[xXxPZxXx]

my problem is detail/composition. I can see what I want to paint/draw but just cant do it. I am stuck in a rut where I can get the colors down and layed out then I go "wtf do I do now" I try textured brushes and whatnot but it just doesnt do it. I am not going for a finished painting but what can I do to make what I have look more "polished" and nicer. Reference is included...






thanks you for any help!

[Gothic Gerbil]

Well I think it is a good start. I think you should probably go through and continue defining your lights and darks to flesh out your forms some more. As for texture, well I'd just recommend reducing your brush size and go in there. I don't know, I kind of rather like the look it has to it right now honestly.

[Denim Atrisun]

Textured brushes = bad
They can speed up things, but you'll just end up using it too much when you shouldn't.

Try setting opacity to like 40%, use the [ and ] keys to change brushsize, and the ALT key to pick up colors from within the painting to create subtler tones and gradients.

[Pat]

Bah, there's nothing wrong with textured brushes. I love 'em.

xXxPZxXx, you're getting too specific too quick in the game. You're already detailing the bark on some of the trees before you've even roughed in basic areas of color. You've got to walk before you run.

To illustrate this, I've blurred both the photo and your painting to remove the detail.



Notice the compositional differences? The color differences? You're close, but you could be closer.

I paint from broad to specific Once you've laid down the broad shapes and colors you've got a solid foundation for moving to detail. Once that basic structure is in place, you won't have to worry about it, and instead you can concentrate fully on those pesky details. It looks like you're trying to do a little of both at the same time -complicating the whole affair and probably making it a little frustrating for yourself.

Just something to consider.

-Pat

[Briareos]

What Pat posted should really help you, good luck.

[Matt Elder]

Just something that I noticed if you are trying to follow the reference photo. If you have a look at your image, you'll notice that you have the horizon about 1/4 of the way down the image where as the reference photo has it about 1/2 way down. If you don't pick this up, you might have all sorts of problems later on.

Also as a general tip, try to have a greater range of shades. Say for the grass area, have a lighter green than you have used to represent highlights and a darker green for shadows. This should help your image somewhat.

[xXxPZxXx]

Wow thanks a lot guys. Nice to see people are still willing to help around here!


-PZ-

[Pigeon]

If you really want to copy a photo, and you don't have much experience with it, then one technique you could use is to grid it out. Maybe print out your photo, take a ruler and draw a grid of squares over it. Then in photoshop, make a layer with the same number of squares. Then, drawing on the layer underneath the grid replicate the photo square by square.

Basically the technique divides the pic into digestable chunks. In the broader scheme of things, though, I would not recommend this technique. It makes you pay too much attention to detail early on, you can loose sight of the broader picture, and those habits can hurt you in the long run. The better idea would be to work as Pat suggested, from general to specific. It's easier to fix the location of a tree that's blocked loosely than it is to fix one on which you can count the molecules.

Dean