DSG 1369: Environmental/Architectural • CLOUD-SHROUDED MOUNTAIN CASTLE

[William b. Hand]

[ Time to drift away from the whole aquatic-themed thing. ]

Environmental/Architectural • CLOUD-SHROUDED MOUNTAIN CASTLE
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[JIVA*SOUL]

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f304/jivasoul/king.jpg

[llothcat]

lost track of the time....ah welll:

[scumworks]

Think imma do multiple pix today, here be no1...

http://www.scumworks.com/otr/conceptart/cloud_castle_1.jpg

[goran]

screen grab process
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v17/smogyboy/submissions%20movies/th_e318d769.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v17/smogyboy/submissions%20movies/?action=view&current=e318d769.pbr)
and sketch ,open canvas 20 min
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v17/smogyboy/CA%20sketchbook/cloudcastle.jpg

[Leprechaun]

I had some more fun with this one, tried a couple new techniques etc...
wasn't very happy with it at all till the end, but I think it turned out okay

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk237/hadesleprechaun/mountaincastle.jpg

[Hamsta]

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6291/1369cloudycastleui6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[benkashmir]

scumworks - nice one, anxious to see what you come up next.

heres mine, a castle carved straight from the mountain rock, pretty much like the one at petra's.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n229/benkashmir/cloudcastle2.jpg

[SteFlack]

Some really nice ones so far...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v35/Psyence/DSG1369.jpg

[careless]

haven't been here in ages

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13/brianisMAD/dsg/cloudcastle.jpg

[Samurai_em]

My first time doing DSG
http://www.shadinger.com/dsg/castle_shrouded_in_cloudsDSG.jpg

[Nightblue]

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd214/lxc2000/sketch-33.jpg

another 30 min quickie in photoshop before bed :) yay for break from aqua!

[Chuckcamo]

http://psychostrat.com/pics/1369.jpg

2.5hrs...........+ :vodka1:

[shiNIN]

scumworks: impressive view ;)

Leprechaun: I don't quite understand how this castle "works", but it's interesting and I like to look at it :)

Samurai_em: a cliff, some clouds, okay. but those thick dark lines with light walls don't make a castle. It seems those lines are the culprit, try it without them ;) I visited your SB so I know you're not familiar with these things (castle with perspective, digital, and now I say don't use outlines. it's not easy at first, I know very well), but there are cases you should get rid of your beloved lines =) (or use a unique outline-based style ;)). the big contrast between lines and walls makes this worse, so your drawing screams "I'm just a sketch, it's not a castle at all, I'm just lines and shapes".
oh, and welcome here! :)

Nightblue: maybe a bit flat, because it's a quickie with only just a few colors, but it's graceful and has a nice atmosphere :)

[Newman101]

heres mine. Crit away :)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y276/korneyboy/dsgcastlecopy.jpg

[Mitze]

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/mekese2000/castleshite1.jpg

[Nightblue]

Mitze: Wow, yours have a real fantastic as well as classical look to it. The color reminds me of a classic master. If I didn't forget everything about my art history classes I would be able to name some names. Anyhow, Love the space/atmosphere you created. The castle looks a bit more like a chimney, maybe give it some change in silhouette.

Newman101: The colors and the style look very ornamental. I like the way you did the rocks. The trees could use more definition.

Psychostrat: Nice rendering and colors. The composition is a bit slab-in-the-middle. It may improve the piece if you tilt the perspective just a bit too instead of the front view.

Samurai_em: Yours have a nice feel to it. I gather that you are maybe going for a style close to Asian ink paintings? If so varying the line weight will help. Making the rocks visually heavier (darker) is also a common technique.

careless: I love your mysterious use of color and the soft atmosphere. That looks like a place I'd want to investigate. Extending the composition just a bit on the bottom may help bring out the mountain more.

[ste]: Nice lighting on your piece. My critique would be the composition - the castle is in the middle of the image both horizontally and vertically, and the heaven/ground division line is roughly in the middle of the image. Putting the focal point just off the center may make for a more dynamic image.

benkashmir: I really like the idea. Your use of color is also very nice. It may help your piece to have more light/dark contrast - consider where the light comes from. The mountain may even cast a shadow on nearby clouds and fog.

Hamsta: Your brush strokes are very nice and loose, and your piece has a lot of atmosphere. The clouds look soft and fluffy, but they almost look like snow because of the road going through it rather than showing beneath its transparency.

Leprechaun: great composition and very dynamic perspective. The marks near the bottom of the screen is a bit distracting though, since the parts above it look much more nicely rendered. The easy way out could just be covering that part up with yet more fog.

goran: I love the architectural feel of your piece. The perspective and the lighting is very moody. No actual critiques here.

scumworks: Nice atmosphere, love the clean color. It would help making the tip of the pyramid recede to give it a bit more fog.

llothcat: nice colors, and it's always more interesting to see the subject from a lower ground. If you want to push the perspective, make sure all the vertical lines are going to one vanishing point.

JIVA*SOUL: beautiful colors, very fantastical. The shapes are abstract and graceful. I like your piece a lot.

[Razorleaf]

Nice! I like how everyone has a different take on the idea. I like yours Leprechaun cause it is different and yours too Benkashmir - I can "see" inside this one :) And, Newman101 I love your colors.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm260/Razorleaf_album/CloudShroudedCastle.jpg

[browntear]

Knew this one was going to be hard for me...

http://browntear.com/CA/DSGCloudShroudedMountainCastle.jpg

I'm loving all the different works and also the great crits going around!

just a few thoughts
scumworks great looking castle, and powerful angle, my early favorite.
goran very cool as usual, and thanks for the screen grab! it's really impressive to watch.

[Ilikesoup]

Nightblue -- I love how clean and stylized yours is. Did you use vectors or just a hard edge brush?

[Nightblue]

Nightblue -- I love how clean and stylized yours is. Did you use vectors or just a hard edge brush?

Thanks :) It was a hard edge brush. I normally use lots of transparent brushes, and now I'm trying to make a move back to mostly solid brush.

[Chuckcamo]

Nightblue
Psychostrat: Nice rendering and colors. The composition is a bit slab-in-the-middle. It may improve the piece if you tilt the perspective just a bit too instead of the front view.

Thanks, I did have lightning between the clouds and the mountain, but it made my eye aimlessly move around.... agreeing with you on the front view, a tilt would be nice... didn't spend much time on the castle and probed around with the mountain a bit much, but it was all experimental and fun to do.

Really like the flow in your image, bridges are cool as well!!http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/ca_icons/thumbsup.gif ... Your castle has a nice haunted feel to it... pretty good for 30 min, did you have a mental image before starting...

[T-M-K]

quickie

this is fun, can't wait for the next one. :)

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n212/ghandenhanden/Madam-4.jpg

[Sudsy]

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn191/SudsySutherland/Daily%20Sketch%20Group%20Sumissions/DSG136905JUN08.jpg

I must say, this subject is just perfect. I just got back from my day trip to Denali National Park here in Alaska! I used one of my photos of an impressive rock formation that I saw out there as my reference! That, and it was quite cloudy (nope, didn't see Mt. Denali aka Mt. McKinnely... Don't call it anything other than Denali here in Alaska...).

[Samurai_em]

Thank you ShiNIN for the advice! I should have thought of that, I'll work on it for next time!

@Nightblue: Yes I was going for Japanese style castle.

I might try to go back and work on it some more now. Thanks for the advice!

[SteFlack]

Had another go at this one since I wasn't happy with the first image I did.

Some quick sketches from last night to try and set a bit more of a mood...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v35/Psyence/dsg1369_mood.jpg

And my second attempt...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v35/Psyence/dsg1369_finish.jpg

[thedo12]

everyone else is so good, im a little imtimadated

(this was made in flash btw)

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j305/timmysblood/skycastle.jpg

[scumworks]

Thanks for the comments.
Smudging in painter, not sure I quite like it.. but meh, here be no2.

http://www.scumworks.com/otr/conceptart/cloud_castle_2.jpg

[Hamsta]

Nightblue I knew what you mention would be an issue, but solving it was another issue - it's hard to tell where the clouds end and the snow begins.

The high contrast and hard strokes make a bold statement, but require some further thought on which lines are necessary, and which are scribbles.
The turrets and strung lines scale the castle down, and make it somewhat childish.
The foreground clouds are in a somewhat unnatural slope.

[Lechri]

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj177/Lechri/cloud-shrouded-mountain-cas.jpg

[cw]

bit bleh for me this time, enviros deffo not my forte but all practise is good practise, right?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/chrissdawaller/dsg_1369_ii.jpg

about an hour all told, painter and phtoshop.


cheers,

[mbaldwin]

http://www.baldwinart3d.com/concept/castle.jpg
hour

[Lingmerth]

I'm sorry to further bump and old topic.
But I just wanted to ask goran, Did you do an initial thumbnail sketch or did you make up the picture as you went along, or maybe you even used a reference?

[dagreengo]

Jiva-REALLY dig your color palette
CW- I think that's a pretty great effort on the landscape, I really like the atmospheric effect you've achieved around the towers, really works as a focal point, and your markmaking is very interesting, the textural quality adds alot. I would argue that a darker value in the foreground would add some depth, and i think your color palette could use another hue.


sorry i didn't pay attention to the dsg number, and I thought this was todays :(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v159/dagreengo/dsg1369.jpg