[BooMSticK]

Hi all
this is a painting I'm finishing off these days. It's very close to being done but any last minute comments would be great...

It's actually a painting that has gone under several revisions over the last year or more and started out very far from what it ended with... It something I'm doing for myself - I'm on a finishing spree these days, trying to get all of those unfinished paintings done before starting new ones.
,boom



[ March 09, 2002: Message edited by: BooMSticK ]

[Ko]

Nice one BooM!

It's been a while since I've seen your stuff around! This one is really good.

The creature's "rhinoceros horn" looks a bit like polished metal to me (reflective)... is this intentional? The lower arm of the rider seams a bit too short. The same goes for his lower leg...

I'm looking forward to more stuff!!!

- Ko

[BooMSticK]

hiya Ko

Yeah it's been some time. I got some free time now so I try and get some paintings finished... Have seen much from you either lately, eh?

about your crits. Yes, the iron horn of the beast is intentional. It wasn't at first, but I kinda liked how it turned out..

I think you might be right about the arm being too short. Not sure about the leg though... I'll test that for sure!
,Boom

[synj]

make the snow into sand and the creature a lizard and you've got starwars hehehe

i think its neat either way it just reminded me of it hardcore

[jayceeL]

I think this is awesome (du har for fed en stil!!!) I really like your painting style. I think I would do more to the face of the rider/warrior as people tend to focus on faces.

JayCeeL

[Frog]

Very good, i really like the whiteness of the clouds and snow, gives the impression of a sunny day on the snow.

My only crit is that i would like to see more of a sense of light and shade on the beast. The guy has light and shade on him and it gives him depth, but the creature doesn't and so looks a little flat, particularly on its face.

Very nice work though.

[kad]

Sweet..

thats a real nice concept.. only thing i may add to it would be some highlights on the creature and the rider. the snow would be super bright and they seem a little dull next to it.

[louis finazzo]

awsome, very well done. if i would do anything else to this i would put some snow (like you did in the legs) in the creature's fur. the way the feet go down into the snow is done really nicely.

[Jezebel]

This looks great! I hope you don't mind but I did a small overpaint... now mind you this is more personal preference than anything but I thought I would show you anyway.

I think that your piece could look a little more cold, right now everything is so saturated that it doesn't look like this guy is having a very hard time travelling. And maybe he's not - you know better than me But I tried to reduce the saturation in places and give it a more chilly atmosphere... added some haze and snow and all that junk. Also added some snow to the beast. It is just a quick thing, but I think it gets the point across. The downfall of course is that yours is more crisp, but in my opinion something shouldn't look too sharp in a snowstorm (like in my version).

Anyway... enough ramblin' =)

[BooMSticK]

thx all for replying. You are really helping!

synj - yeah, I know. It looks like something from starwars. Not entierly my intention. And actually the first version was looking alot like Keith Parkinsons' 'Northwatcher', Don't know if that name rings a bell? Glad you like it though
JayceeL - thx! er du dansk?
Frog - Right! and thx!
Kad - Right!(again)
Louis Finazzo - more snow. OK - will do!
Jez - Thx for the overpaint. I think you altered the scene completly. Your stormy scene was not what I had in mind - rather a nice sunny day in greenland or something It's a really nice suggestion you did, though, just not the way I want to take this painting. I do find some interesting touches that I want to 'steal' from your paintover ie. the snowpowder cloud that the beast and the snow that covers the beast inbetween the fur. great stuff! Thx abunch Jez, you tha' best!

update will follow...
,boom

[BooMSticK]

painting updated...

Thanks for all your comments, people. It really helped. Ceenda also posted a great paintover over at Lumental...

Comments still appreciated!
,Boom

[ftgjcf]

cool pic. The last ver. is excellent. looks like a delightful, crystal clear day :-) I like that
I thought the clouds were faar too sharp and solid when I first saw the pic, but I'm starting to like them a lot now

[Cos]

Hey boom, this is excellent work man, one of my favourites of yours to date. last one definetely an improvement.. cold breath from the creatures nostrils you added also a nice touch. The only thing that looked abit odd is the clouds and mountain(?) behind them seem abit too hard? but it's not a major thing..

[BooMSticK]

geelimp - thx. glad you like those nice fluffy clouds. I do too!

Cos - Hey my friend! Glad you like... What bothers me though is you refering to the 'jet' cloud as a mountain... Jet-clouds happen in cetain weather conditions in highaltitude... hmmmm - think I should remove it or change it?

Others see the jet-cloud as a distant mountain too?

,Boom

[Cos]

Just took it for granted it was a mountain.. I would need to see a reference pic of a jet cloud to judge really, before saying whether I think it should be altered/removed or whatever... :/

[henrik]

BooMStick> First, it looks really great. I like the picture very much.

Second, I did a paintover, hope you don't mind. Apologies if this is not what you had in mind, it's simply just suggestions. It looks like you went for a more colorful/cartoonish style here, so I tried to stay in that area.

What think is your biggest problem here is the cloud/sky value. Values seem too separated, which brings the transition to the foreground. Let it stay where it belongs.

Also I like the distance, the sense of scale. I tried to emphasize it even more, since that is the images strongest point.

As some of have mentioned, the creature doesn't blend in as much as one would like, so I made it a little more "exaggerated" in my version.

[Torstein Nordstrand]

There's really no need to work more on it, it's a fine piece already. That said, since we're trying to learn something by picking it apart, here's my biased view:

1) Open sky brings unhindered sunbeams that will probably force stronger saturation on the figure, and make it more yellow. If one tries to keep the mellowness, one has to either cloud the sky, or make a darker gradient on it, to visually explain the flatness.
2) I'm just receiveing critics myself on this point; with all the nice crispy details you've put in, the frontal figure looks very still. So, the snow bursting around the beast feet doesn't seem to fit, imo. Just a thought.
Finally, while the overpaints are very nice and interesting takes on basically the same motif, and I really enjoy the issues raised, I think they're very unlike the restful mood of the original. I suggest staying on your path, as the image really came across to me. Thanks

[BooMSticK]

cos - well, my 'mountain'cloud might be a tad too cartony

which brings me too...

Henrik - oh... thats nice Henrik. I really like it... But, I think you lost the sense of scale somehow. See the little raider in the left background. and compare that with the windows in the tower... I think that puts the scale off. What you did with the sky is soooo nice. Spot on I think. But again, somehow the crystal clear sky is lost. I really wanted that crystal clear weather feeling. The ground is GREAT! love those little rocks. I will steal that

Again, you rock Henrik. The mattepainter in you really is getting out these days. it shows! thx, again!
,Boom

[angle]

i liek this one a lot, but I think the fur is too dark and should be lightened up to match the environment a bit more...i love the texture on it tho...

also, I think he needs to be snorting some puff of air...er you know the hot breath meets cold air think...

-angel

[Cos]

Boom, henrik nailed pretty much what I meant in that paint over. The clouds and jet cloud seemed almost as solid as the snow in yours, (probably why I thought it was a mountain). More transparencies and background haze would probably make it more clearer IMHO

[SpeeDFX]

I want to learn how to paint like this in photoshop, can someone pleae tell me how to do this? like.. what size brushes and opacities, things like that. I really want to learn

[mythwarden]

Wow...this is an extra good painting.

The clouds sitting on the horizon mixed with the pure blue skies above are probably what I like the most.

The guy's creature is really cool too. He reminds me of a "Komondor" sheep dog.(The fur anyway) It's the breed of dog that is used in the old Coyote Cartoons.

The Hungarians would place the dog into a herd of Magyar sheep so that predators would mistake it for one of the helpless creatures.

They say it was so effective that it was responsible for wiping out the wolf in Hungary.

It would be cool to see some type of alien live stock somewhere out in that field that looks similar to him but not quite the same thing.

Something he's watching over?

Very cool Boom.

-myth

[BooMSticK]

Torstein - missed you post when replying to Cos and Henrik... Glad you like it! The repaints are very nice I agree, but as you say they have a different feel to them. In all of them I find touches that are or could improve my version though. Thanks' again!
Angle - thx. The breath is there, but maybe not visible enough?
Cos - yes, I think you (and Henrik) are right. I will tone it down a tad.
SpeeDFX - This was done in Painter, but I guess you could paint this way in Photoshop too. It would require fairly small hardedged-brushwork (prefereable custum made brushes) and a bit of smudgeing (which is far inferior in Photoshop to smudgeing in Painter). But with abit of patience I believe it could be done.
myth - Thanks alot Acutally I don't know what they're seaching for... the large Komondor dogs maybe?
,Boom

[BooMSticK]

ok... this will be the last update to the image. Still, fire away comments if you have any!

Removed the large 'mountain' cloud and put in some lighter areas on the beast and rider..
,Boom