Help a brutha out!

[wutangclam]

hello everyone! i am very new to conceptart.org and a bit to digital art as well. i would love to be at the level and producing works similar to fengzhu, sinix, and the steambot crew one day! i will post some of my work and any advice in terms of:
-excercises
-critiques
-comments
-helpful websites
-videos
-books

...WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!
i would really like to to be more independant in helping myself with resources outside of what school provides me with!
thank you!

[wutangclam]

here's some of the things ive been working on the past few weeks, some are from months ago. i always get discouraged when painting digitally. really really trying to get better!

currently i am using alot of the pallete knife brush on photoshop (line brush with pen tilt ) i'm not sure if it's always appropriate to use to get the painterly textured look? but for now it's fun


monster thing


gestures


atlantis monster thing,


gorilla guy


tried out some perspective


tried to study the colors skin tone and fabric


kneeling lady


some hilltop cliff tribe...anyone know any good materials rendering tutorials?


Eow olympus battle trainging field


portrait


forest path thing


dancing people

[wutangclam]

olympus training grounds: my first EOW, do people mostly paint over sketchup models or draw perspective grids in ps for environments?


studying the colors in her sking and fabrics. is it appropriate to always use the palette knife brush? (PS line brush with tilt control), should i get some round brushes in the mix too?


forest path thing, i would like to achieve the more painterly and textured look, any suggestions?

[wutangclam]

rocky cliffs....


another naked lady


cliff cave tribe thing, anyone have a good tutorial for rendering materials like cliffs wood or stone etc? as you can see i'm really struggling with these textures


lapras creature


room perspective

[Stpete]

good start! you environments need more defining of the forms, they are hard to read(as fengzhu says) But the lapras creatures is really cool. Good luck with your sb!

[wutangclam]

hoth outpost. really tying to improve my environments, any tips suggestions reccomends welcome!


cirque du soleil lady. took about 25mins... with a pencil i would probably be able to do this in half that...anyone else find this? or is it just that im still getting used to the stylus?


singer lady, may have overrendered a bit...


thanks!

[JustinBeckett]

Hey thanks for your comments in my sketchbook, I appreciate it! You have some interesting abstract type pieces in here, which is good for exploring shapes and design. I think you should keep this up, but also play with other brushes as it seems you are using the same brush for a lot of your work. You should also try to sit down and do a more focused longer piece, really trying to see and get it accurate, this will improve your vision and increase your skill level.

Keep up the hard work!

[Little-Maiden]

Thanks for dropping by my SB!

You've only posted a few works here and you're just starting out. The best advice anyone can give you at this point is to just keep drawing. Basics are a must so take your time to study proportion and perspective, and such. I'm a year into my own SB and i'm still struggling with those issues so its not gonna be a fast easy journey; (but things that are worth anything in life seldom are).

The most important thing is consistency. Keep it up looking forward to seeing you grow as an artist!

[<3.]

I work faster with a pencil as well... but if I think it is just getting used to a different medium more than anything.
That said I agree with Justin, I know with me when I sat down and started putting hours into a piece I learned a lot more than I did from quick sketches. Those sketches are great but when you sit down a focus on a study for a long period of time you are stretching a completely different artistic muscle.

[wutangclam]

little maiden: thanks so much for the advice! hahah you put it very well. i must agree with you!

: thank you! i will definitely start doing longer more focused pieces as that is something i'm totally neglecting. Thanks so much for the tips!@

figures from head


loomis perspective LOL


30s gestures


probably the most time i've spent on a digital piece. This took maybe 2-3 hours and done like...a year ago haha


some vietnam harbour. need to draw leaves more efficiently


environment study haha ~30mins


I seem to have issues with my pictures looking too "transparent" i'd like it to look more matte(right word?) and painterly as if i was constantly adding thick layers of paint with each stroke... i realize that people still blend with opacity on, is it just the last phases where refining should be done with the hard brush on no opacity?

thanks again for checking out my bookie-wook!

[<3.]

All of my paintings I've done with opacity on somewhere between 50 and 60% with a hard brush until fruition really. It all depends on what works for you though, experiment and try things out that's what studies are about.

The gestures are awesome. I really like that piece you put 2 hours into as well.
I'd still suggest spending more time on those studies and trying to take them further. You learn a lot about those subtle diferences.

[wutangclam]

@Loveless: thank you so much i really appreciate your advice!

[wutangclam]

some ghetto village


fail landscape


ruins place...?


vietnam port... i'm trying to lay off the texture brushes kuz i feel like i need to get a better hang on the fundatmentals... texture brushes WOULD speed up my process and make it look more "done"...am i right?


city corner

[wutangclam]

[tonysaurus]

hi! thanks for checking out my sb :>

my suggestion for you is to keep at it. practice everyday, even for an hour. look at old master paintings, especially if you have access to a museum. just stare at their brushstrokes and try and understand how those painters made their work.

at this stage, you should definitely be working on your technical skills. do a lot of observational studies and even copying master paintings.

good luck and keep it up!

[Tagachi]

You are off to a good start. Your next step is working on rendering buddy. Blending the values so they actually create objects and planes.

Check out Ctrl Paint

[wutangclam]

my painting is still looking very muddy!! please help! any advice appreciated!

[Clur]

Gosh you've managed to pump out a lot of stuff in just a couple months!
You've got a good eye for colour, and your work has an amazing amount of energy.

Here's my critique:

I think the problem with muddiness you're having is because you have so, so many tiny little shapes in your compositions. It gives the eyes no place to rest, creates confusion. Try to focus on blocking in larger shapes, and work your way down to smaller ones as you add detail.

Reserve the complex little shapes for the focal point of your image, where you want the viewer's eye to be drawn. Also keep in mind that the background of an image is usually a lot less detailed than the foreground.

I did a quick repaint of one of your environments to show you what I mean, I hope you don't mind.

[jNeumann]

Thanks for stopping by my book man, your stuff is looking pretty awesome. Keep it up!

[wutangclam]

@cler: thnak you so much for the paintover i will study this thoroughly! and learn much!

[wutangclam]

its been a while but i started school up again and grinded through a bridgeman anatomy book near the end of summer...sadly i didn't retain much as i just copied the pictures when i should've used them as a model on my drawings with myself as ref...(so i hear...is this correct?!)










Any one have some good advice on doing better portraits?!

[DRadDaDanDawg]

From first to last you have definitely improved a ton! You're really starting to get actual detail in faces, and while you could tell who you were drawing, like in that leonardo dicaprio drawing, there wernt any eyes or indication of real body parts, just shading, but in these latest ones the drawings really look more human

[wutangclam]

@DRadDaDanDawg thanks so much i really appreciate the feedback!

[ninaren]

u improved alot, the faces are more detailed and the enviros is looking better . I would suggest if u havent already picked them up, Andrew Loomis books also "perspective made easy" by ernest norling.
I like the picture from Game of thrones, u captured her emotions in the eye good I think.
Keep drawing

[wutangclam]

@ninaren! thanks so much for the feedback i appreciate it! and awesome book recommendation i will defeinitely get myself "perspective made easy! always looking for better books

[wutangclam]

for now i will just draw everybody from the show. makes for a good portrait study i guess? still getting over the curve of undetstanding lights and colours

[Jmob]

Hey! I think what could help is if you separated your darks from your lights, or in the other words, the shadows that mainly explain the forms need to be better explained/defined. You want to see things in shape and value first otherwise everything will become muddled together and the forms won't read. Just always think: shape, value, edge. But spacing and placing/shape first. Here are some great references of what I'm talking about. http://www.orbikart.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=8 The artist is Glen Orbik.

[Jmob]

Also, a book you should buy is http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Bargue.../dp/286770166X .

[BenFlores]

try using soft soft brushes

[Jmob]

i would stay away from soft brushes for now actually (for wutang) He is having problems not with blending but with values and a solid pattern/shape. But of course you can always experiment for a while using soft brushes. It just won't fix your problem that you are having at the moment. Focus on edge control and the pattern of values and you will be making huge strides.