[Torstein Nordstrand]

Hi all,

I've been studying a lot of Warhammer b/w ink interiors lately, and I got enraptured by the superb use of texturing by some of the in-house artists. Being appalled with my own timid texturing I sat down and made me some nice brush patterns in Painter and used Photoshop (which, unlike Painter, doesn't try to strangle any attempt at effectiveness) to get a feel for it. How messy is too messy? Why bother with low-grain textures? How to avoid polishing it off while I go?

Through art books I am led to believe that texture must be worked into a piece from the ground up, so I did. I learned a lot, and it's a pity this small, overcompressed miniature version shows nothing of what I've just rambled about. The original is 400 percent larger, thought I'd share anyways.

Thanks for listening.


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[Feinam]

I think this is very effectively done, it would be nice to see the original. And how does Painter strangle effectiveness?

I'm not a scholar, but from my own eyes I have to say that a large amount of the impact I get from this is actually the fact that the lines and colors aren't super defined. I'm certain that you intentionally kept it at this point. Most digital artists would feel they'd have to clean it up and go to the nth degree of detail, but this style brings part of the decay and terror that accompanies the creature. The certain areas that aren't fully defined (such as the chainmail and right side) creates a feeling of mystery and the unknown.

Wonderful work as always Torstein.

-Fei

[topeira]

superb, man
this looks awsome.
i love the values in it. plues it does give a feel of motion IMO.
i wish i knew enaugh about texturing to bring some crit.. but i don't
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ToPeirA

[zap.br]

awesome work and very very nice textures ....

very very good !!

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zhp

[d.a.r.y.l.]

very cool and great to see bold attempts! I really like the metal of his chest armor but it looks a bit too messy on his shoulder plates but I suppose its a matter of taste and whether this would be a concept painting or "just" a painting. except for that and the interesting violet palette it looks great. Got any tips on making nice texture brushes?

.d.

[Capt. Fred]

I agree with all the complmients already said. I think it's really cool.

I think that it needs more volume though -- its looking flat. Could look like there's real form there but it doesn't yet.

[Torstein Nordstrand]

Feinam: Thanks, Painter is great, but awkward in so many small ways that I only use it for fun. I need to trust my application when there's a deadline. The loose edges are intentional to easen the picture up. As you say, even though we can zoom in and tighten up every area, doesn't mean we must.

Topeira, Zap: Thank you

d.a.r.y.l.: Thanks. This is indeed "just" a painting, hence the torso shot only. Regarding textures, I just sat down with Painter and made a high-resolution varied grainy b/w texture that appealed to me. Then I tiled it using the Offset filter in PS and seamed it together with cut and pastes. I used the "texture" tab a lot while painting (in PS). Took more time than it looks

Capt. Fred: Hmm, either I don't understand what you mean, or I respectfully disagree. Do you think the textures are tying the elements together overmuch? If you will elaborate (/overpaint), I'm all eyes. Thanks for commenting.

Probably Uninteresting Detail Full Res (tm):

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[Serg]

good work. I like how skull and sword looks.
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[ChiaNi]

Torstein Nordstrand: You are very good at texturing.
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Holly sprite

[Torstein Nordstrand]

Thank you, both. The skull was fun, though I really should buy me one of 'em plastic replica thingies to learn all the intricacies. Too much fumbling shows. Still, fun. Thanks again.
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[Matthew]

Yeah that is amazing but somehow I must agree to what Capt.Fred said, it looks kind of flat, with all that purple on his head it looks like he is merged together with the wall in the back.
The shoulder armour is amazing and it looks like a rough stone material.

Ok, I hope I wasn�t top harsch, nowadays I try to give crits to the people here in the sijun but it seems like when I give crits no-one is answer back, what is up with that?

cheers
Matthew

[Torstein Nordstrand]

Hi Matthew, I don't mind you being critical. I cannot help you 'bout people not responding, but concerning the purple connecting the skull to the foresty background, I can try. I've tried consciously to tie the 2d plane together both through colour (purple), texture and loose edges. Maybe that's why you think it looks flat? To me, it looks good, because it makes my eye move around easier along the paths I've set up, and stop at the important points. I've never paid much attention to these aspects before, but I liked the way this turned out. We'll see if I can't get better with the next study. Thanks for commenting.
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[AndyT]

Torstein Nordstrand - I think it's a cool style. It's not meant to fool the eye and everything else works ... composition, colors, simplification and so on. It even suggests motion. There's enough depth in my opinion. No crits.

Matthew - Your critiques are often like "you could add something to completely change the meaning of the picture". That might sound like an insult to some. And your mostly replying to really good artists threads. They don't have a lot of time to reply to replys.
But maybe I just saw the wrong threads!? Any specific examples?
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[Matthew]

Hello

Well, I don�t know if you are referring to Socar Myles picture but that one is the latest one I made a crit in and didn�t got an answer. There are others but I can�t remember the Threads name, I usually don�t give crits cause this is usually what happens, like with your post AndyT.
I hope we can have this as a normal conversation cause I know that you are not a flamer AndyT.

By responding to very good artists - as for socar myles picture I thought she would be helped with me noting out some of the things that I saw. And one more thing, Just because they are great painters doesn�t mean that they can�t make any faults in their pictures, or make pictures that everybody likes.
I don�t think that some of the really good people in here get�s the crits that they should get, They are just famous and therefore everybody thinks that their pictures is supergreat.

As I have mentioned ten thousands times before this was also a thing that was in the flaming theme earlier.
Everybody thought that it was soo lame of me to just give short answers, like- "cool very good job". When I decide�s to make both crits and other comments I am apparently making it a bad way too.

As for with Torsteins picture, I like it. I wanted to point out the things that I saw which as for what I thought looked flat. The texture work is very impressive and I don�t think you should change the picture.
I should maybe hold my comments for myself next time.?

Ok, seriously- no flaming in here now, I just said what I was thinking and there was no bad english from me, if anyone thinks it�s funny to just flame, send me an privat message.
I don�t want this Thread to be locked as all my old threads is, so no flaming in here, just simple conversation will do. If all I have said is wrong you may feel free to say so, but no flaming. ok.

I thought I better say that, maybe won�t be a locked thread then this time.

Maybe I was to negative in my last post.
Keep it up Torstein and good work

Matthew

edit - Socar Myles Thread was called "Bad moon"