Some feedback and direction; if you would kindly.

[Chris Sanders]

Started this last night; no real grandiose plan for it just for fun and for a change from my obsession with winter. Any comments would be great; i'm thinking of trowing in some man made structures somewhere down the line. If you are commenting on one of my pieces, please don't be afraid to post something extreme in regards to compositional alteration and such; i love to rip stuff apart for learning purposes. Cheers.

[Velocity Kendall]

just do a lot of these real fast, thatd probably help you more. take no more than 30 mins each.

[Candra H]

What VK said.

Though, did you do this from a photo or your imagination? If it's from a photo, yeah, do lots. I promise I'll follow my own advice soon. Oops.

If it's something you came up with on your own, maybe concentrate more on the composition and placement of things and the light. Everything is kind of sloping off to the bottom left corner and the cliffs feel like they're blocking the distance. There's not much variation in the light - reflections on the water and shadows on the cliffs etc - so it all feels kind of flat too.

Anyway, those were just some thoughts that came to me while looking at it. You don't have to apply them to this one, just hope they help a little for future paintings.

[Chris Sanders]

Thanks VK, I'm on it.

Candra - This was from imagination. Yeah my comps are bad; I've bought a few books on comp, I've got a lot of books to get through over the coming months. And that is a high priority of mine. It's still pretty early on, I'll work on the image after i do as VK suggested.

Here's the first half hour speed paint. To start I'm just going to do some speed greyscales. Please any advice would be champion!

[Velocity Kendall]

that ones looking good. maybe watch making near and distant shapes similar in subjective size and proportion, kind makes a sort of tangenty type thing where the two forms resonate for no reason.

[fxEVo]

Love you having here, as a draft, I think the problem is how far you can push them.

[Chris Sanders]

VK - Yeah i keep doing that. My problem is that I'm all like "it's fantasy so everything in the background is monolithic, so as stuff recedes it gets bigger so stays the same size graphically".

fxEVo - Thanks, It's probably going to stay a draft.

Two 30 second speeds. The first one went a bit wrong and i spent like 20 minutes on something that looked crap so i totally erased it.

[fersteger2]

Keep going man! You come up with interesting light and dark value patterns and that is key to solid landscape painting. Like VK said do more, just crank these out, don't let your hand stop just keep going. It's the best way to build up a technique and confidence.

On that last one, think about how the trail of people can lead you into the scene. There's all this dead space on the right, why not have the trail of people going down to the right, around a bend and then up the hill to the castle. Good stuff though, once you understand value and composition, you'll be in a much better place to add color.

[fxEVo]

Hmmm, I think 30 seconds is too much pushy, you have some good results that some people maybe struggle even at 10-20 mins but I dont think that will help much as practice, its maybe good for figure practice but for landscape? Nah, landscape need good, solid shape design and 30 sec is not enough.

[Chris Sanders]

fersteger2 - Yeah i am kind of already feeling a little better about my pieces after doing a couple of these. I agree with the trail idea, i doubt i'll touch this image again, but i'll keep that in mind.

fxEVo - Oh god i meant minutes not seconds sorry i was tired when i wrote that lol. I may knock it down to 15 minutes when i get up more confidence and become less hesitant. Thanks.

Also guys and girls i'm embarking on a new study program inspired by Ben Franklin (although altered for art). It's basically a 13 week program where you take a subject for study and dedicate a whole week to it and nothing else. Then the next monday...switch topic. When the 13 weeks is up you go again; or if you want to maybe alter it so it's better.

Here's what i think my list is going to be. 1. Perspective Exterior (example anything viewed from outside of it, like a car or a house or a gun, but from the outside perspective)
2. Composition
3. Landscapes
4. Perspective Interior (inside of cabin, cockpit or structure)
5. Figure Drawing Nude
6. Light on Form
7. Figure Drawing Clothed
8. Animal anatomy
9. Colour
10. Drawing Heads
11. Still life
12. Drawing Hands
13. Story-boarding

Now Would you say that it's a better idea to alternate similar subjects so you get more variety and keep your mind fresher, or clump similar subjects together to keep in that ball park for longer?

Also another piece. Hard to tell how long i've spent on it because photoshop has crashed twice and i've lost a lot of data each time and had to start go back and repaint stuff. Probably around 2 hours at a guess.

[Chris Sanders]

quick adjustment

[fxEVo]

LOL, 20-30 secs would be overkill.
Anyway about new image I cant tell what is the flat surface of bottom, a lake or? There is no reflection or anything to tell so that's missing information.
Upper corner on the right is being isolated from the rest, also the vertical and horizontal elements is dividing overall images into almost 4 equal pieces without any intention of symmetrical geometry shapes (painting of a gate or a front of building etc etc...)

[Chris Sanders]

Thanks FX, I'll revise that image.

Done some more on the speed paint thing.

[Chris Sanders]

half hour speed

[Chris Sanders]

some colour stuff.

[sone_one]

"shake it like a polaroid picture"... great stuff. looking forward to more.

[edit] be carefull where objects meet the border of your image. like in the last there seems to be a cliff along that edge...baaad tangent.

[I-Bomb]

try doing some interior sketches more a little more on perspective

[Chris Sanders]

sone_one thanks man, can you knock up a quick read line i'm not sure where you mean. thanks.

udonhead - man i'm doing nothing but interiors next week man, you'll be proud!

[Chris Sanders]

not an interior, but something a little different

[Velocity Kendall]

LOVING your progress, youre thinking, studying and doing. EXCELLENT!

[Chris Sanders]

Thanks VK, yeah it's going good at the minute. Seemed to be learning alot from these, thanks again for the first comment, most useful thing that been said in a while.

[LaCan]

Nice value quickies. Keep them coming. The value arrangements on most of them are quite good.

Here's what I think you can improve.

Try to be less fidgety with your brushwork. You now have a value fluctuation "texture" of the frequency of your brush size, covering your whole composition. This is caused by scribbling and smudging. It interferes with otherwise nice composition. Instead, strive to mass the similar values together into large areas of pure flat value.

Be more deliberate with you brushstrokes. Decide whether a specific edge should be soft or hard and let the brushstroke show that decision. Don't smudge.

Simplify shapes and let them have articulated hard or soft contour. Shape should be decided, not left to chance.

Use larger brushes and let your brushstrokes follow the form surface. Try not to doodle randomly. E.g.: use vertical strokes for trees, horizontal for ground and oblique for slopes.

Here's a quick paintover to illustrate some of the above points:

[Chris Sanders]

Thanks LaCan, some great points, will try and work on that. Right new piece, going to try and push this one as far as i can, some advice would be grand thanks.

[Chris Sanders]

[Chris Sanders]

Little speed comp

[black-swan]

your latest speed composition doesn't work because the value structure doesn't make sense. Generally the sky should be the lightest part of your image, even at night if you look at a landscape the land is still darker than the sky. Of course, if you've got a man-made source of light in a night scene it will be the brightest aspect of the image. And in snow scenes, the ground is generally lighter than the sky- but these are exceptions to a general observation.

Carlsons guide to landscapes explains it really well. This diagram from the book should give a general idea as to a value structure under daylight conditions. The sky is the light source, the ground reflects the most light, whilst inclined and upright planes do not reflect as much light.



These are all general observations and not absolute rules, but I find it helps to be aware of such info

[Chris Sanders]

Thanks Swan. It probably doesn't make much sense your right, i just threw it down and thought it looked interesting; probably interesting because it's wrong lol. Yeah see i need to read that book Thanks for the crit.

Anyways, another speed paint. Thanks guys.

[Raoul Duke]

these are pretty sweet. Your sort of lacking inhabition though. Spend some time working in more characters or a clearer picture of the characters interacting with the environment. They don't need to be detailed, but a little indication towards costume would go a long way.

[Chris Sanders]

Raoul Duke - thanks man, yeah i get what you mean; i'll work on that.

Quick interior drawing.

[Chris Sanders]

speed paint