[Tonho]

The case: I'm trying to learn how to paint (with classical material and computer).
Things I know it's wrong:

1. Too many shadows (shadows way to black, I can't control my self! )
2. Undefined light source, or wrong lightning effects.
3. HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME... with the left arm.
4. My english

Thanks

[Immortal_Souls]

Hey Tonho.
Not bad man, I think it's turning out pretty good.
Maybe try observing something materialistic, for example maybe a toy or something and look at the way the light reflects off the toy at the same angle you want ur light to hit.
What I try to do with my drawings so I dont keep it too dark is use the Eyedropper Tool in Photoshop and then choose the color you are using in ur pic and then double click in the set foreground color box and adjust the colors darkness or make it lighter. Simple.
Hope this helps!
_________________
Why dont you clone yourself!
-- Why's that?--
So you can go and F*** yourself!!!
*Quote from Arnold Schwartzeneggars movie The 6th Day*

[Tonho]

That's a good ideia! I will use a old He-Man action figure that I have

I'm using the burn tool set at 20%. I've tryed to use the same color but darkened and it seems to not blend to the other colors, maybe small variations... I don't know. I will give another try, with more patience.


Thank you man, I'm sure that will help

[Immortal_Souls]

Yeah, the He-Man sounds good. Hope that worx.

As for the not blending in with the other colors, use the smudge technique. I use smudge alot because I think that the burn tool is too dark and murky and it's not always the best to use. If you spend more time, then the approach is to go with smudging and then detailing afterwards. Make the color darker and then smudge it in with the other colors to get your toning. Thats what I do anyways and worx for me.
_________________
Why dont you clone yourself!
-- Why's that?--
So you can go and F*** yourself!!!
*Quote from Arnold Schwartzeneggars movie The 6th Day*

[Eric Pommer]

I think you have some interesting things going on here. That said, using the dodge and burn tools are not great ideas. Neither one has any understanding of colour, and they do tend to make things too dark (as you mentioned). They also scream "I did this on the computer!" which takes away from the overall effect of your image. Instead of using burn, choose a dark version of the opposite colour of your light source (often blue or purple) and paint that on with a low opacity brush, stroking over the same spot numerous times until it is as dark as you want it.

You might want to lengthen the arms at this stage too, they're a little short even for human anatomy, and ogre types tend to be knuckle-draggers.
_________________
-=-=-=-
Mindplaces: Artwork by Eric Pommer
http://www.mindplaces.com

[spooge demon]

yes avoid the d+b uless you want to make every little form into a sphere and make an oversaturated mess out of the color:)

Try to think of the planes of the largest masses of the body. The side plane of the arm and torso and the head. In a side light, the facing planes will get lit, and the front planes will be in shadow.

Ok how to show that. If you look at comics, the shadow area is flat black. It does not have to be black, but it has to be flat, as in little activity or contrast. In the lit areas, you can have a little lighter and darker to show smaller more subtle forms. But here is the point often missed- keep the shadow and lit value SEPARATE. Thou shalt make no value in shadow lighter than the darkest area of what is in light. Read that slow. The shadow has values in 2-3-4 and light has values 7-8-9, if you think of white as 10 and black as 0.

So apply this thinking front planes of the body in shadow, side in light.

Don't worry about color, one thing at a time.

sorry this is really bad, but I hope it helps

[Bg]

Spooge gave some excellent advice on lighting, I have nothing to add to it so I'll just focus on the conceptual side.. first of, ask yourself what is an ogre? It brings to my mind words like huge, strong, angry, deadly, somehow magical.. a pure killing machine. (your mental image may very well differ) The first thing you'll need is good reference.. pictures of gorillas, bears, tigers.. anything big and deadly I mixed all those animals in this repaint.. there's the strong neck of bear.. and the upper body of gorilla, teeth are a mix of rhino's horn and tigers teeth.. you'll get the idea. Long angular strokes, hard contrast between the shapes. If you wanted something different just think of animals that have those specific characteristics and search pictures of them instead.. the best concepts are grounded on reality, there's certain shapes & colours our brains respond to.. and many wild animals have those elements in them.. some look cute, some look scary:



_________________
www.TimoVihola.com
www.MountainSheep.net