Attempting Realism

anystar · January 2007

I just finished this a few days ago *phew*

It took about...twelve hours over the course of three-four days. @_@ The very light texture in the background came from Mayang Textures. This was done entirely in photoshop. @_@ Crits/comments appreciated.

Things I've noted already: the eyes still look a little iffy. The hair still looks a little iffy. I was going for realism, but not photo-perfect realism. XD If that makes any sense.

StealthNachos · January 2007

Contrast! That's the first problem that rears it's head. There are more... yes, more, but I can't seem to name them off ma' head. Can we see the reference? It will be easier to tell then.

A couple things that are obvious though- She looks like she has a mustache. It seems like you're listing the objects out as you draw, as in "This here is the eye, I'll draw the eye. This here is the hand, I'll draw the hand. And this here is the fingernails, I'll draw them fingernails," and the reason for this is that nothing seems connected in color or shadow. Another thing is that she's pale, but once again I sorta need to see the reference to know if she really is pale or not. Also, you're using white highlights and black shadows. Highlights are the color of the light, and shadows the compliment thereof. You might be saying "But indoor lights are white!" No, they aren't, they have a color, it's just not very obvious. Also, most indoor lights have covers that would reflect onto things anyway. Think about where she is, think about what kind of colors would be in that room and use all of them, not just the color she is.

Just, take that into account.

anystar · January 2007

StealthNachos wrote:

A couple things that are obvious though- She looks like she has a mustache.

Ah...well XD that's cause 'she' is not a 'she' but instead a 'he'. My friend thought giving him stubble would give the image more texture. So I went with it.

Here is the reference:

I didn't want it to look exactly like the model o_- but something close.

Also, you're using white highlights and black shadows. Highlights are the color of the light, and shadows the compliment thereof. You might be saying "But indoor lights are white!" No, they aren't, they have a color, it's just not very obvious. Also, most indoor lights have covers that would reflect onto things anyway. Think about where she is, think about what kind of colors would be in that room and use all of them, not just the color she is.

I was not using white or black for shadows XD; I was using shades of blue, red, orange, pink, violets, burgundy , brown and cream. There is black in the hair, but no where else in the picture. and there isn't any pure white anywhere in it, but very light creams instead. The character is indoorsy, so I wanted him to be very very pale.

But thank you for the lengthy reply

This is very helpful to keep in mind.[/img]

Forbe! · January 2007

It still looks white. The stuble is barely noticable and simply adding that will not add texture to it as a whole. It will simply put implied depth onto a form that is burnished.

anystar wrote:

I was not using white or black for shadows XD; I was using shades of blue, red, orange, pink, violets, burgundy , brown and cream. There is black in the hair, but no where else in the picture. and there isn't any pure white anywhere in it, but very light creams instead. The character is indoorsy, so I wanted him to be very very pale.

Light is reflected off the surfaces surrounding the object you are painting. Im not seeing any 'shades of blue, red, orange, pink, violets, burgundy, brown and cream', and if they are in there they aren't noticable at all, thus lend their appearance to be white. The 'light creme' on the hand and face, appears to be white. Though you may say it isn't white, the way the eye recieves it in relation to the surrounding color, causes it to appear white. The same applies to the black hair, because in relation to the surrounding colors, it appears black.

Ravenshadow · January 2007

aside from the painting which has already been mentioned there are a lot of anatomical flaws that drag the pic down as well. Things like the face is too flat, the eyes aren't aligned, the nose where it meets the brow just looks wrong, the thumb looks flattened, and probably the biggest problem is the head doesn't sit atop the neck in a believable way. In fact the neck just looks all sorts of wrong.

From the referrence I can see that most of the shapes conform to the refference to a decent degree but the pieces aren't aligned in a convincing way. It looks almost as if you did the left eye, then the right eye, then the nose, then the mouth, then the hand, etc. Working on each piece as if they were a whole. Therefore none of the pieces look too bad if you look at them seperately but as a whole the picture just doesn't look right.

When using referrence the best thing to do is work at a high level and drill down into the details as you go. For instance basic shapes, alignment then details.

A well formed eye that's not on the same axis as the other eye, will look much worse than an eye that's in the right place, but the shape is a little off.

TL;DR

drinkinstout · January 2007

I think the problem, is that in trying to make the subject look realistic, you left him with zero environment. like was said, highlights, shadows, reflections, ambient lighting, etc are all thing you need in order to make it look realistic - you can't just add them in with no reference and slap on a background as an afterthought because it won't all go together.

With the image as you've drawn it, he is surrounded by drab green and it appears he is lit up from behind, but the lighting suggests a strong white light in front of him and strong ambient white light all around him. The lack of highlights and reflections in the hair doesn't match with the amount of light that the face implies.

Also, his sweater and his hair should be casting shadows and his right eyebrow doesnt seem to go out over his eye. The angle of the lips on the right side imply a more tilted pose than the edge of his cheek suggests.

His eyes also seem to be missing highlights and most of his skin seems waxxy/muddy - I have no idea how to correct the later although others should have ideas.

Other than that, it's nicely done

oh, and the inside edge of his arm really should be darker as it almost looks like there is a highlight there.

Godfather · January 2007

Although it may have already have been adressed, your male is leaning on the flat side of things; nothing drastic, but just enough to warp the picture so. Although this is really only solved by more practice, try to work on the darkness and lightness of the color scheme to give the subject that extra depth to produce that three-dimensional effect.

Also, it may be just me, but the mouth in general seems to be a tad bit too far to the right; I can't quite put my finger on it, but it just seems slighty off where it should be.

core tactic · January 2007

Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but god damn that face looks like Micheal Jacksons'.

paulwind · January 2007

No, it doesn't.

Hellbound 17 1/2 · January 2007

The two cheeks don't quite match up either. The closer one looks a little droopy.

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