Willing to teach environmental design-basics

[bupaje]

Thanks. Glad to have found the thread. Critique is essential for growth and these focused threads at least give me some direction (rather than jumping all over).

[DAMJAN]

Glad it can help. New guys, give me ideas what you want to learn or what you are struggling with. Oh another thing. Answer me this:

1. What is your biggest frustration when it comes to today's Concept Art video tutorials?
2. What would you like to see improve with those tutorials?

[rem92]

I wanna learn how to paint convincing environments and how to unify all the elements of the scene so everything looks like it belongs together.

answer for questions
1- they usually are impossible to follow cause they use really hard subjects and techniques, in fact, those aren't even tutorials for beginners, thats just the artist explaining their process of how they made one of their pieces, the other day i was watching Whit Brachna's tutorials from TAD, and its great and everything but boy i was so lost cause its so speed up and everything goes so fast, he ends up with like 30 layers and i dont even know why.

2-Id like to see a god environment tutorial targeted to beginners-intermediates, not a "how to use photoshop for painting" yea not that noob, but something that really explains the why of each layer being used, and stuff like that.

You could try a Speed painting tutorial first, id like to see one of those, it'd be great. (^.^)

[bupaje]

Since I'm just starting I am fine with what has been posted.

[DAMJAN]

Thanks on your response. Waiting to see what others got to say. Those of you who are not, could you please like my conceptartmasters facebook page? Its dedicated to collecting concept art and art related tutorials from around the web so you guys can find it all at one spot. the address is:https://www.facebook.com/ConceptArtMasters

Thank you. The reason why I'm focusing on each individual piece found in nature is because I want you to learn that first before we move onto combining it together in a final piece. Let me know if that's helpful or not.

[rem92]

yea.. i think its helpful to focus on something first and then unify everything.. in that case.. how about we learn to paint ice stuff? you know.. like in an ice environment how would you paint a big ice structures and stuff, also, id like to learn how to paint stuff thats really far away, like for a piece in which you r establishing the world where something will happen like far away mountain, or sea or whatever...

[DAMJAN]

Ok cool. I wish my pc weren't so crappy I would like to record a video of me painting stuff. Anyways, I'll try to make one of those tutorials as soon as possible. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

[Streetz]

Glad it can help. New guys, give me ideas what you want to learn or what you are struggling with.

Lighting is something I struggle with and its rarely touched upon. Some focus on design and creating a shape language within our images, some stuff beyond basic composition, choosing color palettes for mood, as well as idea generation. Thanks

[DAMJAN]

Ok thank you.

[Streetz]

Some thumbnails. Didn't really establish the lighting yet.

[DAMJAN]

streetz very nice thumbs. Even though they all could have a potential my favorites are: 1,2,4,5,6,9.

[DAMJAN]

STREETZ. When it comes to choosing color for mood what I do is, I just search for an image or images that have that type of a mood I'm going for and then I sample the colors. When it comes to generating ideas, this one is harder. There is not one thin that can make huge difference in coming up with the ideas but watching movies, cartoons and other concept art can definitely help you out with coming up with something of your own. For instance, one image you might like lighting, second you like composition, etc. and then you try to apply that to your own by taking those things and then combining them. Hopefully it helps. Beyond this, I don't think I can help much, that's why I'm teaching basics here.

[Little-Maiden]

oh i havent looked into this part of the forums for awhile now, glad you're back DAMJAN, mind if I hop back in?

As you already know I've tended to focus alot more on figure and portraits over enviroments. Thats not to say I don't want to paint awesome scenes, I'm just daunted by enviroments than I am by figures and faces.

Nonetheless if it comes to learning enviros for me right now I want to be able to create a convincing enviroment, whether they be urban or landscape, fantasy or realistic. Being able to create a high quality enviroment is a solid goal.

So if you're back to teaching DAMJAN, count me in

[bupaje]

I'll be back on this thread soon (detoured to practice a little face drawing/painting) but I did think of one tutorial I could use later. I have painted a few pieces as values and am not always sure of the best way to color them. Usually I just add Multiply or Color layers but the darks often end up too dark so if there is some guru recommended way I'd like to know.

[arcanille]

Hi, i want to try environment painting practice here. Im not sure if start with line art or work with simple value helps? Need some guide though.

[rem92]

Arcanille, just read the previews pages and see what was done first.. its probably gonna be the thumb nailing process, it doesnt matter if you use line art, but you should have some value range on it, so people can read whats the fore ground and the background etc.

[rem92]

Here are a couple sketches i did today.

[arcanille]

Hi, here are few thumbnails that I did. I know it is not too good, will try harder. My first process is line art and proceed to grayscale. Im trying to do value though. any help?

[rem92]

arcanille, i think the composition of your thumbnail is not so bad, but it think all your thumbnails are all too similar, try to do more variety, also, they are too messy and loose, try drawing the value on top of the line art so its not visible when you finish, another thing you should know and its been said before in the thread, is that all the darks should be pushed to the foreground and and the lighter values to the background thats atmospheric perspective and you should be aware of it in every scene you draw.

[rem92]

here another sketch.. share your thoughts, things look right to ya'all? or you can just watch..

[DAMJAN]

Hey guys, welcome new members and old ones nice job. Rem good stuff playing with colors. One suggestion that I have to add to you is that you have to start seeing colors that are not so obvious. It's hard to see that in images without using real life references. For instance, that last painting, you have pure purple as shadow, it looks nice as a compliment to that orange however, you have to see that there is that sand color even in that darker area. So in conclusion, you have to mix colors and pay attention to bounce light. Anyways, I think you are progressing nicely, just need to practice to get better.

arcanille As mentioned previously, you do have to work on creating atmospheric perspective when painting so that you can show the depth and distance and your thumbnails do look a like. Vary the sizes and always make your focal point the largest and most detailed. I said detailed because that's important but not in the thumbnail part, just giving you heads up. Anyways, I don't think it matters if there are outlines and colors underneath it since these are just thumbnails.

bupaje Best thing to do is to play with different layers properties however, most of the time "overlay" and the one underneath works the best if you are coloring over your black and grey.

[DAMJAN]

Here are some good design elements that translate good into painting successful environments, characters, etc. They don't go in this specific order but rather in the order that I can think of.

Rule of thirds check how I handle this in earlier posts. Basically, don't place your subject of interest in the dead center but in one of the corners of the image when split in 4 equal imaginary areas.

Contrast: play between opposite colors, shapes, values can determine where your eyes will go first. Always express this in your focal point and less in the surrounding areas. Example, large shapes next to small shapes, sharp objects next to round objects, etc.

Balance/Harmony: your each painting has to have balance in order to work. To balance something out you either use symmetry or asymmetry. Symmetry is when you would take an image and split it in half and both sides would be mirror images of itself. Asymmetry which we designers, concept artists, artists should mostly use create dynamic images and more interesting to view. Asymmetry images are not exact mirror images but rather one side has something different, added that other doesn't have and this creates dynamic, interesting balance.

Repetition: Is very important to convince that an image is unified and that everything comes from the same area, world, etc. Example, if you repeat shapes throughout your image it creates unity.

Overlapping: When you overlap shapes, it creates depth and also unifies image together so they seem more like a complete painting instead of a collage.

Proportions: Understanding that proportions are very important to convey that something is small, large or simply huge. We humans use familiar subjects such as ourselves to determine the size of something in an image. If you include a human figure somewhere in the environment, you will show us the size of that environment. Be careful that you don't put same size of a human figure in foreground and lets say in background.

Ask me questions if any of this doesn't make much sense.

[DAMJAN]

Here are some good design elements that translate good into painting successful environments, characters, etc. They don't go in this specific order but rather in the order that I can think of.

Rule of thirds check how I handle this in earlier posts. Basically, don't place your subject of interest in the dead center but in one of the corners of the image when split in 4 equal imaginary areas.

Contrast: play between opposite colors, shapes, values can determine where your eyes will go first. Always express this in your focal point and less in the surrounding areas. Example, large shapes next to small shapes, sharp objects next to round objects, etc.

Balance/Harmony: your each painting has to have balance in order to work. To balance something out you either use symmetry or asymmetry. Symmetry is when you would take an image and split it in half and both sides would be mirror images of itself. Asymmetry which we designers, concept artists, artists should mostly use create dynamic images and more interesting to view. Asymmetry images are not exact mirror images but rather one side has something different, added that other doesn't have and this creates dynamic, interesting balance.

Repetition: Is very important to convince that an image is unified and that everything comes from the same area, world, etc. Example, if you repeat shapes throughout your image it creates unity.

Overlapping: When you overlap shapes, it creates depth and also unifies image together so they seem more like a complete painting instead of a collage.

Proportions: Understanding that proportions are very important to convey that something is small, large or simply huge. We humans use familiar subjects such as ourselves to determine the size of something in an image. If you include a human figure somewhere in the environment, you will show us the size of that environment. Be careful that you don't put same size of a human figure in foreground and lets say in background.

Ask me questions if any of this doesn't make much sense.

[Streetz]

STREETZ. When it comes to choosing color for mood what I do is, I just search for an image or images that have that type of a mood I'm going for and then I sample the colors. When it comes to generating ideas, this one is harder. There is not one thin that can make huge difference in coming up with the ideas but watching movies, cartoons and other concept art can definitely help you out with coming up with something of your own. For instance, one image you might like lighting, second you like composition, etc. and then you try to apply that to your own by taking those things and then combining them. Hopefully it helps. Beyond this, I don't think I can help much, that's why I'm teaching basics here.

Thanks DAMJAN. I am going to try to take a couple further and maybe do some more sketches.
Movies are a great source of inspiration. Thanks again for the suggestions.

[Streetz]

arcanille- cool sketches. Try maybe over lappping some foreground elements over your mid and background

rem92- great work. I especially like your purplish sky. A suggestion might be to try to stay away from super whites such as the ground plane in your last image. cool stuff

[arcanille]

DAMJan - Sure, i will make my thumbnails better and maybe i still have some trouble create atmospheric perspective. Do u mean by one-point and two-point perspective?
Movie might be a good source to generate variety, as i still have trouble with it.

rem92 - Thanks for your suggestions. Ill sketch over my line art with values.

[arcanille]

Here it another set of sketch. However, i still have problem with contrast and balance of shapes. Any feedback?

[Streetz]

arcanille These are good sketches and I think you are heading in the right direction. Atmospheric perspective is different than 1, 2, & 3pt perspective. When ppl talk abt atmospheric perspective it means that objects in the background get hazed out and loose contrast because the objects are so far from the viewer. They are basically picking up the color of the sky._ But you seem to be accomplishing this in these sketches.
One suggestion i have is to watch your tangents. You have some objects finishing at the exact place that another object begins( ex:sketch 1,2,5,6). try to either Make the object overlap or shrink it so it is smaller.
Hope that helps.

[Streetz]

So I decided to take sketches 5 & 3 further. This is the 1st rough color pass. I have to flesh out other elements, as well as adjust my lighting, contrast and saturation.

[bupaje]

Ok here are another few.



You know what I am struggling with here (besides drawing diagonally with the wacom) is values vs color. Thumb 2 and 3 are actually ocean. In real life the value for the ocean and sand is going to be much lighter than the islands which are farther out. In 1 the pier in distance value shouldn't be so dark but when I did it slighty dark than the water it doesn't really show.

So do you generally leave the lines in to define shape? Couple squiggles for waves? Probably overthinking things as usual. Hasn't quite clicked yet.