Heyo devares. I, too, am a forum virgin. I would suggest looking into studying lighting a little more to push your realism. A lot of your drawings seem to have an unsure lighting situation and that causes the figures to feel out of place. If you look at a candlelight for instance, it falls off pretty fast compared to sunlight, moonlight, etc. Consider working with one light source at a time, that might help you ease into it as you're studying.
And like others have noted, hold back on the special effects and textures, or at least be conscious of where you decide to put them in the picture. With that said, let's see more!
Ah, we and our bloody virginity! Oh, well, and thank you for your advice, Hozure, it's good and precise, and I will apply it. What I really lack as well, I think, is good value control. And even Anthony Jones says it's THE most important thing, Nathan Fowkes too (like here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCWdzH4rxXI ), and seeing you being more advanced and kinda badass, I want to ask whether you know any free or not that expensive resources about vaule that I can use to learn.
Hhhheheey david, did a five minute paintover, just remember to bump contrast, focal areas, use more depth of field, blurs all that good stuff <3 cool stuff
Alright, so as usual, here's what I've been working on recently. There's a full project that took most of my time (I'm really trying to make a piece worthy of being in a portfolio, but I'm not satisfied with anything I did so far) called Lady of the Lake, a process of it, a real quick study of LOTR scene of Sauron and rough WIP of what I'll try to make into a series of women overwhelmed by total ecstasy. Cheers and would love to hear your thoughts! ;)
It's been a while. ^_^ Hope you're doing well. Here's a bit of my recent studies and projects. Also, can you guys please, PLEASE, help me with the last image in the lot? The one with a lonely girl sitting on a bench with a candle? Wondering how to push it further. And yes, speaking of my sketches, I know, my line drawing SUCKS, I just don't know to achieve the level of control I have over pencils on paper. But trying hard! T_T Cheers! :D
well first thing i think is, you can make her boobs bigger to overlap more with her arms. Blur the shit out of the background, make the edges sharper on the underside of the boobs and sharpen the nipples since the light there happens to be the focal point. Her stomach also seems kind of sludgy and formless, maybe emphasize some of the rounder muscles around the naval, and even shade the naval, make it noticeable.
Don't worry too much about the grass or the leaves or all that stuff looking realistic, nobody really looks at that stuff.
Maybe make her bigger on the bench, or move the bench around so she's not dead center on the canvas. It seems like you're shading with black too sometimes which is not good, it makes colors looks burnt and muddy, shade with somewhat saturated colors ;) Look at ruan Jia or Tianhau Xu for an idea of what I'm talkin about
maybe also take advantage of the back having a cool light source and push that into her hair, like around the contours or around her shoulders, and maybe darken some areas of the bench because it looks like it was just plopped in there and isn't interacting with the enviro
Hey you did a great job man! If you really want to learn PS do some really long master studies, and try to make it as exact as you can, especially from very accomplished digital artists, and you'll learn tons of tricks ;)
I think you could still add in some brighter color in the background (but only a little,) or make the trees a more interesting shape than just the kind of generic one. I think the biggest issue of the picture is just the story; She's naked holding a candle in the woods; I mean, it's nice and sexy, but what for, is she waiting for something or someone? Perhaps something could be watching her, maybe include that in the background or sth hehe
I tried making it brighter with some fog, decided it didn't work out, maybe another time - I love this kind of dark, mystical mood. About storyterlling - you're completely right, mate, when it comes to art language and expression I'm still a baby 'ga-ga' and not much more. Still learning words, I guess, but I plan on making some sentences real soon. Thanks for feedback, Fedodika, I do appreciate it. ;) Here's a gif process.
Update on Ciri's fanart and a quick study. I checked heads proportions and it seems to be fine, keeping in mind the fact that she's rather long-legged. :D (to tell you the truth, Fedodika, I have a mess in layers and will clean up proportions when I'm really done with this piece) ;)
I have a tip for painting soft skin like the ladies you draw, just use air brush because when you get out all these other markings like the kind of rake brush you're using it just looks weird and rough in my opinion
Just the tip. JUST THE TIP! (lolled over instantly) I won't deny it, Fed, I like it rough and weird with my ladies. xD But okey, let's see where being soft with them will lead me. Also, don't know whether you're familiar with a show called Archer, but I'm pretty sure you're gonna like it. I know I did. ;DD
Hey, your draughtsmanship and understanding of anatomy is seriously awesome. Also when looking at your GIFs I think you're painting process is really solid. I think you could benefit though from not overworking your paintings; when looking at some of the GIFs, personally I feel some of the process paintings are stronger than the final piece.
Try working with no layers, I never use them since painter sucks with them i was forced to learn to paint without them piling up. I could only use them to do an effect, but then i had to immediately flatten it or the computer would seriously lag. You'd be surprised how much you can get away with as far as flexibility without them using the Lasso tool.
Also see what in the image you can get away with not detailing, as in the picture above, you detailed literally everything, the grass, the ground, even the rocks in the distance, it's not necessary and it takes away from the focal point, which i think is the biggest flaw of your painted work
The composition is good, just lay off the texture brushes and try a regular round brush for a while, it forces you to appreciate every mark and the significance it has on the piece, looks at Rafa Zanchetins stuff he's a perfect example of what you can do with just one or two brushes
MannionJJ2020: Yeah, you're so right. Recently I was able to get some of my works be seen by a real pro, and he said the exact same think - overworked! I'm trying not to do it, but it's just so enjoyable. :D But will do, will do for sure! Thank you, and it helps a lot. ;)
Fedodika: Damn it, you're also right. Detailing everything like a goddamn noob that I am. :D And you won't believe what I've discovered recently... I mean, like fuckity fuck, for almost an entire YEAR now, from when I started using PS, I was working on my good o'l tablet WITHOUT THE FUCKING DRIVERS INSTALLED. Like, no options. NO ADJUSTMENTS. You know? Like, NO PRESSURE SENSITIVITY AT ALL. AT ALL! It's like painting with a mouse. And I was so pissed I couldn't get the sensitivity of a pencil or a charcoal that derives from pressure. Now I can use a single fucking brush and to wonders with it, cause every stroke is different, depending on how much weight I put on my grip pen. I laughed so hard you wouldn't believe. :D But to the point - now I can do what you're saying - do it with a single brush. :D But speaking about details in an artwork, what do you think about works like this? https://cdna0.artstation.com/p/assets/im...1478200501 https://cdna0.artstation.com/p/assets/im...1443928792 https://cdna2.artstation.com/p/assets/im...1443929094 https://cdnb1.artstation.com/p/assets/im...1443929366
There's a hell lot of details there, my friend. It's just good.
notice how much of the trees are just silhouetted, the cloaks are just one or two brush strokes, the foliage is blurred, the ground uses very clumpy brush strokes,
The trees furthest back on the right, are almost silhouettes, the shoes, the cloak.
Even in these very detailed pieces, not everything is very detailed, i encourage you to pay attention to what isn't being painted from now on, and realize that simplicity can do amazing things. Study some Anders zorn, it will really help you appreciate that phenomena. Look at how he paints skin and forests, since that's stuff you seem to do alot
Alright, it took a while, but I really took your advice to heart Fedodika and MannionJJ2020. Here are some results (that I'm not THAT ashamed to show ;P), so:
3 art sketches (that I try to do as often as I can), 2 WIPS and 2 finished pieces I've been working on recently. It's really amazingly fun to paint more with less, though I still suck at it. Richard Schmid's book on the subject, Alla Prima, is a book I've been longing to get my hands on for a long time now. Finally have it, at least in pdf., so you'll see me trying out those techniques soon enough. :D
Art Sketches:
WIPS:
Projects:
(processes for the last 2 are at my artstation page, feel free to check it out)
I'm also thinking about learning 3D, which could help me a lot with abstract shapes from environments, I wonder how to start. xD
