First attempt at Photoshop (Concept Beast in Progress)

[Dementist]

http://www.freewebsitehosting.net/websites/ceojoe/swamphigha.txt

http://www.freewebsitehosting.net/websites/ceojoe/swamphigha.txt

Lighting sucks. For one, I've been told that this piece is much too dark, though i believe it should look OK on a decent monitor (or with a decent vid card). Secondly, the lightsources have caused me a great deal of grief. I was originally going to have two light sources, one coming form a fire in the lower-left, and another from the moon in the upper-left, but I only realized today that I've done the shadows incorrectly, thus leaving me with the decision to only use one light source or to start over again from scratch.

I'm also painfully aware that my lines are much too thick, cand I can't seem to do much about it. If someone could give me any sort of crit about this piece, anything at all, I'd be extremely gratefull.

[ceballos79]

firstly, nice work. i like the effort. secondly, my critiques are honest, sometimes painfully -- all out of care though.

since this is photoshop it's easier to make alterations.

CTRL (apple) + L and fix the levels. whoever told you it was too dark is right. your midtone values aren't contrasting enough. nevermind what kind of monitor/vid card the user has -- u want it to stand on it's own regardless of platform.

you're still working on it, so i'm guessing you didn't get to the armor or horns, or legs... the rendering/highlighting on them in comparison to the anatomy is a steep step.

i suggest changing your background color... doesn't make the character stand out or do anything really. try to make it more dynamic -- not so flat.

your monochromatic color scheme is fine and all, but might i suggest spicing it up with color. nothing crazy, but for example a red apple isn't as interesting as a real apple... upon close scrutinizing you'll see a plethora of color.

it's coming along pretty dopenstein von dopenhausen dude... keep at it.

/rc

[Dementist]

Thank you so much for the crit, Ceballos. Funny you should mention it, but using many different colors is what I have the most trouble with. I tend to just make a base color, then use two layers of lighter/darker variations, and thats it. But I'm trying, dammit, so I'll try your suggestion and go through and add some color to it. Maybe some lighter green, dark reds, purple, I dunno, I'll try everything:D

Oh, and that's not neccesarily the background color, It's just there for aesthetics until I actually make the background.

"you're still working on it, so i'm guessing you didn't get to the armor or horns, or legs... the rendering/highlighting on them in comparison to the anatomy is a steep step."

Do you think you could elaborate on this statement a bit? I'm not really sure what I should be doing different for the horns/armor, other than making them smoother.

[ceballos79]

you're still working on it, so i'm guessing you didn't get to the armor or horns, or legs... the rendering/highlighting on them in comparison to the anatomy is a steep step.

look at the muscle on the chest, then at the legs... the striations, shadows, highlighting, texture is almost non-existent on the legs, or horns, or armor... making them look flat -- and in the case of the armor -- cartoony.

fixing your levels will only make this more noticeable.

as for color i suggest trying a tetrad color harmony. it's not as evil as going full on color. yet it is still difficult -- any thing of this nature is hard decision making. most times something flourishes only after layer upon layer of work has had it's way with it.

stay away from using black. it's creating black holes in your work. if you want a dark color -- mix it. a darker version of any color is the color mixed with it's complimentary color. hehe, now i'm getting painterly on you -- you can just choose the dark color from the pallete well in photoshop.

k i'm outty, have fun.

/rc