hueeeeeeeey will! uuuh i really dig your monster stuff; i remember starting out i went through your sketchbook the first time probably about 2 years ago; i was really inspired needless to say. I think it's really interesting you're studying Rasta Zanwhootawesome's work, he is a hell of a draftsman in many regards.
I also thought it was interesting you were studying one of hannes really really old portraits; I really like the brushwork in that piece now that i mention it, so i can't blame ya there! I do think your later and more finished creature pieces look quite fantastic, if not professional quality, or at least extremely close to it. One thing i highly reccomend you really focus in on is faces as they seem to be a weakness compared to the rendering side of things. Just draw the shit out of em from ref and apply immediately, you know how it works.
Though i do think if you want to get your work more noticed on the creatures, really focus on that and the design side of things. As you mentioned with the lava dude he is generic and no one really cares for generic stuff for more than 5 seconds or however long it takes to scroll past it. Basically i reccomend finding things that inspired you as a kid what made you really love painting creatures, and study that, over anthony jones or thomas mahon. While those guys are great, everyone wants to be them, so you're in a tighter squeeze for competition.
Find things that make you, you. study them, build up ref folders. I think it'd be best if it were things that aren't in this community, like facebook or deviantart; like movies or games you love, even books. That stuff will shoot you way up there in design, because no one's seen it, and that's where the jobs are; at least i hope >.>. There's gotta be something wierd you're into; abuse that wierd thing, the thing you really love.
Sup mate! yeah it was such a shame that we only stayed on liverpool for a single day, next i time i go to the UK we should get some beers. :)
As always, i usually see some of your stuff on facebook, but i have missed a ton! your lineart is strong dude, already pro concepts there.
Btw about your IP, get on it, now. Seriously, i think its the best way to push yourself forward and have something nice in the process. Big plus if its something concrete, an artbook, a comic, a game, etc.
Keep posting dude, looking forward to your projects!
Hey man great progress! I think it might be worth while to work with textures a bit more in your studies - there seems to be a lot of airbrushing going on, which is fine for showing form, but you might be loosing on opportunities to show what material you are renderings. Maybe it might be worth doing some material studies also ? Keep fighting the good fight man, lots of hard work over here.
Jesus Zombie Christ. I have been inactive for 2 months and you become a damn monster master! I dont even.. You are really doing the whole study and apply thing really well. Much better than I could ever do it.. I really need to start doing studies again..
Bottom right on the storm bringer is probably the best thing I have ever seen. I need to see that rendered! Also, when do you stream? I would love to catch a stream one day.
Fedodika - Thanks for the great feedback mate, that made me feel better. The lava dude was done last minute so yeah, I played it way too safe -_- Though your right because ive found myself loving creature and monster designs way more enjoyable than any other stuff. (Part from environments maybe, because I love losing myself in a good environment lol) Thanks again mate!
Ed - Thanks dude! And yeah, next time your around the uk let me know and we can meet up for a few beers for sure. And as for the IP thing, well that's awesome advice man and its also awesome to see your living by your own words. Your latest work for your project has been getting better and better and its been awesome to watch. So thanks for the inspiration man. And that's, as always mate for the kind words and constant support!
Kimonas - Cheers man and yeah your totally right. Thanks for pointing that out and its been something ive been making an effort to focus on since you said that. Thanks again dude!
jaik - Haha, thanks mate. And your one to talk. You became fuckin environment god in a matter of months lol. As for the storm bringer? I'll flesh it out especially for you dude :p I need to start streaming, ive not done it yet partly out of fear and bad circumstances lol. Would be awesome to shoot the shit sometime though dude.
Dam its been a while, ill keep chat to a minimum this time and just post a fuck load of art. <3
studies
Ill show imagination stuff at a later date. For now heres some stuff for an ip im working on. So for a while now ive had an idea for a new portfolio thing which is to do a series of character/creature champions based on the zodiac. I'm hoping to push myself into getting 12 of these done in total, completing each within a week or 2. So to start this series off we'll begin with ARIES. If your born between March 21 - April 19 this would be your champion. Typically depicted as the Ram and with the element of fire, Aries is strong willed, spontaneous and very ambitious. With him being a fire type so is his personality and he can be quick to anger though loyal to the end. He will fight for a cause to the bitter end, often supporting the underdog.
"Typically depicted as the Ram and with the element of fire, Aries is strong willed, spontaneous and very ambitious. With him being a fire type so is his personality and he can be quick to anger though loyal to the end. He will fight for a cause to the bitter end, often supporting the underdog."
Thanks for the compliments .. LOL ... Aries here ^^/
I must admit the last line fits me quite a lot.
Oh man these are such a treat to look at. Can't wait to see more updates from you as usual :D
So its been just over a month since I last posted. Ouch :S Sorry for the delay. Though to be honest a lot has been happening recently in my mind and in life which has changed a lot.
I'm going to get this down in writing so I can gain some clarity to myself and use this sketchbook as ive always used it, to share my thoughts and document my journey, for my myself and for anyone else who can gain insight from It. This going to be long so I apologise in advance :p
So i'll start from the beginning, as ive mentioned before in previous posts ive been struggling more and more with being able to maintain a strong consistency to improving and grinding like I used too. It troubled me no end and I also put it down to me just becoming lazy and undisciplined so I buried it and tried to keep pushing. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get that fire blazing like it used too. I used to wake up early before anyone else at home and be working before everyone got up for work, then worked long after everyone went to bed. I got to a point where I wanted to start blending my meals so I could drink them while I painted to up my time production. It felt good though and I learnt so much in that time, not only about art but about myself, on how to achieve goals, about enduring the ups and downs, and building a strong mind. I suffered from depression before this and was on medication and I was able to completely eradicate it during this time.
My goal was always simple, get really fucking good and the work and money will follow. The idea of painting for a living, even if it meant doing other peoples ideas was awesome. I knew I could do it too, so it was all just about enduring the grind.
Then the day finally came where I got a few commissions and it quickly became a job. Although I was painting which was cool it was just that, painting. It just became a repetitive task to gain the end result. I could have just been painting walls and I didn't believe or care about the ideas. The pay was laughable too which just felt like a kick in the balls to be honest.
"Nevermind though, when I get better the jobs will get better" I told myself. Though the first seed of doubt had been sown. I endured with my own stuff and subconsciously had backed away from the freelance. Especially after I'd sent my stuff out and heard NOTHING back. I just figured I need to get better, which I probably did and still do. I was researching about freelancing and seeing the rates people where working for and was struggling to comprehend how people do it. And even the higher end jobs like lotc didn't seem all that great to be honest. Especially for what they require, super rendered everywhere with chicks big boobs. Really, when artist start out, is this their ultimate dream? And this is higher tier? A few more seeds had been sown.
Then a couple of months ago, I was doing my shit job which ive been doing for so long to finance me while I tried to make this art thing work and it just sent me over the edge. I worked roughly 14 hours mauling heavy furniture and got about £50. Best bit is my boss walked away with hundreds. And this wasn't a one off occasion. I'd had enough, and something had to change.
I was sick of living a poor mans life style. I want money. There I said it. "Dirty sell out! There's more important things in life than money! Money wont bring you happiness!" Are just a few of he things I told myself, but really I want wealth. The final seed was sown. Ive heard fabled tales of artists who make 6 figure salaries a year but ive never met one or even heard of one.
So that next day after the long work shift, I started listening to business podcasts, interviews, reading articles and reading/ listening to business audio books and just started absorbing info from everywhere and anywhere. It felt refreshing and inspiring and already ive learnt so much. I used to think business was all maths, spread sheets, and people in uniforms bullshitting one another. In truth it's not too much different from learning any other skill. And money itself is interesting. It creates so much emotion and dictates something completely different from one person to another. A lot of money is more about phycology and mind set compared to figures and maths.
Anyway, I'm drifting off topic. The point I'm making from this is over the past couple of months, from researching so much stuff in business ive come to learn some things which have changed my mind set and opened my mind to completely new avenues which were always there, I just couldn't see them. I'll try to bullet point the main ones.
1, It's not about the money - My ultimate vision as an artist was to try and impact the world some way. This sounds grand but I figured I could make change doing the one thing I loved more than anything else and the only thing I'm half good at. I wanted to bring something to peoples lives, which a simple 9-5 job could never do In my opinion. This is partly why I pretended i didn't care about the money, because my ultimate goal exceeded myself. The truth though, is more options are open to you with money and wealth. An example, Bill Gates or Richard Branson who are able to donate millions towards charities. Not only this but having money gives you more opportunities to invest in causes you believe in and brings a higher standard of living for yourself.
2, The higher the value, the larger the wealth - So in simple terms, if you want to make money and be rich you must provide equal amounts of value to the world. Bringing value to peoples lives is what ultimately makes you money. You think about the biggest companies or products, like apple, facebook or amazon for example, then look at the amount of value they've been able to provide and you'll start to see how this works. Think about the things in your life, you favourite services/ products and you'll see the pattern fits the same bill.
Now the thing ive been thinking is, how much value can a picture provide? It seems very limited to me. Is this why artist tend to make so little? Is there something bigger or more valuable that can be provided from this?
3, freelance VS business owner - Leading on from the previous point, you can outsource yourself to companies to contribute to games and films right? That way you contribute to something much bigger right? This is defiantly true and a worthy cause I guess if the game or film meets your vision. Also how will this benefit you financially? On the short term it will I guess in wages and freelance rates, unless you have shares in the actually license of the game, which if it succeeds will grant you revenue. The point is as a freelancer, YOU are the source of your income. You stop working or go away for some time, the income stops too. On the other hand if you create a business which provides a product or service then eventually you'll be able to take a step back and all being well things wont stop. If fact, if you build your business successfully then it'll continue to grow even when your not there. To me, building something like this, which scales organically and reaches more and more people in a positive way seems much more to my original vision than creating pictures does. Which takes me onto my final point for now I think...
4 - The race to the bottom - I heard a story which i'll try to quickly share with you now. A women creates a bunch of original t - shirts which originally do pretty well and so she wants to grow her business. She takes her t-shirts to retailers who agree to sell her t-shirts for a percentage of the profits. Awesome she thinks and reaches out to more retailers who do the same thing. Though what eventually happens is the retailers lower the price of her t -shirts to compete with other retailers selling the same shirt. The others do the same. Before long, her t-shirts are costing her money to make and her business is finished. The reason I bring this up is because ive found freelancers in this market are exactly the same. You only need to go and have a browse at the rates on deviantart to see a rat race of people fighting over one another to a race to the bottom with rates. What the point? Well the mass of artists doing this is partly the reason. Simply an oversaturation of people meeting the demand. Again goes back to the value being provided and why rates tend to be so low.
What's more is a lot of the time you are dispensable. Crazy to think of an artist just being another cog in the machine because we romanticise art as being unique but sadly its true. Your just being paid to paint x, y and z most of the time which if you cant do, next artist can just do it. If you don't believe this then just think about all the artist you know who paint chicks in armour with (insert weapon here). Are you unique? If someone was looking to employ you but couldn't are you irreplaceable? Remember your ideas might be unique to you but your being paid to paint other peoples ideas so at this point the only value you can provide is your painting ability. You've just become another cog.
So this has gone on a while now, and it's crazy how putting this down in writing like this clears my mind slightly and reveals truths I didn't even realise about myself. My point is I'm at a point now where I don't know where to head or what to do. I love art and creating designs, especially creatures and monsters! But I want to provide more, I want to start a business which reaches more people and provides more value for the world. I guess I just got so caught up in the whole 'grind for improvement' that ive lost sight on the bigger picture.
Now if you've made it this far then I've got to congratulate and commend you lol, and also thank you for taking such an interest in what ive got to say that your at this point but bear with me just a bit longer. I don't want this to be a post which brings people down or gives the impression that i've quit, because that's not true. In fact quite the opposite! I'm just more conscious of what I'm creating now and the reasons for it and looking for new ways to be unique and indispensable. My goals have shifted now too, even if I don't exactly know yet what they are now. I just want to bring as much joy to the world as possible and explore more of what life has to offer.
Thank you for everyone who has supported me on this journey this far, I want to give more to you all so if you have any ideas on how or what you would like to see from me in the future then please let me know. I'm planning on continuing my business knowledge quest and eventually im going to share absolutely everything with you guys.
Oh and here's a bit of art
studies
mind
And Taurus, who didn't come out how I'd have liked at all. Might have to rethink these a bit more.
hey will, yes I've come across this too, like... an idea goes sooo far as far as being a creative person. I think it was Will Terry who had a video about being good enough to be an illustrator. He showed a bunch of examples of people who basically drew stick men and made plenty of money because they simply had an idea that people saw valuable. A lot of the time i'm really torn from what i should be doing because it seems like companies that do hire illustrators look for portfolios that are geared for certain things.
The biggest problem of asking people what they want to see is just that; people don't know what they want to see, and they can take it or leave it. I just find that if you consistently show what you yourself want to see, people tend to gravitate towards that.
Like on crimson daggers for example, people here want to see improvement; they don't really care if you're a beginner or more advanced. Look at your user control panel of all the sketchbooks and who posted on them last, only a few have replies from other people, why? because we want to see improvement, and improvement is a very slow thing the more experienced you are. when someone has a leap of improvement, (or makes a big post) they get a few comments.
There is much value to us artists in improvement as we see that as impressive and being closer to getting work or living our dreams whatever that means. We all want to be inspired, and inspiration is value; reaching an absurdly high skill level like ruan jia, or rigney is inspiring, therefore it is valuable to artists and other creative people. It's like sargent's artwork, the subject of it isn't very interesting but the fact it's so beautiful and well executed makes it inspiring and worth sharing. the people who work in the industry as illustrators, the pros, are just better than the amateurs... hands down, even if their stuff is generic, it is more accurately executed, more beautifully rendered.
So if you ask me, improvement is a path we all must walk down if we don't have the next cyanide and happiness. another thing that's really hard is being honest with yourself, like really honest in comparing skill, but to be honest, looking at your stuff i don't really know what to say. It's very good, but it doesn't quite inspire me, if that makes sense. Like some of the sketchbooks that have gotten crimson stickies, they are inspiring because the amount of work and improvement is visible and that in itself is inspiring.
And yes we should aspire to create our own businesses, it's easier said than done, but we have to admit that we haven't really been doing art that long compared to the pros, no matter how many hours we put in. It's kinda strange though... It's like the art i make doesn't feel worth anything until oops one day i jump over the skill wall and suddenly it's worth $1k or more an image.
Through all this idunno, i wish i could grind like i used to... maybe i should, i just wished i had a crystal ball that will tell me exactly when things will get better and will pay off financially. I just wish an angel would tell me i'm wise in what i'm doing and not wasting my time. Either it'll work out or it's all a really mean joke
Hey man, cool update, the last 2 pages I really enjoy your linework and sketches really nice work, keep it up :), nice to hear you studying the business side of things also.
That post is gold… thanks for sharing your experiences, knowledge and thoughts with us. It's a super tough business, and standing at the very beginning myself, it's good to read these things, kind of bracing myself for impact… sorry, not much to add right now, other than "thanks" and I'm curious to read whatever else you'll learn on your journey conquering business :)
A lot of the things you put up there is good. I am of the same mind, I really actually enjoy the business side of art and learning about all things business. Its great to be able to paint a chick in armor fighting a dragon, but when you can rub 2 dollars together and get 3 then you are really on to something. However, thats not me saying its about the money. But more about the mindset.
I don't quite agree on the topic of freelancer vs business owner. I think this idea of a business owner being someone who can build something and walk away and have it earn money for you or continue to grow is a popular opinion, and a lot of people hold on to it (including people much smarter than me) but my view is different.
You are basically talking about being an entrepreneur (that took me a ridiculous amount of time to spell right for some reason) and this means that you are always going to be the first to arrive and the last to leave. And if you arent, guess what? Your business is dying. I see this in my part time job (I work for a single owned business, pay is great, but its monotonous), the moment the owner lost passion, the business started the slow slide down. Its still earning him money, crazy amounts even. But its like a tree, if the tree is not growing: it's dying, even if it still looks healthy.
The other thing is that the business is your passion, your vision. You can pay people to work for your vision, but you cant pay them to care. And to really flourish, it needs to be run by someone who cares. (Apple, imo, started dying the day Steve Jobs did. It sounds harsh, but its true.)
Thats not to say that what you think is wrong. As I said, its much more likely that I am wrong. But I think that hoping for a passive-income generated business is a pipe dream that a few too many people are smoking, and very few people achieve.
However, in saying that, I dont think this is a bad thing. Everyone who has read Time Ferris' 4hr work week has that as their goal. Work as little as possible and enjoy the finer things in life. This is great but have you ever taken time off? 3 days and I start going stir crazy. 7 and its a struggle to get out of bed. I think I am safe in assuming you, and most people here, are the same. Because you NEED that desire to get this far with art. Its a thankless mistress, who takes everything and very rarely gives anything back, except in the moments no one is looking, except in the moments that no one else cares about. So I dont think working is bad.
This was a long way around to getting to my point, a similar one to what you have been contesting with these last few months. I too have fallen off the wagon and am struggling to really work out what I want to do. The conclusion I have come to is that the last thing I need are more goals. Thats contrary to what a lot of people will tell you, but it doesnt seem to make sense to me any more.
You want more direction? Make a goal. Make a big one, a far off goal that you can steer towards. Find your mountain.
That works great.. 10 years ago. Now all mountains are covered in mist because of this thing called the internet. Which leaves a lot of people asking 'How do I get to this goal' The response of people who have climbed there mountain? The internet is the answer, all you need to know is there. Thats how I did it, by some way or another. Well, the internet is full of opinions, most of which illicit the same feel-good feeling when reading them but when looked at as a whole are most of the time contrary.
So what I think is that a lot more focus has to be on the process and systems you are going to implement to achieve the life you want. I think if you focus more on your ideal life, then the other things will slot in to place. And most of the time, the ideal life is nothing more than feelings. I feel like in my ideal life I want to be able to help a lot of people, maybe in the game industry, maybe not. I feel like I want to earn a steady paycheck, that would make my life far more ideal than worrying about my meal every day. These feelings can then guide my every day life, and my smaller milestones, rather than this really distant, but very specfic goal that most people will tell you to do. If I want to help people, I can do some pro-bono work for small indie companies to help with their pitch art, because a good quality piece of art will do wonders for a pitch.
Compare this to the goal of becoming the very best, (that no one ever was *cue pokemon theme) artist most in demand in the games industry, a valid enough end goal, then I would *have* to do some pro bono work, for no name indie companies, so that I can *hopefully* get some god damn attention and finally get some eyes of people who are important enough to give me the work I *deserve*
Obviously this is altered view is exaggerated, but it helps me illustrate what I mean. I guess this was just a really long way of saying: Its about the journey, not the destination.
Fedodika = Cool post mate, and thanks for your input and honesty. As apposed to this -
"Through all this idunno, i wish i could grind like i used to... maybe i should, i just wished i had a crystal ball that will tell me exactly when things will get better and will pay off financially. I just wish an angel would tell me i'm wise in what i'm doing and not wasting my time. Either it'll work out or it's all a really mean joke"
I think it's real simple mate. It comes down to 2 things, are you happy doing what your doing? What does the ideal day look like to you? what do you do in that day? If that vision meets something similar to what your doing now, or is working towards that, than that's no waste of time. And as Steve Jobs said, you cant join the dots looking forward, you have to trust in something, your gut, your heart, that the dots will join further down the line. Or something like that lol :p
And secondly, is your work going to help or effect people positively? This is something ive come to learn very recently, this is just as important as the first point, though as you mentioned, if your providing inspiration, leading by example then of course your proving value. Thanks again for your words of wisdom mate.
JonHop - Cheers man, im glad you like! Ive been getting much more into line stuff and i'll drop a link below of a tumblr ive started which Is going to contain loads of creature line stuff ;)
Lyraina - Thanks Lyraina, and I'm glad you found some positive use from it. Ive been reading tons of articles, blogs, free audiobooks etc and if you ever want links to these I can drop them your way if you like? Just let me know, and i'll be sure to share any future knowledge I learn on the way ;)
Jaik - Sup dude, that post is awesome mate and I couldn't agree more. Dam I don't even know where to start lol. I'm gonna get back to this tomorrow mate, when I can give it the justice it deserves.
Dam, it's been about 3 months since I last posted 0_o urgh, im so sorry and im going to be making a more posts from now on. My plan is every Sunday.
I'll keep this brief for now and just show some art and things ive been working on.
heres a tumblr I started with creature sketches being uploaded about 3 times a week - http://will-warburton.tumblr.com/
Ooooh, update, yay! If you have any interesting links I’d be happy to read them, always good to be prepared and informed.
Nice new art, cool creatures as always :) And your lines… sigh, so jelly of lines of that quality, especially digital.
Crit time: I think you’d profit of doing some color related studies - your designs are always cool, but colors sometimes look a bit dull (that sounds worse than it is - sorry!). So for example try not just going darker for shadows, but also think about how temperature changes depending on your light source, play with slightly different hues and not just brightness, put some more saturation where light meets shadow… depending on your surface (or creature’s skin) maybe there’s some subsurface scattering going on, or some bounce light affecting certain surfaces. Many ways to go about this, if you’re struggling, I suggest doing some still life studies or master studies of artwork that gets these things right and has a similar style to what you’d like your work to look like.
Rama - Cheers as always mate! Perspective and 3D are on the top of my to do list.
Lyraina - Sorry for the late reply :( I'll drop a load of links in your skbk, after ive written this!
And thanks for the crit! Its interest that you mentioned this because ive noticed recently that i struggle with colour and dont really understand it. I'll take your advice and start some colour studies. I've tried still life's for colour in the past but i struggle with studying colour doing that because the highest saturation on ps doesn't even come close to how much my eye can pick up. So i start just making it up lol. I'll be sure to do a few master stuies though ;) And thanks again.
Jaik - I suck and if you even end up reading this i'm really sorry for the late ass reply.
Things have been kinda crazy and im sure they have been for you too. Hope the mentorship went well? It's interesting because what you mentioned last time about falling of the wagon and not needing more goals? I can empathise with this. Though ive kinda gone the other way, filling note pads full of goals, to do lists, ideas directions and its all 1 big mess lol. The business thing still feels right though i cant throw off this feeling that things arnt right. Its hard to explain, like i cant visualise my future like i used too.
That being said, the recent conclusion ive come to, through trying to work out how i can contribute most, is to provide to something greater through games and films. (Basically be a concept artist lol) but its changed pretty much my whole mind set on what and hpw i draw and paint.
Also, ive been noticing that the people who gain decent wealth in fields like ours is those who have big followings and fans. Check out loish's kickstarter for example - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/102...the-scenes
And people say there's no money in painting lol. Though im beginning to think that a large part of this isnt so much about 'being so good you cant be ignored' but more about how well you can market and stand out in a way which attracts followers.
I know this isnt the best reply to your great response but i just thought id try and share some stuff ive been thinking lol :p
Also, on your point about passive income. Your right i did get the fairy tale idea from Tim Ferriss lol and also Alex Ikonn but this guy inspired me too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7peZ0AB8RM
All the best mate, and sorry again for taking so long to get back to you. Hope your well and take care buddy.
And heres some art, some creatures
and i rendered one
ANd ive been trying environments -_-
apply
AAAAnd my latest piece thing, still trying new techniques and stuff
Holy Mother of Art, that was a phenomenal morning read, Will (and all you guys!)
I'm pretty much feeling the same as Lyra in her reply to your post - lost for words, but really grateful for sharing your feels and insights with us! (also just lost for words because I'm terribad at articulating what I want to say 90% of the time :D. Although Jaik and Fedo really summed up my view on the sitch).
So yeah thank you, Will and holy damn this art your posting love those creature sketches like unnnnfff!
Hmm, don't forget the beauty in edges (poor edge choice also tend to make colours a bit muddy) and you'll be on point!
P.s. I would also love some podcasts links and whatnot too! #businessmindisbestmind #thankyou
#IwishIcouldgiveyoumorethana+rep
sketchbook | pg 52
"Not a single thing in this world isn't in the process of becoming something else." I'll be back - it's an odyssey, after all
your creature designs are great. gonna take some time and go back through the rest of your book to see if I can grab some of your approach to improving!
If you struggle with painting still lifes, that’s *exactly* what you should keep doing until you get it :P
If you feel like you need more saturation than PS can give you, you could try some visual tricks to make it look more intense… i.e. keep saturation pretty low in most areas and when starting out (maybe in the middle ranges), and only use the highest saturation where you *really* need it. If everything is pronounced (be that through saturation, contrast or something else), nothing will stand out.. so that might be one way to go about it.
Another thing you can try is using hues that are different from your main color (easiest example is using a complementary color) to support the main hue. If you have an object with a strong red local color, maybe the shadows will pick up some cooler blue, or you’ll get some purple in transition areas.. or maybe it’s sitting on/next to a blue object.. affecting each other. A bright red ball will look more red if it’s surrounded by something else. …actually, let me just attach an image of what I mean… these principles are not always as obvious in real life, but it’s still good to look out for them and/or use them if you feel like it would enhance a painting.
Also, cool update as always! The three creatures with the glowy eyes are creeepy *_*