[WacoMonkey]

Here's another one from a couple of years ago... I'm putting up old stuff 'cause I've mostly been marker sketching in the last few years, but these have never really seen the critical eye of my peers (apart from my colleagues here at Presto, of course!). I could really use the feedback, since I'm about to start into another phase of getting into painting.



I'm not too pleased with the composition of this one, it seems too haphazard to me. Also no reference was used (as with the winged guy) so the rock textures just feel cartoony. This one, however was entirely drawn and painted on the computer, I didn't scan in any pencil underlays, as I did with the other two. It probably shows. Paint and learn.

[This message has been edited by WacoMonkey (edited August 16, 2000).]

[Chapel]

It's a nice piece, but everything looks plastic. I'm not too big on the color choices either. The shirt looks the same color as the blue lights you made. The guy doesn't seem to defined either. I'm referring to the head, neck, and chest area.

[Joachim]

wow wacomonkey!! that is very nice !
Really nice perspective and composition.

Comment, maybe some of it is a bit to overdetailed and a few to many highlights on the clothing etc... Maybe that is why chapel thought it looked a bit plastic. But, the picture is amazing, I guess you just should have stopped detailing the piece a bit earlier



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Joachim
web:
http://home.online.no/~j-barrum/

[Rinaldo]

I love the way that you play the foreground off against the background. the perspective combined with this really give it depth and a sense of hight. But everthing seems a too detailed to me. Ther is less focus becuase of this. the objects in the distance are very sharp. It may be another artifact of my poor eyesight, but I would have thought that things would lose a bit of definition and clarity at that distance. the rock surface is very well done and convincing but it is not the sort of rock I would imagine in a place like that. everthing is very polished. whereas I would imagine it to be dusty and gritty. One could also say that there is not enough contrast in the forms. too many little bitty things and not enough big shapes. And you also seem to have a tendancy to make everthing shiny. And the colours are a bit "plasticy". I would imagine a lot of these problems are derived from your days drawing cars, where everthing is shiny and new.
Anyway that's my bit.
I do like the image as a whole and I'm just being picky cos yer so damn good.

[silber]

wow it's very detailed
don't know if I could spent so much
time drawing this rocks
the rocks cartoony??naaaa don't think so

but the picture is too bright
especially around the climber
a stronger contrast or a very dark area
would make the picture look like more interesting...and maybe fix your ,,composition'' problem?

how long you painted at this one
still remember it?

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-----silBer--

[Chapel]

Yeah, Joachim.. what you said. That is what I meant I just couldn't figure out what was wrong. The picture is great.. just looked weird.

[Frost]

Ver nice pic WacoMonkey. I think the lighting is too uniform however to know what exactly we're suppose to look at... too many things to look at... of course, you've mentionned that so.

A few shadows don't quite follow a straight line from light source to object causing light occlusion.

Heck, I couldn't really do better at all... nice work on keeping the perpspective of the layers working together.

[Sc00p]

Very nice, reminds me of an artist by the name of Mark Tedin. Good stuff :)

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Rene Antunes
www.nytro.org
[email protected]

[Danny]

Wow... Colour me impressed! This picture is even better than the one you posted earlier.. Btw.. Do you have a fascination with caves or something?
The thing I probably like best about it is that it's 100% digital as you say. No mixing of media.. I like that.. pureness! Another good thing is the way you handled the atmosphere colouring in the deepest part of the image at the bottom below the character. It has an Oddworld feeling to it.
I'm a bit confused by Rinaldo's comments about it being too detailed, too polished and needing more dirt/grit, (which I wouldn't ming seeing in there) but it seems like a bit of a contradiction to me. Polishing the way WacoMonkey has done in general removes detail rather than emphasizing it (which adding grittyness would do). I think the hick-up with this image is not the level of detail but more along the reasons Frost pointed out. There's a lot going on with all the lights. It makes the image harder to read.

Yeah.. ahem.. okay,

Danny

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Trust in Trance

[WacoMonkey]

Chapel - I agree with everything. it does look too plastic, which is one of the things that bothers me. It's probably because rendering form through highlights is quick and easy and doesn't require a lot of subtlety. The shirt is a little crazy too. All the highlights are at the same value level, which flattens the whole thing, you can't make out any distinct planes.

Joachim, Rinaldo - I agree, too much even detail, the same critique that spooge gave me on the last one, I think, I'm not scaling back the detail with distance

Silber - if I remember correctly, about 30 hours, (which makes me sick knowing how ling it would take Craig or Ron to do something ten times better!) I'm still not very confident in paint, so i tend to second-guess myself, screw up and start areas over, noodle the colors or details too much, etc... It's really a struggle for me - which is probably why I haven't done very many!

frost, micke - yeah, that's pretty much the problem I am having with it - your eye doesn't know where to go, there is too much confusion as to where the center of focus is. besides that, there are a lot of disturbing tangencies that screw up the composition.

Possibly one of the problems is that the figure was never part of the composition when I started. Originally this was just going to be an environment image, and i decided to add a figure later. The original value rough I painted is below.

[Rinaldo]

Danny- yeah your probably right. I'm very short sighted so I tend to like things impersonistic. it taints my perception. It's more a personal thing than anything else. the polishing vs dirt grit, is not so much to do with detail but just how the rocks look shiny. having it dirty wouldn't nesecitate a higher level of detail but a different level of specular higlights or something. I would imagine that If you looked at a shiny rock face as opposed to a dirty one it would have a different way of reflecting light. it would in my mind be irespective of detail level. more to do with tone/value. (? I'm not very knowlagable at this sort of thing so I am pretty much speculating).
I hope this makes more sense. it may not change what I said but anyawy. I apologise for any shody speculation, it's late where I am.

[micke]

Very nice! Love the perspective, composition,
shapes and light, shapes and everything.
Fantastic!
Don't have too much more to say except that many of the details can mislead the viewer
(what the eye actually should focus on).
Does this make sense to you?
I feel like frost. I could'nt do this myself.
Anyway, i'm looking forward seeing more of your work
-Micke

[BooMSticK]

Cool piece WacoMonkey!

The only thing that really bothers me is the composition. There's just to many focal points in the painting. I think that you should tone down some of the sourrondings to bring the character more forward.... I dont know.... I just have this confused feeling when I look at it. But your painting technique really rocks!

Keep it up!

,BooM

Oh - Well... should have read all the posts... Well well.. :^/

[SushiMaster]

The black and white sketch looks very good! Imho better than the finished painting...

Daniel

[Danny]

Rinaldo,

I see what you mean now. I was applying the wrong definition to the word 'polishing'. My mistake.. sorry I tend to think of polishing in regard to digital painting as cleaning up the picture. Stuff like blending your brushstrokes, fixing edges, the final touches basically. But ofcourse that doesn't apply to your opinion of this image. The rocks look indeed polished as in shiny, too much specularity, wich can very quickly give it that plastic feel as opposed to a nice gritty look as you say. Something for WacoMonkey to work on.
Thanks for clearing up the confusion and setting me straight!

Danny


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Trust in Trance

[Vortx]

Hey WacoMonkey. Nice painting. It looks almost like guache. Nice technique. It is a bit tight tho, especially the details on the far walls, and too many light sources. But overall, nice work! It's got that fun, entertainment feel to it. Post more! O yeah, what was the original rez? Can you perhaps post just a small section at original rez? Like to see your brush marks...=)

-feng

[WacoMonkey]

The original size was 1600 x 1200. As requested, here is a section at full res.