My first post! sunken treasure

[Kek]

Hello everyone! I've been veiwing the amazing art on this site for quite some time, and today I finished up a little something of my own. This is one of my first diggital paintings on photoshop. Crits please!

[j.k.]

Hi Kek,
Nice pic. It shows a lot of labor, maybe too much. It looks overworked to me. What I mean is that you didn't leave much to the imagination of the viewer. There is nothing to pull in interest. Everything is in focus, in even lighting, there are no background or foreground elements, everything has the same line and color weight. Try adding a layer of lighting to focus attention on a small portion of the artwork. Also toy with a little volumetric light and debri in the water to make it feel more like it is underwater and not just in a blue space. A critter investigating the treasure or hiding from a predator would be nice. A little drama to suggest a story.

It is a great start for your first photoshop painting. Keep it up!
jk

[kev ferrara]

Solid first post. I like the the way everything has its own particular texture, like the coral, the gems, and the wooden chest. On the metal crown, its a weird thing about doing metal. The mid-value midtone colors are much deeper and richer than you expect, and they stay pretty dark right up to the highlight, which is what makes the highlight on metal sparkle and bling so much. (I'm speaking about the metal crown here).

Also, maybe some bubbles and fish?

Good luck,
kev

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=101106

[Kek]

Thanks for the advice. I'll work on that.

Kek

[brianhamner]

I like this, its simple, but not lacking of details, I dont think its overworked at all. I think the only thing I could crit about it is that the coins seem like they are on top of a wad of gold tissue paper, since only the top layer is detailed into individual coins. I would take a few extra minutes and detail the underneath layer of coins a little more, so that it keeps up with the rest of the work. Besides that I think you got a winner.

[Kittehness]

I also think some extra watery elements would really make this pic stand out. Try a little softly blurred bluish effect on a few places - stuff underwater is strongly tinted blue from the water around it. Add some bubbles or rays of light from the sun, maybe only highlight a couple of the coins from the chest, maybe more green slime and rust all over the objects, add some fish or other critters.

You have a pretty solid grasp of rendering form and shape already, from the shape of the chest to the jewels in the sand, so all you need is to punch up the colors and atmosphere!

[Alka]

you need a source of light. the shadows could lay like that only under a big source of light, like the sun - but it surely can't light the bottom of a sea. this fact ruins the underwater atmosphere. do lots of shadows, especially on the sand and the water at the edges of the pic, imagine, you had a flashlight placed somewhere - according to that, add glance to few jewles.
But on the whole this is just great for the beginning! you've got a great feeling for texture and the patience to draw in detail - keep it on! good luck!