[eyewoo]

My two daughters... Hanna and Sarah

Done in Photoshop 6 with a Wacom tablet using a simple tracing technique from reference photos to setup the initial layout. All painting and coloring were then completed using the old eyeballs... i.e. no photo overpainting.



Detail 1

Detail 2

Detail 3

Initial Trace

Reference Photos

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: fleabrain ]

[Ripelly]

crits coming up!: a bit more contrast, especially to the clothes, wouldn't hurt... and the overall feel in this is a bit flat because of that.

nevertheless, kermit and the couch wins 40-0!

[spooge demon]

Hi Fleabrain,

What is your own critique of this image? I am not sure what you are trying to do, or what might be your idea of improving it.

That is, if you want. I see that you did not request critique.

[Andromeda]

I would have to say that the Kermit really improves the overall feel to the image ..
gives it that extra 'joy' ?

(still wondering what a 'spooge' is .. =] )

[Randis Albion]

Very nice! Good technique and everything, but it is kinda boring a bit.

[eyewoo]

spooge... I'm still working on it and I always accept and like critiques. I like to post an image just before the final work is started so that I can get comments and critiques about it.

This one has a very complex composition which, to my eye, seems on the verge of total collapse. I actually like that... it adds an edge of tension to the overall picture. As I complete it, I don't want to lose that sense by tightening things up too much... but there are areas that still need work, I'm also not totally satisfied with the colors as yet - thank God for PShop's color balance tool...

What attracted me to the image initially was a bunch of different things... First off, the sisters are my daughters, together for a weekend. One lives on one coast (USA), the other on the other. Both are teddy bear freaks - Kermit was a last minute addition that put the cap on my deciding to do the picture.

Secondly, I became increasingly fascinated with using the perspective and activity of the couch pattern to essentially glue the composition together, both structurally and emotionally - if that makes sense.

Thirdly, I'm trying to paint high energy expressions with believability... still working on it... Guess I didn't do it for Randis... hope some find the picture a bit better than boring...

So please do critique

[Lunatique]

I like the saturated colors of this one. It gives a feeling of family warmth.

I think the colors could use more variation though, instead of just up and down the value scale of each given hue. BUT, that might destroy the vivid colors.

I like this piece overall though. (And I'm glad it's not a copy of a photo, but a nice interpretation of the source.)

[eyewoo]

Thanks Luna...

BTW... I added another link above that shows the initial layout trace.

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: fleabrain ]

[dontfallin]

what do your daughters think of it ?

[Vgta]

Reminds me of the covers for those old "Choose your own adventure" books. If anything I would add a little bit more contrast, mayber darker shadows on the clothes. Besides that I really like it, a nice break from the usual, dragon/orc/naked chick post. oh one minor thing, the girl on the left (Hanna),maybe tone down the lines on her face a tad, makes her look old.

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: Vgta ]

[el scoono]

i like this one a lot. one thing that struck me almost immediately is the brownish wall behind the couch. I think there's a bit too much of it. i brought this into photoshop and cropped it to about the tip of that teddy bear's left ear (hope you know where i'm talking about, the one on the right). I think the composition works much better that way. otherwise, i like it. must have taken a lot of patience to paint that pattern on the couch.

forgot to mention, i cropped from the top of the image. hope that's clear,now...ehhh probably not.

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: el scoono ]

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: el scoono ]

[SoMK]

I like it a lot, I like those tiny moments of infinity you manage to capture. A frozen piece of time in warmth and comfort , I could say :) I'm waiting for the final :)

[spooge demon]

You are missing some of the bigger forms, partly due to the flat lighting of the ref pics, so that makes it quite an advanced challenge to see what is important and what can be left out. I see some designing and some editing, but I question the kind of decisions you have made in places. It is working right now because of the accuracy of the bigger shapes, but I think you need to be more aware of trying to express the forms. You know your big naked dude in the water? Try to think that way when painting these types of images. You are bowled over by the photo, it is dictating too much. You try to reassert yourself by changing the local color of an object or using more than one photo, but I think you can do more.


The head you have painted does not have any roll to it. You got the shapes right, but the forms are not there, IMHO. See where the jaw comes toward the viewer from the neck? See where the side plane of the neck transitions into the front? The info is there in the photo, but it is really subtle. In yours these subtle indications are gone, the neck is kind of blobby. And I am not saying this level of �detail� is required all over, it is just knowing which details to bring out. Instead of thinking of the hair as strands, think of the forms and bring that out. Also, be aware of the edges, which can be really useful in defining materials. I could not play with edges much in this little sketch because the size here is the size I painted it at.

I know you are going for a gestural quality in the mark-making, but that is fine, it still is the question of what to indicate with those marks.

I feel a little strange saying all this to someone who has been working a lot longer than I have, so I am sorry if I come off as a snot nosed kid.

This is the hard stuff in painting, the tracing is so inconsequential. I traced this one, just to get moving.

I know that this sketch may be not at all what you are going for but hopefully you find it somewhat useful/interesting.

Don�t pay any attention to the face, I really only did anything to the jaw and hair a bit.

[eyewoo]

Hey... thanks for doing that spooge... and good grief, no, I don't think your're a snot nosed kid. You're one of my digital painting ageless Gods, my man!!!

There was one thing you wrote that I didn't understand... Maybe I'm just naively dumbo, or your confusing me with another, but what did you mean by,

quote

Quote:

You know your big naked dude in the water? Try to think that way when painting these types of images.

...not following that?

Otherwise, I really appreciate your comments and example... I'm still working on this image... probably will for the next day or two. Yours and others crits and suggestions are really appreciated...

[melted petal]

not much i can add to whats being said. what struck me the most was that we used to have that exact same couch a while back at my moms. I think she still has it. Brought back some memories.

[Sumaleth]

I think Spooge is refering to the big naked dude that Seeg painted. Whoops.

Row.

[eyewoo]

Well, if so... he's got me in good company