Black Widow

[crisis]

Hi

This is my second painting in PS. I've tried to keep the advices i got from my first painting in mind. (screems "photoshop layers", made shadows (using burntool i guess. a big "no-no"). And i've tried to put some effort into the background (obviously not to much).

A big weakpoint (according to me, an amatuer) is that the spider doesn't seem to interact with the background so good.

Now, criticize the picture, paint on it, do anything to help me getting it better.

(Thinking about getting a wacom, what's the biggest benefits of it working on a picture like this?)

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http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/9675/spiderwn5.jpg

[Seedling]

You’re drawing with a mouse, and is shows in the wobbliness of your mark-making. You are also attempting very complex subject matter for your level. It’s hard enough painting a building, OR a spider, OR a human by itself. Trying to put those and other elements all into the same image is guaranteed to thwart you if you are still struggling with each element separately.

What would help you most is to do some paintings from life. Try still-lifes and self-portraits.

[VIDEODROME]

I would like to have seen the signature Red Hourglass mark that Black Widow spiders have somewhere because of the title.

[crisis]

seedling, yeah i get your point, i made the house all blown out because i dont know how to paint a house, absolutely not a detailed, i will practise. Is it a good idea to take photos of intresting buildings and use a reference (not paint on top)? or is out of the mind the thing for me?

Videodrome, It wasn't meant to be a Black widow spider at all, just thought it was a cool title for a lady spider :bashful: . But it's a good idea, if i'll ever paint a new spiderlady it will definitly be a black widow, with the marking.

thanks guys

[Frumious Me]

She could use more variation in her skin tone, as well as more shadows overall. Given how dark the area looks, she seems very bright. I think the rifle is pretty good though. Did you use a reference for it?

As far as drawing on a computer goes, Wacoms are great. If you've drawn a lot with pencils/markers/pens, you'll love it.

In your reply to Seedling, you said "use a reference (not paint on top)?" Most people might not agree with this, but IMO painting overtop of photos and other drawings might help you at first, especially if you have trouble gauging shadows and shapes from life (although you can develop that skill like anything else). I had absolutely no clue how to piece a face together from decently-drawn parts until I took a couple photos, laid them under tracing paper and drew a simple copy of heavy lines to see how everything fit. That's a learning method though, not a work method, and if you try to paint over something without a good grounding in form and shadow, it'll probably still have lots of problems.

I'd go with Seedling. You should get more foundation under you. Tons and tons of art books out there, not to mention all the great stuff right here on CA.

Here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=56806

Tutorial by daarken where they paint a building from a photo step by step. Maybe try copying their process? Select all the colors from your own palette and just try to copy what they do. I apologize if you've seen it before, but there are scores of things just like this all over the site. They'll do you wonders. :rendered:

Accuracy is just the repetition of correct habits. There's (basically) only one correct way to attach human muscles to human bones and light will always react to an angle the same way. Just need to copy, learn, and practice those building blocks over and over.

Sorry for the length. :^^;:

[Frumious Me]

Sorry if this is overstepping my bounds or something. I'm not so great with colors, and this is my first one, but I decided I'd give you a little overpaint.

This is just the layer I painted on. You should be able to just drop it over the original.
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I'm the suck at buildings myself, so I just did her face and a little bit of her bod. I noticed while painting that you didn't have any straight up black on her except right around her eyes. A couple places just deserve little black lines to show they're there. I didn't changes your shading much, mostly just little proportional things.

[crisis]

Frimous, thanks a lot. I think youre right about the shadows, she should be darker.

Yeah, i used a ref for the rifle.. or i mixed two refs, an AK5 and a m16.

About your paint assist, i liked it on the body, even if i might make it even darker. But i thought she was more beautiful in the face on my painting :) But it's a tad to bright.

Thanks alot

[Rhubix]

My suggestion would be go back to the basics. You said you didn't know how to draw a house so you kinda blew up the house to get around that... instead of avoiding things your having trouble with you should tackle them directly. Find a good book on perspective and have a go at a few dozen / hundred / thousand houses and you'll be a pro. likewise in terms of anatomy get a good book on anatomy and learn how a person works, proportions and the like. to practice lighting working with a still life and a lamp can help you see how light would fall on different forms.
I had a bit of fun playing with your picture, the arrow is where I guessed your light sorce is comming from. Don't be afriad to add alot more contrast to your pictures I added some darker shadows but they could be even darker. also don't forget cast shadows. the pelvis and attatchment of the legs you left kind of unshaped so I tried to think how they'd be attached if the creature were real and this is what I came up with. the green (kinda awful but not as awful as my arrow) lady in the top right corner shows what I imagine the profile of the creature looked like. I figured she'd need a longer spider like structure to house all thoes legs
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j263/Rhubix/bwpaintover.jpg

[Red Rabbit]

She just looks really 2d. something needs to be done shadow and texture wise.

[crisis]

Rhubix thanx man, great crits.. And your aprovements on the pic are great. I will try to stop avoiding my troubles, I've already started to sketch houses.

I'll take these great crits and tips with me to my next painting. Cause i dont have the energy to continue this piece right now. But someday when i'm totally out of insperation i will go back to older pieces and try to refine them. (I'll probably do that when i painted a few dozen / hundred / thousand houses :) )

Thanx again for taking the time to crit and re-paint