Texture trouble

[SundryAddams]

@mannyhats I really am.

values good? Is it..time?

[Amit Dutta]

Can i ask what she's supposed to be doing? It's not particularly clear. Also I think the perspective between her and the background are at odds with each other.

I'm in heavy procrastination mode, so I took your piece as far as I would for a basic but solid value sketch that I would be happy is resolved enough to start rendering up and doing more design work on. Having said that the values could use more work, but generally they are laid in.

I changed the pose a bit though it may not be what you are going for , but I wanted it to make more sense. This seems to be like a cheeky pinup image so I kinda went for that.

I resolved silhouette in the hills a bit more. I tried to accentuate the comp using the shapes and perspective. I also added a foreground rock element to ground her and add scale etc.

I renamed my layers on the side with what they are and what mode I used. For the figure, once I had the sketch done, I just flatted it quickly so the silhouette was clean. It was then so easy to duplicate the layer (you would use a clipping layer in PS) and lay in shadows and lighting on separate layers on the figure. It's easy to change if set up this way. I even put in some colour on a secondary lighting layer because it is so easy to colorize the layers to anything you want, to have a play with palette too.

I just used a single locked layer for all the environment layers to do some basic form gradients, but you could easily go in just like with the figure and use multiply layers for shadow and screen layers for lighting. This gives you ultimate flexibility later on.

You should also be resolving lighting at this stage. Resolving values generally means picking your lighting scheme as well. It doesn't have to incredibly detailed, but you will need to transition from the abstract flats to solid forms at some point, so it may as well be at this step.
I noticed you use a hard edge brush for everything. I tend to block in silhouettes with a hard edge full opacity, but generally use a soft brush or gradients to lay in the initial basic form value shifts, mostly because it looks more realistic quickly, and takes less fiddling than using a hard edged brush. Of course you will have to use a hard edge for things eventually, but it's just so much easier using a soft brush for this.

Basically, and once again, take your time on this stage, and don't move on until you have it looking right in all ways but the detail. If you set it up and get it mostly right, rendering will be an absolute doddle. You can just have fun with all the extra bling bits that make a piece because you're solid on the fundamental image working.

[SundryAddams]

My original "thesis" has change since I've started this image. It was a cheeky pin-up on the outset, now it's more religious icon. When I was made to think more critically, this became more sort of the imagery I want to convey.

I was looking at a lot of Falero and he has this other worldly quality to his figure which I want to nic. So that's where all the flouncy, twisting and gesturing come from.

[Amit Dutta]

Cool, I've never seen his stuff, it's pretty sweet. The things that strike me most about his images are that his compositions are very very strong. They have to be because for the most part his backgrounds are often very simple and abstract but heavily designed with shape and flow in mind. They are also mostly in natural settings.
His figures are mostly naked or loosely draped and are carrying symbolic things and are lit predominantly by a soft diffuse glowy type of lighting which add to that otherworldly quality. And yes the poses are definitely more romantic than illustrative.

I just got all that from looking at his images. . So I think you should be aiming to work those elements into your value sketch so that they are explicit. You need to demonstrate all that in your value sketch so that the viewer gets it. That's the real test of your success.

Anyway I've suggested a method, so I think you have a basic idea of how you can play with ideas at this stage and hopefully push it on to a decent folio piece. I might bow out now, because I've already procrastinated way too long, but I'll check in on updates if you have them, though probably won't give as much crit. Good luck!

[SundryAddams]

Thanks, then.

More solid than last pass but still looks awful. Think maybe I should just move on.

[SundryAddams]

Alright third pass, I'm just concentrating on making a successful image rather than a "great" one.

wip

[Amit Dutta]

Did you change up the premise again or same premise different comp?
Whatever it is this one looks balanced enough. It's very symmetrical so hard to get wrong. The values and shapes are much better in this iteration. I'm a little unclear what the purpose is but I guess that may become clear in the detail and the lighting you choose.

[SundryAddams]

Still stuck at thumbnail stage, but I think they're looking better designed.

I think my thesis is just going to be sci-fi/fantasy portrait.

[SundryAddams]

Alright I think that I'm at a good place, now all that's left is the rendering. Thanks to everyone who looked and commented, next time you see this will be in the finished section!