[Atreyu]

Hello,

Sorry to post again, didn't know how to change the subject. Anyway I've been working on it a little more and I'd love to get your feedback. BTW, thanks again to Timo for an awesome repaint, you can see it here http://www.sijun.com/dhabih/ubb/Forum2/HTML/007474.html



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www.illusionart.com

[Akolyte]

I think you need more depth in your color. Or, just give it a harder edge, it's lookin' a bit blurry. The shadows aren't drastic enough, and the highlights from the wand are non-existent on some parts of the characters. The pose of the girl looks good, just needs some cleaning up.

[Bg]

It's very useful to create a sort of an image basis from which to work on. In other words, take some picture (which has same kind of colours than what you've thought of) to the background and make one hell of a mess until there's absolutely no white left. And lots of small details.

Remember Mullin's "big shapes first". It's plain black => it's easy to change. You should also think about the lighting now and how you're gonna do it.

Now draw the colours but don't shade. When you have all the colours you think you'll be needing. Think of the light source, where is it coming from and then do some rough shading. Use diverse colours, don't just make some dull 100%-blue picture.

And when you need to get more detailed, just change the resolution of your image (or select a certain area and make it larger) and voila, your brushstrokes get smaller while the brush's size remains the same.

Use custom brushes. It makes the result look more real, detailed and interesting (at best it can make a picture look like it's painted with oils). Using custom brushes is like fake-texturing.

And last but not least, spend a lot time on planning (especially if you're dealing with an important project or somthing).

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Timo Vihola
http://www.mbnet.fi/~badgers/

[Atreyu]

Hi,

Thanks alot for the advice Timo, I guess next time I'll plan it alot better and take pictures.

Can you explain a little more on the custom brushes? I know how to create them and all, it's just how do you create useful shapes and such?

Here's the latest version:




I'm going to have to make this a longer term project. I've got to illustrate about 6 more of these and this technique didn't seem to work out. I guess I'll go with doing them in black and white or something along those lines. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Also, someone was posting about images for coloring, I've got some but they're not your typical line art.

[Atreyu]

Hello,

Well It's looking a little better. Any help is appreciated.

[Light]

Your trying to do too much to soon. You need to break the image down into a few shades (say 4-8) and get those shades right first. Then you can blend them together. Then you go back over it to increase darks and lights.

Try to use as few colors as possible.

[Bg]

Heh, funny, I thought that your line drawing was about a bishop painting with oils. But it's just a way I interpreted it. Choosing the colour theme becomes easier if you decide to go the bishop-way, cause you can look at some medieval painting and "borrow" colours from them.

Woman's pose looks a bit cumbersome, though. Otherwise her legs are quite ok, but it's the position of them that is quite wierd.

Draw a tiny image (150x100) and use different
kinds of colours (of a particular theme) to see which ones fit together.

Custom brushes that really work can be made easily. Fe. if you want to make grainy ground, just draw some spots here and there.
In my opinion, you should concentrate more on the male character. His hands seem to be a bit too high.

And I think you went to detailing too fast. Think your drawing as a low-quality .jpg which is downloading slowly... what you get first is something fuzzy: you can see the composition but not the details. And every sweep makes it more detailed. Your drawing technique should be similar. If your work doesn't impress you in the sketch-phase, it won't impress you much when it's ready.

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Timo Vihola
http://www.mbnet.fi/~badgers/