[Tinusch]

This was a quick concept sketch of a scene my grandfather wanted me to paint for him. I know it's cliched, but he thinks it's the most beautiful idea ever and wants to see it realized. He drew out a little sketch of how he wanted it and so I did this according to his specifications. I plan on redoing this in acrylics, but first I want to get some tips on making it look less cartoony. Something about this just looks very fake to me, I'm sure the saturation plays a role in that but I'm also looking for some tips on lighting. Any pointers and paintovers would be welcome.




I also did this out of boredom... Dunno why I'm posting it. Yeah, I used filters. I feel dirty.

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[Michael la-Cour]

I don't if I'm the right one to comment this.
I'm also working on making my toon style more photorealistic.

In generel when you have something up in front of a strong light source (the moon) it tends to loose detail and becoming a dark silhouette.

Perhaps try to use the same shadings more. Think of the shadows as absence of light.

And as you mention. Try to desaturate the colours a bit

Though I don't know why you'd like to make it more photorealistic.. Great style
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[Anthony]

Hey Tinusch, good start. I did a paintover for you, so let me explain what I did and didn't do to it.

First off, increased contrast. At night, darks are very dark. Like the sky at the top of your painting. Very neutral colors make very neutral pictures if they're used across the board. Granted, the middle values are really important, and as Spooge shows us a lot, whole pictures can be done in the middle range. But with a strong light source, you need more contrast. Which in turn means less color-but I don't think you have too much color in this, its fine. Another way to make it less cartoony is the shapes you have. The church for instance, is shaped like a cartoon church. Find a real church(which I didn't do) and use its shape as reference. Edges should be sharp where they're visible, and hidden in shadow(at night). Perspective has to be correct. Use the lasso tool to define edges, and double check the perspective with overlay grids. Subtle color variation can work wonders. There's plenty of other tips I'm sure, but those spring to mind. Keep up the good work, and don't be afraid to go past what your senses are telling you is OK as far as values.

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-Anthony
Carpe Carpem
http://www.anthonyfransella.com

[Drew]

What's the focal point of this image? The tree/owl/moon in the middle just cut it in half and really disrupt the flow. I'd suggest reworking the composition before you paint this.

[Tinusch]

Thanks a lot for the response.

Michael: Definitely need to lose some color in the tree. I'm glad you like the style. I don't mind working with it, but my grandfather said he had a friend try to paint this before, and it came out far too cartoony and he didn't like it much. So I'm trying to stray away from that so he won't hate this one too. He's dying of cancer and only has a few months left, so I'd feel pretty lousy if I didn't do my best to recreate this exactly as he envisions it.

Anthony: Wow, thanks a lot. I definitely agree about the contrast, but I need the elements to be visible. Your paintover looks great (especially that owl, wow), but I think the church and cemetery were an important part of his overall idea, so I'd need to bring them out as much as possible without cartoonifying it as I did above. That's my dilemma. I agree about the church shape, too. I could've put a lot more work into that. Thank you very much for the advice and the paintover. It really helps to see my layout in a different light.

Drew: I agree, I'm not crazy about the composition. But he drew up a few sketches of how he wanted it laid out, so I'm trying to stick with those as much as possible.

[SpiralEye]

I think the grass on the ground and all surfaces at a low angle to our viewpoint would be fairly shiny due to the Fresnel effect.

My two cents.