*Updated* Today's Batch - Environments + Full PSD and Walkthrough

[Idiot Apathy]

More from me! Most of which were done today, first one or two started yesterday. Hehe, took a lil vacation and came back inspired.

This one goes out to Coro Kaufman who gave me some great advice and encouragement at the SF workshop Thanks man!

Posted a PSD to that first one over here;
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74478

Oh hey, I made a blog; check it out!
http://crayonboxofdoom.blogspot.com/

Hope I calibrated my monitor properly, just reformatted. Too dark I dunno.

[Dile_]

lol you suck...!





Do you really belive i meant that ??? ( I say that when I become jealous ) These are really awesome Can't belive you did it in one day! Your colors are beyond my understanding, and it looks so damn good man Keep it up!

Btw, the last one feels a little empty, except for that, read what i said above awesome!

~Dile

[j a k e]

Nice dudeness. The colours are so nice and rich, makes me wanna go run on the grass. Good to see that you're using the brushes with more definition now sir Tom. lots of love.

[Kan Muftić]

Absolutely charming. To dare to go so monochromatic is really a challenge.
Any chance of explaining the process?
Really solid, dude.
Best regards,

[Zaknafain]

yeah... you totally suck...
and now get some sleep so we all have time to catch up...
I like the first and the fourth one the most.

The last one suffers from the sky beeing to close to the rest, valuewhise.
I think it is also a good example where to use that quote:
"economy..simple areas...if something is so busy that its bothersome where is its opposite...economy. the silence between beats to a songwriter."
I think a simple blue sky could bring more interest into the composition. I'd also like to see the tree overlapping the sky. just for some depth...
I think that a second object could help the composition (another tree, some birds... cheap tricks to add detail you know).
That big dark area could also need some counterweight in the foreground and on the left side.

crappy 2min overpaint:

[romance]

pour l'amour du fuck!

Stop making these will you! Your ability to capture colour and lighting never cease to amaze me mon ami. One day I'll build a device to suck out your painting powers and allow me to bear your children as well.

- R

[-Max Bertolini-]

Simply Great! Love the colors and the geometric shapes of the surfaces. Did you use any reference? Is there a demo of those? I'm really interested in it !

[Mitchell]

Wow. some of the best stuff I've seen all week.

[Alex Alexandrov]

hhhh there you go my weekly inspiration great again

[ICH]

Really powerful clouds perspective and the rocks...rocks!
Amazing use of colors.

[Justin.]

Honestly I would like to see more structures or something in these... alot of them are just empty landscapes, big landmarks, no epic scenes being portrayed... That's what I really want to see from you, more stuff. Colors/textures good as usual. I like the first 2 alot better than the bottom 2. They have more focus, like, you created them for a reason- to portray some place or some event, whereas the others seem just like rocks and hills and things.

[fedezz]

Already told you how much I love these, Tom, but I will tell you again These babies are great!!! My fav is the second one, gotta love that blueish water accent, and the steam adds to the drama.
Cheers!

[AndyStone]

think the word... beautiful sums it up...

[emily g]

Love the first one a lot.
I also like what you're doing with the clouds on the last two--how they leave that long strip of blue between the clouds and the horizon.

[beigeape]

hi, really dig this work, seems you managed to make it look like oils spread with a pallete knife, great colours and skys. nice one, id love to see what brushes you used, a tutorial maby..

[asoir]

Honestly I would like to see more structures or something in these... alot of them are just empty landscapes, big landmarks, no epic scenes being portrayed... That's what I really want to see from you, more stuff. Colors/textures good as usual. I like the first 2 alot better than the bottom 2. They have more focus, like, you created them for a reason- to portray some place or some event, whereas the others seem just like rocks and hills and things.

but at the same time, i love the peacefulness of it all..it seems fitting for such lush environments.
if you're talking about new pieces completely instead of adding to it, then yeah, i agree it would be interesting.
beautiful stuff...need to practice colour...

[Oblio]

umm.. then i will marry romance...

love is in the air.. in your paintings.. it' s muttating us... heeeeelp

[amer-nazri]

aaaahhh.....makes me think of home.....not that my home is actually like that, unfortunately.

Great work, as always.
amer-nazri

[Looped_Warrior]

Super Sweet Paintings you have here... *goes back to shading cubes and cylinders*

[Craig D]

Tom
Great atmosphere and depth in these.
I'm lovin em

[IronBrush]

Great work!

[NathanLong]

Where did you go on your vacation?

[Ghost_Dog]

Nice stuff man...

[Interceptor]

Geeze, Tom. Do you sleep?

[strych9ine]

The 3rd and 4th pieces are especially lucious... brilliant color usage, I'm taking notes from now on.

[Matt Smith]

these are pretty rockin, all i can suggest is that you try to push the values and atmospheric perspective more, overall they tend to be alittle flat.

[el coro]

awww. those are awesome dude! really nice. you be killin it on them enviros. if i were top make a suggestion, id say play around with varying the camera height/angle a bot more. combine that with some archetecture here and there and you will be amazed with what interesting compositions you can come up with. excellent work on these man. love the shapes you are coming up with.-c36

[Idiot Apathy]

Dile_ : Hehehe, yeah I totally believed you! :| I have low self-esteem haha. It was more like 2 days, finished the first the day before and started the second as well I think. I was kind of going for empty on that last one, but I think maybe it's lacking interest so it feels 'empty' if you know what I mean? Cheers dude!
j a k e: Yeah man, I want to go run on the grass too! What do you mean by using the brushes with more definition by the way? Not sure I follow. Cheers buddy!
Chupacabra: I love simple palettes I think, maybe not monochrome but I think analagous color schemes are the most beautiful. Just for you I did a write up on one of these below and will also post the PSD. Cheers man!
Zaknafain: No wai! Shuddup, you suck! Not sure if I've commented on your digital plein aire paintings or not but they make me insanely jealous. Great crit and great way to explain it. I think to distill it the word would be emphasis perhaps. I don't like using two's in compositions usually do you? Threes and other odd numbers seem to work much better no? Cheers buddy!
Romance: Hahaha! You don't need to build a device for half of your goals, I will let you figure out which half... @_@ Cheers buddy! Imma crash on your couch in texas !
-Max Bertolini- : Thanks man! Nope, no reference - just mental imagery. My grandfather told me, I was visiting him on my trip actually - that traditional chinese artists didn't go out and sketch, they went out and absorbed what they saw and came home to paint. That's sort of what's going on with these I think. There is a demo already in my demo thread (link in signature) but I think I posted that link up top too? Going to post another one this time with a little walkthrough and the PSD again. Cheers!
Skeiff: Haha, must have been a slow week? Thanks!
whiteeeeeee : Hahaha! Hey I was really impressed with your SB! Some really great stuff and technique in there. Cheers!
ICH: Thanks man! They were a lot of fun! I got up close and personal with some rocks on my trip Hope it payed off.
Justin Oaksford: Ah buddy, you are talking about illustrations - telling a story. I will agree to some extent but to think that this is the only way to paint is silly. Empty landscapes? Just rocks and hills? I love nature what can I say, we all have our interests but that's what's beautiful about art. I don't want to come off as arrogant and I really hate labels - but 'fine art' is full of "just this" and "just that", don't knock simple beauty. All this said, yeah - I want to explore a more illustrative side too. Werd.
fedezz: Mi Amigo! Que Pasa? Thanks man! I was dieing to see some blue in that one from the very beginning hehe - playing with steam was really cool too! Must do morrrrre! cheers!
AndyStone: haha! Thanks man!
emily g: Mm! Thank you! Say, as the 'only' other utahn here, can you tell I was in Southern Utah from any of these? Hope to see some cute drawings from you soon! (hehe and some bargue progess!)
beigeape: Hey! 1st post! I'm honored! I'm going to post a walkthrough on the (third?) one in just a minute, should show a large chunk of the process - full of dirty secrets and will also describe the only brush I used.
asoir: Mm, thanks for your thoughts on that. Like I told Justin, I want to explore what you are talking about and more illustrative work like he was talking about. Hehe, let me know if I can help you out with color at all - you seen the peer project?
Oblio: Andrei! Hey man! How are you buddy? Look dude it's ok to love another man but are you sure you want romance? He's canadian! Peace my friend!
amer-nazri: Hahah, where is home? Cheers man, thanks for the kind words!
Looped_Warriors: Hehe, don't knock cubes and cylinders - that stuff is really important! Keep at it!
Craig D: Thanks man! *pokes you in the ribs* Still smoke free? Huh? HUH? Hope to see an update on your cast drawing soon!
IronBrush: 너무 기뻐 죽겠어요! Thanks man! Been a huge fan of yours for a long long time, I've learned a lot from your work!
NathanLong: About 5 hours south into Southern Utah, St. George area. Saw some really beautiful bits of nature, didn't hit up Zions Canyon this time but that that is something you should see in your lifetime. Cheers!
Ghost_Dog: Thanks man!
Interceptor: Sometimes man, sometimes. Actually I'm back to getting my 8 hours hehe. Cheers mang!
strych9ine: Hahaha, notes? @_@ If you really think so just let me know if I can help you out at all dude! Thanks for the kind words!
Matt Smith: Thanks man, good crit! Definetly got to work on that. Cheers!
el coro: Haha, I was really serious! It was so great to talk with you in SF, I was so pissed when I found out the shooting gallery was closed on mondays, it was a block away form where I was staying! Thanks once again for great advice, I'm going to study up varying my viewpoints and really want to play with archetecture as well. You're a huge inspiration!

---

Okay! Figured I'd write this up while it was still fresh in my mind; happy that you guys are interested!
So, always nervous about sharing 'trade secrets', feels like a rumpelstiltskin moment - that and you find out just how much of a hack I am...

Full Res PSD: (A little small actually haha!)(14mb RAR file)
http://www.divshare.com/download/173777-7c9

Notes: Final result is flipped horizontally. I actually worked back and forth at times, I felt it worked best as flipped in the final. Brushes used; default round brush! hehe. Settings; size at 70% minimum diameter, size to pressure, flow and opacity to pressure. Manual Opacity always at 100%, manual flow at 100% or 60%.


1 - Previous image used as resource, normally the borders would be transparent but saving as a JPEG doesn't allow this.


2 - Something a little new for the process, just adding in some backdrop. This is a previous version that didn't pan out.


3 - Check the PSD for more steps; here I am just playing with shapes some more. Duplicating parts of the canvas, flipping and transforming sometimes and using darken/lighting layer modes to combine.


4 - More shape play, I have some idea of what I want at times and other times no clue; just experimenting until something catches my eye. Note the crappy sihoulettes of that man popping up :|


5 - Clone Stamp and repainting. Covering seams and fleshing out the terrain a bit.


6 - Refining, painting. Note the cave in the bottom right, was again just playing with shapes but later decided against it.


7 - Oo, big change. This layer is actually a duplicate of all that is above, stretched out and transformed on a lighten layer. Take a closer look in the PSD if you please


8 - Little bit more refinement and then a higher value slightly warm 'glaze' using a multiply layer. I did this not only to change the palette a bit but also I wanted to paint in some clouds and had lost my upper value range.


9 - Started the clouds, still taking it easy on my value range and not really committing to any firm shapes at the moment.


10 - Refining the clouds and 'glazed' a bit, this time with a soft light layer. I had felt that the eye wasn't too contained in the composition and was experimenting with a bit of a vignette.


11 - Adding more form to the clouds and giving them a base. I always struggle with giving clouds perspective. The offkey patch you see on the right is where I decided to make a new layer to experiment a bit before committing.


12 - More refinement on the clouds and another 'glaze'. Colors are really out of whack at the moment but I wanted to explore another feel.


13 - Again, refining and cleaning up the out of key color from the previous edits.


14 - Added a strip of blue, this is something I think was directly influenced from my weekend trip


15 - Refinement, pushed the end of the clouds back a little (I hope) and a slight color balance it looks like.


16 - Lots of color edits; color balance, curves, selective color. If you have Photoshop CS or higher you can take a closer look at the adjustment layers in the PSD.


17 - A few more tweaks and *gasp* a little dodge tool. Maybe that was a mistake I don't know

[Unbreakable]

wow,you got some really nice stuff going on in here.

[stalsby]

cool enviros! as always!