Hi! I've been doing art off and on for 5 years, very inconsistently until a few months ago. I'm a digital painter who primarily uses Krita atm, but Rebelle has interested me quite a lot because while I don't have a background in traditional oil painting, I really enjoy the look of it. As of right now I don't have any grand plans to work in the concept art industry really, mostly because I don't really think it's realistic for me because of a few unrelated reasons. That being said, I'd love to be able to make beautiful illustrations for things like children's books or posters, even if just for personal work, and being able to do local jobs nearby in my small town would be cool too! I'm honestly new to concept art in general. My favorite things to paint are old men's portraits. I really like how well-defined the forms on older faces are, it makes them easy lol. I'll post a few of my recent works and studies. Oh, I also dabble in pixel art landscapes, though I haven't done those in years if I'm being honest.
The old man is a WIP I gave up on to show my current biggest weakness; texture and hair lol. Critique, advice, comments, casual conversation - it's all welcome!
Have you taken the time to consider the difference between what is concept art and illustration?
You seem to be of the ''school of shape'' from what i am seeing starting with a silhouette rather than putting down line and working the value is it a fair observation?
One of the thing for feed back is to post the picture use for the study as a general good rule you can hide the reference under a spoiler as to not clutter the post and keep it somewhat cleaner for viewing purpose.
For the old men quick critic my advise is to fix your proportion & accuracy first .You dont want it to short or to tall have it lean to little or to much. So Proportion is a matter of shape relation but also of accurate shape border sometime referer as plane and sometime silhouette. To go beyond shape you have to advance into plane relation to capture value capturing shape is somewhat about grouping value together to accelerate rendering. A good exercise that simplify subject matter is to draw rock with both organic and hard edge.Personally sometime when picking what to draw for study it about stripping down the subject matter to focus on the fundamental so as not to be capture by were predisposition to believe we know how something look like.It not about killing the fun but separating if you lean alot into pretty picture it to avoid taking everything as a finish piece it about try to achieve what you setup to achieve rather than arrive at a finish product. But this also need to be balanced with personal project that are fun and where you commit. To achieve consistency you need to set realistic project that meet you were you at otherwise it like loading the gun and point it at your own foot. But time and sacrifice is also important to pursue the muse having a routine at a set time is great discipline but not always realistic when needing flexibility but in such case a set amount of time split into small period can be a good compromise but for optimal fluidity in your work longer period help thing get momentum it a bit like becoming hypnotized by the work where you start to loose track of time.
(Today, 01:25 AM)darktiste Wrote: Have you taken the time to consider the difference between what is concept art and illustration?
You seem to be of the ''school of shape'' from what i am seeing starting with a silhouette rather than putting down line and working the value is it a fair observation?
One of the thing for feed back is to post the picture use for the study as a general good rule you can hide the reference under a spoiler as to not clutter the post and keep it somewhat cleaner for viewing purpose.
For the old men quick critic my advise is to fix your proportion & accuracy first .You dont want it to short or to tall have it lean to little or to much. So Proportion is a matter of shape relation but also of accurate shape border sometime referer as plane and sometime silhouette. To go beyond shape you have to advance into plane relation to capture value capturing shape is somewhat about grouping value together to accelerate rendering. A good exercise that simplify subject matter is to draw rock with both organic and hard edge.Personally sometime when picking what to draw for study it about stripping down the subject matter to focus on the fundamental so as not to be capture by were predisposition to believe we know how something look like.It not about killing the fun but separating if you lean alot into pretty picture it to avoid taking everything as a finish piece it about try to achieve what you setup to achieve rather than arrive at a finish product. But this also need to be balanced with personal project that are fun and where you commit. To achieve consistency you need to set realistic project that meet you were you at otherwise it like loading the gun and point it at your own foot. But time and sacrifice is also important to pursue the muse having a routine at a set time is great discipline but not always realistic when needing flexibility but in such case a set amount of time split into small period can be a good compromise but for optimal fluidity in your work longer period help thing get momentum it a bit like becoming hypnotized by the work where you start to loose track of time.
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply! I am definitely from the school of shape. The beard/hair for instance isn't really close to accurate yet but I like to sculpt and cut it down until it's closer to the ref. I start by just laying down a big shape and cutting into it basically, lol. I think youre right that its probably better to do the accuracy and proportion work at the beginning though, I just get a bit impatient.
Could you explain more about the rock exercise with both an organic and hard edge? If you had an example that would be stellar!
Well basically the exercise is to find interesting reference of rock with detailed silhouette and a variety of surface from rounded to something a more angular. This give you the opportunity to have to deal with gradient and sharp value transition.By having the combination of gradual and large sudden shift you acquire value control.You also train you visual capacity to see negative shape to help you with the outside of your silhouette which train your accuracy to visually measure angle.
This is more the exercise dealing with imagination that what you end up doing after drawn rock from reference. Also he showing the exercise using technique you should be familiar with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC9Iij-o-Dg
Beard and hair are lil bit of an advance topic but practice seeing negative shape will help carve them up.
For me it more about capturing the quality of something than pure accuracy but accuracy is still a unit of your ability to measure your what you see.
For example if you copy a character with a beard do you end up knowing how to start from scratch.How do you create that beardfrom imagination.That where you test if you understand the subject or if you are merely observing and not learning how to capture the quality of something.For example drawing and apple is a thing but understanding what is consistent about a apple compare to an orange let say make you better equip to represent them.It not just a question of color or form but also of texture and size etc...
