Lokken's art, advice encouraged and welcomed!

Lokken414

Hi everyone

This is my first post in the artists forum. I wouldn't consider myself an artist, since im a programmer by training and its my profession. Ive enjoyed drawing all my life though, but its always been copying stuff i liked. Comics, video game images, action figures, etc. This is my first piece I have ever put on paper that I saw in my head.

I really want to learn to paint my sketches in photoshop, but I am completely lost as to how to start. I am familiar with photoshop, but no expert. I understand layers, blending modes, etc. But that is a long way from understanding how to properly paint a piece

Here is my sketch. Its not great, its probably just mediocre, but I really want to do the entire process on this piece.



I would like to know if there are any recommended resources on painting. I have found various things online, but none that really talk about different techniques.

Thanks all for any time you spend here.

L

The_Glad_Hatter

This is all the painting tuturial i ever needed up until now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHlEduMhraU

But most people will agree that while focussing on paint is great, don't forget your pencilwork. There's a lot of great tutorials and books linked in the Original Post of our questions thread here.

Lokken414

That is actually quite good, even for its short length.

And thanks for the pencil work reference!

Lokken414

here is my first attempt at painting my sketch. I am not thrilled with the blood and the lighting im sure is off too.

im going to do some more work with blending and values but this is where ill be starting from. Critiques are welcome!

NibCrom

I had some trouble figuring out what the forms were. I think some varied line widths would help. (Thick lines = more important visual data, thinner lines = less important visual data).

Lokken414

Yeah the humanoids head and chest area is a bit crowded; what to do about that I dont really know. I know next to nothing about line width. The concept i understand, but identifying the correct areas to increase/decrease is beyond me at this point.

Thanks for the feedback

The_Glad_Hatter

You said you were going to do some more blending, but i think it'd probably profit from some readability. Try to check out some of the paint overs angel of bacon has done (they're bookmarked in the OP of the questions thread). It almost ALWAYS looks better after he's added some "harsh" shadows.

Also, the main dude is taking on some kind of egyptian stance, with his legs viewed sideways, his torso viewed from up front, and his head also in exact profile.