Help in Environment Concept Art

[hinootora]

Hey everyone!
I'm new here in this site and I'm also new in the Concept Art field.

So a little intro first:
I originally used Paint Tool Sai in drawing and I recently migrated to PS.
I'm used to anime style before but now I want to change it into something that can be used for concept art.
End of intro.

A friend of ours suggested that one way to study is to get a reference image and try to replicate it. He also said to do it without using the color picker to train our eyes in determining colors.

The image on top is the one I made while below is my reference image.
I'm also new to using perspective lines. I used one for this but I still need to practice more.
Oh, and I'm also wondering how you guys determine what type of brushes are you supposed to use when example, drawing rocks, water, etc. I can't seem to understand emulate those surfaces.
And last question; when to know if the amount of details in your work are enough or not.

Any tips, suggestions are very much welcome~
Thanks for the time guys! =)

[Hitsu//San]

If you want to learn correctly you need to start to draw from the real things an you need some practice to draw things in perspective on a 3d field starting from simple shapes like cubes, cones, cylinders, pyramids and spheres. There is a reason for that and is cause your eye can't perceive distance on a photo. Someone would say the opposite but it's not real, your brain can let you perceive distance by color brightness and perspective (this is what artists do) but it's not the same thing because of how eyes perceive distance (which is a little different).

So the best way to learn to draw is to study perspective and how perspective is applied to our visual field and how to render simple shapes in a 3d space (with perspective) cause those shapes are used to create everything that can be drawn.

To learn colors the best thing to do is to learn value separation first when you are learning perspective ecc ecc and then study color theory and lighting.

I think i haven't forgot anything but if you have other doubts feel free to ask!

[jcate]

The lighting could use work, those closest to the viewer should have more of a blue, blue-green color instead of a bright green unless another light source is indicated. Don't just look a pictures either. Go somewhere and actually look at how nature reacts to light, then after you've studied the area for a few minutes, take your own photo only for reference later on.

[hinootora]

thanks for the comments guys =). I'll go look those things up!

[kevinhyshen]

I would agree with the others. I have to say this is a good attempt, and the shortcomings are due to the reasons others have pointed out, you might need a further understanding of perspective, and proportions. Perspective can be learned through observational drawings, and also books. Proportions is a matter of patience, since if you break everything down to grids getting the proportion right is only a matter of time, but getting the proportions right - very fast everytime you draw - that'll come with practice. Essentially what you are attempting here is a difficult task that involves, proportion, perspective, color, value - all at once. I would break that task down into its elements in order to practice efficiently. For example - I would just focus on line drawing first - to get my proportions right. Proportions=Perspective>value>color

[hinootora]

@kevinhyshen thanks for the tip! now I really gotta start from the core which is getting the perspective and the proportions right first and the rest are to follow.
Thanks for the tip on the line art thing, I'll give it a try next time. =)