[fi-V-e]

Hey there everyone, I'm V. I'm an aspiring artist (well... to be paid for it at least). Right now I'm definitely not working as an artist. I'm working near constantly to get better, so please feel free to give me feedback. I'd love to learn. I spend a great deal of time perusing and analyzing great images on the webernets as well as drawing from life when my wife forces me to leave my beloved tablet.

So as I said... I'd love feedback.

This is the first image I did on my tablet, and it was symbolic of my "coming back to art" epiphany. It was about eight months ago. I knew it wasn't great, but it was my first taste.


I spent tons of time practicing and eventually produced these other pieces over the course of months while simultaneously learning various aspects of art (composition, color, etc.). So bear that in mind...

First attempt at a rendered human


I decided my portfolio needed a character


Lunchbreak sketch


Lunchbreak sketch


Portrait of my wife with terribly dorky color choices


Landscape study with lasso tool

[Sumaleth]

You're off to a good start there. You're on the right track, so really it's just a case of doing as many images as possible where you try to improve with each image.

Over time you'll get a feel for what works (eg. the textures of the snail image) and what doesn't (eg. the pure-smudge of the bear and mountains). Compare your results with the work of pros, and try to understand what works in theirs and doesn't in yours.
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Art Links Archive -- Artists and Tutorials

[fi-V-e]

Good stuff! Thanks for the tips.

You're dead on with the smudging. The only use of the smudge I'm not ashamed of in retrospect is in the reflective light on the backside of the girl's hair (in the portrait). But even then it added a bit of a plastic-y feel. Since then I've tended to avoid the tool and to go for generic round brush color mixing.

Something I'm working on currently is color palette... I know everyone's going to be different, but what's your suggested approach? Choose colors before or take it more intuitively?

[Lemur]

I think its a great start, you really look to have the learning spirit and want to really do this stuff on the high level. I think Sumaleth really nailed the general advice. I would add when you compare your work to the best, do it right before you paint so the lessons will be fresh on your mind for the next try!

As far as smudge/color palette goes,the reason smudge doesn't work so well is it leaves out interesting color transitions, and cool shape transitions that can be achieved with transitory brushwork. A good lesson on that is to try to simplify and paint with flat strokes, very graphic and gouache-like with no soft edges and see if you can get it to read well. Also if you turn 'spacing' off on the smudger it has a different effect. For the color palette methods I would suggest you try both as an experiment, find the pros and cons of each so you can use either one when the time suits you!!!

[fi-V-e]

Great points. Lemur! Thanks for the input and encouraging words.

Here are some pics of a piece I started earlier today, so it's a pretty recent sample. What do you guys think? Like it / hate it? Anything about it make you want to vomit at me?



Here's a closer look

[johnbriner]

Hey! You're really great! I like your works! Very beautiful, I'm still in awe right now. Glad to see your stuff! Thanks for sharing it!
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John Briner Art

[fi-V-e]

@Lemur - Just as an aside, I've been screwing around with the hard-edged look, and wow... that tests me I generally use the hard round anyway, but keeping the opacity up keeps me feeling like I'm mashing a cube into a circular hole -- or whatever that analogy is supposed to be.

But when it works, it feels great. Gonna keep hammering away and I'll post one if it starts to work out. Just wanted to let you know I took the tip

[fi-V-e]

Here's an update to my stuff... been doing a lot of drawing over the past few months, just haven't gotten around to posting it anywhere. It's been hard enough to just try to get better

I'm going to be freed up a bit soon, so I'm looking forward to contributing more to the monthly thread and the speedpainting threads.

I'd love to keep getting your criticism, so if you've got some, please toss it my way

[fi-V-e]

A recent speedpaint I did between diaper changes.