Murderer

[billcunningham]

Ok, I've been fooling with it more today...

10) First, I decided to stick with #9, my last endpoint, and go forward from there. I started trying to fix in some more detail in the right arm:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_010.jpg

11) Then, despite what I said earlier about liking the sketchiness, it seemed now like I needed to define the gun a bit better. I did looked up some references on 17th century pistols and roughed one in. I messed up the angle at which it was being held, though, so I lassoed and rotated it:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_011.jpg

12) Painted out the bad angled gun:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_012.jpg

13) Now the composition is bad, the end of the gun is too close to the lower left corner of the canvas, it just looks poorly framed. So again a lassoed and rotated the arm (this also gave me the opportunity to extend the arm a bit, as it was seeming a little too short):

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_013.jpg


14) Paint, paint, paint out the bad arm!

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_014.jpg


15) I'm liking this picture more and more, so now I'm thinking I should do something more with it than just a rough sketch. Maybe put this character in some context. But what? At first I thought a town, or some docks, some 17th Century back alley or something. I started looking through reference material, but couldn't come to anything I liked. Then I thought maybe there should be some sculptures back there, like frozen witnesses to his crime, so I created a new layer and roughed these in on that layer only:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_015.jpg


16) I liked this, so I worked in more solidity in the sculpture layer:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_016.jpg


17) That last statue to the left is blowing the perspective feel to the background, so it must be eliminated:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_017.jpg


18) Put the last sculpture back in a better position... much nicer:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_018.jpg


19) By now I'm certain this murder is taking place in a sculpture garden at night, so I rough in a tall hedge wall behind the sculptures (still working only in the separate sculpture layer). This hedge also helps me define perspective and depth, I think:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_019.jpg


And that's where I'm at now. I'll have to do some research now to figure out what those sculptures look like, and I have a feeling I'll be laying in alot more realistic detail from here on out. I need to still work on the clothes and hand and gun, but i may put that on hold a bit while I concentrate on the background.

This is starting to be some real fun!

Any criticism you might have would be warmly welcomed.

Thanks!

[lo]

this is a very nice progression to watch and it looks like it's going to turn out a great image.
I think you should eventually put emphasis on the eyes as being the key to the dramatic fell of the scene

great work

[billcunningham]

Thanks Lo!

I will probably need to return to the eyes before the end, you're right. My worry there is that it needs to be subtle... the eyes are almost totally in shadow and he's squinting, and I'm afraid too much eye will throw the mood.

But I will give the eyes some more attention before the end.

[billcunningham]

Hello! I finally got some time this weekend to return to this picture.

20) Decided I needed to work in the background more, so I set up a neutral colored divider layer to block off the foreground character, looked up some photo-reference on hedges until I found a suitably bleak variety (actually normal hedges that have been sliced in half, exposing all the branches), and got busy:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_020.jpg


21) La, la, la, painting in the hedges... painting hedges is wierdly medititive. It's all scribbles and lines and botty blotches, and somehow as you layer these almost random strokes on top of each other, the illusion of purposeful detail emerges and it starts really looking like a hedge. Also started throwing down some autumnal leaves in drifts along the foot of the hedges:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_021.jpg


22) Now I want to check how this is working against the foreground, so I go back to the original canvas layer, copy it and paste it into a new layer and erase all the stuff surrounding the figure from this layer, so I'll have the figure on an independent layer to slip over the top of the background (while still retaining my original as the canvas layer in case I screw up and need to go back to it). Here it is for a check-up:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_022.jpg

It's ok... the figure is going to need alot of work now once the background is finished, the whole thing is creeping into a tighter realism than I thought I'd be doing when I began, but then I didn't think I'd like this random experiment as much as I do. Now I really want to see this done well. I'll need to do a good sky back there too...

Any comments or crits? I'd love to hear them!

[Vyliss]

atm bg and main image isn't looking like they go together, I assume those things behind the guy are bushes and not a forest (right?) Perhaps put in some more colours so it isn't all a muddy brown look.

[billcunningham]

23) Ok, still messing around with the background only. I roughed in a sky, re-jiggered the perspective of the statues a bit, as it was looking off when compared to the lines of the hedges, then I returned to the hedges. Vyliss is right, it was too muddy. But I don't want to put in too much color, trying to keep an eerie, moonlit mood. So I blanched the branches and added some darker blacks. Here's where we are today:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/billcunningham/quicksketch1_025.jpg

I know it's tough to make it all connect at this point, because the various layers aren't well integrated yet. Forget about the guy for now... he needs lots of work, but I won't be going back to him until I'm happier with the background.

Crits on the background? Sky needs work, I know, especially I'm afraid the placement of the moon is all wrong for the light falling on the rest of the scene. Any suggestion how to fix the lighting?

I'm thinking I'll need to introduce another light source, in addition to the moon. Maybe some firelight far off the left of the canvas, which could be throwing an orangey glow on the front of things? I don't want to get too orange though.

I'm really struggling with the light in this picture right now. Suggestions would be very welcome!

(P.S. - thanks for all the suggestions so far... they've been really helpful!)

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