07-06-2013, 07:04 AM
Hey, enjoyed looking at your work! you've already been given some great advice but I feel I can add a thing or two.
As a general rule, to really brig depth to a picture you soften the edges of things the further away they are. Only in the most recent enviro are you starting to soften things. Keep that in mind. Also, the colours in a scene tend to become more desaturated and turn more into the ambient light of the atmosphere (it's easy to throw out the things get more blue-gray and lower in contrast, but this is all relative - if the sky is red the things pushed back into atmospheric perspective would turn towards red instead etc.)
As a counter to Eduardos comment: "try to make everything shadow or light, otherwise your lightning will be boring and your colors muddy.
Also, never use pure black when doing shadows. "
First off, you don't have to make everything either light or shadow. You need to, however, group your values. Which is probably what he means. If the sun is shining strongly there will be very clear castshadows of everything in the light. And the contrast between light and shadow will be really strong, and these situations are ideally not good for painters. It's difficult to work with that light in a scene.
On an overcast day when the sun is covered with clouds we get a much softer and neutral light. Colors appear stronger because the light is falling softly and evenly, and there aren't any extreme lightreflections that would mess with our eyes. The shadows are also softer and not as high in contrast.
When it comes to muddy colours it's all in relation to what you surround your colour with. That the colors will look muddy because of the way you light your scene is misleading.
Richard Schmid states that: "There are no 'beautiful' or 'ugly' colors. Muddy colors are simply mixtures that are the inappropriate relative temperature for the area in which they are placed."
A good example are skintones. Most people mess them up with using to cold colours in the shadows, when skin often has very warm shadows (due to the blood bouncing back the light, and due to skinpigments) and colder lit areas.
This is also why Eduardo says never to use PURE black when doing shadows. It will mess up the temperature relations of your colours completely. I wouldn't get stuck on the never, no rule about art is absolute. However, if you don't understand temperature you most likely won't be able to use black to your advantage.
Lastly, you should go back to studying basic perspective. It will help you a lot. Your scenes appear flat and the objects in them are out of proportion to the level of depth they are at.
You're off to a really good start! keep working it and I'm sure things will fall into place :)
*edit* Forgot to add, this feedback is aimed towards your earliest enviros. The latest studies are looking much better. Again, keep it up!
As a general rule, to really brig depth to a picture you soften the edges of things the further away they are. Only in the most recent enviro are you starting to soften things. Keep that in mind. Also, the colours in a scene tend to become more desaturated and turn more into the ambient light of the atmosphere (it's easy to throw out the things get more blue-gray and lower in contrast, but this is all relative - if the sky is red the things pushed back into atmospheric perspective would turn towards red instead etc.)
As a counter to Eduardos comment: "try to make everything shadow or light, otherwise your lightning will be boring and your colors muddy.
Also, never use pure black when doing shadows. "
First off, you don't have to make everything either light or shadow. You need to, however, group your values. Which is probably what he means. If the sun is shining strongly there will be very clear castshadows of everything in the light. And the contrast between light and shadow will be really strong, and these situations are ideally not good for painters. It's difficult to work with that light in a scene.
On an overcast day when the sun is covered with clouds we get a much softer and neutral light. Colors appear stronger because the light is falling softly and evenly, and there aren't any extreme lightreflections that would mess with our eyes. The shadows are also softer and not as high in contrast.
When it comes to muddy colours it's all in relation to what you surround your colour with. That the colors will look muddy because of the way you light your scene is misleading.
Richard Schmid states that: "There are no 'beautiful' or 'ugly' colors. Muddy colors are simply mixtures that are the inappropriate relative temperature for the area in which they are placed."
A good example are skintones. Most people mess them up with using to cold colours in the shadows, when skin often has very warm shadows (due to the blood bouncing back the light, and due to skinpigments) and colder lit areas.
This is also why Eduardo says never to use PURE black when doing shadows. It will mess up the temperature relations of your colours completely. I wouldn't get stuck on the never, no rule about art is absolute. However, if you don't understand temperature you most likely won't be able to use black to your advantage.
Lastly, you should go back to studying basic perspective. It will help you a lot. Your scenes appear flat and the objects in them are out of proportion to the level of depth they are at.
You're off to a really good start! keep working it and I'm sure things will fall into place :)
*edit* Forgot to add, this feedback is aimed towards your earliest enviros. The latest studies are looking much better. Again, keep it up!