capital city of the elves

[paintangel]

hello everybody

I made this mattepainting for a fantasygame here in germany.
I used photos for back and foreground.
The most parts of the city are painted.

I used Photoshop 7

c&c´s are welcome

thanks
Paintangel

http://mitglied.lycos.de/paintangel/mattes/Elfcapitol.jpg

[Setherial]

:bow:

[waronmars]

beautiful. my only prob with it is he river, it's too bright to the left of the castle and really distracts from it.

[Fipse]

Yeah no great crits from me either except of the river - if it should be one ... it looks like you pasted it in but it´s going up- and downwards like a street. So it doesn´t look real and convincing for me - it immediately caught my eye and distracted me from the really nice rendered castle.

Fipse

[4889]

Most of it certainly does have that good mat painting "realism" thats so usually called for, nice work.

I do have some suggestions tho, and wonder if anyone would agree...
first would be the river thing mentioned already...

The lighting problems persist with the diagonal of shade that sort of starts at the top right-hand spires of the castle and continue down to the left, it seems the shadow isnt conforming to the rest of the painting, but rather feels like an overlay. as in, I dont think the sky back there would be so dark, so (spatially) quickly.

The light construction seems off as well as the shadow, The sun is casting a nice warm bloom there on the castle walls, but it stops about halfway up... I think you have it flipped, nothing would be obstructing the sun from the top. (save for some seriously weird [and huge] landforms. The gleam should be cut off more abruptly from the bottom, because of the mountains/horizon and then taper off towards the top of the castle.

as an aside, those two pieces of fern and shrubbery in the bottom corners sort of do two negative things/
balance out the composition too much
and distract (at least for me) from the epic feel, making things seem a little too much like "sunday photography while I was down at the elf castle"
Id suggest taking out one or both.

Keep it up, Id love to see another installment from your game work.

[atrixwolfe]

I dunno, I kind of like the shrubbery in the foreground but that's just me. If anything I wish there were more of it. It makes me feel as if I'm actually there instead of me looking at a piece of art.

There are a few faults with the lighting (like those mentioned) but aside from that I can't find any faults with this piece. Awesome job!

[Eclectix]

I hate to be a yes-man, but I agree with everything everybody else here said. I think it looks great, but it could be improved by either removing the shrubbery or adding more of it. Personally I'd add a bit more of it to the right (viewer's right) corner.

As for lighting, I would not only tone down the river where it runs into the castle (the highlights at that distance would not be in the same visual place as they would be on the castle) but I'd add some more filtered light to the background directly behind the hill where the castle sits. The sun beam sort of abruptly stops once it meets the hill- it should continue in it's diagonal course behind the hill. This contrast would really make the hill appear more solid.

Still though, I really like the feel of this piece. The low horizon lighting you've chosen is very dramatic and helps add a great sense of distance to the picture.

[danny_rand]

I agree with the rive detracting a bit from the city. Otherwise love it.

[Yan]

For the most part, the river on the upper left. First it's to saturated, secondly the river looks as if it went up a lil hill then back down...is that possible? Overall it's getting there, just alil bit more tweaking.

[Rich Pellegrino]

I'd liek to see a little more of the sky. The cropping of the top of the castle kind of feels too boxed in. i agree with the brightness of the river and the tree tops being to bright inthe lower right corner as well. Otherwise this is simply an amazing piece. Nice draftmanship!!!

[paintangel]

hello everybody

Thanks for all the compliments and for the fair comments.
That´s why i like conceptart.org. here are so many good artists with good ideas.

4889: in the final trailer the darkclouds comes from the right over the city and will cover the sun, and this is the situation in the painting. The final Mattepainting will be without any shadows over the city.

here is a new version with a new shaded river, a character and with more shrubbery in the foreground.

http://mitglied.lycos.de/paintangel/mattes/Elfcapitol_new.jpg

bye
paintangel

[Mysen]

i think it is agreat piece. my only crit would be that the sunlight on the castle is a tad too much. its great but i think it kills some of your great work underneath. just an oppinion.

aside from that its cool. love the composition.

[Matt Smith]

This is a great piece, but as state severaltimes before the castle is too intense on the light side and in the new piece the figure doesnt look like he belongs. I think his colors need to match the background more perhaps?

[atrixwolfe]

Awesome improvements! I see what people are saying about the castle being too bright but I think that's part of its allure. It's otherworldy, it's not supposed to look man made.

Also although the dude is cool he kind of gives it a mystery science theater look to it. Might just be me tho,

Cheers.

[atrixwolfe]

Is he an elf? He looks a little small next to the foliage and brush. Also it might make him look more part of the painting if we see more of his side instead of just the back of him. Perhaps show the side of his face gazing at a boat in the water or something... Anyways great job either way!

[paintangel]

hello

thanks for the compliments:)
atrixwolfe: thank you. i like the idea with the ship. if i have time i will paint one or a whole fleet.

bye
paintangel