[Isric]

Superbug made an interesting comment on my last post about doing more realistic stuff. It was great because I was thinking of taking the same realistic approach from now on. However, my skills at painting are limited to my style, and I don't have enough 'real' information in my head to paint instantly. So, it's time to start painting from photos. Here are 3 paintings, trying to learn how color works, how light reflects, and shadows fall. I really need your feedback here because I want to get better at this.








These are the kind of things I draw when trying to learn architecture. I just haven't been able to translate these types of drawings into my usual 'comicy' work.

[the_monkey]

hrm. the colors in your third picture,are absolutely wonderful. i think that one is your best out of the three. the lighting is soft and makes the image quite inviting.

i like how you used texture in the second one, and i think more of that is nessasary in the first.

keep it up, your doing great work!

[Dr. Bang]

Isric, i have no comment on these. They're EXREMELY cool! Please post more of these. Thanks.

[lilsis]

I loooove the first one. Nice image of greece (Santorini?). You've nailed the colors perfect & the aura.
right click.. set as wallpaper!
Look forward to seeing more.

[Isric]

Thanks Mr. The_Monkey, Dr Bang and lilsis,
muchly apprectiated. But I need crits! I need to be a better painter so be mean! Here's another one.

[Ian Jones]

I think you are heading in the the right direction, the colours are great, you are considering the effects of warm+cool which is good. You are considering atmospheric perspective aswell.

I'm gonna try and pick them apart, I'm talking about the painted ones, not the drawings.

Your values are looking good, but... working from photo's is kind of a problem because the value decisions are already done for you. I would suggest you take some more liberties with them, perhaps the most important thing to check is whether the values of one area are relative to the values of another area. Cross-check a plane with another plane facing the same direction, check to see if they have the same value... of course there are other factors to consider, such as bounce light, shadows, local values...don't forget local values. Oh and proximity to the light source, but not as much of a consideration with the sun however.

Spooge said something yesterday in another topic about the hierarchy of the painting process. It makes sense when he says that in order of prominence it goes... Drawing > Values > Colour. I'm saying this because I think your drawings need some work. I know that you are trying to do lots of paintings, and that you are trying to learn more about rendering, but I still think it is necessary to consider the inital steps for a bit longer. You don't need to be anal about it though, so don't go and draw a technically accurate drawing, instead I would suggest drawing them as you have been normally, then scanning over your pic for the key areas of importance, like line quality and shape, and proportion. Just a few more minutes of work on this is needed to fix up some of the wobbly lines (which imo look like a product of you cartoon style).

Edges are the other things that I think you need to work on. Greg Pro talked about the 'four edges rule' or something like that. What he was talking about was the importance of edges, or transitions between areas of form, contour, value, colour. The way our eyes percieve an overlapping of forms, (eg. the foreground wall over the background wall and doorways in your second painting), is by noticing a definite change of value, or colour. Definite doesn't necessarily mean contrast though, what I mean specifically is that you should fix the line of that wall, so that it is clean and definite. These concepts also apply to soft edges, eg. smooth changes in a form should be smooth damnit!.

Oh, just noticed the blue ladder in the second pic. It really needs some depth!

Hope that helps.

[ June 04, 2002: Message edited by: Ian Jones ]

[Basement bound]

Matt, These have some really great colours. One thing that I noticed is that colouring and painting are two different things. As you said of your style, it trains a person to paint opaque. I don't know if you have ever painted with oils, but it depends on layering. And because of layering it creates all kinds of neat depth, it also allows the use of a variance of colours. Anyways, you probably know all that. I think that is what you need in the images variance and I guess less milky transitions.

JA
ps I have the same troubles.

[Sedone]

Hi Isric! Glad to see you're still working hard on your art. I really liked that jungle pic you did.

Ian handed out some really good advice. What he said about edges is especially true. Your pencil sketches describe forms quite nicely, but on some of the color sketches it's hard to tell what's going on with the forms, such as in the bottom pic, it gets a bit "mushy" in places. I wish I had more concrete advice to give, but I still have lots to learn myself, so I'll wait for the old wise ones to chime in. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

[Isric]

I'm at work right now, so I don't have time to thank you guys properly yet. But the basic thank you would be: thanks for the advice. I'll have a few questions to ask later, but until then, your help is greatly appreciated.

[wigin]

Hey btw where are you working this summer?

[Isric]

Hmmm, unfortunately nowhere artistic. I'm actually working at an office furniture store as an assistant to the account manager. Good times.