boozehound logan- colour attempt

[Marcatili]

Thought I'd try out some digital painting again after reading a few tutorials.

Here's the original pencil sketch of Logan/ Wolverine
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/expat/conceptart/030804Logan.jpg

Here's the colour attempt. It's not really what I'd call finished but I got to a point where I seemed to be doing more harm than good by continuing.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/expat/logancolour.jpg


Meh...I know it aint great- I hope you guys can give me some helpful crits.

One of the things I'm having trouble with is getting a 'sculptured' feel with the colours to describe form, like Davi seems to do for example. One of the things I was starting to feel happier with was the colour blending in the face, once I started to add some blues and reds to the flesh tone.

[silverslash]

this is cool 8)

however you might want to re analyze how you have light hitting the figure, that seems to be the weakest part of this piece.
for instance thiers a rlly bright light hitting his left shoulder but his face on the left is pitch black.

value defines form, so spending a bit more time thinking about lighting will help you to get that look your going for.

hope this help :-)

-jose

[Marcatili]

thanks...I'm such a rookie when it comes to colour...I've still got a long way to go, especially with digital...and I'm not much better with lighting.
Thanks for the suggestions

[emily g]

hello expat,

I like what you have going here--it has a nice color and mood. The lighting on the shirt is working quite nicely and ties in well with the warm lightsource and warm background.
I think you are having trouble because you are thinking about color and forgetting your values. For example, on the arm on the left side of the pic--the shadow is just not dark enough to match the shadows you have elsewhere. Also, the cool shadow looks out of place because all of the other shadows are warm. The arm on the right side is working much better.
I notice on the face that you have put blue right where the light side transitions into the shadow side. You were right to think that there should be color here, but you went the wrong way with it. This point (at the transition from light to shadow) is right where the local color of an object will be at its most pure--it's no longer washed out by the highlight and it's not yet darkened by the shadow. So here you should have put the flesh at its reddest.
I think if you nail down your values first, you will have an easier time with this. I noticed that you shaded your pencil sketch, but the shadows are not matching the dramatic lighting you painted in your pic.
Keep going. You have a nice color sense and you can make this work.

best,
emily

edit: I just thought of something. Usually, you should follow the warm lightsource/cool shadows, cool lightsource/warm shadows rule. You aren't doing this here but I think it's ok because it contributes to the overall mood of the piece. It's pushing the piece a little to the monochromatic, but I think that it works.

[Marcatili]

Thanks for the great response emily...
As I've already said I'm really inexperienced using colour...If I got even one or two things right then I'm pretty happy...

I totally agree with you about the arm on the left, I don't like it at all...thanks for pointing out exactly what is wrong with it, I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working

You're right about the values too...controlling values in black and white is one thing but when you're translating those values into colour it gets a little more complicated.

As for the shadows differing from the sketch, when I started painting it I wanted to give it a more dramatic feel and also challenge myself...so I painted over the lines, added more shadow etc.

And yeah...the reason I didn't follow the cool lightsource/ warm shadow (and vice versa) rules is cause I didn't know they existed!

One other problem I had was the jeans...i wanted them to be blue but I'm sure they shouldn't be a strong blue but they should be effected by the warm lightsource. Red and blue makes purple but I don't think jeans go purple in red/orange light...so in the end I just made them dark...they still look too blue to me. Adding yellow didn't seem to help...

Anyway, thanks a heap for your post....very helpful

[emily g]

Hey, you're welcome. Glad to help.
Here's something you can try to get good colors for the jeans. Paint the colors of the jeans as they would look is normal daylight (maybe do this in a separate document). Create a new layer and fill it with a reddish/orangish color. Change the opacity on that layer until you can see the blue underneath.
This will be kind of like putting a reddish/orangish wash over the whole picture. You can probably get a good idea of what colors to use in the jeans by doing this.

best of luck!
emily

[defcombeta]

nice image , i resly like the braos chin logan in the sketch reminds me of millers early takes on the kunkle head.

the colours look real nice, there is a soft dreamy feel to the peice. it reminds me of a wash that has been gone over real quick with a wet brush. what it needs is some deeper tone in the shadows the cold that is there now is good but some strong shadow would help lift the body out from the background. still great stuff. anyway thats my two cent.

john mac