New Here with some Art

[shadyj129]

Well, first I'd like to say hello everyone!! I've been checkin' out these forums for a few days now, and have been completely impressed with the works I've seen here. I've been sketching all my life, and have busted into CG coloring (with Photoshop or Fireworks) within the last 6 months. I'm sorta catching on, here's a few links to some of my very recent stuff. Any critiquing will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

http://www.arleah.com/Downloads/Arleah1280x1024.jpg

http://www.arleah.com/Downloads/Villains1280x1024.jpg

http://www.arleah.com/Downloads/Heroes1280x1024.jpg

http://www.arleah.com/Downloads/ArleahNeutral1280x1024.jpg

[DavidCousens]

Just a small crit cuz I like your drawing.

Instead of using dodge and burn for colouring, try using multiply and screen, and also pick complimentary colours for shading as well eg. Use a light brown at low opacity to shade yellow etc.


Hope that makes sense! :)

Dave(The Original)

[Phuzion]

HHmmm... complimentary colour for yellow would be purple... or did you just mean colours that compliment each other well? But I agree with the whole dodge and burn tool thing. I always tell people to not even bother learning how to use it. Just learn how to shade and highlight with actual colours, though my real suggestion would be to not do digital at all yet and learn traditional media. You'll get a much stronger sense of how to use colour through actual paints. Right now your colours are waaaaay too saturated. You would never find colours that are actuallys that saturated in life, they would only appear to be through contrast with their surroundings. And don't use lens flare either! You'll murder your self with that one ;p The design of the whole thing is working out fine, just work on the colours so they're not so offensive. I hope this all makes sense. Just keep at it. Peace

[DavidCousens]

Yeah, I meant colours that compliment each other, not complimentary colours.

That's what I get for posting as soon as I wake up in the morning! :doh:

Phuz is correct about using natural media first, it'll help you learn more than you realise.

Have fun,

Dave(The Original)

[shadyj129]

Well I appreciate the constructive criticism. I actually didn't use dodge and burn at all. Instead I was trying out the cut and gradient shading/lighting method just using white and black as a base. I do see what you mean about using colors that compliment each other. I thought about doing that, and I'm not really sure why I didn't. I think the whole newness to CG coloring is still a bit overwhelming to me.

And as far as paiting, I hate painting, absolutely hate it. 'Tis the devil! :evilbat: Hehe, actually, I've take some traditional color classes before, just gotta apply that stuff now. Thanks again, and I'll definately take the criticism to heart when I color the next one. Thanks again!!

If anyone is interested in coloring one of these and showing me what you can do with it, the original pencillings are here:

http://www.arleah.com/ArleahFolk.jpg
http://www.arleah.com/arleahvillains.jpg
http://www.arleah.com/arleahheroes2.jpg
http://www.arleah.com/arleahwallpaper.jpg