Potatohead Joe the Perroquet / JULY05

[Jabo]

http://www.drain5.com/pics/art/speed/potatoheadjoetheperroquet.jpg

~ 1 hr in OpenCanvas4 with the default watercolor brush. Best painting-result I have got so far. It would be nice if you could give me some advice on this one.

- Jabo

[Farn]

The anatomy/perspective are ok, the bird bill is a bit crooked to the left (of his own view)

I don't know if it's accidently, but the colouring of the head is quite nice. But the torso doesn't fit into it anymore and you realy lost yourself with the feet. Please skip the feet, redo them. The shadowing is poor, remind where the light comes from. Because that you hit well on the bill and the eye. The branch you should leave away like that. In the same position he would look like flying anyway.

Then workout a bit more of the neck and the wings. The perspective got lost in that neckcolouring. More contrast.

Und eigentlich hätte ich auch Deutsch schreiben können :D

[jfwalls]

The way you've blocked in your basic values is good. You're half-way there! Now start adding in more details, slowly decreasing that brush size. I'd add a background also, but if not then try to lose some of the extra white. It's just empty space right now.

[Farn]

Hast du das alla prima oder nach Vorlage gemalt? Alla prima wär das bemerkenswert.

[Jabo]

Thanks for your comments.

jfwalls: I wanted to get some feedback before working out the details. I'll add a background for sure, although I kinda screwed up the transparancy, the bird is actually about 70% opaque. But I'll give it a try anyway.

Farn: Right about the bill, now I see it. How should I work on the lighting on the torso and in general? I made it darker on the bottom, but actually I don't really know where the light comes from. I just worked with a top-down lighting, not sure about it now.

Achja, ist alles ohne Vorlage entstanden. Die Augenpartie kam aus nem Scribble dass ich bei nem anderen Bild hingekritzelt hatte. Deshalb ist sie wahrscheinlich auch das Beste am Bild...

lighting on torso and neck - check
bill placement - check
redo feet - check (about 2/3 of the time went into the feet. I wanted to give him long, thing feet in the beginning but couldn't manage the form)
background - check
details in the wings - check

[sickelsick]

kool bird man.

i got an idea. try to bend the legs a little more. might make it kinda real. just an idea.

i need to learn how to paint. im gunna try that blocking in the values thing that walls was talkin about.

[Farn]

A quick paintover, very bad actually. But you might get the idea of the shadowing. Maybe i find a bit more time to work on bill and legs. sorry

[Stupidity'sUglyHead]

He needs a little more motion to make believable the position he's in. HE does look like he just alighted on the branch, but he also looks still and calm, his wings at rest. The forward lean he's doing would only be possible for a split second. If you want to show him alighting, his wings need to appear to be flapping, some more immediate feathers launching from the wings, some indication in his eyes that he's just landing, etc. If he's just kind of chillin, his center of balance needs to be between his legs, leaned back more in repose ya know?

[Jabo]

Alright here's the update. I decided to keep him on the ground/branch. His position and angle are just too steady to give the impression of a flying creature. No legs yet, everytime I try to paint them they just look odd. Gonna work on it though. Made him more cartoonish by adding outlines because I think he was already not realistic.

What do you think about it now? Any further suggestions? How about the shading?

http://www.drain5.com/pics/art/speed/potatoheadjoetheperroquet_redux.jpg