How I hate rocks

[Jenosavel]

I've been dabbling in computer paint for a bit now, and I've finally decided to really try at it. In real life I'm a decent painter when it comes to watercolors/pastels, but it's a constant struggle for me to be able to apply the painting principles I know to the computer. I have trouble pulling in a full range of colors and values, thus my stuff all comes out more flat and unrealistic than I'd like.

Most of the time I can manage to find a way to fake my way through that problem, however, I'm trying to do a piece right now that is inside a cave. Thus far it has proved to be the bane of my existence. I have yet to achieve even the smallest factor of realism.

Any help or advice from you folks? I'm relatively new to this board, but there's a lot of talent here, and I know if any art community can help me, you can.

[nikia]

I have posted some photos of various rocks in the Middle class reference thread. Look under Members threads. The photos might be able to help you. Good Luck.

If you click on Middle class under my signature it will take you there. I took all the photos, so they are uncopyrighted. You are welcome to download any that you want.

[Jenosavel]

Thanks, I think I'm at least started now. Okay, any advice anyone can offer will be greatly appreciated. This is a work in progress, but I'd like to know if I'm doing anything seriously wrong before I get into lots of detail. Aside from their unfinished state, is there anything wrong with the rocks? ...I need to change the lighting on them I think. It's a bit too bright and pure white.

http://www.ryuunoki.com/original_images/shadows_ritual.jpg

[nikia]

I don't think you need to change the lighting considering the brightness of the light you have on the water. But I think you have to make the rocks a bit rougher looking with more black shadows and highlights because of the light. Clarifying, if you add holes and cracks in the rocks, with the black shadows in the holes and hollows, and the highlights on the ridges and edges of the holes, it will look more like rock. Also add veins to the rocks. Most rocks have a lot of veins in them. Something else you can do is add crystals in the rocks. They look like the type of rock that would have crystals inside.

Beautiful picture by the way.

[Matt Elder]

I think that you have a good start but where the rocks meets the water needs a bit of work. It has too much of a hard edge and doesn't integrate the two elements to make it look like it is all part of the same space. I'm not sure how you are approaching this but it looks like you are doing individual elements when maybe you should try to start with overall big shapes and work downwards into detail.

I'm not explaining this well but have a look athttp://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16159

as Joachim has a fantastic example and explaination - might give you a few ideas.

[Wacom Knight]

I have a Painter7 digital cover i did last year, its subterranian in a cave with almost the same kind of light source (but lava). This might help as well.

Under Dark Cover (http://www.wacomknight.com/Paintings/Gallery/UnderDark.jpg)

[Jenosavel]

Thanks much! I actually hadn't started the detail on the rocks yet, or approaching the water edges (which really are horrid right now). I wanted to make sure there were no compositional problems before I did any of that, since composition (movement in particular) seems to be my biggest setback. I should've been more specific in my first post, though I'm glad for the feedback. It gave me reference in well done artwork.

In response to the question, I'm approaching this thing using layers since I'm sloppy enough that without separating things into layers I make a real mess. I was thinking I would work the water edges at the end when I could merge the layers without muddying things up. If anyone's tried anything like this before and knows it won't work, I'd appreciate any advice.

Also, since no one mentioned anything wrong with the composition, I'm assuming it's okay. If anyone sees anything wrong with it, please let me know.

Thanks again for the help. I really appreciate it.