Duo Paint - Two sets of hands (Critique/Tips wanted)

[Molte]

Hello Everyone, Im new here, my name is Kjetil

I can't draw!

However, a little over a year ago, while i was still unemployed I sat down
and decided. Now, right now, I am really really want to learn how to draw.
So, ive been practicing (less than I should have, and more than usuall)
since then. Trying a lot of various methods to speed up, and try to catch up
to those I know which allready have a 10 year or so advantage on me :(

Now, I got this idea to put two people painting on the same image.
Sharing valuable information as you go. Correcting mistakes, and explaining
why, how and what cool trick could have been used to do just that.

So I get a hold of SulaMoon, and kick the idea to her.
She agrees to join in on this, so here we are.
And this is where this thread comes inn.


----------------------------
How this is going to work

Either one sketches/draws/paints something and post it.
The other person, grabs it, and continues to paint on it, not leaving
out any areas and not restricted to leave any areas or ideas untouched.

This is a "use everything at your disposal" project, the goal is to make
a complete finsihed painting in the end.
Just make sure to post why and how.

I think the easiest way to transmit pictures back and forth without
too much fuss is simply painting everything in one layer, at least
untill we get to the render stage, to avoid as much fuzz as possible.

Timeframe
First week - concept paint - low rez - open for anything
Second week - rough - High rez - lock character design, placement, enviroment layout
Third week - render - Higher rez - lock poses and light. (slave work week)

Offcourse the timeframe is relative, depending on work, rl factors etc etc
but that goes without saying I think


ok, kicking the ball to SulaMoon now

:D

Latest update

[SulaMoon]

Hello everyone!

Since practicing is never enough (and I haven't been practicing nearly enough too), we decided to start this paiting! But Molte already said it, so lets get to business!

Im not used to drawing background, I have been practicing some backgrounds.

Here is one I came with today:
http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus.jpg

Not exactly a complex background, but much better then figures on white bg's.
(Also, sorry for my bad English along the thread!)

[Molte]

I upped the contrast quite a bit, in addition to grading the whole image
far more brown. The jade color is cool I think, but setting that as a blackpoint
makes the painting look very flat.

After I had painted a while, I didnt quite feel the aspect really fit the
painting, at least not with such a dense forest as this, perhaps if you could
see the horizon. But anyhow I changed it around. Hope it made it a bit more
interesting to look at.

Oh! Promise me never ever again to draw blue
(at least not cyan!!! :shrug: ) water. Unless your in the middle of the ocean.
Here (http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1783231)is a good referance for a water in the forest, all reflections!

I tried for a long time to redraw the elf, but eventually gave up, and painted
a quick siluette from a ref (http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=936605) instead.
I hope you can fix it a little better. So Im counting on you sula!

A few more referanses,
I thought this (http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5037921) photo showed very cool glowing forest highlists.
Here (http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6090207), fog through the trees. Oh and allthough i didnt paint it now, here (http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6131621) is some
cool looking shine.

Not really sure what to do with the pegasuses, but I didnt feel putting
highlights around the siluette (like you did) quite did the trick.

Anyways, your turn.

http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus_01.jpg

[SulaMoon]

So!

My life is bit messy this days, I didnt had as much time as I'd like to update this.. so here it goes.

I couldnt get the elf back in - but we can take care of that later.
I messed up a bit with the colors, the lack of blue bothered me some.
Also changed a bit of the composition. I felt everything was pushed into a really small space, so I have rearranged things with a bit more of fresh air.

I really wanted to touch up a bit more, but this can take some day, so Ill passing the ball back to Molte, until I have time to work on it again.

http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus-2.jpg

[Molte]

Ok, grabbed!

I was actually thinking of how I managed to paint away the cool
"clearing in the woods" it bothered me a lot, but it looks like were on the
right track again!
I love how you added the blue again, much more jade, and mystic now.
The thing about space is also really important, It makes a lot of difference.
I have a few ideas about the elfin tho, which I am looking forward to
put into play.

Something unexpected has come up tho, so this project is going have to go on
second priority of "things to do after work". Which is unfornate, because I
was really looking forward to spend a lot of time on this thing.

I wanted to say tho... the more I look at it the more I hate the background!
I think it is too flat, and could almost be a backdrop.
note to self: need to find something funky to do with the forest.

[Molte]

Okay ....hmmm....where to start....


It felt really disturbing painting over some of the nicer brushstrokes that
sula did..but I guess we'll have the chance to make it look nice
soon enough anyhow (I hope).

I have been holding it for way to long now, and used very little of that time
to actually work on it, just dont feel like drawing these days.
But thats no excuse! So, I painted anyhow.

first of all, here is the thingy.
I was hoping you would want to add some clothes to the elf sulamoon.
http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus-3.jpg


At first, I just grabbed your sketch and painted this
http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus-3_1.jpg

And then I thought, that the composition were'nt quite right.
So i tried cutting out and moving different elements around on
a widescreen canvas.
I realised I have absolutly no clue about any theory in composition, appart
from the rule of thirds which i happend to read in a photography book
a few years back.
After reading up some on composition I had a really hard time avoiding the
the names "the golden ratio" ,
http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus-3_goldenratio.jpg

and the name "the fibonaccio spiral",
http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus-3_Fibonaccispiral.jpg

So I thought, what the hell, I might as wel try to incoperate those into the
composition, since im out of ideas anyhow.
After I moved elements a bit back and forth.
I really wasnt sure if it did become better or not...and im still not quite sure.

To ease up on the perspective, which I am really hopeless at, I made a
dummy scene in maya. I also used this chance to test out some poses
the elf is posed after this (http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3544661) referance.
http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus-3_wire.jpg
http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus-3_2.jpg

Finally, earlier today, i was browsing some photogallerys and I spotted
this (http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/view?id=386513&forward=) photo, and thought, great! Thats some awsome lighting.
So I brought that photo over in photoshop blurred the pieces out of it
and added it as an overlay layer. And continiued to paint on top of that.

The midtones might be graded a bit too dark atm, not really sure untill
I see it at something else than an lcd tho.
http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus-3_overlay.jpg


Btw, critique wanted!

edit: Forgot to mention,
Referance for the hunter was made with primarily Genghis Khan in mind.
The clothing under the helmet was made on purpose red to try draw attention to that spot.
Not really happy with the pillars, I had the elven ruins in oblivion in mind when made them like that, but should've used some referance.
I did however, have some very good referance for cool pillars (http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2408368) linked, which I had forgotten all about untill just a little while ago.

[SulaMoon]

Oh, wow! Now its looking great!

I should have been less slacker and searched for a bit of info on composition before - look at the improvement we have here!

I think we are drawing near to our composition and pallete. I like the yellowish glow, and magical and not overdone.

Ill start my overpaint now. Some goals: I need to fix the hunter, he need to be looking to the pegasus and the girl. Ill try to work some on the pillars to, but.. clothed girls are more expensive!

Nah, joking. I dont any more big change to do in here, really. Ill just work on some details! Hope to update soon!

Great Work, Molte =D

[SulaMoon]

ok!

Here we go again.
I really wanted to mess a bit more with the ruins, Molte even provided me with the references, but I sort of ran out of time.

I Retouched the hunter, changed his pose a little, a bit more of "surprised" attitude. And I retouched the elf - a little more sexy and inviting pose. (And no clothes! =p)

Im not sure yet, maybe the last big modification is making that water move, or gave it a place to run to. Not sure about it yet.

I think we are getting close!

http://www.chabba.com/stuff/duopaint/pegasus-4.jpg

[Molte]

I really like the little detail you put in the ruins on the right.
But I cant help feeling the archers back is too straight, even tho it might
actually be right. I guess i have just worked a bit too much with him
initially to be unbiased.

This is what I am going to do now. I will scale the image up a few notches
and start working on detailing inn some of the background.
Ill also start looking into how the water texture can look like.

[JordanRoots]

first of all, I need to say that the elf is so gorgeous! I love her face's expression and hair, and she's very sexy. at fist, when I looked at the fist images, the whole picture seemed a bit cliché. But now, at that stage, I think it's really not cliché anymore. Awesome co-work.

I think you should put something in front of the hunter to conceal him a little from the elf coz she doesn't seem to see him but should be able arranged like that. I suggest a tree trunk or some foliage or anything...

keep at it!

[Dose206]

um, it looks like something is poking out of her butt. I'm not complaining, just thought that i'd point that out. Good progression so far you two!

[Molte]

Thats awesome! We got replies, sula!

I was planning on removing the buttplugg,
but I see sulamoon already sneaked in an update.

I agree, the archer (I like to call him Genghis) is too exposed,
at least now when hes back is more straight. Still think hes pose is too rigid tho.
I wil work on that.

[sodomizer]

Hey guys, great coop going on here. I just wanted to throw my quick two cents in;

I like the gaurds new surprised look. much better.

There's one thing that is bothering me at the moment... I think you need to adjust the atmospheric perspective. Right now the woman is so detailed in comparison to anything else; she's a midground object fighting for the foreground position against the gaurd. Its causing the image to read flat.

can't wait to see the update.