A Painting in Photoshop

nihilyst · Wed 06/09/2006 22:13:00

Hi!

I made a painting in photoshop. I wish a tablet, but I don't ^^ So now my hand hurts. But anyway: I'm new to painting in photoshop. I'm not really sure, if there are major mistakes, that need to be corrected. I'm not very happy with the transition from the cliff to the ground either. Whatever I made, it seemed like shit.

Second version (small):

The full-size picture is 1024*768 (973 kb), so I linked it external.
Sorry, if it loads too slow. My freespace provider isn't one of the fastest.

You can find the first version ->here<-.

Comments, critics and paintovers are more than welcome.

cheers
nihilyst

monkey0506 · Wed 06/09/2006 22:32:12

I like the pseudo-realistic style here. About the only things that really jump out at me are that the trees are slightly blurry and the cloud is over-saturated with purple, but it's a nice painting.

MashPotato · Wed 06/09/2006 23:13:27

I think there may be too much colour and contrast for a night scene (it's a mistake I often make too ^_^). If the only light source is the moon that is partially blocked by clouds, not much light is available and differences in colour would not be very visible... think of when you are walking around at night: things are practically in black and white, colours are very desaturated.

The scene is rather boring now, as I just painted a single colour over it, but you can see how it looks more "night-ish".

Be careful about making things inconsistently blurry; for example, the amount of detail of the trees in the far distance do not match the land they are on (ie. the transition from land to water is too blurry).

Don't get me wrong, though, I think this is a very nice start ^_^. I like the detail you have put into the cliff and plants, and the texture of the ground looks good. Keep it up!

nihilyst · Wed 06/09/2006 23:21:58

Thanks for your fast reply. I'll try to play with the saturation and stuff.

buloght · Wed 06/09/2006 23:25:45

That is great work nihilyst

LGM · Thu 07/09/2006 02:26:24

Other than the color issues, which were solved brilliantly by Mash... I would say there are two things that bother me. The perspective/slope of the cliff. It just seems off. Perhaps it's the dark patch at the bottom, or the lack of change in texture from cliff-top to cliff-side.

The other thing is composition. The left side is just fine, but on the right I get a bit lost. The slant of the tree seems unnatural, and whatever that is behind it (an island?) blends into the tree too well. If it's that far away, the green colors should be more faded into a grey.

The sudden drop of the cliff is certainly striking, but I don't know if it's quite working yet. Love to see more.

nihilyst · Thu 07/09/2006 12:35:19

Okay, I made some changes, which you can see in the first post. Thanks to Mash for the paintover. I see your point now ^^ Thanks to the rest as well.

cheers
nihilyst

Xellie · Thu 07/09/2006 12:38:15

Very nice... and I can't believe you did it with a MOUSE... beware of CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome)! Everybody else has already give good advice, I'd maybe just add that if you change the shape of the cliff on the left to be less box-like, it would add realism, maybe just adding more jutting out, etc.

Also, the tree on the right foreground is the exact 'intensity' as those on the left, which visually translates to them being the same distance from the viewer. If this is what you're going for, great, but if it is lower or farther away, then it should also be more faded into the distance as the other posts said.

But very, very impressed (wish I could do that with a mouse) , hope to see reworks soon. Good luck.

EDIT:

You can read more about CTS here...Ã,Â

nihilyst · Thu 07/09/2006 12:45:23

Hi, xellie, and thanks for the reply!
Wow, I didn't here from the CPS before ^^

I try to make the cliff look less box-like. Let's see what I can do.

Neil Dnuma · Thu 07/09/2006 21:21:50

I wanted to see it with a less yellow moon, and then I really f****d up, so now the moon glows too much... Anyways, I also tried increasing the contrast, esp. on the trees, and tried adding some highlights to edges of sides facing the moon. Hmmm "Edges of sides facing the moon" sounds like an album with really long pretentious songs!

I also tried working on the "fog feeling"...

This is just to give you ideas...

The Ivy · Fri 08/09/2006 21:09:32

I'm not sure if this is what you're going for, but the bright horizon makes it look almost like sunrise to me. I'm afraid I don't have any advice on changing it, but maybe Google images has something.

Great job otherwise, I love your attention to detail.

nihilyst · Sat 09/09/2006 15:51:42

Thanks for the paintover, Neil, and Ivy for the comment. I see your point and will try to make it better.

2ma2 · Sat 09/09/2006 17:33:10

I do prefer your second piece before Neils paintover. Moonlight is seldom so bright that it causes the effects portrayed. His ground is more well done though, you seldom get highlights on grass at night.

I'd say your piece is well made, but the composition gives you a kind of focus in the center of the piece, and there is nothing there. You could try lenghten the cliff, aswell as shaping it more rigid and chaotic, so that the player character will be perfectly in focus whenever he walks out there. Right now, the shift inbetween cliff and air is perfectly centered, and centered is not good for your composition. On the other hand, I see some birds flying in the background, so perhaps this isn't a background. As a painting the composition is really halted, having a problem in the bottom left corner where the eyes slide of the piece in the darkness aswell. And the horizon is malplaced I think. But all in all, a very moody picture. Good work!