[gowansy21k]

Sorry if this is a double post, but i posted this image around 2 weeks ago, and i got 2 replies. I need a lot of crits and help!

I'm 15, just got into digital art, and I'm going on to study Art & Design (Multi-Media, concept art, animation etc.) so i figured since i have my wacom, i can get a big head start

[ken]

very expressive lines, very nice. try playing around with the brush settings a bit more to get a bigger variety of paint strokes to make it look more natural.

-Ken

[GatoNegro13]

very good! I really like the line style! I would try to make more variations in the background to give more places for the eye to explore. Maybe shading variations and texture

[Joshua Albers]

It looks like a good start, but there are a few areas that I think could make it better.

1) The drawing looks really nice, but the lines really flatten out the image and cut it up into separate shapes instead of connected forms. I think drawings are absolutely necessary for naturalistic paintings, but when they are used as an overlay for an image, you end up with something that looks like you merely colored in the shapes. They might be very elaborate colored shapes, but they look flat.

2) The shading is a little confusing; The base of the tusk doesn't look like its actually attached to the head but rather floating on top of it. And the big bold shadow on the underside of the neck doesn't make sense to me visually; why is it so dark compared to the other areas that are in shadow?

I am not trying to be harsh or over-critical; I think it is a really good study, and you certainly seem to have a lot more talent than anyone I know at the age of 15. If you keep up the good work, by the time you get to art and design school you'll be unstoppable.

[gowansy21k]

Thanks for all those who have replied, and thanks for the crits Joshua! its nice to be able to see where i've gone wrong...

Maybe you can help me on something i have trouble with painting, what options should i have ticked when using the paintbrush?

I normally have all them ticked. But i have trouble with it... I want all my images to have smooth shading, like spooges etc.

Instead you can see every brush stroke due to the opacity, for instance, when i do a stroke, then lift the pen off and do another stroke. You can see both of the strokes very clearly, due to the opacity... To make this better, i've done example:



I want my work to look coloured correctly. Instead of those horrible lines everywhere, i couldnt even do that damn tutorial posted in here with the cylinder and cube! Because it looked terrible

[kheemo]

really nice man) it look just fine .. I like your brush style..it give a cool effect. reallistic painting look cool too but I like the illustration style you use )

ps: sorry my bad english

[lazydead]

I hope a paintover is ok...I have to use a mouse...

Overall it is pretty flat. Pick a direction for the light source and let the light express the volume of the object.
A great thing about subjects like elephants is that it lets you go crazy with texture. Elephants are VERY wrinkly. Carve into that head!
Let the texture flow over the form of the object. Just like when you grab a bedsheet and all the wrinkles point towards your hand the wrinkles on a body point towards and bunch up in tight areas.(corners of eyes, mouths...) and likewise if you were to pull the bedsheet over your pillow the sheet would smooth out conforming to the shape of the pillow (like over cheekbones or uhhh...buttocks).
I hope that made sense.

BTW, I don't think that the shadow was too dark, you just needed to finish with the rest of the forms. It fits in well once it is balanced better.

Were you using a reference photo?

keep it up.

[ November 19, 2001: Message edited by: lazydead ]