Widescreen paintings

[smuli]

My first three so far weekly environment paintings:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c57/smml2/A_DIp_Shipwreck.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c57/smml2/A_DIp_Fairytale.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c57/smml2/A_DIp_Bell-Ringer.jpg

A variation of the third one (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/smml/Laajakuva_kellotorni-alternative.jpg) with touches on the architecture that made it look too "cosy"

I have a habit of painting everything with too much contrast in saturation... That's probably partly because I haven't tinkered with the opacity setting but I'll try that in the next painting. I'd love to hear criticism on what else is wrong.

Also, I'd appreciate feedback and sheer visits on my new portfolio:
http://samulilautjarvi.cjb.net

[ThomasK]

I like how you composed your images. Also the contrast in the second image, where the raven is on the right and this white tower on the left ;) I am nor sure if you aimed for this but I like it :)

How do you painted this three images?

The colors of the first one seem to me a little to much red and too little blue. The dark blue you used look to me like purple. I think you should try this with more blue ;)

In the second images the clouds look a little like cutten? Looks really surreal :)

In your third image I would also use more orange and yellow, not this much brown. So there are really a lot of torches which lighten everything and I thing the light should be more yellow orange than just this light brown ;)

Just my opinion ;) Maybe you aimed for all this I would change or do differrent ;)

[smuli]

Thanks a lot for the input!

Also the contrast in the second image, where the raven is on the right and this white tower on the left I am nor sure if you aimed for this but I like it
It was intentional, actually. :) The idea was kind of a zig-zag composition where the girl's head and the eyes of the tree would be in golden joint and it's flipped equivalent and the tower and raven would continue that pattern, at the same heights as where the girl's head and tree's eyes are. I'm glad if you like it!

How do you painted this three images?
With Photoshop 7


The colors of the first one seem to me a little to much red and too little blue. The dark blue you used look to me like purple. I think you should try this with more blue
I gave it a go:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/smml/Laajakuva_haaksirikko-valmis-sinise.jpg

The blue definitely adds some depth but it also adds that contrast in saturation that I've tried to avoid so I'm not sure if I like it more... Thanks for the advice though!


In the second images the clouds look a little like cutten? Looks really surreal
Yep, the lower edges should be softer, I should've stared at references though... I guess a bit of surreality fits in the picture though. :P

In your third image I would also use more orange and yellow, not this much brown. So there are really a lot of torches which lighten everything and I thing the light should be more yellow orange than just this light brown
You're probably right... I'll probably change a lot about that picture anyway as the torch holders should cause darker shadows.

[ThomasK]

My opinion on contrast is that it is a really cool thing for images. When you do everything in one color a drawing becomes very fast very boring to people but with many colors and contrasts its getting more interresting because when you look over the image you can always find something new in it.


Give a try on a brighter blue and try to paint a little blue also in the red waves. I am not sure if this will work but maybe :)

[Pixeldragoon]

The ship one needs harder edges. Alot of the things in the first two don't look like what they are. The trees don't look like natural trees, and the clouds have a completley flat base? What the heck? It's like a floating island, upside down, that's white. I think yous should use more refernce in your pictures.

The third one I like, mostly because you dida good job on the shadows. Tohught I couldn't tell it was a bell in the middle. I'd maybe make it wider? It doesn't seem to attract as much attention as the hammerboy.

[Tully]

These pieces show promise, smuli. I like the composition in the first. I don't really have the time to do three paintovers, so I stuck to just one.

http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/bc2nb/smuli-shipwreck.jpg

1. It was just way too dark and contrasty. The sky is only that dark at night time, but even then, it's never brown. It's also odd in this case to fade it out so quickly to practically black. With a sky in a situation like this (cloudless), the gradations of colour/tone have to be super super smooth, or else the sky looks like a surface rather than a limitless expanse. You have this happening here.

2.) Brown isn't a sky colour, and that red is too dark. Generally you'd want to keep colours pretty vibrant.. stay away from browns and washed out colours for sunsets/rises. I'm sure there are a few situations where such colours will work and could be used, but this doesn't seem to be one of them.

The sun's light is yellow, but not yellow-green as you've gone towards here. Green is also not a sky colour and any time yellow is used in a sky, it should really tend towards orange unless you really really know what you're doing. Nearer the sun should be vibrant orange as opposed to the creamy orange you've gone with here.

3. The whitecaps in the water look sort of like clouds. Maybe some reference would be in order?

4. What's with that wave beside the ship? What's it hitting against? I added some sort of rock there, but I don't know what you're getting at with it. Plus none of the waves are actually splashing. This is ok for most of them, but the ones hitting things ought to have some splashing.

4. What I've done mainly in the paintover is address the value issues.

5. Remember also that the sun the only source of light in this painting and that of most of light on the entire earth. Shouldn't it be bright enough to look as though it actually could illuminate all of what you have in your scene?

6. The relationship between the dark saturated blue shadows in the foreground and the red highlights is very strange.. it makes me wonder if your monitor is calibrated correctly. If you paint something with a very saturated colour, it will tend to advance spatially more than something less saturated. This principle can be overcome with other spatial devices like overlapping and linear perspective, but in your case here, the red is only slightly more saturated than the blue, making the blue come forward.

There are a few more things that I did in the paintover, but I think they're pretty straightforward. I've managed to ramble on quite a bit, but do keep up the good work!

[smuli]

When you do everything in one color a drawing becomes very fast very boring to people but with many colors and contrasts its getting more interresting because when you look over the image you can always find something new in it.
I think that the pic has at least plenty of contrast with the sickly muddle of red and yellow hues but I'll give brighter blues a go too when I update the picture along Tully's advice.


The ship one needs harder edges.
You mean the foams? They had crisp edges at first but they seemed awful so I made them more foamy with an airbrush. Seemingly I got too enthusiastic in that though...

...and the clouds have a completley flat base? What the heck? It's like a floating island, upside down, that's white. I think yous should use more refernce in your pictures
I've thought that pretty much all clouds have a flat base... At least the cumulus my clouds are supposed to represent: http://archive.globe.gov/sda/clouds/big/cld07_03.jpg
But as I admitted to ThomasK, I should have made the lower edges much softer. I just remembered clouds been drawn in comics like that :P

The third one I like, mostly because you dida good job on the shadows. Tohught I couldn't tell it was a bell in the middle. I'd maybe make it wider? It doesn't seem to attract as much attention as the hammerboy.
I'm glad you like it! I dubbed the picture as "Bell-Ringer" in my portfolio so I'm not unhappy that the hammer guy is in the highlight. You're probably right that the form doesn't look like a bell though. I'll either widen it or crop it from the top a bit when I'll edit the picture.
Thanks for the feedback!


Tully: Huge thanks for your efforts! That looks 50% more realistic and pleasing to the eye. In your version the mood has changed pretty much though and if I do all the changes, I don't recognize it as my own anymore, but I'm sure I learned a ton from those mistakes and your solutions. I think gather together a new version tomorrow.

The sky is only that dark at night time, but even then, it's never brown.
The brown looked good in my sketch (http://photobucket.com/albums/c57/smml2/?action=view&current=A_DIs_11-15-05.jpg) but then again, that brown was both lighter and more red. :P I should've stayed more true to it I guess. Anyway, from the very start I wanted to make it more romantic painting -like than photorealistic so that's why the weird colors.

The sun's light is yellow, but not yellow-green as you've gone towards here. Green is also not a sky colour and any time yellow is used in a sky, it should really tend towards orange unless you really really know what you're doing.
More goofing around with colours trying to search an original, yet good-looking result. I agree that I should've waited until I know what I'm doing but I couldn't resist it. :P And again, the slight tint of green looked good in the sketch but I exaggerated it too much.

3. The whitecaps in the water look sort of like clouds. Maybe some reference would be in order?
I'll try...

4. What's with that wave beside the ship? What's it hitting against? I added some sort of rock there, but I don't know what you're getting at with it. Plus none of the waves are actually splashing. This is ok for most of them, but the ones hitting things ought to have some splashing.
There's a shallow rock there that you can just about see if you turn the contrast to maximum... I have no idea why I didn't make it bigger than that though. Yours looks much better.

5. Remember also that the sun the only source of light in this painting and that of most of light on the entire earth. Shouldn't it be bright enough to look as though it actually could illuminate all of what you have in your scene?
I thought the greenish tint would give it enough impression of brightness. Changing it as much as you're done would change the mood pretty much but I'll try to get to a somewhat realistic result.

6. The relationship between the dark saturated blue shadows in the foreground and the red highlights is very strange.. it makes me wonder if your monitor is calibrated correctly.
I'm a bit confused about how I should've done... :) The reds have been eye dropped from the sky so they must be like that and the shadows are so unsaturated that ThomasK would prefer them more blue. I see that it's much easier to sense the space in your waves though. I think I'll saturate the reds then.

Until tomorrow...

[Tully]

Tully: Huge thanks for your efforts! That looks 50% more realistic and pleasing to the eye. In your version the mood has changed pretty much though and if I do all the changes, I don't recognize it as my own anymore, but I'm sure I learned a ton from those mistakes and your solutions. I think gather together a new version tomorrow.

Always glad to help :) That is the failing of paintovers.. of course you're not obliged to solve issues in the same ways as I would. There are usually lots of different ways to do it. It's just good to be aware of them! Looking forward to seeing an update.

[Pixeldragoon]

I dunno, maybe I'm wrong. I was pretty sure the crest of the waves were never white caps, it was just right after them. Thanks for listening to my advice anyways, good job and good luck!

[smuli]

I was pretty sure the crest of the waves were never white caps, it was just right after them.
They are at least when the wave is breaking... I agree that suspiciously many waves are braking in this pic but it's romanticism.
Thanks for listening to my advice anyways
Believe me, the pleasure is all mine :)


I tweaked this for almost two hours. :P It isn't all that different but I think the prime problems are more or less solved. The foams aren't any less cloud-like but I couldn't find any good references and they fit the style well enough to me after all.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/smml/Laajakuva_haaksirikko-valmis-korjat.jpg