Jarmen Kell

[Stephan]

Hi
first post here!

Here's something I had lying around for too long already. A recent homework finally made me finish this one. I'm not too happy with the bg, but I don't think I will touch it again. It would be too much tedious work with almost no effect.
Comments about composition and colours etc are very much appreciated tho, cause I always had some problems with them. Does the picture work?

Thanks in advance.

http://www.s4sb.org/post1102/arab.jpg

[snoops]

really nice composition, well painted
that rug is sweet, overall detail bit inconsistant
well done
what refs did u use?

[thomasaurus]

this is sweet, stunning forground!

[kabuki]

just a small crit.

the gun seems to be a littlebit warped.

which is where i falter, straight guns ;)

[blackhand]

What is that? A Dragonov sniper rifle?

Overall, the lighting and composition work very well. The lighting is especially well realized. The rug in the foreground looks nice, too--did you just map that there or actually paint it?

The rug actually stands out a bit because it has an increased amount of detail over the surroundings.

The background is fine though some of the buildings do look a little uniform--just vary the heights and spacing between them.

Excellent work overall.

[tyboogie]

nice job---im diggin it

the sleeve on his left arm looks a lil flat
the hanging drape in upper right might use a hair more definition

but really i think its pretty good as is---bravo sir

[tegehel]

I would have to agree with Kabuki. The gun needs a bit more work, but you're almost there. I would make the wooden parts a bit more like wood (maybe add details, like the floor) and the metal parts, esp. the barrel straighter with a straight highlight. This is where you can use the line tool I would assume, since in RL it would really show a straight line. If you're a purist, just redraw on top of it :)

One thing that I've noticed but doesn't bother me that much is that the big building seems to be more in focus than the other buildings at the same distance. Experiment with blurring it, or sharpen the surrounding (I personally would try to blur it a tad).

You know what? neither the balcony nor carpet or pillow cast any shadows on the ground. Unless it's a 12 O' clock sun, which is debatable according to the other shadows.

:evilbat:

C.

[AJ]

I like this piece, even though it's not finished. Reminds me of that Hitman 2 mission.

[KChen]

Stephen,

Nice painting!

Here is a quick paintover to illustrate some thoughts on the image:
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/kchen/124671_arab_Paint_over_02.jpg

I crop the image in a little since the environment around the character isn't telling much story about him (how long has he been there? maybe we can show it though the comfort of his pose or trash or cigerate buds on the floor). I figure the image is about him and the exterior part that we can't see and he is waiting for.

I added some of the lights you used on the ege of window and his face on the buildings outside to tie them up with the same lighting.

I flat out a lot of fabric details on his body to hide him better (blend into the BG). I don't want him to compete with the scenery. I also extend his shoulder and elbow cuz they feel a little short. The cables on the right is also lower and darkend to help balance the diagonal visiual weight of the body. they also help echo the direction of the riffle. Come to think of it the curtain will be a nice detail to show if there are any wind.

I also try to blend in a lot of value shapes by using lost edges to help loose the outlines on the fabric. Details usually show up the most at the core and the light side tend to bleed out with the light.

I darken the center part of his body cuz that's where least amount of reflective light is able to bounce in. I also added some of his tunic's color as a reflective light to put him closer to the wall.

Generally, if you want to show off the interior details, you over expose it to simpify the lights. If you want to show the exterior, you underexpose it to flat out the shadows. That way you can keep your strong lighting contrast (seems to be the mood you are going for) and not run out of values to use.

Sorry for the blabbering, hope this will help :)
Kevin

[Stephan]

Ok, I gave it another try. I just had to after all that excellent criticism.

snoops: Thanks! I had ref for the dragunov. The carpet is an overpainted texture. I feel kinda quilty for that, but I wasn't able to do that just out of my head.

Janorish, tyboogie, AJ: thanks! =)

kabuki: Tried to fix it =) Thanks

blackhand: It's a Dragunov. I'm not too familiar with all that gun stuff, but I thought it was appropiate for the Iraq. The rug in the front is a overpainted texture, I couldn't do that on my own. Tried to fix the bg a bit.

tegehel: Thanks for the crits. Try to fix most of it.

kchen: Holy crap! I feel like I learned tons already just by reading your suggestions and looking at the picture. I had to try it out myself though. A real eye-opener! Thanks. I still don't get though how you are able to get so much colourvariation into that picture. Just look at his hands or his legs. How did you do that? How do you know when to desaturate your colours? When I was drawing this I thought of an all warm colour scheme. But I always have the problem that my colours are too bonbon-like. I fear it's my lack of life drawing. Damnit there are no courses around. Anyway, thanks again for your time and effort. That was quite a step forward for me I think.

http://www.s4sb.org/post1102/arab2.jpg

[ChadTHX1138]

Wow thats some improvement. Sometimes pushing your self to make a piece better can be a struggle but worth it in the end.