Opened for criticism
4yr
Shelvs Fleurima
just a digital painter on a quest
I am gonna be more active here since I am aback from my hiatus to learn more about my craft.
here are some of the things I have been up to - I have so much to learn.
No matter how far I get I still feel like I am not improving enough based on how much I invest in art.
so much , so many things , and experiences for 5 years . Looking back I see where I came from but honestly my mind is still preoccupied with the old dreams.
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3yr
Ooh-- this is such a cool concept! You also did great in terms of lighting, the physics appear very realistic. One thing I would suggest is adding a variety of texture and edges. I think the textured brush you used is very helpful in bringing a traditional feel to counter the slickness of digital art, but adding variety by bringing in harder/opaque edges (especially in tight crevices and sharp angles) would better communicate the texture of the creature and add more visual interest.
Great work! I really like your art style. Gave me the push i needed as a newbie artist. The painting and line work really compliment each other.
Hey Shelvs,
I did a sketch over your head drawing to show you how to use the Loomis head to help you place the features correctly. Hope it helps :)
Omg I love all the progress I have made because of this community, and of the classes from proko.
i know it’s hard times ( clearly an understatement). But I would like to say that I appreciate this corner of the internet, and the good it has done for me
I am struggling with the anatomy still- I will start my course today. I hope by December I get really good.
Asked for help
I reframed it to focus more on the character, i killed my painting bu zooming way out.
one of the saddest thing oof being a noob.
I agree with @Dan B on the posing, maybe try to draw inspiration from surfer poses or people sailboarding?
To me I think it's the "soft round brush" feeling that confuses a bit the eye. The colors and shadow and light shapes on the boat feel a bit too smudged, like everything has the same texture.
Other than that it's a pretty cool painting! We can see you put a lot of work into it and that's great! :)
The reframing definitely works, there's nice details on the character too. I would think maybe about how the pose sits in the scene. The water moving past suggests movement, but the character is standing in a still 'pose' with the harness loose. Could probably either change the water to be calm or add some more tension to the stance.
Asked for help
Any pointers as I move forward? Having a difficult time progressing.
Hi Blaise, I would like to ask more about the specific goal. Is there going to be a landscape background, is there going to be more creatures, or are there going to be structures? Are we going for a cheery image with a happy sunlit vibe or something that's more dark and dreary or dilapidated etc.? I'd like to give good feedback. I feel I could give better feedback if I knew what is the part you want to work on and are concerned about moving forward on. The moss animals look really awesome though and I can see you are very familiar with rendering 3d forms and know anatomy fairly well.
Not sure what exact areas you're looking for help in, but I'd suggest adding more shadows and a clearer light source to add depth to these very dynamic and foreshortened poses.
Asked for help
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3yr
Hi @Shelvs Fleurima, really cool!
I think you could improve the "read" of it. Narrative, rendering, poses are all really nice, but they are brought down by the value structure, which makes the image hard to read; you can't really tell what's happening from a distance, and even up close I had to look for a second before understanding what was going on in the picture.
If you want instant read, giving important areas a clear silhouette (dark against light or light against dark) can help. In my paintover I silhouetted her arm, since I found it to be a crucial element to the storytelling, and the read improved instantly, and it works from a distance too. Seeing your work from a distance (or zoomed out) is a good way to tell whether the value structure reads clearly or not
I think you would appreciate watching the Draftsmen episode on How to Learn Composition - Draftsmen S2E15. The whole episode is worth watching but they talk specifically about value structures from 26:00
Hope this helps :)
Asked for help
Hello I just started to pay attention where I use real blacks and where I can get away with lighter values. My question is whether or not the image benefite a lot more when you use dark accents sparingly, or is it something else entirely. Maybe I just stumble on something the pros has been doing for years. My work is no longer too dark to see, or too unpleasant
the Images look great, I can tell you’ve got really solid drawing skills when it comes to foundation like the limbs as cylinders and the changing planes of the face. When looking at whether something should have lots of black or only a little black it really depends on the type of lighting being used in the scene. You are on the right track and it’s a really good way to be thinking about value in an image. Often pro artists (like Anthony Jones) will start with painting in the values of the painting in a more graphic manner. This means painting everything as solid blocks of greys whites and blacks with no variation in each block of value. Then after they know what the local value is, they look at it from a distance or make it smaller to see if they can still tell what it is. After that they apply highlights and softer gradual gradations to show light hit the different planes of the surfaces of the subject drawn. So in general true black is only used when there is a complete absence of light like in a shadow. And shadows in the light tend to be a darker value then the lightest light on the light side, but the shadow on the light side tends to be lighter then the lightest value of the shadow side. For example if we have a black shirt, the part of the shirt in shadow would be the blackest black. But the part of the black shirt in light would be more of a really dark grey. Anthony Jones only has one video here on proko but he has more on his site robotpencil and here is a link for his lesson on value which was very helpful for me. https://robotpencil.gumroad.com/l/RjyGk
all in all though I can tell you’ve been practicing a lot and the drawings look really good and I can tell over time your values have continued to improve. And your thinking on the right track so keep exploring more about value. Sorry for the long post and I hope this helps.
Asked for help
Hello! I'm trying to improve my digital painting technique. Here I post my last digital painting.
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3yr
It looks good overall, @hostg! One thing that pops to me in this piece does not concern painting techniques so much, but rather composition: I feel like you meant the focal point to be the person standing on the rock (because it’s the sharpest and most defined element and it’s also the only character in the scene), however my attention is strongly drawn to the burning structure in the middle, which has good contrast and a very nice shape, but looks a bit undefined. I’m thinking maybe you could try creating more emphasis on the character by making the space around them even more empty and bright, while also making the burning structure fade a lot more into atmospheric perspective (if you want the character to pop); OR work some more on defining some surface details, textures and contrasts on the burning structure, perhaps even fading out the character’s values a little bit more (in case you want the structure to be the focal point after all). Hope this helps! Keep up the good work. 👍🏻
Asked for help
Apologies if this made you spit out whatever you were eating at the moment. I am wondering what I could do to fix the lighting?
So it looks like your light is coming from above, or maybe slightly from the front-above. the first thing i'd do is go in an define my cast shadows. should be one on the .... tentacle tongue? and teeth... bellow the lips in general. there should be one on the lower part of the top lip too. try adding a sharper highlight on sections of the uper lip to define it more. Also the tentacles look like they have purple light at the bottom. why not use that to put some purple reflected light bellow the bottom lip to define it once it is darker from cast shadows.
The rendering looks great. The first question is what kind of lighting is intended? Is the lighting intended to be very contrasted or is the light supposed to be more diffuse. If you have a reference image with an example of the kind of lighting that is desired it would help us to understand the specific goal. Additionally, Is the lighting coming from the upper right of the subject from our view? If so, It could make it even better to add a cast shadow from the upper lip, similar to the image attached. Here is a link to this head lighting tool on art station I used for this image. (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GX3Ax1) Knowing the difference also between form shadows, cast shadows, ambient occlusion, bounce light etc. can also help a lot and I know Marco Bucci has a great video on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcCJ2CU-bFw&t=1s) And I know he has a couple of courses here on Proko as well.
Asked for help
Hello this project took me a month to come up with. It’s an underwater gollum protecting the honor of a jelly fish lasso from those helpless romantic humans. Something is off with the final painting, but I don’t know exactly what? Any criticism is welcome.
The design work is good. The sketches are clear, and the creature’s silhouette is interesting. Even your illustration is well rendered, but it feels visually cluttered; possibly because everything is rendered at the same level of detail. The composition could be stronger. Try exploring alternate compositions with thumbnails. Really show off that creature design.
Hello Shelvs :),
the piece feels a bit flat, by that I mean background, foreground and middle ground should be separated value wise.This might help also with the reading of the artwork.
For me the point of interest here is the reflection of the sun on the water as it use a value and a color temperature contrast, if you want you viewer to look the action on the front you may have to reduce contrast. The background may also may have too many little shape dragging attention.
These are of course only suggestions, you'll see what's better for your artwork.
Hope this helps :)
I think your sketches for the creatures are amazing! Keep up the good work there. I think your finished scene is a little dark and hard to see the amazing intricate character of your creatures. Maybe lighten t up just a bit. Perhaps ad another subtle light source.
Asked for help
Hello there! I am really excited to show you this new piece that I have been working on. I got valuable feedback from the proko community. I thank everyone who took the time to help me out. I really appreciate it! I just wanted to check back and show the final render and if you have anything to say about the piece then please feel free to do so. Thank you and I hope you are having a wonderful day!
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Great work Atharva. I really like the pose and the colors you chose for the painting.
I also agree with the feedback from @appo, and don't have much to add myself.
Keep up the good work!
Asked for help
Hello everyone! I am currently doing this illustration piece of a mushroom girl. I am not really happy with the background. It somehow looks flat and boring. It would mean a lot if you guys helped me out with it! Thank you
Gorgeous piece! :D All I can say is to just lighten up the values in the briars leading into your light source. Add highlights and contrast, and reduce the detail as the background recedes. I've got no advice on the figure, simply beautiful!
Hello Atharva! Thank you for sharing your illustration. It is coming along great! Here are some things I am seeing
1. Inconsistent Lighting - There seems like there is a light source coming behind her since it is so bright in the center and a shadow is on her face. The top of the legs and branch seem like there is a light source coming from the front and top. If a light was coming from the top of the mushroom head would receive it as well. Also, the glow of the eye should hit the bottom of the mushroom head and maybe some slight edges of the ones below the neck.
2. The background is treated the same creating more of a pattern and does not feel like a wild growth. More overlap could be made to create depth. As it recedes further in the background it could get more blurry like it would with a camera lens. Currently the far back image is as crisp as the front. Some additional branches could be added in front of the mushroom girl so that it creates a foreground, middle ground, and background. This will also help give the feeling that we are entering the overgrown space and catching a glimpse of her on a limb.
3. Color - The background is bright which is more vibrant and comes forward in space. The color could be more muted. Having some coolers colors in the background and warmer colors in the front would help create depth as well. Currently everything is treated evenly with lots of green and additional color options could be pushed further.
I hope this helps think about some further options :)
Make sure put a light pink bowuncing light on all the plane of the face that are pointing up a bit. One is the top of the nose
