[nellenmellen]

Hi,

This is a WIP im working on now, its part of a series that im trying to put together...the series is about the evolution of man basically...right now its just primarily a background, but id like some feedback as to how its coming so far. Im still thinking about how im going to finish it off...This piece is supposed to be the first in the series.

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[�yvind]

It is great, but it needs cavemen slaying a large Mammoth with sticks and spears!
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I have a dream! It has yellow spots and is insane!

[nellenmellen]

I have started a new piece, lemme know what you think of it:

[Naeem]

i really dig the lighting in that one.
nice and soft.
really gives it an ancient/fresh look.
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http://www.annisnaeem.blogspot.com/

[nellenmellen]

Thanks for the compliments, I really am happy with the results that Im getting by using diffrent brushstrokes...like with the ground details and plants...etc in this one. I still think that the people/nomads in this one are off perspective wise, but thats a composition problem that I had a hard time avoiding.

[notic]

Nice! love these kind of ideas..

some opinions from me:

the big clouds in the second picture feels out of place to me, they are lonely out there in the big blue sky, and i would imagine them more transparent because of the air perspective (image says more than a thousand words: http://www.stat.vcu.edu/Assets/Clouds/clouds.jpg ). some stronger light ( sun ) from that area seems missing (people standing in strong backlight)

the grass in the first picture looks somewhat static because of the same length on all straws... maybe a nice focal point, like a primitive painting or some carvings on those rocks would be nice? just to give a sense of primitive people living nearby.

just me mumbling away..

anyways, looking good!

[nellenmellen]

updated a few things and changed the color scheme a bit, I really worked in the clouds some, although i dont know if the brush strokes work well with everything else thats going on.

[Godwin]

The erratic brushstrokes for the clouds are kinda distracting... I feel that there should be more uniformity, right now eveything's "flying out" in spirals, it's unsettling and contrasts a little too much with the ground. I also think maybe there shouldn't be so much cloudcover? But I'm not sure about that. Are you using reference? The Serengeti or Australian outback perhaps?

The shadows cast by the people are a little odd too, maybe you could make them smaller, lighter, and a little coloured like the shadow cast by the tree?

Anyways I like how you used brushes and textures to render the ground and bushes, nice colours at the foreground too. (I think this more saturated look works better than the previous one)
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Derelict Studios|Godwin's Space

[Telekon]

I think the clouds in the first pic fit just fine. Often there are clear blue skies with distant solo clouds. There comes a point when critiques are a matter of personal taste and nothing more.

[notic]

Telekon, of course. Critiques are a mixture of knowledge, experience and also personal taste, that's something you can't discard.
If the clouds would have been smaller i probably wouldn't think about it, but big clouds are rarely alone like that in the sky.

nellenmellen, i agree with the brushstrokes, but i think it works in some places though. perhaps a softer brush at just some parts?

[Godwin]

Actually, the "bigness" is determined by the distance of the cloud from the ground to give an idea of scale, no?
I think then the problem is more to do with the shading of the clouds, and to show depth and progression of scale there should be more scattered around, in a compositionally sound manner of course.
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Derelict Studios|Godwin's Space

[Telekon]

I still think the clouds in the first one look just fine. I've seen clouds all of my life so I think I'd notice if something was off. Yes, it may be rare to see individual clusters of clouds, but they do happen. Sometimes the best photographs or paintings are of rare situations. What's creative about reaching for the usual, obvious, or common place circumstance? I just found it interesting that when the painting was revised to please the critiques, the painting seemed to be less successful than the first version. Sometimes we artist ( and I mean artist in general ) are so busy looking for what's wrong, that we overlook when something is working. Sometimes the best guidance comes from within and not from outside.

[nellenmellen]

Tekkon, Godwin, and Notic:

thanks for the compliments and advice/input...i really appreciate it. I keep going back and forth between the two, and there are things that I like equally about both, but ultimately I like the first one the best i think.

I do think that the clouds are a bit too much of a distraction by themselves as they are in the first, and I think that they should be diffused some more with a haze that would be present in the lower horizon.

I think that in the second revision, the addition of the new clouds just overcomplicated the piece unneccessarily and created alot more visual commotion that didnt add anything really to the piece other than filling space I was afraid to leave blank.

As I keep going with this series, ive been having some trouble coming up with definitive stages for each of man's ancestors. Im really thinking about employing diffrent perspectives and scenes than this format (which i do alot and am tired of).

Alot of my inspiration for this series is stemming from a culmination of research ive been doing on evolution and society, added to that I re-watched one of my favorite films of all time, 2001, and had an epiphany of sorts. I guess that this is just an attempt to express the feelings I evoke and ideas I really liked about that film.

[Reakshun]

really like the second pick. The clouds are fine in this one. Maybe more transparency would work.

characters are not out of perspective.

Lower the ground plane in the far distance to make them seem more in place.
Haze the top of that line. I notice you have this sharp light gray there. Seems like it should be softer and lighter.

Cut down the busy bush near the characters or move them over so they have room to breathe and be the nice silhouettes that they are.

Really like the brushwork on the ground. How did you make that brush?

[nellenmellen]

Reakshun:

The brushstroke effects were in fact made by using the smudge tool in conjunction with broad tracts of color that I had already laid down.

I created that brush by creating a relatively long rectangle shaped brush, and then changing the brush properties to the following:(all not changed remained at 0%)

Shape Dynamics:
-Size Jitter to 100%
-Angle Jitter to 100%
-Roundness Jitter to 100%

Scattering:
-Scatter to ~40%
-Count to 2
-Count Jitter to 100%

Other Dynamics:
-Opacity Jitter to 100%

Other than that I just played around with diffrent brush tips and these settings, and settings like brush tip spacing...etc untill i got the desired effects.