Fighting to improve, critique very welcome.

[AndreM]

PeteJ, you are spot on about the ref/no ref visible difference. So far I havent really used references for my imaginary stuff becuase it made sense in my mind that references = not from imagination, but in order to get something that looks right, I am still very dependent on references, so from now on Ill get references for my stuff!

Thanks for taking the time to commen, I really appreciate it!

Another value/face study, took way too long and still isnt finished, would love to spend more time on the hair.

[lionheartGFX]

awesome studies! theres deffinetely improvement here i like that! cant wait for more! keep at it

[Peixoto]

Great improvement! you should try to work with soft brushes and use bigger brushes. Rough strokes are cool but if you want to do studies and improve you need to try different approaches.

[AndreM]

LionheartGFX: Thanks man, gotta work work work

Peixoto: You are right, so far Ive mainly been using hard brushes, but blending takes ages this way (using brush opacity to blend, doable but nowhere as effective as the soft brushes). Time to put those soft brush settings into play when refining :-)

Thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it!

Speaking of different approaches, heres a little compilation of what Ive been doing lately.
The coloured study is actually done using RGB sliders instead of the default photoshop colour selection HSB tool. SUCH a difference, and really REALLY helpful! Having to constantly make a conscious decision about your colours (instead of colour picking) helped a ton, I feel.
Faces are still a major challenge to me, practice practice practice

[Istmin52]

It's cool to see your progress. Environments seems to be something you're the most passionate about. I should do more environments myself but it intimidates me.
The major weakness I see are your faces. Looking at Loomis has helped you a little but you should really study the skull and the muscles of the face. That I think will give you a better understanding. Especially in your eyes, they look very flat. Eyes aren't just flat but they are actually big round balls that are in your eye sockets covered up by muscles and skin. Hope that helps. Keep up the hard work.

[Xcarbon]

nice progress man .... i love the lady with the leaves portrait

[Lakai]

Andre you have some great studies here. Keep at it i think you're doing great.

[Januz]

Wow, you're improving fast. Great work on those paintings!

[AndreM]

Thanks Istemin, yeah I like doing environments, drawing characters/creatures without their surroundings feels wrong when Im working on my own stuff, so Im learning! - About the faces, that is so true Ive tried to be a bit more conscious about that on my studies.

Xcarbon Thanks man, the picture I was working off is just wonderfully colourful - gotta learn from nature.

Thanks Lakai! I will keep pushing!!

Januz dude, you keep checking up on me Appreciate it man, yeah I really feel that I am starting to get an idea of what I am doing - It feels great!

Being a part of this awesome study group helps a ton!
Check out their stuff at http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...-Support-Group

[ecki]

Nice texture studies! But your paintings could need a higher value range, they look kinda flat. You see what I mean if you squint your eyes or make them B/W.
You could try to start with a B/W painting and add the color later. That way, you can concentrate more on the values. Also check out some B/W environment photographs for this.

[Lucarky]

Very very nice pencil line mate! Great improvement on light and proportions! Keep up the good work!

[Grey_Rift]

nice stuff keep it going keep practising the basic i should do that more to

[Niam]

hahaha, I love that evil reindeer XD
your studies are showing improvement!!! : D
the nose looks a bit too long for the girl portrait : /
awesome ball studies!
keep it up!

[AndreM]

Ecki! That is so spot on! Ive been fooling around with RGB sliders for colour picking and its haaard - definitely need more value depth! Ive been trying to stay focused on that
Grey_rift: Thanks man, gotta work on that foundation!
Niam: I see what you are saying about her nose Thanks dude, i'll go back and correct it asap

Tonights update, 1hr design challenges with my playmates at the skype improvement addicts group (You guys rock!)

Concepts were swords and "defend against the zombie apocalypse with what you have in your room!"

[ecki]

Hey! Nice update!

I love the zombie survival stuff, man is that a TV, which you are supposed to swing with RGB cables?

Yeah, the RGB slider needs some breaking in, but once you got it you can change hues easily.
This really helped me: http://paperasylum.files.wordpress.c..._by_paperx.jpg

For value studies:
Make a still life drawing -> take a B/W photo of the composition -> compare the photo to a B/W version of my drawing to check where it's off.
You could also just draw directly off a photo ref and check your values in B/W afterwards.

After such a study, I usually draw something from head, just to see if I can apply what I've learned.

Man, I should also do some of those studies

[Lucarky]

Thanks for visiting my SB mate. And your advice is precious to me. Complitely forget about the third focal point. I'll try another go on my room, and maybe another look to perspective construction with three focal points.
Good work!

[AndreM]

1hdc challenge, space colonization. Posted here because of uploading trouble. Will post a real update tomorrow!

[GrayPersona]

hey andrem you have got a really nice sb and you are doing the right type of studies(focusing on foundational skills)
one thing i noticed is that you have to many values in your ref studies,try to squint and simplify what you see(when drawing from life)
and pick the values that help you define the form.
Ill keep checking this thread out,i am also a beginner so hope we can improve together.

[AndreM]

ecki, that tutorial is actually what got me started on the RGB sliders, although an older edition of it I think Thanks for the link!
It was meant to be a printer but it went a bit too fast - 1 hour limit for those design challenges.
I gotta do more value studies, no doubt

Lucarky thanks for stopping by - glad I could help

GrayPersona: I can see what you are saying, definitely a matter of practice practice practice

Major update, got home on the 3rd of January and its been work work work since then!

Dragon is a WIP, hope to work on it this weekend.
Weekly study with the improvement addicts was feet/hands - and we still do 1hour design challenges more or less every evening.
The face study was inspired by this picture - http://aditya777.deviantart.com/art/Hunter-06-332822591 - I realize its stylized but I thought it was cool and I wanted to learn a bit from what he/she did (esp. colours!), and while my attempt still looks muddy, it sure helped a bit. So if you are reading this aditya777, Thanks! you taught me a thing or two

[AndreM]

Just had to post an update on the dragon before bed.
(and tonights 1hour design, ended up spending an extra moment drawing background/shadows on it)

[Elias Leonard]

cool stuff, your faces are really good!

[syrella]

Your work is coming along! Apart from the obvious stuff like doing more still life studies and taking your sketchbook out for adventures, I wanted to give some feedback specific to your paintings.

One thing I recommend is to get in the habit of picking out your color palette early. It'll help with keeping everything unified, particularly if you only work with a few colors. Picking out the colors early also allows you to double check that the colors actually work well together (and don't clash). Color theory can help in deciding what will work best.

On that same vein, studying values a bit more will help, too. Effectively, if you get the values correct, the rest of the image should come together nicely. To practice that, working in grayscale can be helpful. Set out a series of maybe five distinct values and do your best to include them in the finished piece (watch out for pure black and pure white). If you try it, you'll end up with nice highlights, shadows, mid-tones, etc... which is what you want.

Let me know if you have any questions!

[Devoidd]

I'm a fan of your lighting and shading. The transition from each really shows depth

[AndreM]

Elias: Thanks man, I really struggle with face details, so that means a lot

Syrelia: Yay awesome crit, Im definitely going to pick my colours for the next thing I do before trying to apply them anywhere, i'll see where it takes me. As for values, I get you! Definitely working on that.
- the darks always seem too dark when I use them on skin. Thanks for the elaborate critique, very much appreciated

Devoidd Thanks! Still have lots to learn

Another dragon update, been spending all weekend on this thing (crazy how little I have to show for that!)
Used so much time redoing the scales and now that I see them in small scale (the attachment is around 30% of original) they hardly read.
Sooo I will redo them again, this time with larger scales.

[dimi]

i want that dragon finished period!keep it up man your improving fast!

[GrayPersona]

hey andre you have got some good ideas,one thing i noticed though is that there is inconsistency with perspective-sometimes you apply it and sometimes not.
that chick with the crown for example-her shoulders are forshortened as well as her head but the eyes are drawn symbolically as slits-everything that is 3d has perspective apllied to it,so if you dont know the 3d shape of the thing you are drawing-you wont be able to represent the shape correctly in 3d space-better to check from ref what the shape is and try to construct it in your drawing.practicing planer construction helps as well.
its something that i am struggling to and only recently realized how important perspective is,try to dedicate some time in the day in doing simple boxes and constuction of 3d shape (maybe buy a scot robertson dvd)
anyway thats my two cents-keep it up.

[ecki]

That's a real problem when working digitally. I often used to zoom in and work like a maniac on something that isn't even visible when zoomed out – or it just looks like some miniscule strange details afterwards. After watching tons of digital painting videos and some experience I use this formula:

- (Almost) never work on 100% zoom, go to ~50% when zoomed in a little and to ~33% when regularly drawing
- Zoom in as little as possible
- Always keep an eye on the whole picture and stay loose – never loose yourself in details that much (only when finishing the image)

This refers to the final resolution, when starting out with a low res painting (e. g. 1000 px wide) you can of course paint at 100%, but make sure to zoom out a little when blowing it up
Hopefully, this is of any help

[AndreM]

Dimi: Thanks man, I hope to spend some more time on that dragon soon

GrayPersona: You got that right Some of those were timed, so I slacked a bit on the perspective trying to "wing" it and failed. Which only shows that I havent fully understood (at least its not 2nd nature) perspective yet. I have been studying more perspective this week - and definitely more is to come!

Ecki: Yes! I work in 4000x3000ish pixels, and have to size it down when posting here, which costs me some details too I think. Ah well I am learning from my mistakes ^^ I have a tendency to get lost in small details it seems. Ill try to ignore details for as long as I can in the future - or just suggest them with simple brush strokes. Ill try staying at 33/50 % next time I work on the dragon WIP

So for this week, perspective perspective perspective.
Also, Ive been doing mech stuff because they are strong on perspective, or should be anyways, mine are still a bit too organic looking.
faces, design challenges and thats about it

[ecki]

Wow man, nice update!

The only thing that I can say is, try to upload your pictures a little smaller. Not all, but the sketches and some linework. Keep it up!

[AndreM]

Oh! OUCH i see what you are saying - noted
Whats the average width people can handle on the internet nowadays? 1000ish?

Quick update before bed, more head studies from ref and another mech