Trunkin said:
Hmm, well, I'll have to copy Spurge and say I'm no art aficionado either. Heh. The only thing I can point out is that her pupils aren't quite centered the irises. They seem a bit on the small side(I usually draw mine too big) and her irises aren't entirely round. From this angle they wouldn't be perfect circles, but they would be a bit more elliptical. Eyes are also quite reflective, so the light should be more clearly seen in her eyes as well, giving them a more glossy, life-like appearance. There are some good youtube videos on shading the eye. There's one in particular that I found quite helpful. I might post it here if I can find it. I'm sure Marucha, professional/goddess that she is, could give you some better pointers. :) |
Bahahaha! Goddess! Yeah right :|.. there are better artists than me, I just take it very seriously and stay up to date and immerse myself as much as I can. You can learn a lot of stuff just by knowing the right places and where to go to... it's all good. That's why I shared the links in the OP. Look at CGhub or other CG sites out there... your head will spin, but some of those people only dedicate their lives to this stuff and spend maybe 9 hours a day practicing. It's insane. I have had a lot of practice in drawing from observation, so my strength is there... I am just beginning to really dive into certain things, like creating pieces from reference(s). You can't do everything from imagination, especially figures that are creative and dynamic, it's almost impossible without studying it over and over... but even then, you have to collect references before you start a composition to get a pose correct, paint the object correctly, etc.
I've stepped back from the forums a bit, so I hope people can forgive me a bit for neglecting this thread. I don't have unlimited amounts of time (I wish) and a lot of stuff keeping me busy... I also just drank some coffee, so if I miss something you wrote that was super important, please forgive me as it's probably the dyslexia from the coffee high.
If you guys want, I start a Ustream (live video feed) every once in a while when I paint, so if you wanted pointers for the actual painting process (in Photoshop anyway), I could give you a brief tutorial... I can tell you that it was a bit of a learning curve for me because a lot of the tools and videos that are out there now weren't available then. Knowing what I do now, it's sooo much easier... and of course there are so many advantages to digital over traditional. But if you can't get a piece to look the way you want it to look anyway, then you will be very discouraged... I very much enjoy painting digitally so I don't mind sharing that information. It's cool <3
@TruckOSaurus Personally, I think the piece you're working on is off to a really good start. The block-in stage is really done well. You don't have much variety in your brush strokes so it's making it feel flatter. Could be you're also not sure about how to blend/rendering yet, so that's not helping you maintain a variety of edges (sharp versus blurry,etc) .
You have the right colors going as far as I can tell (which is more important) but I don't have the reference so I can't compare (not as important in this case).
I think you could boost the warm tones in the front and cooler towards the back to add depth... you will see it in real life (especially figures/objects) and then of course reflected light . Some color choices or how much you use this effect to boost the volume is totally preference and is up to you. It feels a little flat, but part of it is the focus so close to the camera and then also there isn't enough colors on the edges farther from you (sides/back part of the dogs face) to suggest this is a 3D form. You could paint super badass fur textures, but if you don't have that color temperature shift and the shadows/form painted correctly, it will come off more like a design piece that is flattened versus a painting that is supposed to feel 3-dimensional. So you just have to think about what you can do to boost volume and interest... remember making art is about pulling off the illusion... it shouldn't resemble completely the photograph, otherwise what's the point. Think of how you can boost believability and use edges/color temperature shifts, etc to your advantage...
Look at some of the links I posted in the OP. A lot of them are very helpful... especialy the PSG Tutorial. Look at how they use saturated/warmer colors in the foreground and cooler colors in the background to effect emphasis and how your eye follows the forum... someone said this once and I think it's a good rule to follow... that normally your blackest blacks would be in the foreground and that in distance (mainly in atmospheric perspective/landscape pieces), these darkest blacks which would normally be full black close up, tend to fuzz out, cool off (like from atmospheric haze for example) the furthest they are away... you can add this effect in figures... and then also you have reflected light as well, and you can use that to suggest space... sometimes it's not as obvious in the reference and you may have to make some adjustments here and there for it to show up in your drawing/painting.
