~Medieval Scene~ + new pic page 2

[m@.]

Hi guys!
Here's a new pic, kind of speed paint but I was quite satisfied with the result.
Hope you like it!

[Spong]

initial impression is that it is a very beutiful piece - nice composition, colour choices and textures

critically - i know its a speed paint but there are some areas that really let it down - for example, considering how crisp his armour looks the main guy's sword is all blurry and weird - also the way his legs just kind of end at the knee looks very wrong - i guess you were going for really long grass but it just doesn't look like its working - he resembles the Monty Python black knight in that respect that he just has stumps for legs

hope those crits are helpful - other than that nice work - the atmosphere is good there is tension between the characters - you can tell there is going to be a fight

nice one

[Olof]

whoa!
Gotta agree with the previous. I believe the man closest is a bit to underdetailed.
Also, the poses on the two red guys in the far back is a little boring and weird.

Other than that, amazing! Love the background is crazy. Did you use photos for this one?

.peace

[4rt-r41d]

Very nice image. i would love to see it fully finished

[rogfa]

Great job. This looks like it would be a cool scene from a game or movie. I like the tall grass and the path leading up to the building.

[Red_Rook]

ooohh very predy, its very mullins

I agree with the above crits. One thing that would really help it, are some really hard highlights, you can define the sword and ornaments on the armour, take a look at more mullins work and maybe justinsweet for the armour.

[Gryphon]

I love the textures - the only part that really bugs me is that the building isn't standing up straight... kinda looks like it's about to tip over into that valley... and I also agree about the closest guy's legs.

The atmospheric perspective and mood are working really well, though, and I definitely like the color choices.

[lewiston]

Just plain killer... I'm speechless, you sucker... new wallpaper for me though...

[Rascar Capac]

Nice!..but I think you can make the space feel much more grand and majestic if you shrunk the two figures appraoching him by a considerable amount ..
and the FG guy looks a bit stiff

[rondo]

this is amazing, when the screen first loaded i was amazed. i love this kind of stuff and you did such a great job with the scene. the knight's armour is amazing, i dont mind the people in the red cloak, i like them the way they are. The rocks and trees on the left side, then the path on the left leading up to the building is great. nothing really bugs me at all with this painting, except the sword. but i didnt even notice that at first, at first i was just admiring the whole scene. well done man

[Elwell]

Good piece, but, as has already been noted, the leaning pagoda and weak foreground figure keep it from being what it could be.

[jfwalls]

Great atmosphere. The background just pulls me in and makes me want to walk up that path and see what's in the pagoda. The weakest parts have already been mentioned, but I also think you could lose the right side of the image. That area seems to serve no purpose other than needlessly drawing my eye away from the main character.

[Elwell]

Agreed. I didn't even notice that at first because I've got my resolution set low and didn't bother scrolling. You could crop in 20-25% on the right without loosing anything, and then the gap between the cliffs wouldn't run straight through the middle.

[Matt Smith]

that is awsome looking, but I agree about some of the comments, you should definately finish it up. Also I dont know if anyone mentioned it yet, but where the knights legs are cropped due to the grass, he looks more like hes in water than tall grass.

[Egets]

omg and you dare call this speedpainting argh its too good everything is perfect I dont miss anything hence I like impressionism more than realism, yet this is far closer to realism already than impressionism to me

[m@.]

Spong : thank you, and great crits. Well, I'm really not trying to put too much details and I definitely want to have an "impressionist" feeling a la Mullins, so I try to simplify some things to let the viewer fill in the gaps. Sometimes I loose the speedy feel (most of the crits of my last piece I posted here), and sometimes I have it too loose (like here for the foreground grass and the sword). It's not easy , so I gotta thank you guys for pointing the areas that read badly. Here for instance I really didn't want to draw all the grass in front of the character to show he's in tall grass, but just suggesting he's in tall grass by cutting him and put a little soft gradient shadow around . I thought the viewer would fill in the gap and automatically guess the grass is tall. Maybe I should have put more clues tho. Thanks again.

Mortem : thanks for your comments and crits. I didn't use any photo other than some overlays for some chaotic detail texturing.

wakazou : thanks. For me this is kinda finished. Though with all those good crits I think I could definitely improve some parts.

rogfa : thanks.

Red_Rook : thanks! Yeah good point about the armour, I should work that more.

Gryphon : thank you

lewiston : thanks

Rascar Capac : yes, this is true.

rondo : thanks. Glad you enjoy the style.

Elwell : true.

jfwalls : thanks. Yeah composition wise it doesn't add anything but I do think it adds some air and builds up the scenery. I like this kind of cinematographic format.

Matt Smith : yes it has been noted that the grass/knight transition is not very readable. Thanks for the comment though.

Egets : thanks

---
hehe all this really wants to make me work on the piece a bit more (I quite finished it in a rush late in the night, wanting to finish it before I go to sleep). So maybe a new version will come soon. I love CA for people not restraining themselves to crit pictures

[Pixeldragoon]

Actually, maybe I'm dumb, but I thught the tall grass thing was fine. Maybe just some darker shadows inbetween his legs where he'd be stepping on grass?

[proconpictures]

U created a really nice scene. it would fit perfectly as an illustration in a book. it's cool that you keep changing and trying out things even after having something done but always remember that a lot of times critique is more taste than knowledge. go with what you feel most comfortable with...

[Violentia]

i must admit those speedpaints inspires me most...
even though i agree with critiques it is still an awsome piece.. i love it

[Alexandr Pascenko]

i luv it. i reaaaallly love it! very harmonic colours

[ArtisticSchmidt]

The legs don't bother me... I didn't even notice until someone said something. Beautiful work.

[rushwolf]

Reminds me a bit of the concept art for Guild Wars. Might wanna check that stuff out, great environment paintings, very speed-paint detailed.

(some are just altered pictures though, ignore those!)

Great work btw, did you use painter? I need to learn that program. Im so jealous of you speedpainting guys.

[m@.]

Pixeldragoon, yeah, maybe

proconpictures : thanks. You're right, but I think good critiques is essential for progression.

Violentia : thanks.

GOBLINSHARK : thank you!

ArtisticSchmidt : heh, good to know

rushwolf : thanks, I'll check that out. I used photoshop.

[JouYung]

the only part that really bugs me is that the building isn't standing up straight... kinda looks like it's about to tip over into that valley...

I think that's a good thing. It makes the age of the structure more apparent - it's probably been there a long time, as part of a legend which the travelling soldier has probably found. So it wouldn't be inaccurate for things to fall into ruin during that time. The cliff that it's on probably eroded, which unlevelled the structure.

Brilliant art! Thank you for sharing.

[Living Rope]

All the crits above have interest. But to me you have caught the true emotion. It's a powerful scene with a lot of mood, and that's what matters to me.

[Summer Pudding]

I too think the foreground guy's a bit weedy, but the rest is superb.

Pete

[el coro]

yer one of my favorite new editions around here. im amazed at your talent dude. really really good. keep up the awesome work...........-c36

[Blue]

Great piece, i would really love to see this thing finish with full blown detail.

[-leo]

Great mood! As for the crit I would knock down colors a bit at right and under the knight - they are too strong comparing to the rest... OR add some highlights on knight's armor if it's light rays shining through the clouds.
Good stuff anyway. Hope to see more!

[m@.]

JouYung : hehe, why not?

Living Rope : merci! big compliment coming from you...

Summer Pudding : ok, thanks!

el coro : really glad you like!

Lord Blue ; hehe thx, maybe I'll continue it!

-leo : thanks for your c&c, noted!