[Roh]

Hello, folks I'm in need of some glass tutorials! I'm having a heck of a time getting the glass in the following pic to look good!



Any pointers would be greatly apreciated.

Thank You.

[ May 22, 2002: Message edited by: Vardelith ]

[Frog]

It's not really a tutorial you need, just looking at some reference might help

Apart from transparency, glass has reflections. You could look at a wine glass which has a similar shape to the hourglass you want to draw and study what happens on it's surface. It will reflect it's environment (particularly the lightsource) and also it will refract light, this is very noticeable along it's edges which will darken as a result.

The main thing you are doing wrong here is that you're not looking at any reference, you're just trying to make it up from your head. Unless you've really studied the subject this approach is doomed to fail...

[eyewoo]

When painting glass, people often tend to isolate the glass in their mind and think of it as a separate object. That works for non-transparent things, but glass seriously becomes part of whatever is behind it. Look closely at the subject matter... flatten it out in your mind and map the different color shapes. Near the most intense curves, the contrasts between light and dark are generally intense as well. And on top of all that there are the reflections...

As Frog wrote, you really need to work from a reference if you are not totally sure of how glass works...

[Roh]

Ya, I understand what you guys are saying, Just having a heck of a time with my rendition of what needs to be reflected and what does not!

I definately grab one of the wifes fine crystal and see what I can come up with.

I'll post some attempts here later today!

[Catfish]

While I'd hardly put myself forward as the ideal artist to copy in this situation, I had some reasonable success with this glass, for a first attempt.



The glass itself has no color - it comes purely from specular light. This is the sort of thing that really needs studying from life. The highlights are yellow, largely due to the light yellow wood I suspect. I arbitrarily chose to shadow the glass in blue, just to provide some interesting color contrast.

I'd remove the glass from your image, using it only as guidelines for your highlights. Perhaps blur the image behind the glass slightly, to give more impression of the glasses shape.

[eyewoo]

quote

Quote:

Just having a heck of a time with my rendition of what needs to be reflected and what does not!

You know... with glass, the reflections are the last thing to be thinking about. Pay more attention to how glass interacts with what is behind it... and then when you have that worked out, add the reflections....

[Vhy]

blurring will give the impression of a rough surface, but an hourglass is probably going to be pretty smooth and completely clear.

I recommend only distoring the image behind the glass and adding some specular reflection - wine glass should be a good reference.

[Roh]

Here is my next ok attempt at fixing the glass!

I've reduced the amount of actual color for the glass tried to smudge the background and incorporate the sand. C+C please.

I still have to find a wine glass I can test with!



I've also started adding other elements to this composition.

[Catfish]

Cool - much better. Although I'd maybe soften the triangular strips of highlights running round the edges a little.