10-27-2013, 10:30 PM
@matkaminski. Thanks mat. The decision to keep the background the same was a deliberate choice. Part of the exercise was to create illustrations that worked independently of any background so they could be placed on a white page or pasted onto other promotional backgrounds, just as a client would use them. As for the heads, most are just made up but a few are inspired by random photos. Thanks for the feedback.
@kerm. I didn't do any value studies for these but I do for bigger compositions. I start with a rough line drawing and then lay in flat areas of mid value colour to make sure everything reads, then I just render it up, laying in darks first then the lights. I keep everything down to two layers; background and foreground.
If you're having problems with oversaturated colours I would recommned Gurney's gamut masking exercise and Sycra has a video here discussing the same method from a digital perspective. It forces you to restrict your colour choices. I would also suggest finding an artist who you really like, whether it's a bright, colourful style like Jesper Ejsing or the muted palettes of Donato Giancola and just colour picking some of their images to see what colours they use; I found this quite a useful exercise.
I know it's frustrating to keep hearing it but you just have to keep practicing. Suddenly things will click and you'll think, 'oh, now I get it', and then you'll realise it opens up a whole new level of stuff to learn. It never ends, so enjoy the ride ;) Hope that's of some help.
@kerm. I didn't do any value studies for these but I do for bigger compositions. I start with a rough line drawing and then lay in flat areas of mid value colour to make sure everything reads, then I just render it up, laying in darks first then the lights. I keep everything down to two layers; background and foreground.
If you're having problems with oversaturated colours I would recommned Gurney's gamut masking exercise and Sycra has a video here discussing the same method from a digital perspective. It forces you to restrict your colour choices. I would also suggest finding an artist who you really like, whether it's a bright, colourful style like Jesper Ejsing or the muted palettes of Donato Giancola and just colour picking some of their images to see what colours they use; I found this quite a useful exercise.
I know it's frustrating to keep hearing it but you just have to keep practicing. Suddenly things will click and you'll think, 'oh, now I get it', and then you'll realise it opens up a whole new level of stuff to learn. It never ends, so enjoy the ride ;) Hope that's of some help.