teeny bit too neatly "contained" by the edge of the canvas to me. I might have repositioned him a little in the composition slightly, but it's a small thing.
This is so great.
Steam: BrocksMullet http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972421669/
Nice rendering on the cars! I think the dog in the foreground looks good too. I like the composition on this one better than the other one with the dogs.
What are you working towards now? It looked like in the beginning of the thread you were doing videogame related stuff but I don't really get that sense anymore. Seems like you;re doing your own thing.
Anyway, Thanks for the compliments. That first composition is stronger, I want to turn it into a little series, so I'll give it another go in a while.
http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/champions/twitch/
I wanted to do something kinda fun, and they have a lot of goofy skins, so I thought, ratatouille? I did a few thumbnails that got me here:
But I wanted to try and push it a little further and try to combat some of my tendencies to flatness. Shot a little reference and got here:
Any glaring flaws before I dig in deep? While I'm not really setting out to win the contest, I do want to focus on light and rendering for practice. Most lol stuff has extreeeme perspective with crazy dynamic poses, but I didnt have any interest in doing ridiculous ninja poses this time around.
But yeah, definitely diggin this! It has that "there's a rat secretly brewing creepy stuff in my attic" vibe to it.
The main thing I'd suggest you do before going any further is to do a quick value study, and make sure that you're making everything clear to understand at that stage before moving further. Make sure to keep things in the background not too sharp, contrast-y, or detailed...at least in comparison to the focal point and foreground - the pot and the rat.
If you nail down a very clear and simplified composition, and a clear foreground, middle ground, and background in value, and you stick to it while you delve into color, I think that will make this a lot easier and will help direct the viewer's attention without having to worry about having the piece look overly complex and confusing. Rendering is fun so it's easy to overdo it...but try to pull yourself back if you notice that your'e spending too much time on items that are not that important, or detract from the figure at all.
It seems like the character is the second one is holding their arms closer to their body which is also reducing the 'dynamism'.
Maybe I'll shoot more reference and try and do value studies on both.
@Wassermelone what if I stick his hand in your face like so? Do you still like the old one better?
As for the tail, I think taking it off the edge of the image and then curling it back in would work well. I think if you focused on keeping the whole tail in image, it might start to get tangenty/seem squeezed into the composition
Compositionally it's feeling like it's throwing my eye off the picture, and if you reversed the curve I feel like my attention would return to the rat's face.
Pushed some values around and started to experiment:
Keeping a light touch so far but I think next session I'll start using color and refining forms and such.
So just to note: I have not worked into the right side at all, including his hand. Just wanted to post progress on colors, really. I'll start drawing into the right side next. This is like 1st pass, I would say overall I'm maybe 25% in.
Also, question thyme: your quick color passes, what kind of layer were they done on?
I agree on the pot. I could extend the canvas down, or widen the pot, which do you think works best?
Included for fun is me shooting my goofy ass reference.
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
could you combine 1 and 3? use the pot handles in the wider composition (or at least the one closest to the body, because you're right, that's totally what made that image make the most sense to me) -- I think the wider comp puts less focus on the pot since it's got a better visual distribution.
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
Maybe You could use the glowing (?) thing on the tip of the thing in their right hand to cast some secondary light to draw attention back to the face? Or maybe that would just confuse things. Also I think the light needs to be a bit more green overall.
Progress, Starting to feel pretty comfortable about the major placements of things, so I'm pushing forward with rendering.
I'm starting to get to the point where I don't know what else to do. I'm going to spend a little time on his outfit because that seems a little under developed now, does anything else stick out as off kilter?