MONSTERWORK SHOP - FINAL VERSION DUE TONIGHT (MONDAY)

[waheela]

miguel -- It does look better, but... hmmm... maybe you could move him a little to the left so his head isn't against the wall?

Cerno -- Thanks for the mock-up! You do have some good points about the scales. I think I may be digging the fleshy, big, gluttonous look a little more at this point though.

Kasander --

If you have problems drawing embossed leather try to just make it brighter, 'push it forward' by painting with lighter shades.

I did try that, but the lighter I made the leather, the more it popped out and distracted me from the rest of the piece. I messed around with it a bit more and think I have it where I want it at this point.

The bright background with cemetery and the clouds (I like them a lot!) draw too much attention, imo.

I reworked it a bit (see below). I smoothed out the clouds, further developed the graveyard, and added more contrast to the monster. Is this a little better? I really like the overcast sky, and would like to keep it.

I can't help noticing the fortune teller's hands are still very small compared to the lizard:)

Yeah, I think I kind of like that, so I'm leaning towards keeping it that way. I do appreciate your feedback on that though.


*******************


Here's a few of things I've updated...

-Added a little bit of shadow under Lord Jagged's hands (response to ThreeOhFour's feedback)
-Further developed the sky and graveyard
-Fixed chest blazon
-Added more contrast
-Added more detail to Lord Jagged's face and head
-Other stuff too boring to mention



At this point, I'm not really sure how much further I can push this. Maybe adding more detail to the background? Feedback (as always) is welcome!

[Mordalles]

update of mine... i've kinda finished the grayscale one, and did a quickish colour test thing. its pretty rough, but I'll leave it like this. added a few more highlights on the skin also, and finished those statues.



so a very rough larger version... (with a few unpainted bits to the left and right i'll just keep that way )

and please explain how you color these b/w lightvolumes pictures. I always wondered how you do that? Some special layer overlay setting in PS? Or just paint over it with 100% opacity and use the b/w image as a pointer? I am also interested in how Mordalles does this.

um, i've never really done the colouring part. I use gimp, and in it i used the "color" layer over the grayscale, on which i paint my wanted colours to get this final version. im not sure how correct that is.


EDIT: i just toned down the colours a bit, was a bit over the top.. I will consider this my final version, even though it still pretty rough with lots of things bugging me..

[Kasander]

and please explain how you color these b/w lightvolumes pictures. I always wondered how you do that? Some special layer overlay setting in PS? Or just paint over it with 100% opacity and use the b/w image as a pointer?

Basically I create a new layer on top of that grayscale one and just paint on it. For this worshop I wasn't even using overlay setting. I was just painting thigs over and over, adjusting color balance and hues, and erasing here and there. I often start from lighter tones and then gradually use darker ones - a kind of habit from pre-digital age.

When painting with brushes I use 100% opacity to 'block' colors (either on a specific part of the composition, or on the whole picture at once - the latter perhpaps is a bit wiser as it allows you to have an overall feel of the picture). Then I change the opacity a lot to do smooth transitions between colors. When I'm doing shades, I use usually the same color on the coloring wheel/square, only a darker or lighter shade. For example, to do shading on monsters arm, I press Alt to use the color picker on the monster's arm, then I pick a shade of green which is closer to black or closer to white on the color wheel. How much closer? Well, it's a matter of instinct really and it comes with experience. I remember I had this exact problem with shading when I was starting to paint in PS and the more I was painting in PS the more this problem evaporated. I know it's a cliche and everyone is telling this, but I can confirm from my own experience that practice makes you better. 

The finishing touches are done again with 100% opacity and with a small brush. Otherwise the painting would look blurry and lack focus.
If you're unsure of which colors to use, I strongly advice to create thumbnails and paint them over. Do a few of them and you'll know which colors work best for you and which way to go.

...
On a side note, I use few custom brushes that give some interesting textures to the painting. But looking at the big scheme I think they aren't that important, at least not for me. Especially when I'm aiming for less 'arty', more 'concept art' feeling. In the final phase of the painting I usually work with the default oval brush, only varying its opacity and thickness. I find custom brushes very convenient for sketches though. One could say, they give some analog soul to that soulless digital painting look

The bright background with cemetery and the clouds (I like them a lot!) draw too much attention, imo.

I reworked it a bit (see below). I smoothed out the clouds, further developed the graveyard, and added more contrast to the monster. Is this a little better? I really like the overcast sky, and would like to keep it.

Yeah, it's looking better now   Still, imho the monster is too dark compared to the rest of the painting. It's a common rule that the bright parts of the composition in painting usually grabs viewer's attention. Look at this:
http://pinterest.com/suehcarter/a-art-outdoor-portrait/

As you see, in most, if not all, daylight outdoor portraits the face of the subject is just as bright - or brighter - than the surroundings. This is the trick both 'analog' and digital painters use to focus viewer's attention on the subject/person.

In your case, the brighter surroundings (together with fortune teller's hands) take away all the attention from the lizard. Monster's chest is especially dark. I know he's supposed to be 'dark' and scary creature, but imo he wouldn't be less scary when he was painted with brighter shades and less black.

I didn't find any photos of humanoid lizards sitting outdoors at the table but maybe looking at some romanticism paintings would help? They surely loved to do overcast sky back then:
https://www.google.pl/search?q=Eug%C3%A8ne%20Delacroix%20%281798-1863%29%2C%20The%20Natchez&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:pl:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=enbm=isch&source=og&sa=Nab=wi&ei=cz6iUZbAH-iO7QbQ7IDIBg&biw=960&bih=452&sei=dT6iUZ_ODIKQ7AbstICwBg#imgrc=_

Keep up the good work!

[Andail]

Quick reminder that midnight tomorrow (Monday 27th) is the final deadline. I will then take the latest version every participant has published and put it up for voting.

[cat]

Water dragon, week 3, step 1 - Shading
Back to initial post



With Ben's fantastic paintover I tried some shading. I'm still missing some highlights on the kelp and I'm not satisfied with the legs yet.
Thanks Ben for your help. Also thanks to everyone who shared their way of shading, this is very interesting.

[selmiak]

already? lol, I thought there is a 4th week. good reminder!
why is Django sooo good keeping me away from this?

[dactylopus]

I'll work hard on my monster and try to incorporate everyone's good advice.

cat: Your water dragon is coming along nicely.  I like the limbs, and you've got a better handle on the lighting now.

Mordalles: Your monster looks fantastic.  I tried to think of criticism, but had a lot of trouble.

waheela: Your monster is looking very sinister.  The fixes you made to the hands helped a lot.  The background looks a lot nicer, too.

Kasander: Good job with the colors, I like your decision.  I wonder if the red-orange on the plant-tentacle's mouth is a little too bright for the lighting.

Great work, guys!

[ThreeOhFour]

Looking amazing guys!

Unless I make a bit more time to work on this, this can be considered my final image. Ta!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s4j9i483fl1u2rg/Sketch8%20copy11.png

[miguel]

Quick reminder that midnight tomorrow (Monday 27th) is the final deadline. I will then take the latest version every participant has published and put it up for voting.

Andail, if everybody agrees, can I have a few more hours? I finish work around midnight today but would like to make some adjustments. All slider adjustments, no drawing. Some framing, contrast/light stuff mainly. Please? Oh pretty please?
If I'm not done until 2.00am 28th May, then consider my last update the final one. Please?

[Andail]

Miguel, I don't wanna act like some kind of dictator here, especially since I'm participating myself, so if people agree to postpone the deadline I don't really want to object. Although I would personally prefer if we didn't

Anyhow, here's my latest version. Unless anybody spots something downright atrocious in it, I'll probably consider it my final piece.

There are still unfinished parts, like most of the street and the nearer structures, and also there's a sun missing, since as you can see there are lots of yellow-ish reflections and highlights, but no yellow light source. I just couldn't be arsed to put it back. So just imagine the sun will ya?

I'm not particularly pleased with the hoverbike thingie, but motors and vehicles aren't really my field. The biggest change since the previous version is that I went for a traditional central perspective.

[cat]

Water dragon - Final drawing
Back to initial post

So here is my final drawing. Click on the picture for the high-res version:







I don't mind if miguel is a few hours late - I won't stay up till midnight anyway. As long as I can admire all the fantastic entries tomorrow morning when I turn on my PC, I'm happy 

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I've had some jobs but I managed to work on the contrast and lighting around the creature as Loominous suggested as well as to get rid of the distracting lighthouse beam.  I've pushed the colors, added details, and generally cleaned most of it up.  I'm still trying to figure out how I get a pleasing water ripple effect like Ryan's example but I'm working on it .  Best viewed on a neutral/gray backdrop (or fullscreen).



Let me know if you think I went too dark with this as I can easily fix it.  I'm somewhat pleased with it and with what I've learned working on it.

[selmiak]

what timezone midnight are we talking about?
Anyways, I could need some more hours too probably.

in case I sleep away because of exhaustation, here is the current state as of typing this
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/HN8YFWb.jpg[/imgzoom]
I clearly have no idead about todays herofashion, but the monster is the main thing anyways


@Shane: the darkness is cool, but some more highlights are not that wrong, on the rifle for example, you can't see it. And somehow make the form of the cliff more visible with some highlights.

[Andail]

Oh I read 2 pm, don't ask me why. Ofc 2 am isnt a problem. I'm thinking greenwich time btw. Either way I wont start the poll until tomorrow so it's no big deal anyway.

[Misj']

Great work everyone! - I enjoyed seeing everyone's process (and progress)

While I didn't have time to do too much, I got to work a little bit on the large window. It's a very rough sketch, and I did it mostly to try work a bit more with these brushes and figure out how to implement them in my drawing-style. Probably too rough and painterly to match my characters, but it was really fun to experiment with (even though lighting and shadows are terrible).



Sorry I couldn't me more useful these last two weeks...

[Cerno]

Week 3 Final Image backlink

Time's up. Here's my final version (click for full size image):



Phew that surely shaved some time off my life. Worth every minute though
Unfortunately now I'll have to consider redrawing everything I did for the game I'm working on so far...

[selmiak]

final image


full size on click

[Kasander]

It's not finished but it'll have to do. Cheers!

[miguel]

Well I'm posting my final picture hoping that it counts.
All the stuff here is magnificent and I'm really proud to have participated in it.
So, without further delay:

Step 14 - The Final Orgy or Portuguese Women Don't Need Silicone


Thanks for letting me say Barracuda.
And Testicle.

[Stupot]

Great results, people.  Some of these would look great on the wall.
Kasander, yours would look excellent on a T-shirt!