ConCrete maeganite Color Theory

[ConCrete]

Objective: To refine color theory and to be a better digital artist.

Mentor: Dm7
Mentees: ConCrete, maeganite

Resources for learning this:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=84105

I took a swing at it and failed horribly. I read and reread the color theory laid out by Ron in his tutorial and took another stab, I am amazed by the results and think I get it. Here they are, more to come tonight.

[Dm7]

Hi! :) It's very good so far! I like 2nd one because of it's lighting.

1st one still can be good, the purple shadow there should be desaturated then it would work out well.

One suggestion from me, try filling out the rest of image in solid colors and just shade from there. Focus on general shapes before details! That way you can play with color scheme if needed without having to giving up hours of work by doing the details already. If needed, paint under the line first to get sense of colors then when you start doing details enough, then you can add a new layer above your color line and start coloring there. You'll find that you might leave some line in it because it acts like a good shadow. :) A bit tricky but yeah. Good luck and I'm looking forward to your progress.

[ConCrete]

I ave my super darks all blocked in. I wanted to do the super darks first so I wouldn't do them later and end up going too dark. I will now apply my darks mids and highs and then my super highs on another layer...textbook.

[Dm7]

Looking good. I don't have much to say, but I wanted to mention that one trick that really helped me is by putting a mid-ranged value (mid or low saturated blue/navy for you) background in order to get a better sense of depth because for me, the white background really glares and "corrupt" my ability of coloring.

Other helpful tip, you can apply that for next time, start with mid-ranged value background and build up the block/shape. Think of how the light(s) reach a surface and think of where would shadow(s) go. Use that as a underpainted background and build from there. You can even paint with opposite color for underpainting and use normal color on top of it to get vibrancy to it. With color theory, underpainting is as important as the finished piece. Try using amber-like or warm color on your underpainting and add cool colors later on, I found that it blends the best.

If you don't really understand what I tried to say, I'll be more than happy to illustrate. :) Hopefully that was helpful for you.

[ConCrete]

I understand all of what you said. I like the whole under paint in warms and put in blues for shadows. I will try that on the next one.


Update!!!

I need to figure out my super highs again, and repaint some sections. And then the detail comes in...the brick/stone he is one will be reletviely easy and I am not going to do detail. The sky looks good enough. The horizon, the brick and the figure are all that is left.

[Dm7]

Hi again!

I did a overpainting to show you how colors can play a factor in composition and focus. Since you said you wanted a lightning storm in the background, I used two references to get an idea and painted with desaturated and lower value colors in order to bring character back in the focus. I don't know about water, it's extremely saturated and actually takes your focus away. Try to find similar value and saturation from the sky for that too.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/beauty7/overpainting.jpg

And you don't have to follow exactly what I do, it's just a sample.

As for the color wheel, you're using nice compliment colors to go with three Analoguos colors. :) Which makes up Tertiary Triad scheme. :) There's a good basic site for this: http://www.steeldolphin-forums.com/htmltuts/colortheory.html

Please let me know if you have any questions. :) Good luck with all! I'm enjoying watching/assisting with your progress!

[ConCrete]

Wow that last one was a motivator thanks a ton.

[Dm7]

No problem at all man! :) I already know what you mean by super highs, I get them with art. So frustrating!

[ConCrete]

I worked on the stone, trying to give it some texture and I am really really tired. I also cleaned up the figure, getting rid of noise and such, the next part is finalizing the character, and exciting step. And maybe reworking those stones. I am unsure of how to make then look really, stone-ish.

[Dm7]

Looking good here! :) I gotta crash first though (insominia and art addiction don't mix!), but I wanted to let you know, I'll pull up a lot of crits on that one including some basic perspective and color/value ideas for composition, ok? :) Remember, it's only a suggestion/example, only you can put your feeling in your artwork. Try to "feel" the colors while you paint. To keep you busy, there's my favorite site for color/lighting tutorial: http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

I'm sure you have seen it before though, but I cannot tell you how many time it has helped me in the past... even with my major breakthroughs in color. Take a review if you need, study, see how it works. Especially, please do look at the peanuts on green and orange background, it's an excellent example of how to get your object of focus to pop out more.

I like the sky, but honestly, that removes the character out of focus. Not to mention that with that sky, the lighting is now out of "sync" if that makes any sense. Try to use a bit of value/saturation/color trick to bring it out. And I challenge you, don't use pure white or similar for background and see what you come up with. There's more, but I'll illustrate when I get up.

It's progressing well :) and I hope you are enjoying and learning so far!

Until next time,
Scott, one to beam up! ;)

[Dm7]

(Copied and pasted from what I typed in the image attached here just in case you like text better).

As you can see, I quickly point out on perspective issue above, just to give you an idea and to show you how you can make your image way more dramatic by that way. It´s just a demostration.

Now on to color/texture on the rock platform, I’m not that good with texture, but I tried my best (and learned a lot from it! Thanks!) The key color I used are on the right side. You can see that I made a basic sphere first then copied it to make texture on right. You can see that subtle color can make a huge different and that was all about barely changing Hue while at same saturation level. For light glare effect, I used higher saturation blue, but notice it’s not pure blue. ;) Use color picker and see what I mean... examine and learn. ;) That’s how I learned by studying Randbrant’s paintings.

Now, can you see how sky can ruin the focus? I think you should try giving it some thoughts. Try see it in grayscale too so you can get a better idea of what value you need to work on.

Of course, the way I’m teaching is like a crash course, so if you need me to slow down or show you more of something, please be sure to let me know!

Have fun! :)

[ConCrete]

Whew, that last one was a big one.

I was trying to capture broken out of shape steps that sort of curved around. I understand perspective (your third point was cool looking). Your vanishing points do not all land in the same spot, and the multitude of lines are confusing. I understand the point you are trying to make but it would be great if you could explain it more. Especially why those green and purple VP's don't line up on the horizon line.

As far as the texture goes I was trying to not paint it by hand (exhausting) and use Photoshop's brush textures and texturizer to do it for me. I know you can rebuild the textures in perspective as a PSD and the apply them as a texture. Painting them by hand is something I would like to avoid. Your portrayal of how color can be super obvious as an identifier as surface was good and I understand. What I take away form that is that I cannot just use black and white to show texture, I need to apply them as colors. Interesting. Part of the problem is finding brushes of the appropriate texture.

I understand what you mean by the sky. I think I am going to drop the lightning and just let the viewer assume the moon is the light source. Also use levels to relax it a bit and take the jarring highlights lights out of it. I also am looking forward to painting my super highs on the character but what to finish the environment first.

I see that you are putting a lot of time into this and I want to thank you. This has been an invaluable experience and I think that is going to to continue.

[ConCrete]

I apologize for not posting in a while. semester is coming to an end and I have lots of projects I am working on. I will be have lots of itme this weekend though and I definitely will be posting up stuff. I am doing the EOW here and I have some serious color stuff I want to work on so be ready for that come friday.

[Dm7]

No problem! It seems like a fun enivorment to do! ;) Take your time, I'll be slightly busy, but that shouldn't be any problems I hope. :) I can still try and pull a quick try on textured brush and see if I can pull up something realistic. I already have some good idea/trick in mind, but I will see if I have time. :) Please say so if you want me to.

Good luck with all! :)

[ConCrete]

I would love to see a break down on texture brushes, I have made them and I have had good ones but I can never seem to keep them because of updates and formats and such.

[Dm7]

Hello, sorry for my disappearance for a time being. I was extremely sore from working outside chopping trees down all day on Saturday. I couldn't do much and I am still recovering from it. :S

Anyways, I realized that it's important to build a basic texture for underpainting purpose if you really want it to look imperfect and realistic, but it shouldn't be something too difficult, as you can see I made a basic texture earlier... you could do same.. just some altered hues and some cracks. Think of how stones would be like. Do you want it to be weathered/old or fresh like marble? Apply some basic texture by painting it first, then add some with customized textured brushes to make it look more detailed. I usually don't use overlay layer for this, but I knew it would work out fine since I made a nice underpainted texture surface anyways. Here's my short demostration (continued from last time).

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As you can see, I showed what brushes I used for this and put it on the sphere for you to see... easier to see, if you need to compare it to the original "underpainted" texture I did earlier, scroll up. ;) As in overlay, I used a bit of dark color to make those tiny bumps by just lightly click there (like you would when you write a period). As you can see, those textures are pretty basic, but when you think of stones, they are pretty "primitive" in their texture too. Just remember that it's imperfect so there's no way you'd have "patterned" texture there unless it's intended. So, not all surface would have same bumpness or roughness. Just try to think chaos on that. :) Don't forget, all surfaces have it's shininess too and it varies too. Try to keep that in mind when texturing. :)

As in for green and purple VPs, they don't line up because of the "stairs". You have to make a illusioned VP for higher steps or lower steps; otherwise, your stairs will end up more "erroreous" the further you go. It would appear tilted or weird. I can make a comparing demostration if needed. :) Uhm, actually now I think of it, I could be wrong. Haha! Well, I'll do a demostration tomorrow if I have time and see. But, I do see what you mean by spiral stairsway. That's no problem. I like the idea of it. :)

[ConCrete]

I was wondering about the stairs I think they simply go to one point. I have done stairs in perspective that all go to one point. But maybe this is something new to me. I have been super busy with, well, school lots of projects, I do not think I will be posting anything here for a while. Next semester I have a concept independent study where I will definitely be in need to help with color and digital painting ect.

I will post here when I get my next project worked up.

[Dm7]

No problem. I also will be slightly more busy for a while now. My birthday is coming up soon and that means a lot of house chores before people come. ;) Not to mention that December is a holiday month so I hope you can bear with me too for being slow.

Don't worry about it and take your time to complete your project. I'll still be here. :)

[ConCrete]

Much thanks dm7. You have helped me a lot. I appreciate all of this and good luck. If you are looking for a mentor in anatomy I have a thread going right now teaching anatomy. I don't know if you are interested.

Happy birthday btw. Good job surviving up till now.

[Dm7]

Thanks! I'm not so sure if I'm surviving so far. After all, I could be haunting this forum and this laptop with my ghost hands. ;) Sorry, I had to say that! ;)

And I didn't know you were mentoring in anatomy, that'd be helpful. I would love to join yours if you can put up with my random "busyness" though. Some days, I'd have basically nothing to do, but some days, I'd be busy. And, I visited your thread and wonder if you would still be ok if I draw digitally because I have no access to the scanner (even if I had it, I have no proper art supply to get started either... I moved from USA to Europe last year and I'm still getting settled down). I could use Artrage to stimulate that pencil line. It is a great basic program for sketching, I loved it. Just let me know if you got a slot free for me :) Thanks!

[ConCrete]

Some work I did for the Cathedral of Lilith, missed the deadline but still a fun study. Its at dawn, its made out of rock. Like a 20 minute color study. In any case more on this later. I think it looks really pastelly. I am going to finish the assassin soonish, I am ready to pick it up again.

The anatomy group has room for you. ANd I have no problem if you do it digitally. I would suggest getting traditional materials and even without a scanner doing it on your own. I mean a pencil and any sort of surface is sufficient. All you need to do is practice your mark. All of the assignments are on there. THe first one is to draw full figures in 30 seconds. Just to get proportions and stuff down. Its a hard gig but It will make your anatomy come together real nice. Anyways, yeah get, Nicolaides "the natural way to draw" its got everything in it.

[Dm7]

Thanks man! I appreciate the offer, but I think I'll think on it, this month is pretty much holiday-busy insanity right now, but if you can bear me with that, then great! And yes, I plan on getting the materials I need to sketch. I already have my own sketchbook and pen, but I'd prefer pencil with clay-based eraser (way better than rubber yucky!).

Nice color study. :) I can't really tell much, but I can give you few ideas/tips, for light, you can use all different ranges of colors if you want. Like for example, try yellow-orange-pink/red gradual hue for light so that at bottom it's redish due to the sun hitting low atomsphere (scattered red) and eventually at the top part, it's brightest yellow, a nice smooth transition from the bottom or so... well, it actually depends on what your focus point is, you can use color to "aggressive" that focus point. ;)

By the way, I already got other potential mentee requesting my help on color theory. I am wondering if it's still the "same" method (will ask) like yours, would you still like to co-join/work together as two mentees? Or do you prefer one on one? Thanks! :)

[ConCrete]

Thanks for the help. And I would love company. Bring them on for sure. Skies are tricky. I have a book of skies I am going to digitally paint over break, lots of work, lots of stuff. should be fun. And lots of stuff for you to comment on.

[Dm7]

Hi all! ConCrete and whoever is spying this thread, let's introduce my new mentee, maeganite! She is excellent at drawing dragons, one of best I ever seen! :) So, I feel she already have a basic foundation of drawing and anatomy. So we we will focus on the same method I'm doing with ConCrete, you present whatever a piece you choose. I'll either teach you about color theory, overpaint/teach, or challenge you.

For now maeganite, start with an artwork that you want to color. Something that have enough details for you to focus on coloring... maybe similiar to what ConCrete've presented so far. Start coloring, show me your progress. Tell me of your thoughts on it, how you want the mood to be, more detailed you write down, the better for me! Just go ahead and start so I can determine what your color skill is and you can use this one as your "progress" showcase so that later in the course, you can compare to it and see how much you have improved (same for you ConCrete ;)). If you have problems coloring then please let me know. Let's get started! :)

ConCrete, sky coloring project sounds like a nice practice. Maybe I'll join you there, I never really painted any sky from photo references, only in my head. But yeah, it would definitely force you to see what kind of colors it use because it has a lot of "gradual" colors effect due to atomsphere scattered light and clouds. So yes, it would be an excellent project to do! A lot of learning experience I am sure! I'm looking forward to it! Bring 'em on! One more thing, can you please do me a favor and edit your first post to add mentee maeganite in it too and update the topic if possible? I'm going to keep this thread because so that people can follow up easier. :)

Have fun and thanks!
Dm7

[maeganite]

Hi ya'll! Thanks so much for letting me join you.
If you don't mind, I think I may want to start with something rather simple so I won't get overwhelmed. I don't think this picture will require too much of a background scene:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/maeganite/Myself_as_the_Cowgirl_by_dragon_fae.jpg

I would really like to do it with warmer tones, like android did in these two pics from his 365 days of self portraits. (awesome, btw)
I hope it is alright if I post them here...
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/maeganite/flat365mastersmall-Copy.jpg

[ConCrete]

Thats a super fresh drawing. It is so clean it will be a piece of cake importing and over painting. Nice to be working with you by the way, maeganite. I hope you will critique my work as hard as you can, I will do the same for you.

[Dm7]

Whoa maeganite, that's a fresh clean work you have there! I can see what you are aiming for, try using warm-toned like amber as background and for underpainting, it will make a HUGE difference and get similiar style to what you're refering. Please feel free and get started with it, I'll guide you along.

[maeganite]

Thankyou ConCrete, (and Dm7) I will give it my best!
well, here is what I have so far.... it takes me so long to work! unfortunately what I have here is a couple hours worth. (and still not much to show for it) Hopefully this will improve my speed as well.
Would it help to make the clothes a a different color? maybe like a teal or a red or something?
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/maeganite/step1cowgirl.jpg

[ConCrete]

Back lighting. And cools. You need cools. Buy or find a color wheel, great help for stuff. I will over paint when I get a chance.

[Dm7]

maeganite: That still is a good progress. Don't worry about taking so long on it, your speed will definitely improve once you make your knowledge of values and colors more solid. When I first started digital painting, it took me three days to color my piece and it was nowhere close to what I wanted it to be, in fact, it had no real contrast or anything. That was from 2003 I think. Like most people would say, you gotta start somewhere. ;)

It's off a great start! :) But, if you want same style from two examples you have pointed previously... backlight with that face contrast might be a problem. Perhaps, you can change where the light source is and give it more contrast so it would be more friendly with the background. Just a suggestion.

I might post a quick overpainting later to give you an idea. :) Keep it up.

P.S. ConCrete - I'm glad you're also helping. It is the best way to learn about color theory and all by doing overpainting on other person artwork for mere practice purpose. :) Thanks!

Hey, I'm editing this post to add the overpainting I have done. :) Hope that helps... please let me know if you're having problems. :)
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[Dm7]

In the meaning, I'm curious if you, ConCrete and maeganite, would be willing to do one assignment after you're done with your project. I'm thinking of doing cube and value project where you have to accurately "light" it with correct value range so that it would force you to see how light/shadow works. Then maybe same one, but this time with colors and see if that helped a lot from seeing how values work? This exercise would allow you to see how to build from "blocks" for values/colors and maybe help you speed up your coloring time. And also I'll try to make you use color theory at the same time. ;)

I don't want to make it more than what you have signed up, but I believe that this exercise would help very much. :) So, please vote! :)

[maeganite]

That sounds great to me! I think that would really help. Thanks so much for the last post, I'm going to try to work on it the way you showed me. :)

Edit: I do have a few basic questions concerning the painting... what range of transparency should I use, and are there any particular brushes that I should use besides the hard-edged round one that would help me achieve the look I want?

[Dm7]

I usually like to use opacity pressure with about 75% manual opacity set, but it really depends on what you're going for. Sometimes I change it to 50% manual opacity and use opacity pressure or disable it. I use a lot of different brushes and noticed that size pressure is better for details, but not when you're trying to paint overall. Otherwise, you spend more time on it, trying to blend all.

When you see an artist (especially oil painting) doing an underpainting, you'd be shocked how messy and sloppy it is, but yet it blends so well the more you develop it. It is a powerful tool. Paint roughly then details later.

So, yeah experiment with different brushes, I even used some textured brushes that I found on the internet (sorry no idea where I got them though), and painted. On the balls you saw, I used brush-like texture. Easy to blend with. :) Hopefully that was helpful! :)

[ConCrete]

I used lots of blues and some greens. I also used the super thin yellow trick. The picture just pops when you incorporate complimentary colors and use the whole color range. I also used far more rambunctious colors than Dm7. All of this color theory stuff is so very delicate.

I also redrew the eye lashes. When you get far away from the eye they all blend together and form a sort of shading. They also tend to point away from the center of the face and stay more on the outside of the eye. Thats irrelevant to the thread though...

I learned a lot from doing this over painting. Thanks maeganite!

[ConCrete]

I am not up for exercises. I want to learn doing paintings. I think I would get bogged down and uninspired. I have tired doign them before and it was just not fun. Doing the exact some color study with a rabid squirrel instead of a block is something I could try. Like for example say, faces, instead of blocks. I would love to try that.

Go onto deviant art and type in photoshop brushes, tons of stuff pops up. I use square brushes, natural brushes and textured brushes, also grunge sets are nice. If you use textured brushes the right way you can achieve some AMAZING effects. Check the "Best of CA" thread and you will see.

[ConCrete]

A sky, one of many. I had fun. And the layering of my paints was real bad, I love those grunge brushes though. Layer of paint is what i am going to work on. And also making the colors not quite this vibrant.

[Dm7]

Haha nice overpainting you have there ConCrete! Well, color style can be very dedicate. It's so flexible that people can get confused with it, but remember what I say, Style is heavily related to color theory as it is with mood. So, with your overpainting, I can see the whole new style coming out of that, different feeling and nice style!

So you can see, when playing with color theory, the whole new style can come out. The whole new mood can come out. It's merely by changing colors. It's a powerful tool!

And for your sky, it's really good, nice usage of textured brushes! I think you're getting hanging of it! Maybe the sky is a bit too dark, but like you said, you pointed it out yourself. You're able to critique yourself, that's good! :D Keep that up!

[ConCrete]

Tried to be more delicate. Slight warms and very very slight cools.

[maeganite]

wow, those are looking really great, ConCrete!

BTW... thanks for the overpainting!

Edit:
I started over, and used some natural brushes... I definitely like this one a LOT better than my last attempt!
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/maeganite/step1cowgirl-1.jpg

[ConCrete]

A DSG. The first digital painting where I feel I accomplishes a slightly original character The color theory comes shining through. The opacity pressure has been amazing for me. A great tip Dm7. next time I want to use more natural brushes and go even further with the color lighting theory. This is a solid start though. A real nice painting maeganite , A huge improvement over your first WIP. I personally want more cools. You may be working on that but a nice cool background would really top this one off. Great work.

[Dm7]

Wow! You both definitely shocked me with your improvements! Makes me proud of being a mentor. Whew, it definitely is working! LOL!

*applauses for both* That's so awesome! I'll give crits later, but honestly, they are a HUGE leap in your progess. Amazing! Actually, I'll not give you crits and give you more progress time to see where you can go...

Don't forget to crit yourself, don't be afraid of doing that! And try squeezing ur eyelids until the image is blurry to you, it would help you to see values way better.... increase value or whatever if you need more contrast. Again, it depends on the mood you're aiming for! ;) Colors are also purely based on feelings... try to "listen" to your feeling, how you would want to "express" it through your artwork. OF course, there are some styles you might want to "copy" and that's good too! It's all about learning experience! So, let's keep on painting and I'll crit the next one. ;) I promise! I want to give you a chance on own a bit and see where it goes to... :D

[maeganite]

alright... here is my next step! I think I'm not going to work on it anymore today, and come back tomorrow so I'll have a fresh look at it. I'm painting so much faster, though! I'm also using the varying opacity and it is helping a lot.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/maeganite/step2cowgirl.jpg

what do ya'll think? :D
I really like the colors on your character, ConCrete.

[ConCrete]

A DSG. I tired doing a building but It looked messed up. I am not sure why, I know the brushes were hard but it really look bad. Any help would be great.

maeganite - Looks fresh as hell. Her shirt is looking a little flat in front. Maybe some more detail will help. Great great great progress.

[maeganite]

I'm so excited!!! What do ya'll think? Critique it as hard as you like :)
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/maeganite/step3cowgirl.jpg

Edit: I did this one in just a few minutes... Edit: lol.. here is another one.
I still have a lot of work to do (details,embellishments, ect.) so right now I am just laying down the colors.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/maeganite/milkshake-1.jpg http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/maeganite/alienthrone.jpg

[ConCrete]

Get some real real subtle blue into those blacks. You never want to use straight black, its a waste of space, when you could be using a shade of something else. The bottom edge and the darkness are not coherent with the rest of the lighting. It looks like you just darkened it because its near the edge.

The hat looks so 3-D very well done. Its a great piece, especially since the first attempt. You made like 6 months of progress in one piece.

[maeganite]

You made like 6 months of progress in one piece.

Wow, Thanks!
I'll work on the colors on the little alien dude, and see if I can come up with a different solution than darkening the edge.
I appreciate it!

[ConCrete]

No problem. I am going to be in italy for the next two weeks so I won;t be posting art. I should be able to crit though and I will be doing tons of drawings. Anyway have a great holiday season, and thanks a bunch dm7, I got a better grade in my illustration class because of this thread.

[Dm7]

Hey both! :) Hey maeganite, cool alien lol, I can't help it, but to think that he looks somehow like the character from that tv show called futuruma (sp?). Not precisely, but similiar enough. I have crit for you on lighting/light source tomorrow ok?

And ConCrete, no problem! I'm glad I'm helping some! Go and have fun on your vacation! While you're there, I challenge you to observe what's around you... how the colors are like... the values. Brightness, etc. What make it magical? Well, if you get something that provokes your feeling, be still and observe the colors. Textures... and how light hits it or whatever. I'd like to call that an art meditation... it's one of my own "color" study method.. it might sounds "over broad", but colors are really all about feelings and the symbols hidden out there. You'd be amazed. (maeganite, you can try that too if you want! :)) And yeah, I'll crit on you sketch, but the colors are still good! I know what to tell you about now... desaturation and saturation balance and basic to texture brush... tomorrow I'll tell in details... right now I'm dead. lol

Sorry everybody for being a bit slow... holiday and all! :)

[Dm7]

I must apologize again. I have had no time today to help out with crits here. I was busy catching up my commissions before my holiday goes insane again. Tomorrow's my husband's b-day so I'll be away for the most day, but I hope I'll be able to crit afterward since I got all commissions caught up! :)

Please just give me a bit more time. :) Not that I put both of you further down on my priority list, that's not true. I'm actually excited and thrilled to see both of you improving big time! I do want to help even further and see where it goes to! :)

Thanks again and happy holidays in advance to everybody!

[Dm7]

Ok people... long crits from me! :) Mostly are by overpainting... but if you have any questions, please ask me to slow down and show you more in details what you need to do. Just don't be afraid to use color picker, try to see how all different colors I used... study master's work that way too, you would be surprised. I also show you some tips on light sources... hopefully that would help you to understand better of what or how you would make it more realistic.

Try to NOT to depend on textured brush or whatever, but to keep a balance of all kind. Just think of how a color would flow. Go with the flow. Hypnotize your audience! ;) Please review the crits I posted below... and review again! Be sure to tell me if you don't understand something, I'll be happy to help you!

Happy New Year everybody! :D Great job both of you!!!!!
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[maeganite]

awesome! Thankyou so much :)
I have some quickly painted seascape sketches that I've done over the holidays, I'll see if I can get them posted soon. Other than those, though I really haven't had time to do much painting.
The overpaints are very helpful! Thanks again.

[Dm7]

Hey ConCrete (and maeganite... please follow this one too... a lot of information),

I spent all night last night drooling over an inspirational site at http://www.paperblue.net/bbs/zboard.php?id=paint_gunster&PHPSESSID=7e5ecb4be614bc9d4e93d45085635850 and I strongly suggest you both to do the same. Study and see WHY it's so awesome.... it's the style I'm going for. In fact, the overpaint I did is heavily inspired by this site and I think it's helping me a lot to see more of how colors/values work. :D

Study, practice, study, practice, study, practice..... that's all I can say at the moment... and work on light source! Keep it constant. ;)

Good luck and have fun! :D And about the assignments I asked about earlier, I decided not to do it... I'm only helping you out, only YOU can get yourelf motivated and push further... I certainly hope you can make this move then you'd improve a lot, but I'm not pressing you either. Go with your intuition and see what method would help you improve your ability. :) Well, you get my idea.

270092

[ConCrete]

Very cool. Very very cool. I am back, and I am going to have some time on my hands before I go back to school, anyways, more from me in a bit.

[maeganite]

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/maeganite/seascape.jpg
Here a seascape I "sketched" out very quickly, just trying to get the feel for the colors. I think it doesn't have enough warmer colors in there.

[ConCrete]

I hope this isn't a dead thread...

I have been uber busy, but as of late have figured out some time to work on stuff.

Anyway looking for crits on this here painting. I am worrying on light source and cohesion of the over all drawing and I am not worrying about background, dynamic posture or anything like that, just color and the character.

[ConCrete]

A DSG. Trying the speed painting method on Bluepaper. I do not have the textures down yet, still just trying to get color to gel. I finished the piece and then leveled and color corrected it. I was super unsaturated and had a very narrow color palette and after corrections it looks much better.

[ConCrete]

Are we dead???

[Dm7]

Hi everybody, I'd like to apologize for my disappearence. I had something happening in my life and I had to unplug/unwind away from art for a while. I hope you all understand, even though, you both probably have forgot this thread by now.

Let me know if you want to continue or not. I'll totally understand if you don't though. Good luck with all! Awesome progress there Concrete! I love your last piece! And maeganite: Beautiful ocean scene! ;)