I'm here because of a crack lovin ( :D ) Fedodika and Dave's (Rapoza) tutorials. I'm a complete virgin when it comes to art forums, art groups and stuff like that, so bear with me (and be gentle!). What I want is to improve, so here's my attempt - I'm gonna post my current work and then I'll try to post new stuff every few days, counting on your eyes to see and point all the mistakes I make.
Wassup bruh <3 Hey, from the looks of it, you're using a lot of photo textures in your work; and while that isn't a bad thing, I think you could dial back the textures with a blur or something because everything is just too sharp.
Also try handpainting the textures with brushes, it forces you to think about the difference the marks are making on the image; Everything else is good, anatomy faces, colors good
Damn, too sharp? Well, apart from occasional photo textures, which are my own or royally free, (and heavy texture brushes) I sharpen the hell out of everything when finishing my work with filters. I guess that wasn't so effective as i thought. :D Alright, Professional Koala, challenge accepted - the siren that I'm working on now won't have anything sharpened or photographic in it! :D Let's see how it goes.
Yo, thanks for looking, so as I said I'm trying now to work with brushes only and keep things as loose as I can - which is hard. This is about 60% WIP of a Siren. Any advices as to overall composition, mood, color scheme, those kind of things?
Hey devares. Great start to your sketchbook so far! I know it wasn't listed, but I hope you do not mind me giving a bit of anatomy advice on your Siren. I understand it's only 60% done, but I thought I'd point them out before the image went further.
Because of their outlines, I am going to presume that the breasts and hands haven't been fully rendered yet. With this, be cautious on how dark and far you render the shadows as at the moment, it looks more like her breasts are two orbs that she's holding. Also with the breast on the left, it doesn't sit right in relation to the ribs. Rounding out the bottom a bit more is an easy fix for this.
On a similar note, since we are looking up at her, I believe we should see the underside of her chin and jaw. Also, the shadow you have placed on the bottom of her sternum for her ribs doesn't align with the bellybutton correctly and throws off her torso a bit.
In terms of colour, I would suggest making the highlights on her skin less bright. Even though she's come from water, she's looking very shiny. Alternatively, bringing your shadow skin colour to something a tad lighter might also help her look less muddy.
Otherwise, the colours are quite good; mainly in the ocean. And the overall mood is clear. You could always go a tad darker with the storm clouds if you really wanted.
Hope this was somewhat helpful for you :) Can't wait to see it finished
Heey bro, i did a little five minute paintover of your fire chick; just blurring a lot of stuff mainly. I noticed the entire image was in focus, and realism doesn't come from that. It comes from how you see things irl and they blur out from the focal point. So yea, just some blurs and added some blue contrast in that place you were goin for some cooler colors.
Also females shouldn't have such rough skin, it's not attractive, if you look at pictures of gorgeous women usually the skin texture is edited to a minimum. Just think less with everything, it'll save you time and add more realism to your work ;)
chubbycat: Thanks! It turned out that image there wasn't 60%, but rather 30% done. The entire scene became dull and cliche, and her overall design wasn't satysfying to me at all. So, I went berserk and what you see below is the result. I'm fairly happy how it turned out, even though I still consider working on it some more, so all and any advices are most welcomed. ;) I failed miserably to make her less shiny tho, BUT I explain it by her being in scales = like fish = fish's shiny as hell.
Fedodika: Yea, I know, I try real hard to think less. :D And what can I say, it's true that gorgeous women have real smooth skin, but normal gorgeous women don't usually burn with actual fire, so I thought - (I KNOW, RIGHT :D) - hey, maybe with vulcanic skin it could work out...
tbh Dav, i liked the one before more, it was more direct and striking; You're getting some interesting brushstrokes, but the wings aren't too impressive of a design, and the tail isn't very sexy. The image is lacking depth, like the circle she appears to be coming out of isn't 100% circular and it looks like you spent a lot of time adding the water droplets splashing out everywhere instead of thinking of the big picture; Idk man keep us updated though, I'm interested in what you're doing ;)
I think your pencil stuff looks like 9/10 and your paintings look like 6/10 or 7/10, I think whatever you're doing in those gets lost in the photo textures and stuff. If you wanna get better at digi painting, do some studies of digital painters man, or old masters. You really got the pencil stuff down, I'd wanna see more of that if anything :)
*sigh* Damn it! I still like my shiny siren though. :D It'll probably change in a few days, like always does, but hey. And no wonder my drawings seem better, I've been doing them for a while now. On the other hand, I've been painting digitally only for the last 7 or so months, so give me time! And yea, I'm studying digital masters like crazy, it's a whole 'nother world. But I need it, pencils alone won't give me work in the industry. If you're looking for true masters of pencil, try Allen Williams.
There's no one way to get into the industry with this; but just pencils alone can do it, easy peazy; You'd actually stand out more from what i've seen with a charming pencil style. Don't let the NOOBS on facebook or whatever fool you into thinking they know everything
I think you're trying to bake a cake by just adding more and more frosting.
Texture and details are the frosting too a cake. They are there to compliment what should be a fundamentally good cake. If the cake isn't good, you'll either be forced to re-bake it or you add more and more frosting to cover it up. The negative side to the latter option is that if you eat too much frosting, you start to feel sick. I think you're packing in more and more texture and details to fill in for the lack of drawing, form and light and if you want to learn, putting restrictions on details will set pressure on the information you do have to make it proper.
I would suggest that you go back and focus on basic line drawing. Trying to build upon a flawed base will make you develop bad habits to compensate for the lack of foundational skills and learning new things will take a lot more time. And don't feel bad about having to go back and study line drawing. I think most people on this forum need a greater focus on that subject.
Fedodika: You've made me realize that I actually CAN draw, yet all I did when painting was everything BUT drawing - putting blob here, putting blob there, and no cross hatching or drawing AROUND the form like I do when I draw. So now I think I'm getting it - draw while painting. There really is difference. :D Anyway, that's what I did in this study that took me last few days.
Tristan Berndt: I think I've heard that metaphor before, but one way or another - it's top notch! ;) About this frosting and textures, I didn't focus on them, I think - they usually took 1/1000 of the time that I put in 'baking a cake'. Anyway, you're right - restrictions on details, everything goes into fundamentals. And this is precisely what I did in the study below - all drawing, no textures, no photos, no nothing, just 7 brushes and trying to create form.
I also post 2 studies I did some time ago, with processes, you may find it helpful.
PS: Fedodika! I think this will help you in your studies a lot! It's free, so go ahead and download it. https://gumroad.com/l/accuracy
Gettin serious with this, some movie screenshoots studies I did from the movie Atlantis - amazing art style and the backgrounds are just awe inspiring. Also it's hard as f*ck, but if it's not hard, we're ain't learning a thing, do we. ;) More to come.
Also, here's a reference for that second picture. And notice, my fellow artists, what that cute girl with white hair is touching. Some easter eggs, aren't they. xD I laughed my ass off when I realized what I'm drawing. :P
This is about 60% WIP of a Siren. Any advices as to overall composition, mood, color scheme, those kind of things?
