Work in progress

Posted May 9, 2012, 3:13:18 AM UTC

work in progress.   opinions and critiques welcome.

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Constructive Critique requested.

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  • Jun 7, 2012, 5:25:12 AM UTC
    What level of detail are you going for here? Realistic? Gradient fill vector effect? Something else?
    • Jun 8, 2012, 2:56:26 AM UTC
      More of a realistic feel.
      • Jun 8, 2012, 10:33:52 AM UTC
        First, do you mind if I ask if you used a reference? Perhaps this was your reference http://stockfresh.com/files/k/konradbak/m/27/735783_stock-photo-portrait-of-a-mysterious-woman-in-hood.jpg ? It'll make my job a little easier if I have something to compare with Smile
        • Jun 10, 2012, 1:23:49 AM UTC
          At first no I didn't until I really got into the shading. Did some looking around but didn't find anything I liked so I used myself but I have a fuller face then my drawing so frustrated me alittle and not sure if the light was right too. Right now not how I want to light either bright like a lamppost or more moonlight. still thinking about that.
          I agree it is easier to compare.
          • Jun 10, 2012, 5:49:41 AM UTC
            Alright, you seem open minded to it atleast which is really good cause alot shun referancing as being a cheats way out when it's really not. I do however feel that you have too many things you're wanting to learn with this. I feel you should do yourself a favour and simplify what you want to learn from this cause you have two aspects in this that you want that your gallery on Paperdemon currently has nothing of right now:-

            - Rendering. None of your art has any realistic rendering of the face yet. I'm not sure if you've done realism before and just not posted it, but faces have all sorts of bumps and lumps in them with the lighting effects you're doing here. I can understand simplifying them out to a smooth, but the face is currently a flat plane. It should have some sort of shadow climbing up her face to counter the harsh light source over her eyes. If her face is fuller, it'd only make the graduation more gradual, not tiny. I can't tell you how to do this however cause I don't know what face shape you're trying to achieve Sad

            - Second thing that you've never done before is moon light lighting effects. Doing a simple moon lighting effect and making it FEEL like moon light requires studying of how the colour of the moon changes the hue of the colour it hits, how the light diffuses, what intensity, the angle it comes from etc... I know it sounds stupid, but coupled with never rendering a human face in shadow before means that you wont know how to light it up when you do put highlights on, and moonlight isn't just a white glow. It's actually a difficult lighting effect ^^; It's difficult enough to change from soft like to hard light as it is without trying to make it look like a specific lighting effect.

            Now, I'm not an expert artist by any means- I didn't take formal lessons as such to learn how to draw (I have done some life drawing, but I was rendering art WAY before then), but I always understood one thing with art when you study alone- If you narrow what you're learning from every picture down to 1 thing (major thing anyway), you can learn to draw on your own without assistance and learn correctly. You have a good solid foundation with your art that will make it alot easier to improve on, you just need to give yourself simpler goals.

            Lets see... the way I do my art, is that I try to make every picture I draw teach me something new, even if that thing is non existent to the rest of the world. I'll make sure it's only one major or minor thing, or if I feel that I'm capable of achieving 2 minor things then I'll do it. Sometimes I'll draw a picture cause I've never drawn a certain character in my own art style before so some of my pictures are just me translating art styles like. Sometimes I'm learning a pose, sometimes I feel like the realism in my art is fading out and I need to remind myself so I draw purely from a photo. Sometimes I'm learning a new medium. Sometimes I draw for fun, or as a gift where it's ok that I'm not learning anything new. One thing however that I always have is a goal. I also have major goals that I try to achieve over a year or more, over many pictures, like learnign to draw women, or colour, or drawing different cultures, etc...

            I feel that these are things you should keep in mind. I'm sorry that this is such a generalised critique, and not one on your picture specifically, but I feel that you need some direction with what you want with your art. Right now, your mind set is in a sort of Maya / 3D render program state. All your shading looks like how it'd render like in a program like Maya, simplistic and smooth. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, which is why I asked what you wanted to achieve. If you want realism in your art though the shapes in a realistic setting are way more organic than that. To learn how to make your art more organic, you'll need to learn from the source, and there's no shame in referancing when you're learning Smile And hey- this will help out your 3D art in the end too, cause all forms of art cross over in concept. I describe the process of learning art the same way a martial artist would learn kung fu. Start with the basics. When you've perfected them, then advanced moves will flow like water.

            I hope this helps you Yes
            • Jun 12, 2012, 3:23:51 AM UTC
              Thank you very much. I'll admit that it is not easy to hear or read critiques about your own work but I read hear about it in progress stages and learn then to be done with and told that something is not right. So I appreciate the info and will be revising the lighting and try to simplify, I tend to do things the hard way.

              As you saw I can't seem to finish one of my art piece which does irritate me but get frustrated with them and on the backburner they go.

              I have read tutorials and watched videos to help me. I don't believe that referencing is cheating it's not like recreating an image then passing it of as your own. To your comment about it looking like a 3d rendering program its very possible b/c I use 3ds max so I can understand that.

              Thank you again and it does help.
              • Jun 12, 2012, 3:41:35 AM UTC
                I know your feel. Critique is very hard to take, which is why I try my hardest to clarify what I mean in a way that is understandable Yes

                Have you considered that you don't wish to finish your art cause of the composition? Alot of the time, having a strong composition will attract your eye as an artist and make progressing the picture much more interesting that if you didn't. If you're looking for online stuff, photography is a good place to look- tutorials on composition for it. Artists seem to 'brush' over the subject, and very few art books I've seen actually explore it at all. I have one on painting, and a comic making book. I had no idea about composition in fact till my brother pointed out why some of my art worked, and some didn't, and it was cause my natrual visual aesthetic had a 50% hit chance on composition. The well composed ones were easy to finish, while others I struggled with. He at the time was studying photography. He's not really an artist, but he has a very keen eye for lighting and stuff with his film and photography. IT's SO important. I suggest looking up some tutorials on it- rule of 3rds, repetition, whitespace, black space etc... For instance, this picture might be getting more attention than usual from you as the perfectly centred composition is striking Smile
                • Jun 17, 2012, 8:42:24 PM UTC
                  Thanks. It sure does explain some things. Will definitely keep everything you said in mind and look they up too. But unfortunately I'm going to push this one to the back too for a little while. Got too much on my mind at the moment just trying to figure out what to do and how to go about it.

                  Thank you again.
                  • Jun 17, 2012, 10:02:48 PM UTC
                    I know that feel. Give it a rest. If you feel that buzz to finish it, then go for it. If you don't, don't feel guilty. Just take the experience you gained from this to your next picture. If it's worth finishing, you will do Smile

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