The VGChartz Art Creation & Gallery thread

[TruckOSaurus]

Marucha said:

@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.

Thanks for all these tips. I think I'll post the reference picture tonight to give you an idea of what I'm trying to reproduce.