[Radiater]

Figured it was about time I did an all out Photoshop painting. So, after reading/surfing lots of tutorials - I'm about 85% done. Just need to do the hair and the eyes. And, with some help from you guys, I may do some other changes.

Let me know what you think please.

Thanks,

Radiater.

ps. You may recognize the pictureOrc - It's the only decent line art of mine that I had scanned.



pps. This is more of a painting exercise - so I'm most interested in painting/colour suggestions.

[MoleculeMan]

I am just learning to paint digitally and so far the things i have figured out these things. Its hard to tell when to add detail and when to keep things smooth. Like the nose needs to be detailed more, because it doesnt seem defined enough. So basically you need to sharpen some of the edges i guess. That and there doesnt seem to be a very definate light source, so you might wanna work on that. Blah i dunno heh.

[Socar MYLES]

Hi! Thanks for your nice e-mail. Feel free to contact me on ICQ any time--my number is 5075796 (I think!)...I am a bit absent-minded, so just in case that ISN'T my number, my name on ICQ is Ratty Rat Rat.

Okay. About the picture. Here's what immediately springs to mind, as far as crits are concerned:

1. You need a more defined light source. Try this: Imagine a bright light of some sort (torch, naked light bulb, whatever) burning, say, slightly above the orc and to the left. What colour is the light? Get a light version of that colour, and block in great big highlights wherever they'd fall on the figure and the background. Use a slightly darker and less saturated colour range for the background to make it recede. On the OTHER side of the figure (that would be the bottom right, using the upper-left light source), pick complementary colours, and draw in some deep shadows. Put shadows UNDER the contours of his face; highlights OVER them. This will help you define form and lighting better. Finally, add reflected light on the shadowed side--just small, muted brights.

2. At the moment, the figure is looking a bit cutoutish. Concentrate on modelling the edges more. Do this with the highlights and shadows. Check out Craig Mullins' work for how to do this. He's got it down to a science.

3. Details. When to do it and when not to...that IS hard to decide. But here are a few suggestions for areas where you might want to put in some more work: Eyes--You'll want a more 'liquid' look here. First off, get rid of any white you've got there. The eye whites will be yellowish to greenish/brownish here. Model the eyeballs more so that they resemble orbs. Imagine you're shading spheres with just a little bit showing. Now, to get a liquid look, here's what you do: Use more than one colour for the irises, with a LIGHTER colour where the light is hitting, and a DARKER colour on the other side. Outline the irises with dark brown or black--eyes don't just go straight from iris to white. There's a line around the iris. Finally, get a VERY light green or yellow (almost white). Put a small, sharp highlight on the top left corner of the iris, and a softer, weaker highlight on the lower right corner. Experiment with highlights on the whites, and across the whole sphere, stronger on the side the light's coming from and weaker on the other. Look at the way Enayla does eyes for this, if my words aren't too clear. Next...Metal--Metal reflects light quite sharply. You'll want a combination of weaker, soft-edged highlights (a sort of...mellow glow), and harder, knife-edged highlights. If the metal curves, so will the highlights. And...Teeth--Those should look wet, too. Sharp highlights, deep shadows between the teeth. Maybe some drool.

4. Pose: It's probably a little late in this image, but movement really does a hell of a lot for any work of art. When I draw figures, I usually use a live model, so I can get them to stand however I want. Photographs also work. Watch how the body moves, and try to catch it in motion. It's hard to imagine which muscles will bunch in what way at first, but it comes. And if it doesn't, just do what...oh, what the hell is his name? Greg Capullo? That guy who took over from Todd McFarlane when Spawn started sucking worse than it originally did? ...yeah...him...do what he does, and just draw veins everywhere to distract the viewer! (Just kidding!!!)

5. Colour: The primaries are way too harsh here, for my taste anyway. Of course, everyone knows I don't know what the hell I'm doing with colour, so don't listen to me too much on this one. (My current employer has me painting only in grayscale!) However, here are a few general pointers: To represent shadow, artists often 'fade' colours into their complementaries. For example, a shadow on a yellow surface would have in it purple undertones. Colour establishes mood, so be careful with primaries, which tend to look either cheerful or blaring. I think this particular picture would benefit from some dirty browns and manky yellowish-greens. And a sort of bloody-muddy red, too, if you see what I mean. With some indigo for the shadowing, too. Cos makes great use of colour. Look up his work. One look there will tell you more than I can in a paragraph.

A few general things that don't deserve a whole category to themselves....

You could use the hair here to create a sense of movement. Instead of having it lie limply, have it whipping scraggily around his head and face. Like Frank Miller always does in 'Sin City'.

Put some wrinkles in his headband so it doesn't look so 'stuck on'.

To give him a more ferocious expression, you could raise up the skin under his eyes, as if it's bunched up in fury, and pull his upper lip even more back from his teeth. Wrinkle up the flesh around his mouth a little more, too.

The musculature on the body is fairly accurate, but could be better defined. The face, on the other hand, lacks form at the moment. Mess around with the structure there a little more.

E-mail me when you're done, eh? I want to see the end result.

Hope this wasn't too much!