Need some help on a school project

[Jelly_Donut]

Okay, I've never used photo shop before, but the assignment in class was to color a picter using only cold colors. I've got the foundation of it, and some of the coloring... I'm just wandering if you guys can help me out with the rest, help keep me on the right track so to speak. I dunno... I really want a good grade on this, and for it to look as good as I can get it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/Crystallus/tree2.jpg

[koroshiya001]

I don't know much about photoshop, so I can't really help you much out in that department. All I would say is use some different sizes of brushes, you look to be just using one, and its way too small to do a foundation for the BG.

I'm seeing lots of blotches of white where the pencil wasn't completely erased , or inked over. I guess you can just color over that in PS, if you dont want to ink that and rescan it (which is what I would do...some of the inking is a bit messy anyway).

Your shadows are inconsistant. Make sure to define a light source.

The thing I see that bothers me the most is the composition. There's not really anything interesting in the top 1/2 of the picture. You could probably crop out maybe 1/3 of the top of the picture to put your frog(?) in the center of the page.

You've gotten started, now keep going with it. You'll get a good grade yet :)

[Jelly_Donut]

Hey! Thanks a lot for the crits. Okay, so lets see here, things I can improve -

I need to work on the inking, obviously, it's sketchy. It may help if I rescan it then and start over (although I dont' really have time... ack... darn deadlines... I have to go in to school tomorrow to finish it really early.) But I may re-scan it and such anyway, and finish it properly weather or not it's done in time for class.

Okay, then define a light source- I was trying to go for an upper right angled light source (from the sun). You are dead on, i didn't notice it, but the light source it particularly funky in the legs.

Make the top half more interesting or crop it out - I'm sure I can think of plenty of things to add, I didn't even think about it being uninteresting, but once again your dead on. Lets see... maybe I could add some birds, add another tree or something... or maybe I could be so bold as to try and add a village or something way for off in that feild. I could probably do that convincingly in no time at all!

Am I missing anything else? Other than the white splotches that is. Okay well thanks a TON for the crits, and I will show you guys what it looks like as I work on it!

[madster]

This thread is moved from CC to SWIPs, because it does not fit the standards of the Critique Center:
No Sketches, Doodles or WIPs!
Please read this sticky (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51731) at the top of the Forum before posting again.

~M

[Jelly_Donut]

This thread is moved from CC to SWIPs, because it does not fit the standards of the Critique Center:
No Sketches, Doodles or WIPs!
Please read this sticky at the top of the Forum before posting again.

~M

Noted... sorry guys, should have read the forum rules more closely, wont happen again I promise! Hope I can still get good crits though.

[ApolloNuevo]

if you are only supposed to use blocks of color, why is there line work in this?

-apollo

[Bad Brownie]

It looks like you are using the magic wand to pick chunks to color in some places, and are using a brush on a low opacity in others so that you can color without going over the lines. An easier way to color without worrying about coloring over the lines would be to make a new layer (strictly to be used for color) and set it to multiply mode. It will also get it so you don't have those little patches of white.

If I am wrong on your technique, then I am an idiot and just ignore me.

If I am right (or close at least) and you want more detail on what I am talking about, please let me know.

[Jelly_Donut]

It looks like you are using the magic wand to pick chunks to color in some places, and are using a brush on a low opacity in others so that you can color without going over the lines. An easier way to color without worrying about coloring over the lines would be to make a new layer (strictly to be used for color) and set it to multiply mode. It will also get it so you don't have those little patches of white.

If I am wrong on your technique, then I am an idiot and just ignore me.

If I am right (or close at least) and you want more detail on what I am talking about, please let me know.
Reply With Quote

Hey, yea you were right. Thanks for the tip!

I took into account a lot of the things said in the first crit, and decided to go ahead and start over again. Here is wha it looks like now - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/Crystallus/Frog.jpg


This is the orriginal - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/Crystallus/tree2.jpg

[hariz_otaku87]

Smudge a liitle to bend the colours. Or blur them. Just lower down the hardness.

Cold color? Should be mostly blue and black colours.

[Kanji2000]

Start over...Think 3D...Do construction lines first...Sketch it in loosely...Clean up your lines...Erase any unwanted smudges...Use Photoshop to your advantage...Use solid colors first...Worry about shading later, perhaps on a separate layer...When overall colors look right, determine light source...Put shadow color appropriately...Use solid edges for shadow area first...Don't blur...Not yet...Step back and see how it looks...

[Jelly_Donut]

Start over...Think 3D...Do construction lines first...Sketch it in loosely...Clean up your lines...Erase any unwanted smudges...Use Photoshop to your advantage...Use solid colors first...Worry about shading later, perhaps on a separate layer...When overall colors look right, determine light source...Put shadow color appropriately...Use solid edges for shadow area first...Don't blur...Not yet...Step back and see how it looks...


Yikes that's a lot of suggestions. Unfortunately I don't have time to start over, I have tomorrow to finish it and the darn school offers no tablets or anything, so I have to do it with the mouse... I have to get it completely colored by friday, and with no software ot anything at my house, I have to do it there.

In the future, and on the rest of the pic I will surely use solid colors, in the future I will also spend much more time on the composition, and construct it much better as you suggested. I will also clean things up better, which I wish I had on this.

I guess you general point was I should do things in steps, and not draw a head, ink it and shade it, then draw grass, ink that, then draw a tree, ink and shade that, then shade the grass (that's an extreme example obviously...) I will take note of that, and in the future I will start with a loose sketch, spend much more time on inking and keeping the sketch clean, then scan it, and color the entire thing with solid colors as you suggested, and see how it generally looks, and then shade it in more steps. Thanks for the tips!

[Jelly_Donut]

Smudge a liitle to bend the colours. Or blur them. Just lower down the hardness.

Cold color? Should be mostly blue and black colours. According to this class, black is a neutral and neither cold nor hot. Purple, blue, blue/green, which are the colors I was intending to use, I believe are all cool colors.