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UPDATE:





UPDATE ENDS ----------------






Took an old sketch and tried to turn it into painting I could perhaps slip in my portfolio but faced different problems this time around. Many people have been saying that my images look too dark on their monitors so that was one of the things I tried to fix here, another problem was the lack of design in the original.. the armor was mostly done as I went along, I should have done at least a couple of sketches. When I fixed the design, another problem revealed itself: the lighting. It doesn't have the same kind of dramatic "punch" as the first version and well.. here I am, asking for help. I really have ran out of ideas how to make it a succesful piece. The look I am after is between realistic and that of stop motion animations like Nightmare Before Christmas - with dramatic lighting. In it's current state I think it's quite the opposite, cartoony and non-dramatic. The idea is what I like here, that's why I would like to see this work out. The light level is fine I suppose, even though personally I would prefer a darker light level. Something like this:




The first sketch on computer (it's just a copy of the small scribble I had on paper)






That same old sketch coloured and refined and refined and refined.. I should've fixed the design at this stage but lazyness took over and I just kept painting without thinking.. refining is the easy way out, understanding and really seeing the problem is the hard one. One doesn't easily realize that masterpieces don't necessarily need more than a few strokes. (ok, maybe a bit more than that but not trillion like I have here ) Actually now that I think of it I have never fixed anything with refining, it can hide the problem for a while but when your skills finally reach the point when you begin see the real problem oh god does it look awful!! I'm writing all this and still I tend to nudge everything I do until it bleeds.. go figure




-Notice how badly the depth is perceived
-The lack of major lit surfaces
-Horrible helmet & armor
-Even more horrible Monster & Hand
-the silhouette is very badly structured

the list goes on...



Two studies made to compare the differences (It's easier to see past the details when there are none)

Study of the new version:




Study of the old version:




So far what I have here is a painting that doesn't work, I hope you can help me fix that.

Happy new year everybody! Thanks Martin for the suggestions, without them I would have dumped this eons ago.


(Suma: this may seem like a work in progress but I consider it done.. for now at least)
_________________
www.TimoVihola.com
www.MountainSheep.net

[Tinusch]

I don't think it looks bad, I just think there's far too much black. I think there are better ways of conveying darkness without using solid black, because it's very hard to read the figure as it is now. That said, I think what you have does look really good, I can see a lot more confidence and life in the top image than in your previous works.

[Matthew]

hey bg I am a big fan of your stuff and you have been really helpful to me and made overpaints so I thought I could help you out some, not sure what you think but I made an overpaint which is placed further down.

What I have learned is if you want to have a bit more dramatic lighting when using a lightsource from beneath it always helps to have the upper background behind darker than the other elements in the surrounding. I guess you were going for a more cold light-chrystal but orange works better with blue so I changed the lightsource to orange. Also, I like your usage of black but perhaps sometimes it is a little bit too black. I didn�t use any black in the overpaint and I also raised the brightness in the picture. The shadows was made with dark grey.
ok I made a lot of changes and I got a bit out of hand when I painted it cause I really enjoyed this painting, sorry about that. I hope some of my stuff helped since you wanted help.
ok feel free to beat me up now.



btw your site has helped me a lot, really helpful tips overthere.
Keep it up dude
Matthew

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(update at top)


Thanks a lot!! both of you, I got totally different vision of the scene after reading your posts and checking Matthew's repaint. I wasn't very confident that I could handle the anatomy but luckily it didn't turn out as bad as my worst fears were Now if I only could turn that into a finished piece.. hands, legs, perspective, foreshortening ... all in the same package, maybe in ten years


btw. Matthew, I'm glad you've found my presence here helpful. Your paintings have been a huge inspiration for me, there's something there that gets my inspiration going.. I have a folder where I collect all the inspiring work I find on the internet and there's quite a few pieces from you. Also it's nice to see you have the courage to tackle such big range of topics, I personally am very afraid to do anything beyond the realm of orcs and dragons


PS. (I saw the original pic on another monitor today and it was much darker than on the screen I painted it, this monitor shows clear difference between black and rbg value of 5,5,5 ; also between white and rbg of 250, 250, 250 so it feels wierd not to paint pics with full range... I have other painting that's the main piece of my portfolio but haven't posted it online because I fear it would appear practically black. I only show it on prints that I have checked by myself because only then I can be sure it looks like how it's supposed to)

maybe I should go paint angels instead monsters.. then again, the angels that leave this wacom tend to have blood spilled on them and their wings cut
_________________
www.TimoVihola.com
www.MountainSheep.net

[Matthew]

ah yea many thanks there Bg you are a cool dude.

I see a lot of improvements in the update both color-wise, rhytmically and anatomically, I hope you will post more of the progress steps here.

Edit - I just got a vision and this is just a what if scenario.
You know, it would be very cool if the character had to choose between 2 chrystals and it was perhaps one red as you are having right now and maybe one blue and he was like standing there and confused scratching his beard over which stone he should choose. hehe crazy I know but I had to type it down.
Very cool picture indeed and it gives you a lot of thinking too, perhaps the stone is evil, hehe.

see you and keep it up.
Matthew

[Frost]

Bg! I like the latest one a lot. Much better. Sorry if I don't give any help, I'm not sure of much these days. Cheers, Happy New Year, and nice to see you again!

[Max]

Awesome work BG!!!
I am also a big fan of your art. You are one of the guys who leaded me to digital art. Thanks!!!

I really dig that pic. The latest version is the best, for sure.
I would maybe add some more depth. The main character is perfect but some kind of sourounding (high mountains, hole,...) would make the whole scene more interesting.
His facial expressin is unique thought, really love that!!!

Keep up the good work.
I can't await to see more of your stuff.