J. Sketchbook

[JhonnyVDB]

basic practise, need to improve a lot

[JhonnyVDB]

second session of color study

first 2 about 30 min and last one 20 min

[JhonnyVDB]

last study for today

[DoubleThink]

Hey man, nice studies!

Remember that things in the distance are lighter and less saturated. This is because there's a lot of atmosphere between the viewer and the horizon.

Keep up the good work!

Just noticed your filename. You're dutch?

[JhonnyVDB]

Hey man, nice studies!

Remember that things in the distance are lighter and less saturated. This is because there's a lot of atmosphere between the viewer and the horizon.

Keep up the good work!

Just noticed your filename. You're dutch?

Thank you :) will keep that in mind. I'm belgian hehe
tomorrow I continue my studies

[JhonnyVDB]

first portrait study

[JhonnyVDB]

second portrait study

[HiddenMyst]

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!

[JhonnyVDB]

/quote/

hey HiddenMyst, even if it is for 'older' work, I always, really always appreciate the effort for giving me some great advice. I try to keep the things in mind, but I have to admit, it's so hard to remember every single thing that makes a paint good. I often know the problems when seeing one, even of my own, but when I'm painting I might forget some things. That's why I started some color studies and also the portraits as a second study.

I thank you (and everybody else) very much for helping me out!
Soon reaching the first year of painting (think 27-07) and then I'll be posting the real progress. (some older work isn't on here, joined this forum a bit later).

[JhonnyVDB]

my first year of painting progress.

[JhonnyVDB]

daily speedpaints (facebook group) 30 min ea in here, wip yoga, turtle study...

topic speedpaints: can't win - light sword - undead gladiator - cocoon

[JhonnyVDB]

30 min speedy from today's topic: hurricane

take step back for this one :) focussed on thumb size mostly

[JhonnyVDB]

another 30 min speedy from one of today's topics: specimen in tank
only this one got out

[florentK]

keep it up. You can also make black and white value studies just before colors studies. it will help you to add more realism to your studies. try to find some inbetween values (more gray ones) . I m not a super pro in color but gray tones are very difficult to find but are the most interesting to apply.
For example for your last one , you have dark colors and very bright one. If you grasp some in between values it will help you to define your rock ground or even the wood.
like as said..i m not a super pro i m just tryin to help you :) keep drawing :)

[smrr]

Hey Jhonny! You have a great sketchbook here, the improvement is shining through, especially when you place a past and present piece next to each other like you have (wow!)

Haha I also got a punch of nostalgia when I saw that Spyro piece :') wonderful!

Hmm about this:

but I have to admit, it's so hard to remember every single thing that makes a paint good. I often know the problems when seeing one, even of my own, but when I'm painting I might forget some things.

I know what you mean... it can become incredibly overwhelming coming from only looking at paintings to actually painting yourself. I would suggest making some notes of areas that you happen to forget. Maybe before you begin a painting, check out other peoples work and look for elements that you tend to forget when you work on a piece and then kill it!

For the portraits, if you aren't already, I would suggest some facial anatomy study - Loomis/Vanderpoel/Bammes/studying from photos and then applying what you've learned to a digital piece? Or do these studies all in digital and then apply 'em, whatever way works for you! :)

As for the whole value shenanigans - here's a cool post I found 10mins before checking out your sketchy: Composition Basics: Value Structure. Really helpful stuff from grouping values like a baws.
(The whole blog site is brilliant!)

Also, yeah, what florentK suggested is a great idea, - and they don't have to be A4 print sized either :P just some good ol' thumbnails should help a lot for grouping values.

Keep pushing man, you have what it takes!!

[JhonnyVDB]

@FlorentK Thank you. I'll try to do more b&w studies and try to find those greys.
@smrrfette Thank you for the comment and the article! Very interesting. For the anatomy. I recently bought Art Fundementals from digitalpaint and there is a whole chapter about anatomy so sooner or later i'll get there and start drawing them on paper and after that digitally :D.

Today more studies and paints coming up! Have a great day guys and girls

[JhonnyVDB]

30 min speedpaint daily challenge #7
topic: warp gate

[JhonnyVDB]

something icey

[JhonnyVDB]

been a while
critique always welcome my friends :)

[JhonnyVDB]

some sketches