ABANDONED HIDEOUT

[Caisne]

Hi Veneq and welcome! Make yourself comfortable. I really love the composition you came out with on that piece with the dragon. It has really good flow. The ray, shot at the castle adds depth, but the clouds behind it looks like wall of fog. You got to think about 1-2-3 read when doing epic scale pieces like that. Dark value foreground - middle value middle ground - and lightest background. Castle is a pint of interest on your piece, but its barely understandable and too small. Things got to occupy space according to how important they are.

Check First 5 FZD Episodes - Fang talks a lot about composition, 1 - 2 -3 read, point of interest etc

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbdyjrr...CjCsjAGFAA

[Jeso]

Hey guys, just updating, checking in... suffering... dying... living... falling in love with waitresses...





Hell boy study

And then try to apply from imagination.

[Veneq]

@Jeso - Nice work! Those leather studies are fun. It looks like you killed it on the colors of the muscle guy study! On the application of the Hellboy study, some of the main light (blueish white) is pretty intense on the opposite side of the face (the brow furrow area and the moth cheek area).

Aaannnd for me today....

Spitpaint warmup and a WIP of a katana wielding girl that can't decide what genre/era/world she wants to be in. Let's call her a yakzua girl or something?

On this spitpaint I was really trying to hit my points for a larger scene (thanks Caisne for the critique there as well).

[Jeso]

Hey Veneq, How is it going bro? Your pieces are looking solid, good composition. So what i can suggest is focusing on Edge control. That can really give your work a nice punch of finished goodness. So, Yea, that's something I've noticed lately.. its all about them edges.. have a good blend of lost and found and sharp edges. Try it out and see whats up.

[Amit Dutta]

@Nino: I am familiar with Mike's stuff, definitely cool.
@Veneq: Great studies and work ethic man. I second Jeso's comment on edges. The well spouted tip is to always squint your eyes when painting to see where the main edges and values lie or need to be tweaked. Also check out Richard Schmid's book Alla Prima. Fantastic treatise on values and edges and painting approach in general.

This one for the 2d Gnomon forum challenge. Bit messy and unfinished, but Planet Vulcan hopefully.

[Jeso]

Damn Amit, that's fucking sweet bro. There is one spot that really bothers me tho. Is that weird pointy dark shape in the middle of the composition, seems to be pretty far back from the foreground but the values are as dark as those in the foreground, its flattening things up. I'd either ligthen the value on it or take it out.
Also the lights are under the water yes? the city is under the water? just wondering, As im typing this I've also realized that, if that is actually a city... and that shape in the far right with lights and everything.. that compared to the human, it makes it feel like he is a giant. Or the city is that of a tiny species.. either way, its hard to read. the rendering is awesome tho, and you nailed the mood and lighting.

In fact, could you make like a mini tutorial on how to render rocks like the ones on the far left? To me is incredibly hard to render rocks and choose the right brushes. Doesn't matter if i just did a 3 hr study on a rock, i couldn't paint a rock so well on my actual painting from imagination.

[Caisne]

@Amit dayum dude...

[Jeso]

Yo Chikos, This is something i just finished. Critique plz?

[JyonnyNovice]

Hey guys~ been a while, I injured my hand so no drawing til I get over that. I'm always checking all the cool stuff going on in here though.

Jeso Great painting! I like the lighting on his face and the hair hanging in front. He's some kind of half-human half-demon? Reminds me of some kind of final fantasy character.

You got some perspective issue on his weapon though, the rings going around it make it look bent at the end, and how his hand is holding it, angled away from his body, doesn't match with how it's pointing. I guess you changed the direction of the ellipses below / above the horizon line? They should all be curving in the same direction, just the degree should increase a little as they get higher / further away towards the top of the pole (although probably not too much). I would keep the first set of rings near the blade and adjust the others going up to match, then his hand would look right. Also feels like a little too much contrast, kinda get this 'harsh' feeling on the eyes cause you got from full black to (nearly) full white going on in there.

Great stuff man! Awesome that you can stick with these pieces til the very end.

[Slapper]

Hello amazing folks of crimson daggers. I'm back after a couple weeks break. Had some ideas for DRAGONS!!!! So I drew them =)

[Caisne]

@Jeso ^^^ what jyonny said, and few more things from me - color of the skin looks to reddish pinkish unless you intent so. And rocks could use some more interesting shapes. Theres to much of boring negative space in the frame. Check Frazettas paintings, and see for yourself how he solves that problem - theres clouds, mountains, flying particles around.

@Slapper Hey man, welcome back. I suggest digging on a subject before uproaching to something youre unfamiliar with. You should check some lizards, their anatomy, how they live etc. Right now your design doesnt looks like its well thought out. And i told you this before - stop doing naked pokemons. Try to think more about the being you creating.

[Jeso]

Hey guys, thanks for the crits. Yea the skin is actually supposed to be red. Its a red dude. This was like a very character focused illustration so i tried to keep the background pretty nothing like. But im definitely gonna check my man Frazzetta's paintings. Fucking rocks man.. they are a huge challenge for me. Gotta study more...

[Amit Dutta]

Thanks guys.
@Jeso: Thanks for the crits. You definitely picked up on things unfinished. Gonna have to leave it at that for now. About the rocks, well there may be little point in me doing a tutorial for this, because it's not 100% from scratch. The general process is:

• Value sketch of form. Only local, core shadow, and highlights
  
• Overlay photo texture. I use lighten/screen/overlay depending on situation.
  
• Do a brightness/contrast filter to get the value matching
  
• Do a colour balance and/or HSV filter to get the colours matching
  
• That gives me a good level of detail and "Tooth" to paint on.
  
• Then overpaint. Depending on how much integration or re-design is required I overpaint what is needed, using the values and colours there already.
  

This is my process for any photobash integration. If your values or forms aren't right to start, more painting is needed. Oh I also get it right on one rock, and if I need more I just copy paste stretch skew and overpaint to create the other ones and value/colour adjust depending on the lighting situation. That way you get a consistent design feel over everything and saves a heck of time.

About your piece. Nice work man. Besides what others picked up, I found the lower leg posing really awkward. Almost broken/rubber leg stylee. Did a lineover for your pose. The stomach/pelvic area is pretty off as well, so redid them in red. The blue is the hidden leg, but I think it helps to draw the whole figure even if some of it will be obscured in the final. In terms of that spear, the blade does appear questionable as to it's material. Is it hot and glowing, or just magic? Material is important for narrative too.

[Caisne]

@Paul




Did a paintover for my buddy

[JyonnyNovice]

Seriously Paul... how the hell you do that? It's a page of chicks posing mostly naked but I just feel they are sweet and cute and lovely, doesn't feel sexualised at all. Takes some serious class to pull that off. Great stuff man ^^

[Jeso]

Paul.. those chicks... look deliciously cute. Which is great.. my girls.. look like skinny dudes with boobs.

[Caisne]

Study from morning stream

[Jeso]

So, Question for you guys. Is anybody in here getting paying jobs at the moment? Or is everybody in here trying to get their work to that lvl still?

[Gliger]

Hey guys, long time, Paul you are getting good, I actually got angry with myself when I saw your post.

A sketch that I don't know if I will finish, I drew myself into a corner with the layers.
One piece is so freaking awesome in the manga right now.



(the arm is messed up I know)

This was the original intention



Also messed up clothes I know :P, gotta practice fabric now

[Amit Dutta]

@Paul, what Jyonny said about class: Hell ya. Keep that up man, would love to see where these end up as finished pieces. Beautiful work.
@Jeso: I'm freelancing, doing a bunch of different things. Card art, online game banners, book illustrations, indie game environments, matte paints and concept work for a movie and documentary. Incidentally I'm in the middle of Hollywood right now for the next week so not much work from me. It's a such a superficial place, no way I would live here.

Quick people sketches from airport. didn't have long to wait, so that's all I managed.