New digital paintings

[wishcreator]

Hey guys, here are a couple digital paintings I've just recently finished, let me know what you think!

http://www.zdcoe.com/postpics/tmplgrdnsclr.jpg

http://www.zdcoe.com/postpics/ruinsclr.jpg

http://www.zdcoe.com/postpics/plnsclr.jpg

http://www.zdcoe.com/postpics/unit2capnclr2.jpg

http://www.zdcoe.com/postpics/unit2capnclr1.jpg
This one is the same illustration as the one above, but with some really cool color changes. I've found this type of change gives the piece an entirely different look and feel when done correctly.

http://www.zdcoe.com/postpics/flsgldclr.jpg

If you wanna see more, check out my website: www.zdcoe.com

[a7xbasketball]

the first and third ones are awsome very nice work

[ApolloNuevo]

this is an excellent start to a working portfolio. however at this point your work looks very photoshop-y. this is due to the almost exclusive use of soft brushes. it creates the illusion of your images being out of focus. learn to play hard edges off of soft edges, both in regards to form and rendering.

-apollo

[Turambar]

I liked but theres something wrong with the arms of the women, in particular the right arm, the muscles are flowing in the wrong way in relation to the rotation of the hand


Keep it up

Miguel Pizzo

[Gilead]

I really like the map, that's clever.

[mikeorion22]

real nice stuff, i would just work on adding textures, your first pic is my favorite and i think with some texture to it, it would stand out that much more, your pic of the two cats would benefiet alot from texture to the sand, and the women with the weapon isnt bad, but her left hand comes off as placed right on her side instead of being an extension of her arm coming off naturally, nice work though, im impressed

[koroshiya001]

Mein Gott, that woman has some beefy arms. It still looks good, just saying. My favorite is the dragon.

[wishcreator]

Hey guys, thanks for the critiques and compliments! Couple things to Reply
on:

1. I hear ya about the soft edges, and on occasions I’ll do sharper edges on
stuff if needed, but mostly for my style the soft edges are just something I
like in my work, whether I'm using Photoshop or not.

2. The Unit Captain is to be pretty muscular – especially the arms, the
character I created the look for has a rather unique story (genetic breeding
and weaponry etc) so in this case it's definitely on purpose otherwise
you’re right she’s got some pretty wild arm power - hey if you’d like to
read more about Amber see the official web page with explanations here:

www.zdcoe.com/pages/characters.html

3. Hey thanks for picking that up! You're right about the sand texture
being missing – it was on the original I’ll try to repost the corrected
version here.

4. The comment about the dragon needing a little texture was good too,
I'll definitely be getting that fixed and reposted as well. Thanks again.

[wishcreator]

Okay everybody, the pics here are updated now with textures, fixes and all! And here's a close up of part of the Moonlit Ruins too:

http://www.zdcoe.com/postpics/ruinzoom.jpg

[Layil]

Wishcreator~

just a couple thoughts...

Im not sure what youre intention is as to the style of these images, but right now theyre looking like a beginners effort. Youre misplaced use of hard and soft edges is detrimental to the piece, you have no center of focus and youre overusing PS filters as shortcuts instead of creating texture manually or by using brushes. Take a look at some of the pro's work and youll see that barely any of them use filters, and sparingly at that. Filters are primarily for photo retouching and manipulation, and for a beginner painter, theyll cause you more grief than theyre worth. Later on, once you understand the nature of light and form better, youll be able to use them correctly.

Spend some time looking around you- look at the way colors meld and focus fades in the distance. Look how many lost edges there are in things, depending on light and value and texture. See how cold light creates a warm shadow and vice versa? the shadows on your pieces are all brown or black, or a darker version of the light color. this never happens in nature and immediatly makes things look funny. The anatomy on the girl is inaccurate as well, though i understand your point about making her beefy, make sure her muscles are all in the right place when you pump her up.

Im not trying to be harsh, but i think you have promise, you just need to learn to see things as they are, instead of how they appear in your head. The laws of physics apply, whether youre on this world or on another, and the resulting image will be much more believable if you follow those guidelines when imagining your subject, and then take it from there.

good luck and keep at it!~

[wishcreator]

Hey, thanks for the input!

[Jason C-M]

Neat stuff -- I agree it has more a "talented amateur" feel than a professional edge. Your anatomy and structure are heading in the right direction, but aren't there yet -- keep pushing them and they will be. You're going towards a very accurate rendering style- so you need to be top notch. For instance, take a look at the woman's eyes. They don't recess where they need to, they don't exist dimensionally -- they look more like they're painted onto a smooth mask.

They're very ambitious pieces, and you're to be commended for that.

I'll follow up with some of the crits that things look a little too uniform. The same edge quality most everywhere.

You're environment pieces should sing with depth, but they don't quite. Look into some atmospheric perspective, and you're going to need to change your approach to texture, because the same grain in the near sand as the far, for instance, is killing your depth.

I want to say "keep going" -- but you've got to keep going the right way. I've an artist in mind (not on these boards) who's been working semi-professionally for 30 years, and his stuff hasn't improved a lick -- he's just retreaded his same stuff and turned weaknesses and bad habits into set-in-stone mannerisms.

So you've got to keep going with purpose. My guess on what the best path for you right now is, to pick ONE thing you really want to improve on. Say anatomy. Say rendering of depth, say whatever. Pick ONE. And work on it, hone it, nail it. Do millions of studies. Do pieces whose prime reason for existence is they make you work on that area. After a hell of a lot of work, you'll bring that one area up to a ten, and all the other areas will come along with it, maybe not all the way up to a ten, but up much faster than just undirected effort will take you.

You've obviously got the drive to put time into your pieces, so that's 90 percent of the deal right there. Now it's just making sure you use your time to its best advantage.