when you use a smaller brush and make multiple strokes to block in a larger area it creates a pattern. Youve done this pretty much all over the painting. Keeping in mind that that busy pattern will call attention to itself if surrounded by areas of simplicity. I think you should attempt to identify areas where you can just lay down one fat stroke and then just leave it alone. IF you find yourself wanting to fuss with it, focus on another area of the painting- take a short break- flip the canvas.. anything to give yourself a little bit of distance before you make another decision on it. This is one of the hardest things for me.
Thanks for the comment/advice. Really helpful. Reckon i'll simplify some of the brush strokes in the areas which i dont want people to be drawn too (like the tree and some of the grassed areas. Reckon i'll detail up the background (where im going to add a little town) and some of the foregoround.
Thanks for the advice. God damn creating balance is hard!
If anyone has any thoughts on what would look cool to add to the composition (like animals, buildings, atmosphere etc) id like to hear it.
remember that what side you put the dude on will say a lot for the feeling (well, to english/french etc readers), since we look from left to right. having him on the left makes me feel like he's important.. having him on the right makes me feel like the landscape in the background is important.
Hmmm never thought of that before. Good point. Considering that, i guess having the dude on the right works best.
I want the background to be the focal area of the picture, so i guess i'll have to also contrast that much greater than the foreground dude.
Heres a WIP picture i was working on today. im rather happy with it. I started this from a pencil sketch i did about a month ago. Im working on making my brush work crisp and to have an overall confident look (even though there may be anatomy/structure issues).
*time to reference a gun me thinks
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
remember that what side you put the dude on will say a lot for the feeling (well, to english/french etc readers), since we look from left to right. having him on the left makes me feel like he's important.. having him on the right makes me feel like the landscape in the background is important.
Wow I never noticed that before. It makes a massive difference to the image.
update of the forest scene. adjusted the light source a little, and tried to create areas for the eye to look (gradually making its way to the little town in the background.
you might want to put on a jacket. and put your elbows on your thighs like that when sitting down. Then observe your lapels. the will not be acting the way youve drawn them.
Kevin Rudd foes to 7.30 Report Land. I think it's funny.
lol. its fun to do a picture without giving a toss about the rules of drawing. better not do too much of it, or else i may return to some old habbits !
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
lol. its fun to do a picture without giving a toss about the rules of drawing.
You shouldn't have to worry about the rules of drawing, they should just be part of your regular game plane whenever you draw. I'm just going to mark this up to an off the cuff remark, but if you do find the drawing fundamentals a chore that could be a major roadblock to success.
I went back a step with the dude, considering it wasnt really working.
I fixed up the background a little, adding detail to the trees. and fixed some of the water and lighting.
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
WCK, I think there are more general problems you're having with colour that need to be addressed first.
The first thing is the lack of highlights. The light and shadow seem very muted - too much of colour is getting through in both directions (shadows aren't dark enough and there are no extreme lights). this makes the colours feel very chalkish and muddy.
The colours are also a little "literal", I feel. I think you're using all greens for the grass, and all blues for the water etc - but that's not quite how they would appear if you say colour dropped a photograph.
I have a mission for you;
Find a landscape painting you really like (digital or otherwise, digital might be easier) in high res
Try to copy it as exactly as you can without using the colour dropper
Then go back over it after you've finished with the colour dropper and see how your colour guesses matched up to the actual colours. It will tell you a lot about your inbuilt biases.
Then do it again (without the colour droppers), maybe even with a page of notes in front of you to remind you what mistakes you were making. I bet the second one will be SO much better.
Find a landscape painting you really like (digital or otherwise, digital might be easier) in high res
Try to copy it as exactly as you can without using the colour dropper
Then go back over it after you've finished with the colour dropper and see how your colour guesses matched up to the actual colours. It will tell you a lot about your inbuilt biases.
Then do it again (without the colour droppers), maybe even with a page of notes in front of you to remind you what mistakes you were making. I bet the second one will be SO much better.
Exactly what I'd suggest. You'll learn much more through an exercise like this than trial and error which each painting that you do. Start copying!
surrealitycheck - Yeah my range of colour is very limited. Im probably being way too cautious too with my decision making. I'll start treating it as a study than a 'work of art' . I'll also try replicating other paintings too. Started working on some Ivan Aivazovsky studies this arvo. That dude had a great sense of colour! Thanks mate!
Isaac Felton - Get back to work! Thanks for looking bro!
A WIP picture im doing in pencil. My computer has been giving me the shits all week with blue screens of death, and not booting up etc. Really annoyng, but a good excuse to stick with traditional studies. This is a test piece before i do my proper version in photoshop. just establishing a solid idea before jumping into digital. The top is chopped off by about 2 cm but you get the idea
The legs on that horse in the first picture are extremely short, and I think there might be some foreshortening issues on the right arm of the guy in the front. Overrall, though, It seems to be coming along nicely.
However, I really like that last profile you posted. Is it a portrait of anyone in particular?
that last head is showing promise. The extremely flat lighting isnt doing you any favors but its looking pretty believable that theres a skull.
Treat the hair as a mass and not a collection of small shapes and individual hairs. Id take a stump and just knock all of the hair back and be very slective with picking out highlights.
If you like drawing cowboys and their horses you should really do some horse studies, because those two need a lot of work. It would be very worthwhile if you're going to draw more of them.
That last head is wonderful, though! It looks like a big leap forward compared to your previous drawings.
Ken - I probably could have pushed the values more. My next study ill try harder.
lyrium - thanks for the positive feedback. IM a bit obsessed with the old west at the moment. Will definately practice some horse anatomy.
I was watching some videos on youtube by Matthew Archambault whos an instructor at some art school in manhattan. His stuff is really good. If i had the money id subscribe to his site. Hes worth checking out. SOme of his free videos on youtube are really good
surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
Keep pushing it wck
PUSH IT PUSH IT PUSH IT
Do that colour study
The cool thing about that head is that there are many fewer lines.
The next time you do a head study like that draw one of your own heads from your imagination STRAIGHT afterwards, and attempt to steal techniques from the referenced picture for your own work and see what comes out!
You're making some really nice progress, but the one thing I think would help out quite, which I don't know if you're even doing it at all is.. and this is in regards to your illustration pieces: Make and/or do more thumbnails. Figure out your overall value schemes in the picture and break them down so they read well. If you can make a convincing thumbnail you already know that the picture has a much better chance of being successful because the final image is essentially your thumbnail scaled up with more details to flush out your areas of focus,etc.. From the looks of it, it looks like you do this pictures fairly quick, on figure things out on the fly. Which isn't necessarily bad cause you're still making pictures. But if you spent just a little time beforehand and knocked out some thumbnails I think they'd serve you well.
From the looks of it, it looks like you do this pictures fairly quick.
I think for the level of finish you are aiming for WCK. Slow-steady- methodical planned steps will deliver a higher quality finish faster. Think of each painting as a pyramid. The very tip-only one stone at the very top is the actual finished piece of artwork. The foundation being your quick ideation-thumbnails- then the next level is your value studies and composition exploration. Im not talking about a full on grisalle type value study. Just take three values and figure out -All my lights go here, my darkest darks go here etc. The next level of the pyramid is color studies.
Gotta keep the color studies and value studies simple or you will burn out on the piece before you even start. For the color studies I keep my focus primarily on temperature coolvswarm areas. Just a suggestion- figure the real colors out in the final. Then comes shooting reference. Next is working out your drawing and final composition. based off your thumbnails. Then after all that, after your roadmap is all built for you, after all the fundamental decisions have been made- you move to finish.
Everything I do since I learned to work this way 4 years ago- I follow every one of those steps when Im doing an illustration. Only very recently have I completely done away with color studies. Occasionally I will have such a strong visualization of the value pattern that I skip that stage as well.. propably shouldnt though.
Anyways- thats the system taught by the illustration academy faculty. Its designed to make students understand that the final is not even the most important aspect. They really encourage everyone to work traditionally there to get the point of that across. Inevitably you fuck up your final painting- to which they respond no big deal, you've still got your final drawing and other studies, just start a new one.
by the time I reach final I'm usually in an autopilot for most of it and devoting most of my brain power to really small details to insignificant to worry about in the planning stages.
Really if you cut corners on the process and decide to figure it out in the final it will show. Because you are going to marry yourself to mediocre decisions and try to save them.
and dude. That childrens book image. It looks like a creepy crypt type paradoy of a normal childrens book. They look like freaky little animated and souless wooden puppets.
for these two i spent much more time planning and developing the concept before i began. With the desert wasteland scene, i did the pencil sketch with as much detail so that i knew exactly what i wanted in terms of composition and content. Perhaps a bit more time could have been placed into composition studies, as maybe its not the best solution for what im trying to convey in the image.
Kendeathwalker
I definately could have done with some more planning between my concept thumbnails and final pencil sketch.
Also, man id love to attend the illustration academy. My tutor went there twice when he lived in america and he said he wouldnt be making a living from illustration if he didnt attend.
GOOD TIPS FELLAS. Will keep them in mind.
They look like freaky little animated and souless wooden puppets.
Yeah man, had him throughout my second year at uni in 2008. It was only because of him that i really wanted to learn to draw. haha. every word the man says is inspiring.
They brag on him like crazy at the academy. That alone inspired a group of us. Started cranking out 3 paintings a week during our time there. Which was really stupid because the faculty doesn't let up on enforcing the process. Tiz a good thing they have the break in the middle to recover. I went the year after him and a couple other superstars went through.
Your paintings getting better man. Keep it up and try harder with each one and knowing exactly what you want to get out of the final piece before you get stuck into it.
Here are some crits in this iimage... definitely remedy them, this is a good pic, fix up the very basic mistakes and get them out of your system.
btw i just made a different pose for the gun. I think the silhouette of it in the sun is good, just make it look right! Bring it closer to the body perhaps.
Cheers for the paintover critique bro!
Cant disagree. Maybe i'll throw in some texture into those closer rocks, give it a little more depth.
I was considering drawing the gun as you did in your painted over, but i didnt think it looked as threatening that way. I wanted it to kinda say "hey, look at these!"
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Cannon GooseI need some GAGS!If only I had my gag book!Registered Userregular
edited May 2010
Hey man, I saw a few of your pieces got printed in Hyper! Nice job!
However In an effort to lengthen the life of my keyboard. I will now only be communicating with you in quotes from previous critiques that still apply that you seem to forget with each new thing you take on.
there is nothing wrong with your technique man. Its still just problems with basic drawing fundamentals. Its been pointed out and suggested so many times. Just do basic exercises until your eyes fucking bleed. Pick one aspect of drawing and focus on it. Not draw a figure from reference. Thats a bunch of different fundamentals at play.
for example
Draw a skull.. from every concivable angle. Every angle just studying its construction.. dont even worry about full value rendering.. Render a sphere.. etc etc etc..
also your figures have no flow at all. No rythm. anything alive has got a natural "S" rythm running through every aspect of it.
Hi folks, finally got around to finishing these off.
Thought i may as well post them since im done with working on them. They are minor changes from previous post, mainly just bumping out areas creating more contrast. Im pretty happy with the result, but i know i can do shit loads better if i spend more time in the planning stages, developing less stiff poses.
Also, been fortunate to get some freelance work designing some characters for an online store which will be starting up. Im drawing every day anywa,y, so getting paid to draw is a bonus. Really working my ass off on it the last 2 weeks, so cant wait to post some stuff.
Posts
composition im working on atm.
as for comp studies, reckon i'll start doing them in markers as black and white silhouettes. pencil does tempt me to add details that arent necessary
Thanks for the advice. God damn creating balance is hard!
If anyone has any thoughts on what would look cool to add to the composition (like animals, buildings, atmosphere etc) id like to hear it.
I want the background to be the focal area of the picture, so i guess i'll have to also contrast that much greater than the foreground dude.
Heres a WIP picture i was working on today. im rather happy with it. I started this from a pencil sketch i did about a month ago. Im working on making my brush work crisp and to have an overall confident look (even though there may be anatomy/structure issues).
*time to reference a gun me thinks
Wow I never noticed that before. It makes a massive difference to the image.
a slow day for drawing...
Kevin Rudd foes to 7.30 Report Land. I think it's funny.
lol. its fun to do a picture without giving a toss about the rules of drawing. better not do too much of it, or else i may return to some old habbits !
You shouldn't have to worry about the rules of drawing, they should just be part of your regular game plane whenever you draw. I'm just going to mark this up to an off the cuff remark, but if you do find the drawing fundamentals a chore that could be a major roadblock to success.
I fixed up the background a little, adding detail to the trees. and fixed some of the water and lighting.
The first thing is the lack of highlights. The light and shadow seem very muted - too much of colour is getting through in both directions (shadows aren't dark enough and there are no extreme lights). this makes the colours feel very chalkish and muddy.
The colours are also a little "literal", I feel. I think you're using all greens for the grass, and all blues for the water etc - but that's not quite how they would appear if you say colour dropped a photograph.
I have a mission for you;
Find a landscape painting you really like (digital or otherwise, digital might be easier) in high res
Try to copy it as exactly as you can without using the colour dropper
Then go back over it after you've finished with the colour dropper and see how your colour guesses matched up to the actual colours. It will tell you a lot about your inbuilt biases.
Then do it again (without the colour droppers), maybe even with a page of notes in front of you to remind you what mistakes you were making. I bet the second one will be SO much better.
Exactly what I'd suggest. You'll learn much more through an exercise like this than trial and error which each painting that you do. Start copying!
Isaac Felton - Get back to work! Thanks for looking bro!
and two of my more successful studies this week
However, I really like that last profile you posted. Is it a portrait of anyone in particular?
With the horse legs issue, lets just say it's a mule those things are weird anyway.
really i swear i'll fix them
Treat the hair as a mass and not a collection of small shapes and individual hairs. Id take a stump and just knock all of the hair back and be very slective with picking out highlights.
That last head is wonderful, though! It looks like a big leap forward compared to your previous drawings.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Ken - I probably could have pushed the values more. My next study ill try harder.
lyrium - thanks for the positive feedback. IM a bit obsessed with the old west at the moment. Will definately practice some horse anatomy.
I was watching some videos on youtube by Matthew Archambault whos an instructor at some art school in manhattan. His stuff is really good. If i had the money id subscribe to his site. Hes worth checking out. SOme of his free videos on youtube are really good
http://www.youtube.com/user/matthew39arch.
PUSH IT PUSH IT PUSH IT
Do that colour study
The cool thing about that head is that there are many fewer lines.
The next time you do a head study like that draw one of your own heads from your imagination STRAIGHT afterwards, and attempt to steal techniques from the referenced picture for your own work and see what comes out!
really fun little project
WIP
started as a pencil sketch i did last weekend
I think for the level of finish you are aiming for WCK. Slow-steady- methodical planned steps will deliver a higher quality finish faster. Think of each painting as a pyramid. The very tip-only one stone at the very top is the actual finished piece of artwork. The foundation being your quick ideation-thumbnails- then the next level is your value studies and composition exploration. Im not talking about a full on grisalle type value study. Just take three values and figure out -All my lights go here, my darkest darks go here etc. The next level of the pyramid is color studies.
Gotta keep the color studies and value studies simple or you will burn out on the piece before you even start. For the color studies I keep my focus primarily on temperature coolvswarm areas. Just a suggestion- figure the real colors out in the final. Then comes shooting reference. Next is working out your drawing and final composition. based off your thumbnails. Then after all that, after your roadmap is all built for you, after all the fundamental decisions have been made- you move to finish.
Everything I do since I learned to work this way 4 years ago- I follow every one of those steps when Im doing an illustration. Only very recently have I completely done away with color studies. Occasionally I will have such a strong visualization of the value pattern that I skip that stage as well.. propably shouldnt though.
Anyways- thats the system taught by the illustration academy faculty. Its designed to make students understand that the final is not even the most important aspect. They really encourage everyone to work traditionally there to get the point of that across. Inevitably you fuck up your final painting- to which they respond no big deal, you've still got your final drawing and other studies, just start a new one.
by the time I reach final I'm usually in an autopilot for most of it and devoting most of my brain power to really small details to insignificant to worry about in the planning stages.
Really if you cut corners on the process and decide to figure it out in the final it will show. Because you are going to marry yourself to mediocre decisions and try to save them.
and dude. That childrens book image. It looks like a creepy crypt type paradoy of a normal childrens book. They look like freaky little animated and souless wooden puppets.
Shizumaru
for these two i spent much more time planning and developing the concept before i began. With the desert wasteland scene, i did the pencil sketch with as much detail so that i knew exactly what i wanted in terms of composition and content. Perhaps a bit more time could have been placed into composition studies, as maybe its not the best solution for what im trying to convey in the image.
Kendeathwalker
I definately could have done with some more planning between my concept thumbnails and final pencil sketch.
Also, man id love to attend the illustration academy. My tutor went there twice when he lived in america and he said he wouldnt be making a living from illustration if he didnt attend.
GOOD TIPS FELLAS. Will keep them in mind.
I hope thats a good thing:?
Here are some crits in this iimage... definitely remedy them, this is a good pic, fix up the very basic mistakes and get them out of your system.
btw i just made a different pose for the gun. I think the silhouette of it in the sun is good, just make it look right! Bring it closer to the body perhaps.
Cant disagree. Maybe i'll throw in some texture into those closer rocks, give it a little more depth.
I was considering drawing the gun as you did in your painted over, but i didnt think it looked as threatening that way. I wanted it to kinda say "hey, look at these!"
xbox live | playstation network | steam | last.fm | flickr
However In an effort to lengthen the life of my keyboard. I will now only be communicating with you in quotes from previous critiques that still apply that you seem to forget with each new thing you take on.
Just look at it.
Cannon Goose - I have to go out and grab a copy today!
Thought i may as well post them since im done with working on them. They are minor changes from previous post, mainly just bumping out areas creating more contrast. Im pretty happy with the result, but i know i can do shit loads better if i spend more time in the planning stages, developing less stiff poses.
Also, been fortunate to get some freelance work designing some characters for an online store which will be starting up. Im drawing every day anywa,y, so getting paid to draw is a bonus. Really working my ass off on it the last 2 weeks, so cant wait to post some stuff.
This could be the root source of all your problems with art.