Chip Whitehouse - Some of My Most Recent Work (6-1-11)

[cuptow555]

Hi guys. I'm new to the forum and looking for critiques and just sincerely want to improve. I have recently become obsessed with doing "Fantasy Art" so I'm very new to that. Portraits are just something I do to relax, so I know my stuff is kind of all over the place. But I'm kind of an "all over the place" type of person. ANYWAYS I would LOVE critiques on some of my most recent paintings

Everything is done in Photoshop CS4 using a Wacom Graphics Tablet.

"A Final Penance" - I play WoW, so I can't help but do some WoW "Fan Art" ... it's of a Discipline Priest casting a spell called "Penance"


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"Homo To My Sexual" Lol. I'm obsessed with Lady GaGa, she gives me life.


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"Hrmm... Meghan Fox" - I'm not necessarily a big Meghan Fox fan, I just think she's so incredibly gorgeous I can't help but paint her sometimes...


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"Color Wield" - Was inspired by a picture I found on deviantART. http://fav.me/d2l4z2o

[royfocke]

Really nice work!

[cuptow555]

A self portrait I just finished. Went a little crazy with the smudge tool... But I had a LOT of fun with this one.

Self Portrait

[cuptow555]

Ok... I had so much fun doing that last Self Portrait... I had to do another. The smudge tool needs to be removed from my Photoshop. I have a problem. Therefore I titled this piece

"I Need to Stop"



Anyone have an opinion on the whole smudge tool thing? ... I feel kind of like I'm cheating or something...

[Waipunga]

This is good shit Dude. Smudge tool! Nah, leave it be as it obviously works very well for you! And hey what's not to like about Lady GaGa? Still think that your Megan Fox is probably the best of these.......... Cool.

[cuptow555]

This is good shit Dude. Smudge tool! Nah, leave it be as it obviously works very well for you! And hey what's not to like about Lady GaGa? Still think that your Megan Fox is probably the best of these.......... Cool.

Sweet thanks! And of course! *facepalm* the one that I spent the least amount of time on. LOL! That's usually how it works. Thanks for commenting!

[cuptow555]

This is a painting I've been working on for the past month. I spent about 100+ hours on it. I would REALLY REALLY appreciate some critiques and feedback! Don't hold back!

Details are below the actual painting

PS: You can download a high quality version on my deviantART page if you would like. I also posted a .gif animation of the process there too. http://fav.me/d3hr5b6

[cuptow555]

UGH! Someone CRITIQUE my Gaga painting. And when I ask, I'm asking about the background and composition and all that shit. ANYONE?! I want some ACTUAL artistic feedback... And I'm not looking for praise or positive comments, I want a CRITIQUE.

Thanks! LMAO! Sorry. Don't mean to sound so fucking annoying. Oh well.

PS: If you don't feel like critiquing me or saying anything at all, you can AT LEAST go to http://www.facebook.com/ladygagapainting and click LIKE because I REALLY want Gaga to see it. Yes I'm acting like a 12 year old little girl but I can't help it! I love Gaga so much! *squeals and cries*

AND YES I'm a 25 year old MALE. UMAD?! LOL

and of course a flaming homosexual. HAAAAAAY *Mr. Slave Voice* JESUS CHRIST

[Smirt]

Lol!
I'll give you a critique, since you're commenting my stuff so nicely often.

To start, the rendering is obviously good, looks like the photo, proportions respected, everything, perfect.
I think the way you merged her edges with the abstract works good, it's not distracting, it's interesting. I also like the motion.
The only thing that I find weak in this abstraction are two things.
The colors: They're too bright, too saturated (subjectively, I find them ugly, but it's personal) too varied, which isn't too good for your image since the colors on Gaga are pretty fleshy, low-toned, harmonious colors. So you need to work on your choice of color for that, pay attention not to distract from your focus. If your subject is already kinda mute colors, you better pick even mutter colors for the background.
Then, I'm annoyed by the little transparent circles you spread here and there. Because they are geometrical, artificial, computer-clean, they don't fit the painterly, natural aspect of the Gaga, they attract attention because of their sharpness. You can either blur them, or make them by hand to give them the same painterly aspect, or get read of them.
Tadaaa. That's it. You happier? : p

[Kafka Dreams]

I have to agree with Smirt about the circles. They distract from the rest of the pieces by being so clean. I'm also not a big fan of the unicorn. The other background elements are pretty symmetrically balanced but there is nothing on the left to balance out the unicorn on the right. Maybe a swan coming out of the blue smear?

[cuptow555]

YAY! Thank you so much guys! Exactly what I needed! And Smirt... FUCKING LOVE YOU! It means a lot having you critique me!

And I agree with pretty much everything you guys have said. The colors in the background are pretty "ugly" and it reminds me of vomit... which is kind of what I wanted because Gaga talks about "honoring your vomit." And by that she means she has periods of time where she will "vomit" a bunch of ideas out in like 15 minutes. Then will spend months "honoring" those ideas, refining them etc. So I wanted to somehow incorporate that. But I probably should have pushed that idea by making it look even MORE like vomit? Not sure.

And I thought about how the Unicorn does kind of fuck up the composition. Cause everything else is so symmetrical. That is kind of throws you off. Which I don't know if I like or hate.

But one thing you guys said about the circles was something I hadn't thought about. I see what you're saying now. I think I just went a little brush crazy and was messing around with every brush I had collected over the years and I liked how it gave it a glittery feel. But that probably wasn't very effective. I should have just painted something in by hand instead. Live and learn!

This was exactly what I needed THANK YOU GUYS!!!

[cuptow555]

Yeah... the more I look at the composition, the more I hate that Unicorn. It is distracting and annoying. I should add something to the left side to counteract it. Or just get rid of the stupid thing. ARGH! Lol!