I could really use some help...

[Girlwiththehat]

hey guys,

so I'm busy with my first digital drawing, and I'm really struggling with my background. It's supposed to be light coming through a door, and I've googled some pictures of it, but as you can see I'm still having a lot of trouble findig the right way to put the light in it

thanks for looking at my thread (:

[kylelatino]

Well, first, try using the selection tools and the gradient tool on screen mode on a different layer.

Secondly, think about where this is? A cave, and attic, a house? The maybe have the light source come from a direction that is informed by that decision.

Thirdly, try building a simple diorama of the scene and light it with an exposed bulb. Observe how light actually behaves. It seems you are working without reference to any real setting, which is probably why it seems a little stale. When drawing fantasy, it is important to mimic the rules of reality so that the viewer can swallow the weird more easily. Give us a reason to believe the lie, you know?

To avoid this kind of problem, try roughing in all the background and figures in the conversation before getting into the details. Take passes over the whole painting, and plan it from the start, instead of painting yourself into a corner because you didn't think ahead.

But I do like the figure work. It's really nice, if you put that level of thoughtfulness into the painting as a whole from start to finish, you'll make some really nice looking pieces! Very strong beginning!

[Girlwiththehat]

kylelatino - thanks so much! I've started messing around with the light, and used your tips, this is my start. I didn't want to make it perfect or go into any details before I paint myself into a corner again just by making some dumb mistakes (:
it looks far from perfect, but a lot better than what I had firstly.
something like this?
ohh I feel like such a noob around here (':

[Marcky Marq]

Make sure the color of the light matches throughout - I dont know if that is a workline but it looks like you have changed the light coming out of the door to red so make sure it is red light coming out. Also the perspective seems off, really think about roughing out your background and deciding where you want them to be standing like kyle latino said. If you want to share your references with us we could take a look at what you are trying to accomplish and help you that way - help us visualize what you are thinking.

Hope this helps!

[Tall_Boy]

I think that the addition of the actual door frame does help root them in an actual space a little more, and the rough sketch of the light shining through makes sense to me (im no expert, but i don't question it and getting people's eyes to say "seems legit" is half the battle). I'm not sure if your perspective is off. It looks like your purple line in the second image (dark lined.jpg) is your horizon line and you have a vanishing point on the right side making the door. Now, if im reading that correctly, I think your vanishing point should be in the middle of the image based on what we see of your figures. We are looking straight toward them, they are standing straight in front of us so your vanishing point needs to be in the middle, for the vanishing point you have we would be standing to the right and seeing them in our perifery. If you change your vanishing point the angle of the top and bottom of your door will also change (im working on perspective right now and I really hope i didn't just make a fool of myself). I think it would be nice to see a little more background in there, boulders or stalagmites or something that the light can bounce off, really give the space a tangible feel rather than a dark void.

Also, in the bigger version your giant's back foot looks a little wonky, I'm not sure if it actually is but I keep getting pulled back there, try taking some referance photos in that pose and see what the most natural body shape is, I feel like that back leg might actually bend a little in real life.

[Girlwiththehat]

so, managed to find some time to work on it.
firstly i changed the perspective



tried to decide where the light was going



then i decided to change the place of the red door



it looked terrible so changed it again (the colours are terrible but it's still just a sketch)



and then i tried it in real life.



I don't know anything about colour theory and I don't have any reference, so it's just guessing for me ):
going to continue next week, for now I have loads of homework to do :/

this drawing is going to take me a lot of hours..
updates follow as soon as possible (:

[80vain08]

i know this is nothing about the background, but the blue fellow seems to be really out of balance, it looks like hes gonna fall on the kid, you might wanna fix it

[kylelatino]

Girlwiththehat

I think you are really figuring this out! And really, working through your problems is a much better way to learn than starting over, you you should be proud of that. I think you'll find that diorama to be a valuable resource too! I like the red door. It's much easier to balance three elements than only two.

Keep it up, after than light source is figured out, it's just a few tweaks here and there! You're nearly in the home stretch!

[Marcky Marq]

Doing better!

Here is a link on color theory if you are curious: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...-and-Practices

also the door looks a little small, if it were closed i feel it may have a gap along the top specifically. Also think about your blue character, where is his other arm? is it just hanging by his side?

composition wise do you plan on having anything else in the scene? there is a lot of empty space around the characters -just another thing to keep in mind

Hope this helps

[Tall_Boy]

Awesome work! This has really come a long way!

I agree that the door looks a little small, if you look at your diarama the space between the top of the door and the door frame is much less dramatic, might as well use that as a referance now that it's there!

Compositionally I think you could get away with what you have, but more would certainly not hurt. The door looks like a reglar old house door rather than some big ornate fantasy cave entrance so it gives me the sense that this kid stepped through a little portal into another world. The door and the kids clothing definitely convey this and give it a sense of mysticism. Mission accomplished. That being said, adding in a few more descriptions in the background, like coats on hangers in a closet, or the corner of a room or something, that melds into a more fantastic cave like space (for example) could be a very dynamic and very descriptive way of hammering the idea home. Not to mention more visually interesting. It just depends on how much info you want to give your viewer.

[arenhaus]

Glad to see you are experimenting on your own and building maquettes. That's a very good thing for practice and work alike.

[Black Spot]

Put something your characters size on your model and you will be sorted. You'll also see where the feet of the blue guy should be lit, which will help in his balance.

[Girlwiththehat]

grabbed some silver foil and built up my diorama again.



then made a quick sketch of the first things I need to change

[Black Spot]

Loving this thread. You're doing a great job at working things out.

[Girlwiththehat]

am I getting somewhere? I hope so (:
I also connected my laptop to my tv, and noticed the colours looked totally different (black was gray etc) so I changed that.
now, what to do, what to do.. I can't make a diorama of a red door and I dont know anyone who has one :p
But for now I have this (: sorry it took me so long, life is busy being a fifteen year old.
oh btw, does he still look like he is going to fall on the kid? I've seen the drawing so many times that I don't see it anymore :/ I hope the shading helped a bit with this problem.

[Kolbenito]

I don't have any advice to offer. Just popping in to say you are doing a great job figuring it out and gave me ideas for a project I want to work on soon. Keep it up!

[Girlwiththehat]

so.

I'm kinda stuck. Trying to get the door right over and over again, but I just can't seem to get it right.
please ignore the door frame, I haven't worked on that yet (;

[Leonor]

I can't make a diorama of a red door and I dont know anyone who has one :p

Can't you paint the cardboard door red? Also, change the angle. It doesn't look right facing straight flat to the viewer like that. Notice that in your model the cardboard door is not fully lit, it's in shade.

[Marcky Marq]

Holy Schmogles Batman, bring the color of that door down a bit, its looking better but that bright of red tears my eye away from your characters and just stares at the door, which hopefully is not the focal point of your piece, bring it closer to all the other colors in the page, try and make it fade into the background instead of being so flamboyant.

[skvetchy]

Wow, seems like you have really made an effort to go and improve your piece! Am just wondering about the composition, there is so much dead black space, are you going to be cropping it later? Perhaps cropping all the black space top so that the monster looks bigger and shows the size comparison? Also it seems like all your colors are so saturated I'm not sure where to look, perhaps just saving the most saturated color for the focus point? And one other small thing that bothers me it seems like the door is stuck right against the wall and it looks kind of unnatural, not sure if you wanted that, usually there is space between the door and the wall for the door to swing back.