Any advice?

[pabnav]

Hi guys!
I recently started painting environments and I feel like I have sooooo much to learn. Any advice would be welcome
(The last one is matte painting)

[Amit Dutta]

You're off to a good start, so don't be discouraged. I am predominantly an enviro artist so hopefully I can offer some advice.

I think you could benefit from really thinking about your compositions and starting to experiment with your "camera" angles more. For example all these environments have very similar horizon lines (lower third to fifth) and comps (loose diagonal from top right to mid left) and the viewer angle is straight-on to the horizon.
Also since the sky is given the most space in all of these types of comps you can use them to add to the composition rather than just being a plain backdrop for the midground shapes to pop out against.

It would be a good exercise to look at other people's specific work that you like and dynamic photos of environments and deconstruct the perspective grids and field of view to see what is going on. Often things like slightly tilted horizons and camera views can add a lot of dynamism to a rather plain composition.

I feel the perspective is most off, in your matte...that's not surprising because it can sometimes be hard to adapt photos to your image, and not let the photo dictate the rules. Always always be absolutely clear on your perspective before you start adding photo textures.

Generally I think your values aren't too bad, but could do with a bit more subtlety. You are heavily reliant on that midground against background shift, but don't really have a lot going on in the foreground. This reduces the depth of the images and loses some immediacy to the scenes.

Lighting wise I think you could benefit from more specific studies, but also keep in mind exactly what and where your light sources are and how these would map into accurate shadows on your forms. For example in the middle image, given the angle of shadow on the near column top and the time of day, you would expect a pretty strong cast shadow to fall onto the ground much further out of the canvas towards the viewer than you have put in.

Your colour palettes and choices aren't bad at all, so maybe just keep working on colour and lighting studies in general to keep adding more to your arsenal of skills

I highly recommend doing plein air work...the virtual plein air's that are all the rage now, are ok, but getting out there and studying real lighting conditions with your own eyes can't be beaten, so definitely do it.

Hope that helps and Keep pushing!

[pabnav]

Wow, thank you very much for the tips! I totally agree with all your comments and find them enlightening, specially about composition. I feel like I have so much to improve, but having some feedback like this is really helpful, and gives me confidence to keep working.

Thanks man!
(By the way, I really like your stuff on your FB page)

[Amit Dutta]

Thanks dude! I haven't posted anything online in at least 6 months, but hopefully will start up again soon. Keep working man, you definitely have an "enviro eye" I think :)