Paintings of a mountain hut & a lake (new! 18/08/11)

nihilyst · Wed 17/08/2011 00:09:23

Hey there, folks,

after being abstinent from creating graphics for a long time now, a few days ago I finally grabbed a pack of chips and a pot of peppermint tea and started painting again. Didn't really know what I should draw, so I started with a sky, clouds, a mountain, then came to trees, more trees and finally a hut (guess I Bob-Rossed the theme

). I thought that in the end this one would end up looking like shit as all my other desperate tries at painting; but after all, I kind of like the result.

It's done using custom brushes and basic colour-blocks with photo-textures for a touch up.

0,5x

As I basically just went wild with everything that I did here, I figure I've made some major mistakes in colouring, lighting, composition and so on. So I got the idea of consulting the CC. You guys (and of course you too, girls) never cease to amaze me with knowing what to do to touch things up.

Thanks

Tabata · Wed 17/08/2011 01:04:34

That is an aewsome drawing :o â€" I am really jealous!
What do you want to change? It's nearly like a photo!?

NickyNyce · Wed 17/08/2011 02:21:59

This looks pretty cool, can't wait till I start messing with brushes.

I would lighten up the sky though...the part that you have dark blue. Too drastic of a color change in the sky, from bright to dark blue.

cat · Wed 17/08/2011 08:33:33

I like the foreground and I like the background but they don't seem to be connected.

Nikolas · Wed 17/08/2011 09:24:52

Quote from: cat on Wed 17/08/2011 08:33:33
I like the foreground and I like the background but they don't seem to be connected.

That's because the mountain is seen very clearly. There is no 'fading' because it's further back. It's too 'bright', too 'prominent', too... much!

And this is coming from someone who knows shit off graphic arts...

nihilyst · Wed 17/08/2011 14:02:34

Hm, yeah.

0,5x

Better?

SpacePirateCaine · Wed 17/08/2011 14:06:17

The picture's coming along very nicely. This main issue that I can see that's causing the issues with the foreground and background seeming disconnected comes from the ground, or lack thereof, directly off the rear edge of the cabin. There is a lack of detail to the ground, it seems to kind of 'turn to mist' just off the edge of the house, where the depth of field would suggest that it should take a bit longer for the ground to disappear completely like that.

The detail in everything else is awesome. Aside from the above point, I can see nothing wrong with it. Great stuff.

Babar · Wed 17/08/2011 14:38:53

I'd say you need to fade away the mountain into the background even more. You should remove the extra dark patch on the peak, and make some clouds coming IN FRONT of the mountain as well.

cat · Wed 17/08/2011 14:42:20

I think SpacePirateCaine hit the nail on the head. The mountains look great now but the path needs more detail close to the hut.

nihilyst · Wed 17/08/2011 15:40:46

Okay, and again:

0,5x

- Added some clouds in front of the mountain.
- Lightened up the peak.
- Added some more detail in the 'backyard'-

cat · Wed 17/08/2011 15:45:00

Amazing, what a bit of "backyardgrass" can do

Mouth for war · Wed 17/08/2011 17:48:32

Amazing stuff man! Make me wanna throw my so called "art" in the trashcan

Atelier · Wed 17/08/2011 19:08:27

This is really good! The edge of the entrance looks too razor-edge though. Makes the planks seem 2D. Might want to soften the edge a bit, or better yet, add a doorframe around the entrance (minus door of course).

Dualnames · Wed 17/08/2011 21:09:04

OMFG. This looks incredibly amazing!!

nihilyst · Thu 18/08/2011 00:33:23

Yeah, Atelier, you're right. I'll rework the 'door'.

Done another one today:

0,5x

Same technique, custom brushes etc.
Trying to put a man in there, fishing, but I suck at drawing people and stuff. I'll try to figure that out.

Is anything horribly wrong? I figure the water is kind of "hm!", so I hid most of it in the fog.
The boat is still shitty and, I guess, would just drown if someone had really invented it.

Still not sure about the middle of the lake. Should there be something sticking out like a small island, a shipwreck, Nessie?

As you see, I'm trying to establish some kind of style. Any general advice would be helpful. Thanks

mode7 · Thu 18/08/2011 08:24:44

Looks great, realy moody!

Whats a bit off putting is the lack of shading, it still works but maybe you want to rim-light the edges of the trees in the BG and in the FG.
Also the area right down in the middle look really really flat. I can't quite figure out why that is though. Maybe the brushes?
Also the texture on jetty(?) is a bit too strong. Maybe you want to soften is a little and paint in some bigger scale detail, maybe also put some more work in the construction. ask yourself, how was this thing built? To make it more believable.

This is all really nitpicking. The mood and the composition is just right and thats all you need for a game BG.

Buckethead · Thu 18/08/2011 08:40:15

Is it me or is the boat kind of huge? I think maybe the water could use some specular highlights to feel more like water. The first had a very nice mix of colours by the way. Something I'm missing a little in this one. But it's a different setting of course.

SpacePirateCaine · Thu 18/08/2011 09:33:34

I love how it's coming along - I did notice that the steep angle of the vanishing point on the pier creates a weird optical illusion of it being tilted toward the camera a bit. You could probably fix that easily by having the VP for the pier's boards further off to the right. Not a huge issue, however, so if it's likely to mess up the composition of your image, it isn't necessary to fix.

Funny, these remind me of a much more serious take on Red Flagg: Don't call me Blue. If I had the time and energy to do a shack in the woods, it probably would've looked like your first picture as well. Spooky.

Anian · Thu 18/08/2011 10:25:39

Quote from: Buckethead on Thu 18/08/2011 08:40:15
Is it me or is the boat kind of huge?

I think it's because the peer's planks are thin and generally give the feeling of a much bigger peer so when the boat is compared to it, the boat seems even bigger. Plus the pole with rope then seems small compared to the boat. Bigger (as in wider) and thicker plankcs on the peer would fix this I think.

And yeah, the peer has the wrong perspective it's right side doesn't follow the same perspective as the left one.

I'm not sure if that boat is half sunken or not, first I thought it was like an old boat which started to sink. And yeah, a bit more specularity to wave crests on the water so it seems more like a liquid.
And island with a single tree might be a nice detail to add, but you should check how it'll affect the compostion.

Oh, not to forget, this style is really cool, they almost look like oil paintings.

TomatoesInTheHead · Thu 18/08/2011 10:45:11

What really pops out to me are the unconnected leaves on the big tree. It's also pretty easy to spot the repetition of the brush there, so maybe you can use some more different or randomized brushes and make the leaves a bit more dense there.

Apart from that and the things already mentioned, wow, great, I like this style!