Reocurring Issue

[Danilow]

Hi everybody!

I am having a reoccurring issue with my paintings.
 
I always try to start with a black and white base, then add color, to get to work separated with value and hue, because I don’t have the skills to work it out together.
 
And often the process pass to all the steps of the figures ( starts left to right).
 
My biggest problem is that in the middle of it all, I lose a lot of time doing overpainting in something that I do not like, such as the soldier's sleeve.
 
And after a few hours, I just managed to fix it in a way that pleases me, (that’s the last picture of the right).
 
The biggest problem is, the right figure for me, serves well as a start .... But it takes me hours painting and overpainting and then get a good "start" and only then start properly the illustration .
 
Does anyone have the same difficulty and could racionaly think of any strategy to do differently?

Thank you all!

[BrushNoir]

Perhaps it helps you to start out with some quick gesture drawings up front and get familiar with the pose you're seeking and then go from there. I know what it feels like when you keep fixing something. Everytime when I catch myself doing that I take a step back and trying to search what's wrong. You might be able to fix it easier that way instead of ''guessing''

[Amit Dutta]

Getting the fundamental structure and composition down right before you begin painting with detail is very important. It takes a while to build up skill enough to be able to paint and just wing it, getting the funamentals all right. Break it down more. Figure out the pose, structure, major design details and then start to go into rendering.

Have you tried doing linework first, instead of painting? It is quicker and easier to correct a drawing than a painting. When it's good, you can go all in, knowing the important details have been worked out. I see some scribbly linework. So maybe when you have a loose sketch like that, reduce the opacity a bit so you can still see it a bit, create a new layer and then do a tighter version of the linework over it. You can repeat this as many times as you like to get something worked out. Feng Zhu has a good showcase of the general process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKndZHlcgFE

In terms of this specific composition, you have a hard tangent at the face of the character and the wall, so make sure you create some overlap in some way. Also all the focus is going down that bright value section so it overpowers the comp quite a bit. You need to bring the focus back to the character's face. Maybe have the angle go the other way diagonally from the lower corner, leading up to the head rather than the other way around, or move the wall so we see much more of the background and the character head will pop out against it.