Environment

[Barata]

This is a concept for a web game (RTS). The idea here is simple: aldo the land is divided, 3 faccions will fight each other no mather what...

It´s still pretty sketchy obviously, but I would like to hear from you about the light, the mood and things that are and aren´t working in this piece. Thanks in advance... :)

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/6311/project7ki.png

[Bai Fan]

How are they going to fight eachother? And why are they fighting?

[Simon.Rain]

How are they going to fight eachother? And why are they fighting?

I m sorry but he has a point

[Barata]

When I wrote land was divided I didn´t meant they couldn´t reach each other, I was just saying that the land doesn´t belong to one faction in particulary... Sure theres a ravine spliting the land in two but, my intention was simply adding intensity to the scene...

I really dont´t think it´s relevant why they fight...

[RocknOats]

Well the pic is decent, but you gotta have something to throw out there for a reason. I mean, something? anything will do, how about goodie-two-shoes group A was allied with working class group B against the down and dirty group C until C revealed photos of A in a saucy situation with B's wife...

[tmbritton]

Hello,

I think that your composition for the scene could be a bit better. I assume that you want the focal point for the scene to be the castle. However the brightest spot in your painting is the sun and the castle is nestled back against the mountains and doesn't stand out that much. I think that if you moved the castle underneath the sun, and had the sun shining out from behind it that it would be a much stringer composition. I also think that moving the castle from the center of the picture would create a more dynamic composition. You could also use the crowds of people as leading lines to lead the eye toward the focal point.

Just my 2 cents.

~Tom

[Barata]

Well... what I really wanted was to focus the atention of the viewer somewhere at the middle of the composition, where the troops are supose to start the fight.

This is a previous screenshot:

http://img506.imageshack.us/img506/5020/gfgfg4ou.png

The Castle is merely beeing part of the scenary, it really isn´t the main focus here... It´s almost a square form and it´s color isn´t saturated.

Somehow you´re not seeing the way I wanted you to see. I´ve got to check it out, I´m probably doing things the wrong way...

[Pixeldragoon]

Try seperating the BG with cool colors... not only does it add depth, but then you can really pull up the focus with the warm colors. =)

[Barata]

Try seperating the BG with cool colors... not only does it add depth, but then you can really pull up the focus with the warm colors. =)

Ok. I´ll try that. :)

[Kresh]

Looking pretty cool so far. As for the statue i would have it point more towards the white figures like being "STOP! go back to where you came from" kinda feel to it. It just looks akward pointing directly to right into nothing. And maybe add a big sword or shield to give it the indication that they are going to fight! I think this would add tons more info to whats going on in the piece in my opinion.

[Barata]

ok... here´s an update. I droped the ravine, add cool colours to the background , some smoke and dragons to the scene. Do you think the result is more convincing... or not really?

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/9951/war23aq.png

Sure I have to tweak the colours, their saturation and a lot bunch of the things, but I really like to hear what you think...

[paperclip]

I think you should make the mountains a little lighter and less contrasty and put more contrast & detail at your focal point. I also think that it looks a little strange how the mountains are all pretty much the same height- put a little more variation there, especially in the second row behind the bird- the second row should be lighter and bluer, since it's further away also.

Having said that, I like your concept and I like the way you're going about it. Keep going!!

[Barata]

well... I tryed to lighten the mountains and added some more features. I think I got a better result...

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/4097/war36oe.png

[Jason Rainville]

Whoa, I think there's a little too much going on here now.

Those clods look REALLY thick and only clos eup the whole thing instead of opening it up.

That green in the foreground is stealing all the attention, but the idea of a figure there is nice: maybe remove the green?

And I'm also a firm believer in never using birds unless you have to, because they are another attention stealer.

Hope that helped a bit :)

[paperclip]

OK, right now it's very hard to tell what the focus of the painting is. I suggest you flatten everything over with a subdued colour (on a separate layer) and try working *through* that in order to really bring out the areas that you want to focus on. REMEMBER- much less contrast the further away you are and that includes clouds/mountains. Plus your perspective is getting a bit wonky the closer you get to the viewing plane- you need to raise the foreground up a bit.

[Barata]

update...

http://img277.imageshack.us/img277/8791/bf07ur.png

[Barata]

Still another update...

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/6448/bf033of.png

[Jason Rainville]

Getting much better. You've greatly sorted out detail from clutter.

[Foppe]

Great man, really seeing progress on this one!

[Barata]

One more update...

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/6836/bf043nk.png

I think it stands better without clouds. That big mountain is going to turn blue or greenish of course...

[grantrl78]

That looks awesome!
Only part of the last one I don't like is the
perfect round white spot of the sun.

[Dile_]

Hey very nice! well, I would like the mountains to look like they did in the first post, and the armies doesnt looks so good, just copied, and there is not perspective on them, all seem to be at the same size, and compared to the
castle, it just looks odd right now, but yeah keep it up, and put some time into it!

[Barata]

The armies have perspective... Jesus... :|

[Doomgriever]

wow nice process! i like how u managed to finish it =)

[Dile_]

The armies have perspective... Jesus... :|

Ehm, not the groups, if so very small, and odd,
sorry for trying to help dude.

[Barata]

another update... I´m a little happyer now with the composition. There were many things going on... This has been a tuff learning process. The thing is that I started thin painting and now I have to finish it. I got to...

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/9206/bfo28of.png

[NikitaDarkstar]

Hmm I'm not sure but I don't like the idea of adding trees.. they don't seem to fit in with the rest of the pic really...

As for the armies it feels like you've made a small group and then just copy-pasted.. or used a pepole brush for photoshop.. some more variation on the individuals would be nice to make them feel more like individuals and well less copy-pasted...

Loving the progress here though.. even if I have to admit I quite liked the first version of this ;)

[willows]

I agree with Nikita - whenever you add in something that closes up the scene (the trees, the smoke earlier, etc) it...well, it closes up the scene, and that's causing some dissonance with the subject matter, I think. It's a panorama of a battle that hasn't yet been joined, right?

So it needs to have some room. I think you were going in a good direction in post #17, with the tall war machine in the left - if you're going to put in an foreground object, something large seen at a distance is a better choice than something small viewed up close, in my opinion.

[Dutton]

Barata, I went through this maddening process early on this year where I was working on a finished painting without sorting all the details and groundwork in a sketch first, and what ended up happening was spending weeks playing with the composition, having to erase hours of work when it turned out it wasn't working, and finally being unhappy with the finished piece. It was also a multi-figure piece with a lot of things going on in it, just like this one.
For something this grand, build it up in a detailed sketch first.... not just a rough, or thumbnail, but a real finished sketch, with all your value patterns, perspective, and everything else figured out. It's not as inspiring, and it's definitely tedious, but it saves hours, days, and weeks of headaches and frustration.
I'm not going to add any suggestions for what you have now, because it will just make things even more confusing for you. Good luck. :\

[Barata]

Thank you all for your comments, really... :)

I guess I´m learning the hard way. Next time I will look up for building a solid composition first and then take the next step. Thank you one more time...

[evildragonfire]

man, am I glad I am not the only one who gets frustrated at times! Building up a detailed drawing, always a great idea! :) BTW, we all learn the most valuable lessons the hard way it seems.