[Matthew]

Hey guys, been ages since I posted something here.

I have started to sketch on this soldier and a common problem for me seems to add life to scenery around a character, like objects and such.
So what I am wondering here is, what do you guys think I can add around him?
I have tried some different scenes, summer and this winter one.

paintovers, C&C and anything u can think of will be very much appreciated.
thanks in advance.

no ref used.



see you

[Feral]

Just a couple of questions first

Why has he got no feet? Is he stood in surf or snow - this will help put him in context.
If it's snow then you could cange your palette to make it feel cold - also it would allow for a bleaker surrounding - snow covered trees etc.
It feels more like surf, from you palette choice. In that case you could have a cloumn of soldiers disembarking or something like that (most recently think of the soldiers in 'Troy' before the attack on Troy assembled on the beach.
If you don't want to do all that work you could always just reduce your canvas/image size to just the soldier.
Some things to think about.
Just try to put him in context for your story.
Hope this helps

[Matthew]

hey Feral many thanks for your comment. It is supposed to be snow but I have been experimenting with other surroundings.
I really like your tree idea there so I added some trees to see what it looked like.
I Made some other thumbnails before me bedtime cause I can't really decide the surrounding. Think I like the idea with the snow the most so far though.

thanks again Feral, keep the ideas coming if you have more.







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[Bandados]

Perhaps he could be standing on a battlement or the stern of a ship...
just quick ideas, I like it. keep us updated

[Feral]

If you're going for snow reduce your colour palette - the trees would be dark - almost black - at the moment it looks like he's been chopping them down whick is fine if thats what you want.
I cant help but think of Napoleans attempt at Russia - lots of really cold soldiers there
These are just ideas mind.
Keep going

[Matthew]

ah yea many thanks here guys Bandados and Feral, I think I will go with this winter one and some trees and some wolfs in the surrounding. Maybe a sled could be added too, not sure where though. I am thinking of more soldiers aswell, we will see.
I resized the old ones so the download won't take so long.

Here's me latest, gotta go for some lunch and som oil-painting now so I will get back to this one later this evening.
Keep add more advice if you have them guys.



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[AndyT]

I like that one most:

[Matthew]

I managed to put some more time in it before Simpsons.

hey Andy, yea changing background is very good I do it very often actually to set the mood right.
u are right about the structure there on the character.

Changed some things and his right leg is still bothering me, any tips?

Think I like this one the most at the moment so I am experimenting with different textures and surfaces now and see where I can take this piece.
thanks again Andy.



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[Matthew]

Turning the wolfs into pumas instead, have to dig deep into me brain to remember the puma features.
Still need to tweak some things.



later

[AndyT]

In that image I think the palette is weaker.
Maybe the color of the pumas should reappear in the trees and on the figure somewhere.

I think he looks too gigantic because the pumas are very close to the viewer and pretty small.

About the legs ... I think he's just too deep in the snow.
Looks like a serious situation

And the rocks even suggest that there isn't that much snow.
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[Matthew]

hey andy thanks again.

ok I retired the pumas they didn't really help the picture. Changed the composition a bit.
Bedtime right about soon.



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[Matthew]

omg I can't believe what kind of crap it turned out to be. I will definetely call it a day on this piece and redirect it to me recycle bin.
thanks for the help people.




later

[see]

im not sure if this is a help, and why i was thinking of a climber, either. Maybe because i climb?

[Bandados]

I prefered the one with pumas...and I like the pirate hat hehe

[Matthew]

see, many thanks for the overpaint there I really like it, way better than any of mine in here. Thanks again see.

Think I have to visualize better in the future what I should paint instead of waisting time like I did on this piece here. Maybe better to have a finished drawing when doing thumbnails so one can focus on only the color in the early paint procedure. Well lesson learned, me going back to me comics.

Here's a version just before I changed the background, *cough crap.



ok thanks again guys

[Max]

I think it's pretty good actually.
And your progress was very interesting.
Even if you aren't hapopy with the result, it helped because you now know that you maybe might need a different progress for that kind of (finished) pictures. It's alll about learning...Keep it up!

[Matthew]

Hey thank you there Max, yea it is true I learned some stuff from it.
I have lots more to learn this year so I better work a lot harder. thanks again Max for the kind words.

see you

[Jimmyjimjim]

Just had to tell you Matthew-

The improvement you've made in the last year and a half is remarkable. Very inspiring for the rest of us.

Good painting on that one, even if you feel it's not you best work, and I lovedthe progression.

[Matthew]

Jimmy, cool, thank you for the kind comment there Jimmy.

have a nice day

[allpetter]

Very interesting Matthew.
I'm with Jimmyjimjim, on this one!
Great progression!
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Fru Tina K�ttet

[Matthew]

oh yea just got back from the local museum, lots of work from me favourite artist there and he was from the same town as me. Think I will start to be a regular there from now on.

petter, hehe u are cool guy, thanx there.

thanks for all the feedback guys
see you

[Bg]

Hey Matt!


My military service is finally over... in the last months I was about to hang myself!

Sorry, no overpaint from me this time.. but I'll try to explain as well as I can. The problem? "I have started to sketch on this soldier and a common problem for me seems to add life to scenery around a character, like objects and such." For me it seems a pretty straightforward to fix, not necessarily for this particular piece but the next time you paint something. I think it was Greg Pro who once listed the priority order of creating a painting - CONCEPT was the number one! Drawing, values, edges all came after it. Soldier walking on a mountain is a pretty hard concept to pull of - because the concept itself ain't that "interesting" or interactive for that matter, after all he's just standing there... so you have to make the other aspects damn well to make it work. Great concept on the other hand will do with much worse execution and still make the viewer go "Oh, that's good!". Guys like Mullins can paint an apple and make the viewer go "that's GOOD!" but it's because the other aspects are so damn well made that you don't realize there probably wasn't too great concept behind it... apple. When he nails the concept people instantly go "AWESOME!!" See where I'm getting at? Explosion tearing down a building is interactive... it all comes down to what you decide to paint - the concept. When you have put down the "paint" there's not much you can do.

Btw. The thing I admire most about you as an artist is your courage to change your paintings.. I wish could be so bold!
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www.MountainSheep.net

[Matthew]

hey Bg nice to see you back. yea I saw you were going for military service in that cgtalk thread u made way back, with a blue village if I recall correctly.

This is a really good tip here and yes u are right it is a difficult concept all because of the character is not that dynamic. Usually I am looking for a lot of motion and that way things in the surrounding doesn't become that important, but, as is and what can be seen here is that I need to put more strength in this area cause I really blew it bigtime in this piece here.
I really appreciate your comment here Bg, many thanks. I hope to see you in the speedy sometime.

thanks again
have a nice day