WIP That needs some input

[Linden82]

This is the furthest I've taken a painting to completion in a long time. It started out as Chaotic lines on the canvas and I worked it into this. It's an odd subject but I'm happy with where it's going.

This being my first time really getting into painting since highschool I'm looking for advice and critique. Essentially what could I do to take this from a so so picture to a good one. IT's not done of course. It really needs to be cleaned up a lot bu I'm looking for advice on anything that needs to change or be improved before I get down to trying to refine it.

I really want to see my skills refined and my work improve so your help would be greatly appreciated.

[JOvictory]

wow! really cool idea! i cant go into the depth of it since i am no professional but i can help you with some things.


the image should be darker in the foreground, also the back of the spider.
the light source is a little weak, real fire is allot brighter!
maybe use a brush that has hard edges to make the image a bit less blurry.

[Linden82]

Thanks JOvictory.

When I went on to start working in the detail I started to realize that the guy in Lava is the primary light source and he's not giving off enough light. The spider thing really needs to have more contrast on it from frnt to back.

As I worked the image more this is what I'm thinking about it.

The contrast isn't high enough between the two characters. To make it more dynamic I think I need to play with the scale of the two figures a bit more and also try and build a better background. I think one of the big reasons it still looks so amateurish to me is the composition just isnt epic enough. Both of the figures are to similar in size and there is nothing to indicate where they are.I also think your right about the fire/lava area. I need more light. I went and looked at some references of lava online and my guy just doesn't have white/red hot feel to him. Right no for all we know he's just a bunch of melted gold.

Anyway...I guess that's my critique of my own piece lol. I'll upload what I started to do to refine the image but I think I might try and do some thumbnails tp see if I can't take the idea and make it more "epic."

[moonskittles]

My 2c:

1. You need to push the contrast much more in the foreground.
2. Also, I think your skeleton would add a more orange tint everything.
3. Sharper highlights on the spider and rocks.
4. Bring the composition in tighter to the subjects. Having the spider melt into the shadows makes him scarier.
5. Bring more foreground rocks around to the right side to have a clearly established foreground.
6. Your perspective with your skeleton and the background don't quite agree.
7. Add more trails of smoke in the sky that all point toward the skeleton.

[Venger]

I'm not sure I get what's going on - which is the evil? are they enemies, friends, 'evil' and mount.
Are they going to fight?
You need to place them somewhere, a flat background isn't helping.
Darken up the background to help with your lighting.

[Linden82]

I'm not sure I get what's going on - which is the evil? are they enemies, friends, 'evil' and mount.
Are they going to fight?
You need to place them somewhere, a flat background isn't helping.
Darken up the background to help with your lighting.

Thanks for the input Venger.

The title is just a place holder more than anything. I wanted the spider to be threatening the skeleton but also slightly taken aback almost like it's hesitating. I recognize that the composition doesn't really tell the story very well and I would like to do it again better but I also have a bad habit of not finishing so I'm trying to push this one to completions.

I might work on the skeleton's gestures more to try and indicate his threatening the spider, which might help with the story.

Yeah I agree the background is weak and needs work. In this latest version I tried to give them a little more context, like they are in a feild of rocks, Let me know if this helps with the setting. I'll work on the skeleton next, try to give him some menace.

[Linden82]

My 2c:

1. You need to push the contrast much more in the foreground.
2. Also, I think your skeleton would add a more orange tint everything.
3. Sharper highlights on the spider and rocks.
4. Bring the composition in tighter to the subjects. Having the spider melt into the shadows makes him scarier.
5. Bring more foreground rocks around to the right side to have a clearly established foreground.
6. Your perspective with your skeleton and the background don't quite agree.
7. Add more trails of smoke in the sky that all point toward the skeleton.

Thanks Moonskittles, I really appreciate you taking the time to i've me some great feedback. I went back to the image and stopped trying to make it pretty and polish it and tried instead to fix some of the stuff you mentioned. Let me know what you think with this latest version.

I do need to make the background a bit darker but this is my latest version with some rough changes to it.

[moonskittles]

That looks much better!
The section where your spider's right legs overlap the ground looks really flat, though. You need to really decide what the exact shape is of that rock so that you can properly decide how much of the orange glow is going to light it up.

[Linden82]

Thanks Again Moonskittles, Yeah that rock, and even those bottom legs look stiff and flat.

What I decided to do instead was rework the composition with a better POV and a bigger more imposing monster.

This is my very rough mock up.

[Vernon Lee]

Id take the camera in just a tad more on the latest one so the horizon is quite low and the stone tablet things become your dark forground. Might wanna study some of Kekai Kotaki's work he balances huge objects with little ones really well.

[Linden82]

So this is actually turning out pretty good for my first real digital painting I think. It's not perfect by any means but it's coming along. I think I need to work on the horns near his face. I want them to almost be like hands that he's trying to shield his eyes with from the glow of the fire rather than stubby claws. Maybe I need to reduce them in size and make them different from the other claws, make them almost hand like in appearance, or at lease claw/handlike. Maybe more like talons or pincers.

Thanks to Moonskittles advice I think I'm starting to improve both the composition as well as the lighting and I'm pretty happy with the composition and perspective, although I must say that I did base the perspective of of one of Feng Zhu's painting. I still seem to have trouble getting the epic feel that I want on my own. I tend to make the subjects such as the skeleton and the monster to large in the frame and not leaving enough for the mid and the backgrounds. Looking at one of his paintings helped be establish the epic feel I was going for.

I'm going to keep on plugging away at this one and see what comes of it. So far really enjoying it. Still very much open to more advice. The advice I've gotten so far has been very helpful.

One more thing, I think the castle is out of place so I think I might try and replace it with a less man made looking object or something. I know the lava guy is humanoid but I don't think the castle fits with the foreground. Something I'll work on in a bit.

[Linden82]

Thanks Vernon, I'll check it out.

[Linden82]

Arrrrgh! I just looked at his amazing work and he has a designing there for some characters that is very similar to a character design I've been working with for several year! ugh, and He does it so well. sigh....I know that most everything has been done before but it's kind of deflating to see a character you worked on for so long done by someone else so much better. lol

Well back to the drawing bored hehe

[Vernon Lee]

Arrrrgh! I just looked at his amazing work and he has a designing there for some characters that is very similar to a character design I've been working with for several year! ugh, and He does it so well. sigh....I know that most everything has been done before but it's kind of deflating to see a character you worked on for so long done by someone else so much better. lol

Well back to the drawing bored hehe

Hahah dont worry keep at it! Kekai does it well cause of his values like something very small int he foreground would be very dark in value against something very light but huge in size in the background. Its based on the idea of density. FengZhu has a slightly different emphasis. Although his values are still strong he tends to detail up the faces heavily while leaving everything else quite loose or rough. So the amount of detail kinda attracts the eye. I think youve realised the last point too, but you might need to work on it a bit longer to really add the details

[Velocity Kendall]

i think the first one was better in some ways. it drew your eye in, especially after Linden tweaked it. youre choosing flat, diagram type viewpoints. theyre good for design because theyre simple, but for the finished render you should go for as much dynamism as possible.

think about foreground, middleground, background. your dark foreground, light middle, dark back works well.
think about the scale difference between the giant monster and the tiny victim. think about how in movies the director places the camera to emphasise this.. we look up at huge things from down here on the ground. we look down on tiny ants. etc.





it looks a bit like the crab thing is warming his claws on a campfire...

[Griffonnage]

(Ahahah the last stickman drawing killed me, can't breath !)

I think that's a very good reason to look at king kong and godzilla movies if you hadn't saw them You have some cool characters here, I really wait for your final piece !

[shrunkendesigner]

RARRR! *peep.

Love it.