Ogres - 26 June Update 2 -

[ICH]

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Hi guys,
this is my very first digital painting. Thanks to CA and thanks you all guys, my first love reborn and i start again to draw.
I'm glad to quote Massive Black Inc. when say:

Once artists become isolated from other artists, ideas will stagnate. The founders of ConceptArt.Org knew that there was a need in the worldwide community for artists to better communicate and learn from each other.

This is a great thing!
I would like to say more about, but my english are so poor ;-]

First of all, I need to learn some new skills, like digital painting. So, i take an old sketch from my archive and start to paint over whit my wacom. I know, there is some anatomical faults and other errors, but this is just an exercise to try painting skills, and i learn a lot from this.

Thanks you all.




Technical note: Done in Photoshop CS2 whit Wacom Graphire Bluetooth (like Graphire II, i think)

[Freak_Art]

Man, I like it, just got a question. Whats up with the leaf? Great job.

[TheGnoll]

ciao!
e' sempre bello vedere un altro italiano sul forum
vedo che sei relativamente uno "nuovo", da queste parti...se non hai gia' aperto uno sketchbook ti invito a creartene uno, ti assicuro che si rivela estremamente utile
E se in futuro ti andasse di entrare nel nostro SSG italiano, sarai di sicuro bene accetto

Regarding the pic, i personally think its looks quite "empty".The composition could have had a stronger dynamic feeling by usign a different format.Same elements, but placed in a more interesting way in the canvas.But thats a personal taste thing, so i guess its your choice.Anatomy on the giant doesn't convince, especially in the neck area.You could also add some more textures on the various elements like skin, rock and add even more light, and maybe a stronger sense of "light" to the whole pic.

keep sharing!

ciao

[vigostar]

this is pretty funny.. I actually laughed out loud so now I can really use LOL and really mean it.. anyways.. that leaf is hilarious i dont know what its for but, I love the fact tha its there... that rock formation that the little imp thingy is on.. what exactly is that?? Interesting story being told I just think there cold hav been a better way to present it

[Freya Horn]

Personally I think this is pretty damn good for a first digital painting.
One thing that bugs me most is the shading- everything looks a bit like it's made from clay, rather than flesh/rock etc. But great concept overall..
and come on guys, isn't it obvious what the leaf's for?! The little imp is trying to tickle the ogre and get him to drop the rock before he harms the other one!

[ICH]

Thanks a lot for your comments guys, it's important for me.
In my immagination, Ogres are a great family of monster formed by many different species. The big one are a classical Ogre, big, strong and a little stupid (just like me ).
The small guys are two species of Orc, small, quick and absolutly pestering. The real victim of this image is the Ogre. Trust me, it's not easy to tolerate this guys when he's decide to drive you crazy ;-]

Freak_Art: Thanks man! I know, the leaf seems pointed on the face of ogre instead of his armpit, but the first intention was to tickle. Thanks for retrieving my post, It was already in the second page and I thought was lost ;-]

TheGnoll Ciao! Fa molto piacere anche a me, anche perchè con il mio inglese riesco a malapena ad esprimermi come un Orco e riesco a dire un decimo di quello che vorrei. Ti ringrazio per il consiglio, cercherò quanto prima di fare una raccolta di schizzi e creare uno sketchbook. Sono davvero tanti anni che non disegno seriamente, ho fatto qualcosina in stile cartoon a scopi pubblicitari, ma mi sono molto arrugginito sul resto.
Cos'è un SSG?

Thanks for the crit, my next step is to study more impact lighting and use of textures. In this work I used a strong and diffuse light to render all whitout cover anything whit black or shadow, just for learning purpose.

vigostar LOL, thanks man. One of the first goal when i draw the sketch was to make some laugh ;-] I'm sorry for my english but i don't understand your question, you asking for the ruins or for the orc? I'm also sorry for the poor presentation, another language issue. Next time I will write more (I will call my sister to help me ;-] )

Freya Horn Thanks for your encouragement and crits. Yes, one of the first thing that i have to learn is the use of textures, and it's not easy because I don't like to abuse of digital technics, I don't want to use textures from pictures or too detailed brushes.
You are right about the leaf purpose, thank you so much for explain ;-]
(Freya is your real name?)

[ICH]

So, I'm still here for the first update on my Ogre's post.
This guy are called "The Gurkhan", no one human knows his real name. He is an half-ogre barbarian from the Gurkhan Tribe. He leave his tribe to find adventures and gold and to improove his fighting skills. Unlike standard Ogres and Half-Ogres, he is pretty sharp and intelligent, and he have nob taste a lot.
More pictures of "The Gurkhan" soon.

This is my second digital painting, C&C will be really appreciate.

Thanks!



Some details:

[worxe]

You can really do better than this. I don't get why he just has boots, armbands and pretty much nothing else but the obligatory huge longsword.

Where does he really come from, how does he live, what is his environment, there are so many details (re: clothing/armor, any sorts of jewellery or trophies, symbols that tell the intricate [or vague] details of his 'ghurkan' tribe, how he lives, how he survives, how his tribe survives and what kindof things would they take pride in for example) left out that could better describe where he comes from without you even having to tell us the description, and without having to look at yet another muscular undercovered humanoid-character with a giant sword.

Im sorry if this comes off as harsh but atleast take another look at what you're doing when it comes to the design of this character, you can be much more original than this.

[sourgasm]

firstly, i agree with Fafnir. technique is important, of course, and it's good that you've done the groundwork and pushing this piece foward in that regard- but conveying a story is equally important.

as far as the painting itself, it's off to a pretty good start. you'll want to start experimenting with brushes, though. the grass and the trees could definitely use a workover with an organic brush. the ground as well. everything has a very "default round" feel to it. a good foliage and/or grass brush would push this foward real quick.

also, digitally painting gives you access to a vast amount of tools for overall image control- use em! i attached the same painting with 10 seconds of levels adjustment applied. the difference is crazy.

[ICH]

Thanks for the crits guys.
A new version of this illustration:

[ICH]

This is my third digital painting, C&C will be really appreciate.



Technical note: Done in Photoshop CS2 whit Wacom Graphire Bluetooth (like Graphire II, i think)

[Idiot Apathy]

Looks like you've already gotten some good advice up above, but I want to hit up some general things.

I think you are good with shapes, you seem to know your structure well enough and have some real nice details and textures. The chair in this last one is real nice actually.

What I think you would do well to focus on for awhile however is lighting. You seem to have this sort of overall diffuse lighting that flattens everything out. Shadows and cast shadows are in my opinion the best tools for describing form two dimensionally. Diffuse light can work in a lot of situations but you still need to show form!

I would also like to see more thought put into hierarchies of value and color. Use your values to spotlight what it is that is important or vice versa and use your colors to accent that (this is just a general way of doing things, do explore it!). Think about contrasts! In your latest picture the values are all about the same as well as the saturation of the colors. I did a quick paint over to show you what I mean by contrasts and hierarchies.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/1...achmentff9.jpg

Cheers man, keep with it!

[ICH]

Many thanks Idiot Apathy for your comment, I was feel a little sad for that absence of comments, but your single is like 100. Sorry for the delay but I've got a little accident.

Thanks for your words about shapes and textures. About the chair, I have to give my thanks to JTumburus that give me a great inspiration whit his amazing textures.

You hit the center perfectly about colors. I ever used ink and pencils for my comics and illustrations and previously my only attempt on colors use was some cell shading cartoons. But the world of colors in painting are more complicated and i need to learn so much.
My first error was to using the B (brightness) slider of HSB color mode of Photoshop's palette, whitout thinking about saturation when I choose my values (it's nice for cell shading or some design things, but not good for painting).
I will give more attention on lighting also.
Your paintover (thank to take the time for me) explain well what you mean.

Thanks a lot man, your crits are really helpfull.

[hurricane]

cool orcs, you've got great feedback!
keep on making them and try to add a lot of personality to them, make them different from eachother!

cheerS!

[ICH]

Well Björn, you and Tom are two of my favourite artist here...now I feel like I have 200 messages! ;-]
I will try to make my ogres more uniques, Thanks!

[Chris van der Linden]

Hey ICH,

I think your paintings could benefit from some more hard edged self shadowing, Ill whip up an example today during work and post it here for you I can find the time.

cheers

[ICH]

Chris, sure! I would appreciate a lot! I'm tryn to do some hard casting shadows on my new work. It's for a contest, I'll post when the contest is finished.

cheers