Beachscape WIP

[Nyx702]

I am not so good at landscapes so any advise from you expert environment painters would really help!

[gl0gg]

I am not that great at painting, but I'd say that you should look more at reference and try and see all colors that are there. If you go outside and just look around there will be a shitload of different colors and values and stuff everywhere. The water isn't always blue, the sand yellow and the foliage green if you know what I mean. Good luck man!

[johanson]

glOgg makes a good point. You're really sticking to local color in the picture. Maybe make a new layer set to 'color' on a low opacity and mess around for a few minutes. Also, you might want to think about composition. What do you want your focal point to be? Could you use a new element in the environment to frame the island? Perhaps a palm tree that is very close to the viewer. Have fun with it.

[Nyx702]

Update! I think this is much better.

gl0gg - took your advice and it seems to be much better!

johanson - now that is a awesome cirtique! Thank you so much! I tried to do what you said and I think it really helped.

[jfwalls]

This obviously isnt the exact same as your piece, but it would make a good reference for color, reflections, etc.

http://www.deepseaimages.com/dsilibr...ck_island_.jpg

[chaosrocks]

looks like a velvet painting
desaturate! please! it burns!

kidding but you do need to look at real oceans and the way that the colours layer and interact



chaos

[Nyx702]

Not much of a difference but I notice it. I desaturated it as chaos sudgested. I don't think I am going to have too much more time to invest in painting the water though, unless someone can offer a quicker method.

Thanks jfwalls for the image, it's a goodie!

[Jason Borne]

Nice work. I'd say that you'll see big improvement if you lean on reference material more.

[Ostrander]

Hi Nyx,
I have to agree with the advice the others are giving. The reference JFWalls posted is a very good to follow. Keep at it!

[Red Rabbit]

Definitely go with reference material. This piece is awesome though. I would just work on the mix of colors in there and also how the colors fade into the distance. To the right of the rocks it goes from light to dark rather quickly. The painter Bob Ross use to always say that things in the distance needed to be lighter and slightly blurred or "misty". So try next time with darker colors in the foreground and the horizon being a bit lighter. I can't say if Bob Ross' methods would work here, but its worth a shot.

[spiffiness]

Hey,
Along with what everyone else has said, work on the texture of the rocks in the background. Maybe smooth out some of the vertical lines, and add some more irregularity to them.

[Beershite]

Hey,
I guess it's still too saturated, take a good look at the ref!
Maybe you also want to look at the horizon, it has a little curve...it looks a bit awkward.
Good luck!

[Nyx702]

Ok...ughh this is the stage I do not like working in. The minor tweeking gives me headaches. Sorry, no more complaining. Thanks for everyones help!!!

I worked some more colors in the water while tring to lok at the reference. I varied the texture and shape of the rocks as spiffiness suggested. I lightened the horizon with a little atmosphereic perspective.