Environment - Landscape Prep [ edit J]

one last quick speed on the mountain landscape.


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Thanks for the brush tip ! i tried it, that's kind of cool for hard geometrical and angular shape/texture.
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R : i tried to find a less rounded brush but it wasn't really good, Can you give a screenshots of what kind of brush you use for rock and all ?

i worked 1-2h more on that picture, have some mixed feelings about it.

but glad that i took the time to really work the composition and values and did not rushed into making details and stuff.
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Sure thing, here are the 2 brushes I use the most (the diamond brush I use for literally everything, the rectangle more for rocks and buildings and stuff) You can also add default PS texture for a more rocky brush

I really like where you went with this piece ^_^ I guess, the only criticism I have is the rock-hill at bottom left, it looks very flat. Maybe if you made the white highlight rim sharper and thinner? Unless it is supposed to be a wall - then I suppose it's fine. Everything else, values composition and texture, I like :)

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Ok, did the same as you, 10 min, 1 and 2 are from photo ref

3 and 4 imagination only.

this is a good exercice for values and quick painting.

i'm adding one image ( as part of the exercice, around 20 min, as an quick application of what we are working on.

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J: These are nice! Just one suggestion that I read lately - for rocks and hard/sharp objects (like the mountains, or the bridge) try using harder, angled brushes, it can give a sense of crisp edges. Just something to try out if you have time. ^_^

Environment - Landscape Prep [ edit J]

So for this exercise I figured, if I don't know how mountains look like, how can I paint them from imagination? So I took a photo from the Internet and copied it while keeping in mind what I was painting, then tried to paint a similar image without any refs. I tried to keep each image under 10 min.

Obviously copying from photo is way easier. I think I need to work on rock the most (esp how its texture changes with its form and grain) so that's up next.

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hey this is really good !

values are great, maybe a little too dark on the first one (in the back ground // more atmosphere ?) .

You can put some highlight on the vegetation/mountain to differentiate from the fog .

maybe you can put some more time in those like 15 -20 min ( total ) to work on the texture you wanted .

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Thanks man, good point about the darkness. I'll try that highlight advice the next environments I do. Also I'll try to spend some longer time for tighter details. (My weak points, I'm a pretty impatient person so I lean towards speedpaints too much)

These are a few I did from imagination this morning (before I came online) Lots of things to fix. I'm trying to work more on city scapes, for some reason natural landscapes are easier to paint (more room for error I guess vs the straight edges of cities) though a little less interesting xD


I can tell the composition for the second one is *especially* bad but I don't know how to fix it..

Now I'm off to actually go in and take your advice on detailing a little more. Also work on rocks .. So much to do and not know how to start :(

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hey, i tried to help you on that :

for the first one, you have a big black rock in the middle that catch the eye too much.

i changed some of the clouds to guide the eye to that castle/city in the moutain.

and added some contrast to the city , lessen the black on the sides of the castle.

oh and i added some direction to the hill on the left.

i did all that with the touchpad of my laptop so it is just a guideline for you ;)

i like this one actually.

just changed the direction of the stair.

and put some black on the left front side for the same reason as before

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J: Thanks dude!! I definitely see the improvements, especially with the dark corner on the city. I actually kind of like it too (just that it's so crappily done) I might go in and work on it a little bit more. Meanwhile some rock thing that I did (photo ref) I didn't really finish it but it helped me with textures faraway and close up

Feeling kind of demotivated, but your comments remotivate me, thanks ^_^
-Jul 30 update: Tried to 'finish' it a little more, and also did a second one, just to get used to working in sets early:

I posted a comment on you personnal blog about the other city scape you did.
As i said, those ones are kind of cool and interesting.
the second one is a little bit abstract, and messy but has a very good energy.
the first one kind of remind me of Darkcity or Stalker (movies).

-Must look up those movies! hehehe

Arm anatomy and posing __ Exercice 02

some crapy speed skectches from photo, not really satisfied as you can see ;)

Nice! I think these are a great start. Some parts look awkward/flat but I'm sure you already know that, but really otherwise it's looking good. Can't wait to see some more xD

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really quick posing about a few minutes each .

i think i'll work on the hand because i'm not good at it right now.

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J: These are looking great! The only thing I might suggest, is to use a harder darker brush and try making sweeping lines for confidence. Something that I was told, recently, and it worked for me in getting things to look right faster and more efficiently (with less line) Personal preference, but it might be worth it to give it a try. (Of course erase this later if you want to ^_^)

First thumbnail (edit) __ Exercice 01 [correction pt 3]

last correction for those ones, i repaint some of the details, change a thing or two, and add a smart sharpen to lessen the overall blur.

i did a little before/after to analyse what's good and bad.

i 'll start on nature landscape, as you did, right now.

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second batch for this one, those were good advice you gave me !

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i'll be starting with two rough i did this morning :

those are meant to be viewed very small ( half size).

first one, about 30-60 min, too much black and messy i think. contrast a bit strong i think.








second one : 40 min : softer and distance ( fog ) is better i think but i am having a hard time to design and paint at the same time .

(edit)

there is a third one : 30-40 min : i loved the movie " the mist " ; whaat i didn't love was painting fog and houses :

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J: I especially love the first and second one, I think you make great use of light and environment in those. The third one, seems to have a very interesting story (fallen over bicycle, low sun, something at the end of the street..) but it doesn't read as clear as the other two to me because

1. Composition .. if you look at it far away there are no big shapes, movements and color separation (mostly a uniform grey)

2. (This is also evident in your other two drawings but a little more pronounced in the third one) thick 'foggy' lines where it looks like you painted over it at least a few times (ex the line across the houses delineating the roof) One confident dark stroke would help get rid of the 'rounded' feeling and help it seem sharper and more professional, confident. Well, this is all just my own opinion, hopefully I helped a little. ^_^

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yeah i think you are right. i use opacity on the brush too much, so i need to do 4-5 brush strokes to make a visible line. i correct the roof as an exemple just to check this out.

i tried to re evaluate my composition i think it lacked a point of interest.

here is a new try , just to see how it works.

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There are, just a few small things I see that's weakening the composition.

1. The road leads out and below, making the viewer's eye slide down out of the page

2. The mailbox is almost right in the middle of the paper almost as if it's a secondary focus point.

3. The relative darkness of the mecha ship object stands out a little too much, it'd be nice if there were other areas of darkness to balance it out.

4. Bottom left corner leads eye out, too.

Great things that you did, though: left and right top corners are great, they block the eye from escaping and the faraway buildings are especially nice in leading back to the robot, great atmospheric change too.

Just one more thing, this can be good or bad, but the house on the way right, looks like a face! D:

First post !

So this is the first post of the Secret Concept art Society.

This blog has for purpose to be a training ground for aspiring concept artist.
We will be posting work, rough, thumbnail, ... ; give critics and review to other's work; and most of all, to motivate ourselves.

So let's create a new work group !

Some guidelines :
- we can try to organize this blog by using labels.
- we can edit other's post ( for critics, paint-over, help,...) to avoid creating too much posts.
- we can work on two things simultaneously like one main subject and a second ( easier or faster, to avoid the blank page and lazyness problems).

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first session :

1 : Landscape

2 : Human anatomy

end : 8/4/2011