[Hippie]

Well, I had finished this and put it in the finished gallery. Francis made a comment about muddy colors and he was very correct. Since I'm just working on getting my style down I started over thinking about everything I have learned on this forum. Go from simple to detail, use large brush strokes and think about value when making color choices.
So now I'm about 2 hrs into this redo and want any crits or comments I can get to see if I am workng in the right direction.

thanks


[ July 23, 2002: Message edited by: Hippie ]

[mitch]

Try not to think about style when you are painting, that emerges without any effort. Each individuals mistakes, interpretations, and exagerations make up their style, it isnt really something you have to work on. The lighting is working in some spots, not in others. Your light is coming from above right, so the left horn would be brighter, not the right one. Think of where the light would be hitting the object most. The curves of the horn closest to the light will be the brightest. I dont think the bicep would pick up the light unless it was deformed out the side of the arm. Keep the rim lighting on the rim. I think your lighting is working best on the back and head. Your purple light source is all one tone for the most part, and goes to black too abruptly. Shade and model it like you would any other lightsource. Looks like you have a good start.

[J Bradford]

Look nice! No real crits from me, but I was wondering what brush you are using for his? Is it a custom brush in PS7? Just curious.

[Hippie]

Mitch:
Thanks for the comments, I see what your talking about on the horns. Actually the left horn is a mistake on my part. Over the years I have become very reliant on the smudge tool in Photoshop and have a hard time breaking the habit. I realized after Francis made the comment about muddy colors that it was the smudge tool causing that. I'm now trying to use only 100% brush work with no smudge, uhm.....but I smudged that horn. I will fix it. The blue/purple light source I have some problems with, I don't want it to have to much light on the figure but at the same time I felt having the figure in total shadow didn't quite look right. I see what you mean about the abrubt change, will work on. Thanks for your comments.

J Bradford:
thankies for the comment, it's just a normal roundbrush in PS7 that I have tweaked some of the settings in the brushes control. So yes it is custom in the sense that I have changed the settings but I didn't create a new brush if that's what you were asking.

Thanks to both of you guys I will keep working and try to get an update by tommorow.

[faB]

I think when you paint realistically you almost have to be like a 3d renderer, and understand the volumes very well, unless you have a good reference with the same lighting and volumes.

Think of the figure as planes.

If a plane is facing the lightsource, it gets the maximum highlights you chose.

If it is 45degrees 'off', it receives less light
if it is sideways, it receives next to no light of that lightsource.

The faces that are facing opposite the primary lightsource will receive light from your other lightsource, and lets not forget.. the ambient light.

In a outdoor scene your primary lightsource would be the sun, but the shadowed parts wouldnt be black, instead they would be a darker shade of the ambient color. It would probably be a cold color, but could also be a local colored light.

For example, if you lit a lighter in front of the sun, the light from the sun is much higher than opf the lighter, so you wont see the orangish light of the lighter flame even if its incredibly much closer to your face than the sun.. but lets say you face opposite.. then the shadowed parts are darker, and then you could see the lighter flame's lighting on to the face of the person.. hope that makes senes.. so the lighter flame would be ypur secondary light..

PS: you did a fairly good job, here's another useful tip then

an observation that helps to draw shadows is how close is the object that creates the shadow to the surface that recives the shadow?
the closer it is, the sharper will be the edge of the shadow, the further it is the smoother is the transition from dark to light.

[ July 22, 2002: Message edited by: faB ]

[Hippie]

faB:

Thanks for the comments, I agree with you and understand I guess my problem is more about ambient light and secondary lightsources. Like your sun and lighter description, if your standing in front of someone and they have their back to the sun and a lighter in front of their face how much of the lighter would show on the planes of the face considering the ambient light from the sun and the haze of the day? Well I will keep working at it, any suggestions would be great.

Here is the latest on this piece, trying to take into account the help I have gotten here.
Let me know what you guys think.


[ July 23, 2002: Message edited by: Hippie ]