Lucid Dreams | Critique Welcome!!

[AJM]

I forgot all the log-in details to my old account, so here's a new one. I wrote everything down this time, I swear.
Some Spring 2012 stuff and some new stuff:

[StressCavity]

Hey dude, thanks for dropping by my sketchbook. I gotta say I really like those hand studies at the start and the big vibrant flower thing in the center. Anatomy studies are doing awesome too, I would say you should try doing some more landscape studies though. The last landscape I can see you kinda stopped rendering after a while but what were those pink strokes supposed to be? Everything's pretty snazzy though, keep it up!

[ArtemisDragon]

Those hand studies look nice! And I'm also really digging the geometric studies of the figures at the end of your post. Nice work, keep pushin'!

[AJM]

StressCavity The pink parts were going to be flowers, but that was months ago, haha. Thanks for the feedback!
ArtemisDragon Thanks!

First thing is a crater.
Second is some armor I'm still working on. Focusing on using 3 values to start with, then expanding on them.

[Sleep.less]

Hi
Your drawings and digital paintings have something that I just can't put my finger on, but let's say that they are lively. Overall you have a very 'open' style and composition sense. Good lines and colors, can't wait to see more. Keep it up!

[AJM]

Sleep.less Thanks.

Suuuper tired. Done with this armor piece. I think it looks pretty cool.
Every time I thought I was finished, I added another layer and it got better. I know I could add to it forever, but I want to do some other stuff.
It was good values practice.

[Mabelma]

Really nice work, as for that armor I suggest you look at more references, not on armor in particular but on how light behaves on steel, right now it looks very weird. Here are a couple of links that might help you out.
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__.../GAU-GN008.jpg
http://hight3ch.com/wp-content/uploa...or2%5B1%5D.jpg
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Steel-Armor-Hand-Gloves-Pair-Knights-Gladiator-Roman-/00/s/MzcwWDMzMw==/$%28KGrHqFHJF!E+%28hRZ+uVBQefS0g9Ng~~60_35.JPG
http://theoldgiftshop.com/images/helmets/ir80703a.jpg
http://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/662....289456789.jpg

[AJM]

Mabelma Thanks for the suggestions! Next time I go back to armor, I'm going to go for a more smooth look.

Felt like taking a stab at skin and clothes. Here's my current rough work in progress.

Happy holidays, everyone.

[Mabelma]

I'm not sold on the idea of using a gradient as a start but I won't cast any judgement till I see the whole image done. What I do have to say though, is that you might want to use a harder brush on the clothes, as of now it looks like it's transparent/wet. I'm not sure if that's the effect you wanted but if it is then disregard that and carry on

[AJM]

Mabelma Yeah, I'm not really sure how to paint skin yet. As for the clothes, they actually are supposed to be transparent LOL. Thanks for the feedback!

I didn't spend enough time sketching this one properly so painting was kind of a lost cause. Still good practice; painting people is hard.

[Cojac]

I specialy like the hands on your first post. And for the painting i think you should block in the colors with a hard brush first after that use softbrushes to shade some parts, but not all the parts of a painting. You should have hard edges and soft edges in a painting. But, just keep practicing.

[skMOP]

I would suggest trying to draw the entire body first, and then drawing the clothes on a layer on top. Especially for transparent clothes. The transparency can be done with the opacity settings on your brush/layer, and lots of practice of course

[AJM]

Cojac & skMOP Thanks for the advice.

I'm trying this crazy so-called "blocking in" technique. WIP:

[Mabelma]

Personally what I would had done was set the values straight from the start using a round brush, 5-15 opacity. Then once I'm happy with where they are and how they look it's all a matter of blending.

[telohs]

Do you paint your dreams?

[Etchpea]

I love the painted torso in your first post! Keep it up with the blocking techniques, it never worked for me but you seem to be doing fairly well with it.

[Nickodemus]

Great start to your book. I agree with Etchpea, the torsos in your first post show the most promise, I think. You just seem to be able to handle the transitions in value and form rather well in those. Your studies are important and looking good. Keep those up.

[Clur]

You've got a great eye for detail! All your studies and stuff are really visually interesting because of that. But it can too far - that armour you did a little while back is beautifully detailed but a little confusing. It's difficult to tell where one segment ends and another begins, but you could probably fix things like that by defining the edges more, focusing on the shape.

That blocked portrait is really promising too, I hope you continue with it.

[Clur]

You've got a great eye for detail! All your studies and stuff are really visually interesting because of that. But it can too far - that armour you did a little while back is beautifully detailed but a little confusing. It's difficult to tell where one segment ends and another begins, but you could probably fix things like that by defining the edges more, focusing on the shape.

That blocked portrait is really promising too, I hope you continue with it.

[AJM]

telohs I'm not skilled enough yet unfortunately, but one day! I had some crazy dreams this morning with false awakenings and I was almost lucid. Good stuff.
Etchpea Thanks! Someone in my old sketchbook told me it looked weird, which is why I started to repaint it as you can see, haha.
Nickodemus Thanks for the kind words.
Clur Thanks a bunch. Those armor highlights did get a bit out of control, haha.
Mabelma Nah, I'm not really into the blurry low opacity look. For this one, I'm trying to block everything in and then get more and more refined.

Here's what I've done so far. Going to a party tonight, so I probably won't work on it more until sometime tomorrow evening.

[auldtem]

I really like the black sea picture! horizon looks great.

[AJM]

auldtem Thanks!

Painting is hard.


Values practice:

[AJM]

[Divorahk]

Great work, I really like the crater piece. I know how you feel about painting people being hard. I struggle with it.

[Palespyder]

The rendering on that breastplate is very awesome, I really like the way you did it!

[DvrJeroen]

Hey man, really really cool stuff in here!
Don't be afraid to use bigger brushes and the soft brush.
In the last painting I see a lot of seperate brush strokes next to each other, and I don't think thats what you want..
I would've painted everything in a base color, and then in a new (masked) layer with a bigger brush the lighter (or darker) values.
Other than that , you seem to have a good eye for detail , form and value (:
cheers!

[AdrienneRose]

In #22, I noticed her eyes (the girl in red) are WAY too far apart. I've noticed that eyes are Ehhhh about one-ish eye-width apart. They're also possibly on the small side as well. Also, I've noticed that the corners of the lips come to about mid eye (pupil). Maybe that will help!
But it looks like it is coming along nicely!

I am trying to figure out how to digital paint as well. I feel so confused!!

I like how your see-through shirt girl's shirt came out! It totally looked see through! lol.