Digital Painting Advice - Magi of the Mountain

[Tyler Baird]

Hello Fellow Artsy People,

I have recently been dabbling in a new style and was hoping you would offer some advice or comments/critiques on how to further push this particular painting.

I wanted to try my hand at branching out from my typical art style, which usually utilizes quite a bit of line-work, and try a more painterly approach. While this particular style was waaaaay out of my usual artistic comfort zone, I must admit that I enjoyed the experimentation process and the learning experience. (Well, and that I can complete a painting in four or five hours instead of taking a week or two to finish.)

I approached this piece in a completely different manner than I usually would, starting with basic shapes and slowly refining from those silhouettes to a finished piece. To be honest, working in this type of rougher and painterly manner is exceptionally foreign to me but allows for my work to be a little looser. (Especially with the process of pushing and pulling colors to create shapes and forms... I usually have a completely finished and inked line-art layer to rely on before I begin the coloring process.)

If you would like me to post my process shots (I believe I have seven or eight of them) I would be more than happy to, just post below and request them please. You may find something you like about my process, or perhaps some suggestions I need to work on.

This is my first painting in this style so again, any and all help is greatly appreciated. Be gentle^^


**If the image is too small for a proper critique, it can also be viewed at Behance Portfolio Link and will soon be added to my Portfolio Site, TylerBaird.net ** (The original is 12 x 17 @ 300 DPI I believe)

[Black Spot]

The focus point isn't on the man due to having other areas sharper than him. Either paint the background looser or him tighter.

[iambanana]

Be gentle^^

Wrong forum pal. Word of caution.

Anyway, I'll have a go, just to clear my mind of the recent controversy regarding the site.

I think you'd benefit greatly from doing some landscapes in grayscale. Quick ones. Just to get the basics down. Here's why:
You need more value separation between foreground, middleground and background. Everything is more or less equally saturated. There is no clear light source. The composition is unpleasant and perspective is by-and-by non-existant. Your foreground figure looks really strange, unless you were intending him or her to be a gnome. When the rest of your image is that unrealistic, the photomanipulated lightning bolt looks really out of place, as does the highly rendered power field surrounding the figure and the starry sky.

For now, don't focus on doing finished pieces. Do quick ones, spending an hour at the most. Values only. It'll really help your learning progress.

Anyway, I hope I wasn't being too harsh. We only mean well. Welcome to CA!

[Tyler Baird]

Hmm. excellent idea, I will admit the furthest mountain especially seems to have rather crisp edges. I will fiddle with it and paint the background a bit looser and repost it here. Thanks for the advice!

[Tyler Baird]

Wrong forum pal. Word of caution.

Anyway, I'll have a go, just to clear my mind of the recent controversy regarding the site.

I think you'd benefit greatly from doing some landscapes in grayscale. Quick ones. Just to get the basics down. Here's why:
You need more value separation between foreground, middleground and background. Everything is more or less equally saturated. There is no clear light source. The composition is unpleasant and perspective is by-and-by non-existant. Your foreground figure looks really strange, unless you were intending him or her to be a gnome. When the rest of your image is that unrealistic, the photomanipulated lightning bolt looks really out of place, as does the highly rendered power field surrounding the figure and the starry sky.

For now, don't focus on doing finished pieces. Do quick ones, spending an hour at the most. Values only. It'll really help your learning progress.

Anyway, I hope I wasn't being too harsh. We only mean well. Welcome to CA!

The "Be Gentle" was more of a joke, as I have seen how blunt some posters can be, lol.

In regards to your suggestions:

Hmm, the value suggestion is a very valid concern. Perhaps I could push the cooler values in the middle and background to help it recede further into the distance and warmer tones in the foreground?

The power field / glyph and the lightning bolt aren't photo manipulated, I guess I just went a tad too far on the rendering in comparison to the rest of the image? Perhaps I need to "brush" it up more

The figure was actually supposed to be a gnome or dwarf.. hmm maybe I need to add something additional to show that? something to add as a reference point for his height, or maybe something to help explain his uh, "Dwarfiness"? I was wary of adding a second figure as I wished this to be a lone figure.

I will definitely work on some grayscale landscape studies, as they will help to make me work at a faster pace as well as work out some of the kinks in my methods.

Thanks for the suggestions and for the welcome to CA =)

[iambanana]

No problem mate. Just remember, when referring to values, we're talking grayscale. You get cool and warm by adding hue and chroma. And you are correct that warm objects often appear to be closer. But maybe just stick to values for now

Remember to start a sketchbook!