Blissful Morn (WIP)

[Tormented]

 

Trying my hand at brushing-thoughts?

[Night]

Not terrible, but nothing the least bit exciting, as you're probably already aware. 

 

I'd say work on a bit more before posting because there's nothing to really critique.

I say that because you've severely limited yourself, pretty much to the point that you can only reflect on what you've done and scrap it.

 

The reason for this is mainly due to the perspective, it's very limiting. Usually when you're just starting out it's very easy to stay within a simple field of view because you're less likely to fuck up, the issue with that is it's very hard to get good depth/flow/atmo by doing so. Don't be afraid to go with a relatively broad perspective, especially when attempting environment pieces. You definitely won't be able to fill it, and it probably won't look good your first few tries but that's beside the point, it'll help you get better at judging depth and positioning making it tremendously viable. 

 

As for the colors/lighting, I like the concept of the drastic changing colors, the only thing you have to consider is how the lighting interacts with the colors. Saturation and contrast playing a big role. As it appears your shrubbery changes from light to dark far too drastically, and again, the perspective isn't doing you any favors. 

 

Overall, not shit but pretty close to it.

Don't be discouraged, don't be against trying your hand at some more difficult concepts. 

[Aix]

Shouldn't you be turning Shape Dynamics on for the grass? The way that it just fades instead of tapering off like grass is supposed to really bugs me. Lens flares (or whatever those are supposed to be actually called) are supposed to be perfect circles... I think...

[Night]

Shouldn't you be turning Shape Dynamics on for the grass? The way that it just fades instead of tapering off like grass is supposed to really bugs me. Lens flares (or whatever those are supposed to be actually called) are supposed to be perfect circles... I think...

 

Not true. I've seen many hexagonal lens flares. 

And what the fuck is "Shape Dynamics"? You kids these days with your high-tech PS filters. 

[Aix]

That's true, but they aren't squashed ovals like what Tormy has there.

 

It's where the shape of your brush (for example the size) changes depending on how much pen pressure you use (or you can set it to change according to other things). GIMP has it too, though it's called something different. I'm assuming Tormy's using a pen tablet since his strokes fade off.

[Night]

That's true, but they aren't squashed ovals like what Tormy has there.

 

It's where the shape of your brush (for example the size) changes depending on how much pen pressure you use (or you can set it to change according to other things). GIMP has it too, though it's called something different. I'm assuming Tormy's using a pen tablet since his strokes fade off.

 

 

Pretty sure that's a feature of the tablet rather than the program. 

I remember reading about it when I was purchasing my Intuos. 

[chairman ali]

Common mistake beginners do: Not looking at references or paintings.

 

I suggest looking at landscape paintings and analysing them. Beginners generally tend to do whatever pops in their mind, nah don't do that. It's really nice that you're trying but you lack the proper understanding of space, perspective, geometry and anatomy practice (not human anatomy but anatomy in general, how to break things down to their most basic value).

 

Don't dread and think "I'll never be able to do that" when looking at paintings by masters. You will be able to do that with practice and time, don't rush and always do a few studies a day. Studies generally don't take much time when digital painting. It's basically like Alla Prima (italian for wet-on-wet). All you have to do is "speed paint". Find a couple of references and start copying them. DON'T use the colour picker to pick colours off the reference. Try to analyse the colours yourself, this will help you so much later on.

 

It's okay to fail, as long as you don't give up and as long as you assess yourself after each study. Don't take too long on each study. Maybe 40 minutes, 1 hour 20 minutes max. 

[Tormented]

Okay thanks for the advice (this was done with a mouse btw, there are a few shoddy brush markings, I'll be getting a Tablet at some point)

[.Rai]

Hmm, yeah, lens flares range from polygons of increasing sides to eventually circles, depending on camera aperture. Ovals are weird ones unless your camera is literally squashed on its side.

Totally agree with what Ken said. Classic advice there (although, being persnickety, alla prima means first attempt). Good comparison though. Going straight in, without having to time to figuratively 'dry out' while working on a piece really builds up your focus and your basics - in the time it takes to do a study, you're probably only getting down the foundations rather than meticulously working on details anyway.

With grass, you could find a preset grass brush, which can help, but isn't always perfect, or be really precise with it. Make sure you're using an absolutely fine, thin brush (a couple of pixels max.) to do foreground. Obviously, for backgrounds, you can reduce this to a general sweep, since you lose all the details out there anyway. Less relevant here since the perspective seems quite close.

[chairman ali]

(although, being persnickety, alla prima means first attempt). 

 

In Italian, yer. But as a technique, it means wet-on-wet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-on-wet