"PAINTOVER PLEASE" - painted crits on demand - with Steven Stahlberg

[Stahlberg]

cool,
can I also have any reference you found for the suit of armor? It makes it easier

edit:
I have ideas how to help on two paintings, especially for Gelvin ^_^ hope that Steven will have some time for her soon or else I'd love to try to help here
Sure, I'm doing the paintovers right now, but by all means go ahead and add your comments, it can't hurt. :)

[Edouard]

This is the reference i have used for the armor...sorry i don't have a better picture.

http://www.chielie.nl/gfx/michiel-de-ruyter_groot.jpg

greetings edouard

[Stahlberg]

Here are the latest batch

http://www.androidblues.com/POP298.gif


.


http://www.androidblues.com/POP299.gif


.


http://www.androidblues.com/POP300.gif


.


http://www.androidblues.com/POP301.gif


.

[Stahlberg]

And the three last ones

http://www.androidblues.com/POP302.gif


.


http://www.androidblues.com/POP303.gif


.


http://www.androidblues.com/POP304.gif


.

[Edouard]

Thank you verry much, i'm gonna work on that some more.

Greetings Edouard

[Gelvin]

Thank you Stahlberg.

I really like what you did with her face. She looks more attractive now and i can finally
continue and finish it, now when i now a bit more what to do. Thanks again :)

[vana]

I would like your help once again with this one.... Maybe you can help me getting the light (if it's not , i really dont know ...) and the mountains right...
If ever you have any tricks or councils , i would be very glad to receive some !

(sorry for the ''gorgeous , is'nt?'' I wrote it because i sent it to one of my friend who's always teasing me because i'm never satisfy lol ...)

http://www.geocities.com/vanie_theblack/rouh.jpg

[TheDweller]

It certainly can't be repeated enough, this is an incredible thread. Helpful in the extreme. I was wondering if you had a few extra words about finding good photo reference, since it really is so key. I know sometimes a google image search turns up some wonderful results, but do you have any tips about where to go from there if you don't find what you need?

[thegreensquid]

Once again, I thank you for your time and the paintover. I learn more and more with each Paintover.

Now, just to make sure I've interpretted everything correctly, the Atmosphere wasn't right being varying shades of just reds and yellows. It needed some blues and purples to register as a sun set. The fires in the background were too intense. The anatomy of the woman needed tweaking. And I'm not quite sure how to word this, but the background needed to be pushed back using colors from the background to acheive atmospheric perspective. Finally, it seems like the lighting on the Marines needed work. I'm not sure how to word this either, the shaded areas needed to draw from the darkest colors in the atmospere, and the high lights needed to be smaller, and more pronounced, since they're basically back lit. (Like the high light traveled to far on the head to make it look back lit.)

Is there anything that I missed or got wrong? Any other advice that you can offer.

Oh, and I hate to ask for another paintover, but I've got another one that I've gone as far as I can, SOMETHING is bugging me but I don't know how to go about changin and fixing it and I need guidance.

(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/thegreensquid/Dakka_Vs_Daemonette_Color_by_morgan.jpg) Killa Kans vs Daemonettes (nsfw.. I think) (http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7632/dakkavsdaemonettecolorbba3.jpg)

Basically, it's based on a miniature game that a friend and I were playing. It was these guys (http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/orks/catalog/killerkan.htm) vs these guys . (http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/chaosspacemarines/catalog/daemonettes.htm)a The Daemonettes attacking from cover, destroying one Kan, as the other Kan misses with it's close combat weapon. I added the towers to try and make things more interesting and involved, but I'm not sure if they confuse things or help. I have a bunch of concerns about the painting it self, basically, I have no idea how to paint a buzzsaw in motion, a flat circle would just look like a dinner plate. Moreover, I'm not sure what it would look like when a buzzsaw would impact in to rock. (And I'm not too eager to go out and shoot that particular reference, lol.) I'm concerned about the Warboss Ork in the background, but that's all I can really say. The kans themselves, well I can sum up in one sentence, "Ork Technology works because they believe it can." I'm not quite sure how to go about making the Kans look like pieces of crap, without making them look like pieces of crap (err... if that made sense.) The daemonettes themselves, I don't even know what to say. Think daemonic exotic dancers with claws that can tear a tank to shreds.

[DaviBlight]

this thread is amazing! steven you are a great man.

I dont post here enough, daunting sometimes, but heres a piece i need help with.

http://www.nm-arts.net/davi/lotro3.jpg

I had a really rough time getting the massive army to show as....massive.

[Stahlberg]

I know sometimes a google image search turns up some wonderful results, but do you have any tips about where to go from there if you don't find what you need?
You have to be very careful about the wording - not too specific, not too general. Too specific and you don't get enough hits, too general and you get too many and the good ones are hidden on page 312. You also have to try a few different variations of your search terms. If you have Safe Search on, and nothing is coming up, you may want to switch it off temporarily.
Also be prepared to alter your search terms, refining or redirecting as you gather more knowledge during your search - sort of like a hunt for clues.
You can also try
flickr.com
http://pro.corbis.com/
http://creative.gettyimages.com/source/frontdoor/DefaultRMImages.aspx?brandID=41

[SwendlyB]

Great to see how you're helping the community Steven. I did this painting some time ago and I really liked how the head and weapon came out but I had a hard time with the rest of his body. It would be nice to see what direction you would have taken with it. Thanks in advance!

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r304/swendly/sohei_smal.jpg

(http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

[rohanoka]

Initially i was tryin to figure out why have u shown the legs too in the image ... Then it just suddenly struck me that it was the reason why it seemed like an odd twist to the man and the strange shape to the torso in my image .This change really was something .... and also .. mainly .. told me that i better get my concept more practical and then work on it ...

Thanx a lot sir !

[TheDweller]

I thought I'd ask for a paint over as well. I read through most of this thread yesterday (and late into the night), so when I sat down to work on this painting today I made some changes to try to put into practice what I observed from the paint overs.

The main area I feel I need help is finding the right way to make the hand holding the eyeball "pop" more. That hand (and the eye) should be a main focal point, but since the hand is covered in blood (which is dark) I'm having a tough time making it stand out in a way that seems believable. Also, I may have over compensated by making the eyeball TOO light and attention grabbing.

A little help would be greatly appreciated.

[Cnecktor]

Hi there I wonder if you could help paint over my latest work. I try to get better at realistic painting but I don't seam to get it any help and advice. Also here is refrence too.http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/15/3experiment.jpghttp://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/15/NOV04%20183.jpg

[Epias]

First let me say, the work you are doing here is unbelievable!

I did this piece but I think the architecture could be alot more interesting, also the composition isnt that great because the placement of the brigde I think.
Change whatever you feel like;)

Thx in advance!

http://users.pandora.be/mywebspace23/sketchbook/speedpaint.jpg

[sylph]

Hi Steven, thanks a lot for your help. I'm having some problems with the anatomy of this female centaur. As you can see there's no head or texture. Hope you can help me to find a form to the muscles.
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/3504/centaurettexo8.jpg

[Cujo31]

Hey Stahlberg....

Been looking thru this thread and your help is amazing! I have been working on a mural project for some time and have hit a bit of a wall with the lighting... It is a 3D image and we are going for the "popular mechanics" cover feel... Have a look and please make suggestions, comments!

Much appreciated!

Thanks!

Cujohttp://cujo3122.googlepages.com/testDOF4.jpg/testDOF4-full.jpg

[Vueo]

Thanks a lot! Very helpful! :thumbsup:

[Element9]

Hi Steven. You are doing a wonderful job helping everyone.

I need some advice for getting better sence of depth. Ocean doesn't seam vast at all. And fog and rocks does look good proportionaly to the ship.

Thank you in advance.

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/8273/stormxf1.th.jpg (http://img355.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormxf1.jpg)

edit: I changed pic for thumbnail

And sorry, I didn't read rule for four pics a row only.

[phungdinhdung]

thank you very much mr Steven Stahlberg ^___^
:thumbsup:
sorry for the late thanks :P as i lost track to this forum . i learned alot from your paint over , thank you again! :D :D

[Evicted]

Great work! This is so wonderful. Once this session is over I'll post my amateur artwork, haha. it's nothing compared to all these wonderful pieces.
Stahlberg, you are simply amazing. I admire you so much. It's fantastic that you've taken the time to do this!

[JTLowe]

Hello Mr. Stahlberg. This is an amazing thread and I have learned a tremendous amount from your hard work in it.

So, before you get bored or tired of it :) I thought I would ask for suggestions on my current work if you have time :bounce:


In the following pic I tried to follow much of your instruction so far in this thread and am about 80 % done but am at that point where I am becoming "blind" to my mistakes and indesicive about how to create more "impact".

The pic is of a servant, the human, serving his dark elven master. I am wondering mostly if you think the lighting, focus, overall composition is good or how could it be better to create a more dark and sinister feel but mostly concentrating on increasing the visual excitment level ?

Essentially at the moment I look at it and feel "its good, but not great" ...sort of bland. It could also be that I have been staring at it too long and have become too accustomed to it and thus do not find the excitement in it that I am shooting for? Or possibly the content is just not exciting enough?

Thank you for your time, I hope I am not too late!

http://www.drowclub.com/sevant.jpg

[bonim]

Thank you so much for your paintover. You have answered a question I had about the piece for months. You've done such a great service for all of us here. I am so gratefull.

Sincerely
~ Boni ~

[RenisanceX]

hope im not to latefor one of your fantastic paint overs..I think this thread is truely great gift to all of us artist

Im just trying to create a moment of where someone or thing is about to get beat down by this guy and he is going to enjoy it



http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/8066/brooklynslugger4ee4.jpg

[Sharpmarkers]

Thanks for doing this. I cannot imagine how many people you've helped.
I was trying to paint a realistic face without references and from reading your posts, I now realize how foolish it was of me. I hope you can help me. Thanks again :)
http://features.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/210890/210890_1182622029_submedium.jpg

[Edouard]

Dear mister Stahlberg,

I hope you will have time to do a little paintover from my latest drawing, i can't get the lighting right. You do a great job here and i like seeing the paintovers you made!

Greetings Edouard

http://www.3dhype.com/leden/48/mage.jpg

[Stahlberg]

Big dump of 13 images here, the first five:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP305.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP306.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP307.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP308.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP309.gif

[Stahlberg]

The rest of them:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP310.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP311.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP312.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP313.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP314.gif

[Stahlberg]

The last four:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP315.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP316.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP317.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP318.gif

[Epias]

Big thanks! My environment looks alot more dynamic now. Amazing what you are doing here!

grtz

[JTLowe]

Thank you Mr. Stahlberg! The things you changed were the things others have pointed out to me but to see it visually is a world of difference. Thank you kindly. :D

[Evicted]

Wow, those are incredible. You are so helpful! Thank you for taking the time to do this!
Here is a sketch I did at school with reference off of a magazine...
I'm really trying to practice my realism this summer yet I really struggle when I attempt to convey features---it always ends up rounded. She should have more of a jawbone, sharper chin, rounder eyes; yet I am lost when it comes to where to place my shadows and how to make features really come out.
(Is her forehead too big as well?)
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9436/pic2copydx8.jpg

[TheDweller]

Thanks so much! Seeing what you did there provided me with a couple of different ideas on where to take this image next to give it the most impact. I'll post a follow up soon.

[Sharpmarkers]

Just incredible, this has and will teach me a lot. And I will never ever paint without using references ever again. Thanks so much Steven!!!

[Cnecktor]

Your paintovers really help I can see where I messed up. I also like looking at the paintovers you do for other people. Thanks so much.

[Antsidious]

Hey Stahlberg.
I am working on this portrait of my girlfriend when she was about 6. I think that it looks kind of dull and could be spiced up a little. I was wondering if you had any ideals or suggestions? Thanks in advance :-)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/lankiet/Taryn.jpg

[sylph]

thank you Steven, very useful!

[hpslashluvr]

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/1552/wipcrygaiasomemoreworkbtz8.jpg

I need some help on my composition and poses. I want there to be some vague monsters coming out of the mist in the bg and they will be rimlit. This rimlight will light the rest of the picture. I don't know how to incorporate this while keeping the other characters esp the front one in focus.

Also the character on the right I am having trouble posing. I want her to be in profile with her hands conjuring some type of magic but I'm having trouble making her look "equal" or symmetrical to the guy on the left who will be holding a sword. I drew this over an old unrelated sketch of mine so please ignore all the sketch lines underneath.

So...if you could please give any suggestions on composition so that the bg monsters do not take over and the two middle chars look equal to each other...that would be awesome! I think there may be something wrong with the front character's eyes and hand positions too, if you can address that. I don't expect you to paintover the whole thing but an overlay sketch or something would be helpful. Thanks!

[Clorinth]

Hey Steven, Heres a peice i've been working on for awhile, I'd could use some advice on lighting/composition/ and posing. He's embracing the wind and will be use in a short animation of just his hair blowing in the wind with him looking into the distance. Any other critiques would be appreciated as well.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/Clorinth/ImrahilComposite2.jpg

Heres the WIP thread if you needed more details.
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=43&t=466481

[thegreensquid]

Thanks again Mr. Stahlberg. Not only did I learn alot from your paint over of my painting, but I'm learning from all of them.

[SwendlyB]

Thanks for the paintover Mr. Stahlberg it helped me alot!

[XraySpex]

Not sure if you are still doing paintovers but if you are I would really like some recommendations on this one. I can't figure what to do with the lighting because of how the clown is bent over... i don't want his whole face in the shadow. Also, I wanted to put a circus type scene in the background with a ferris wheel... I cant figure out how to put it in without pulling the attention away from the clown and girl.

Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks,
AcrylicAce

EDIT: And no, he is not a one handed clown, i just couldn't get the hands to look right so I didn't finish the other one.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k306/xrayspex138/Clowncopy-3.jpg

[BDismukes]

I worked on this image for about three months on and off, much of that time creating and acquiring the 3D models and arranging them in the scene, and have posted it at many sites (including this one) around the internets to a tepid response. Most of the comments have been about the size of her arms and head, some even offering anatomy lessons, in leiu of accepting that the proportions are as I intended in an attempt to show the character's (Catlin Fairchild from Gen 13) immense strength while standing still and the slightly smaller head to make her look the 6'5" as she is drawn in the comics. But all that aside, the pic is still sterile, maybe just a hint of emotion, but not to the degree I'd like. Since this is the limit of my skills, I am turning to you for guidance. I understand that asking you to inject a soul into an over rendered comic book character may be a bit much, so what I'd really like to see how you can make her face look less flat.

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/3065/gen137771800mu2.jpg

A high res version is here http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/8314/gen137771fullzo8.jpg

[MisterE]

Hi Steven, you truly are one of the most exceptional artists out there and I'm grateful you're helping other aspiring artists w/ their work. Well, I myself, could use some paintovers/crit's so I was wondering if you could "lend a hand," so to speak.

I've just recently entered the SubDivisionModeling.com Celebrity modeling contest and am modeling a bust of Hugo Weaving. So far I haven't received ANY helpful crit's or comments, so would love to see if have any suggestions for a paintover. I've also recently refined an older model, of Keanu Reeves, which is posted in the 3D WIP over here (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=43&t=517876), and not had any crit's. If you could look them over, I'd greatly appreciate it.

The Hugo:

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c364/Rockymaru/3D/Hugo%20Weaving/07-13-07.jpg

The Keanu:

http://3dpinnacle.com/main/3D/character/renders/Keanu_03.jpg

[CnexS]

Hi there Steven, loong time reader, first time poster :).
I've been working on this girl for the past days, been trying to look at face anatomy and what makes a girls face cute and lovable.

It's supposed to be a portrait in the end.
What I'm personally not satisfied with atm is her mouth... Ive tried to make it look better but in the end it just looks worse.


*Edit* got some work done on her today, changed pic.. still alot of things that feels wrong mostly in the upper part of the face now, instead of the mouth... :/



http://www.sofe.se/kjar04/GirlFaceAnatomyFront4.jpg
(http://www.sofe.se/kjar04/GirlFaceAnatomyFront.jpg)

[Stahlberg]

rockymaru, those look like excellent sculpts, but at a certain point you have to texture and shade the head to be able to compare it further to the reference. The same default material across eyebrows, eyeballs, hair and everything confuses by a small amount. Once you get close enough, that small amount is enough to stop you from getting even closer.
Also, 3/4 views are usually more helpful than front or side alone.

[Stardrift]

Hi,
This is my first time trying to paint digitally. I'm having problems with the anatomy as well as getting the paint down cleanly. I hope to go towards a more chiarascurro shading and not have it be so flat. If you could lead me in the right direction as far as anatomy and lighting that would be great. Thanks. :)

[MisterE]

Steven, thanks for the kind words, as well as words of wisdom. Since the Hugo Weaving is for a contest, the Keanu took a backseat temporarily. Here's a slight update. Please let me know what you think:

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c364/Rockymaru/3D/Hugo%20Weaving/07-15-07.jpg

[Stahlberg]

Here are 2 references quite close in angle to your renderings:
http://www.movie-gazette.com/directory/directory.asp?strsearch=Hugo+Weaving
http://www.fanzone50.com/Hugo/Delh.jpg
A third reference, profile:
http://www.markowens.co.uk/images/matrix/Hugo_Weaving11.jpg


http://www.androidblues.com/Weaving.gif

This one jumped the queue a bit, I'll get to the others soon. :)

[MisterE]

Steven, great job on the paintover! Thanks for taking the time to help show me what needs to be done. I'll be working on this 'til the deadline and will continue to update my threads over here, TWEAK, and SubdivisionModeling.com.

Thank you once again,
-Eric

[Nigh7shad3]

Hi Steven, Apa khabar from Kuala Lumpur! Congratulations on getting your works published in D'Artiste book btw :D


I found this amazing thead by accident and I think it's an excellent way to learn.

Here's a piece I've been working on, stumped on which direction I should go. Sila Tolong :)

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/Nigh7shad3/211poers442111wip.jpg

[Stahlberg]

Hi Nigh7sha3! First, can you let me know more about what you're trying to communicate with the image? Why this specific pose, what feeling, etc. thanks.

[Nigh7shad3]

Hey Steven, thanks for the reply! I just checked out your UFO abduction piece, hillarious as hell (the guy's face was like wtf?!) :D

as for the image, he's the main character in my friends comic (check it out at http://talesofpylea.comicgenesis.com/ really cool stuff). He's heroic, elegant and cool. F'nor has spent most of his life in training, both magical and weaponry-based, with a special focus in arcane battle magic.

I wanted to capture all those elements by making him stand tall and proud, with poise, grace and confidence. Arcane energy surging through his hand (im thinking right hand).


PS: I need help with the folds on his jacket and pants as well


terima kasih! :thumbsup:

[sirriarikan]

Can you tell me what is wrong with this model
thanks...

http://www.sirriarikan.com/profile.jpghttp://www.sirriarikan.com/front.jpg

[Nigh7shad3]

The ears look like they are too far back and the skull's a little wide on the side view :)

[gaiXyn]

hi guys...hey Mr. Stahlberg...it would bring me great honor if you can take a look at this (http://features-temp.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/2367/2367_1184761099_medium.jpg) and give some hardCore crits on it... ( don't worry, I can take it , lol ) ....no sugarCoating plz...I would really appreicate it alot.....and get to it when you have the time.....noRush...it's not complete obviously, but I would like to hear your feedBack on what's there so far.....thank you!


ltr-

[Stahlberg]

gaiXyn, that's a very accomplished model there. I really can't see anything major to crit (if you're going for attractiveness maybe the eyes are too far apart, and the nose too long)... the only thing I'd look closer at is the area where the deltoid meets the pectoral, right in front of the armpit. The deltoid seems to be too rounded, I think the actual shape in this pose is a bit more complex (it's hard to describe, just take a closer look at multiple reference).
Other than that, excellent skin shader, hands, arms, knees, neck, stomach, etc.

[struk]

Hello everybody, Hi Stahlberg...

I've been reading and watching this forum for some time, the things people present are amazing! Even more amazing are suggestions and paintovers you do :) I already tried some suggestions I read here and in other treads but I feel I realy got stuck on this picture :(
I wonder If you could possibly make some suggestions on how to improve this picture.

Here is the story: Sargasso Sea is inhabited by some sea creatures sinking ships. I try to achive an underwater shot of monsters preparing for attack on incoming ship. I cannot realy decide which element of the painting should be dominant in order to convey the narrative and evoke a mood of incoming danger.

http://www.struk.neostrada.pl/pics/morski-pochor3_007a.jpg

You can check some other stages of the painting here (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=31&t=509235)

I am sorry, I lost count on how many pictures are currently waiting for you crtitique :(

[Stahlberg]

The latest images:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP319.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP320.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP321.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP322.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP323.gif

[Stahlberg]

Five more images:
For this first one, sorry I know you didn't want that, but I did make her head ever so slightly larger, and her muscles a little bit smaller :)

http://www.androidblues.com/POP324.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP325.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP326.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP326b.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP327.gif

.

[Stahlberg]

The last one:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP328.gif

.

[sirriarikan]

Mr. Stahlberg thank you so much for the reply:bounce:
I will correct the model a.s.a.p.

[gaiXyn]

hey Mr. Stahlberg...I just wanted to say that I applied your advise and wanted you to take another look @ the image (http://features-temp.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/2367/2367_1185538531_medium.jpg).....and perhaps you tell me what else I can improve on.....


thank you!!

ltr-

[struk]

Hi Stahlberg,

Thank you very much for the paintover, as I see I did the typical mistake for beginners, as you already written. (I tried to omit this traps, honestly :) ) The image is oversaturated and there is to much contrast. I noticed you changed the monster a bit. I suppose it is my fault, it didnt read good enough.

Do you feel adding some color to this blue pallete would make the image more interesting? Or maybe some other slight changes to add more suspence?

[Nigh7shad3]

wow, a big thank you Mr Stahlberg for taking your time and doing this! I know you're a busy man so I waited patiently for the results:thumbsup:

[Stahlberg]

perhaps you tell me what else I can improve on.....
Post a closer view of the face and I'll do a Paintover, I think the body is okay.


Do you feel adding some color to this blue pallete would make the image more interesting? Or maybe some other slight changes to add more suspence?
Well, this deep down you shouldn't be able to see any other color except a sort of blue-cyan, unless you bring an artificial source of light with you down. Or unless it's something glowing in a certain color... for instance like how some fishes glow in the dark.

How to add more suspense... hm, maybe focusing only on 2 things, the boat on the surface, and the monster closest to the camera - and make it more obvious that the monster is attacking it. Bring the monster out of the cave, straighten it up, like it's moving forward like a freight-train, point it at the boat like an arrow, move the boat closer.

[Nigh7shad3]

this looks pretty much finished to me, Mr Stahlberg but I would appreciate a second review/opinion from an experienced eye :)





http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/Nigh7shad3/WARboyy_highres_afinal_small.jpg

[struk]

Thank you very much for your very helpful and constructive suggestions :)

Post a closer view of the face and I'll do a Paintover, I think the body is okay.

I think I want bother you now with a paintover, I will try to do the lightning/contrast corrections first.

Or unless it's something glowing in a certain color... for instance like how some fishes glow in the dark.
I did try to add some glowing elements, but it didnt work, I suppose they became focal point and distracted to much from other things, maybe if the composition was different... ( previous versions) (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=31&t=509235)

How to add more suspense... hm, maybe focusing only on 2 things,

That must be the main problem with this picture, to many things... I like your idea, it will make everything more clear. I suppose I will paint it from the begining, in a vertical compostion to stress the upward movement and post some rough...

[Evicted]

Thank you so much Mr. Stahlberg for the paintover of my sketch! It has helped me so much. It's funny how my eyes sort of went "WHOA" when I saw the difference and how much more proportionate it looked once it was corrected. I think I'll re-sketch it at one point to correct the errors.
Many thanks! You are such a blessing.

[Drakkheim]

First of all I just wanted to thank you for spending so much time doing these. Just going through this thread from the beginning has been more educational than I would have thought possible.

Below is a picure of my wife's halfling character (hence the big noggin) that I've been working on. After reading this thread I've tried to flatten the ranges in the background and foreground but I'm having a hard time pushing this to the next level. Any pointers would be truly appreciated.

http://www.swiftthought.com/junk/erzebet.jpg

[Nigh7shad3]

First of all I just wanted to thank you for spending so much time doing these. Just going through this thread from the beginning has been more educational than I would have thought possible.

Below is a picure of my wife's halfling character (hence the big noggin) that I've been working on. After reading this thread I've tried to flatten the ranges in the background and foreground but I'm having a hard time pushing this to the next level. Any pointers would be truly appreciated.

http://www.swiftthought.com/junk/erzebet.jpg




that's a really cute painting Drakkheim :thumbsup:

[hpslashluvr]

Thank you so much Mr. Stahlberg! The lighting correction was exactly what I needed to help me keep going on this piece. I felt very lost on it.

[Clorinth]

Thanks A lot Stahlberg! The color correction and lighting looks really nice. I'm gonna start tweaking my shader. Thanks again

[Sky_Eagle]

Awesome thread!
This is the first digital painting i've ever done of someone that lies very close to my heart.
But the face and the hair i just couldn't get right. can you help me ?
I allways have perspective problems when i draw something. So i think it has to do something with that.


http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3694/donecgtalkzb6.jpg

[RichSuchy]

Wow Steven, Still going strong after all this time. Amazing thread, Amazing dedication.


Rich

[robinmitra]

good to see this thread is still on..
i have been working on posing my model..have decided upon a pose finally but i think it looks feminine despite the physique...something is missing which makes it look that way..please help me with ur paintover to make the pose more strong and athletic and musculine....

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o27/robinmitra1/Zbrush/humanbodyposed8.jpg

[sylph]

Hi Steven, once again here to ask your help.

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1336/lakeoptot7.jpg
There's something strange in this matte painting, maybe the perspective of the castle, or..I don't know!
(don't pay attention to the waterfall, it will be a 3d particles one. that's just a preview)

thank you!

[aldog]

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/9057/counselortroyvm4.jpg

This is a drawing of Counselor Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation. So I'm trying to give it a star trek/futuristic type of look, and also am having some problems with the anatomy and just general look of her. Thanks steven.

[azraele]

Hi Stahlberg,
I'm a little bit shy to ask you to do a paint over because I just started digital painting, So it's not really good. But I really need help so I will forgot my shyness for today :).
I need Help in to different piece
first :
http://www.geocities.com/azraelle_art/paintover1.jpg
This is my second digital painting... But I'm not able to do a winter backgroung, I want te woman to be alone in a big snow storm... can you help me?

second :http://www.geocities.com/azraelle_art/paintover2.jpg
I know it's just a crappy sketch, but I need help because the propotion, anatomy is really bad... and I want the woman to look at the water, but I don't know how to add this scene on the landscape behing her...
I don't know if you'r able to understand because I'm from canada and english is my second language, so my apologies for the mistakes I made.
Hope to have an answer from you :)

[justinwol]

Thank you Stalhberg-sama for doing this. I would absolutely love for a paint-over from you if you find the time.

As I've been waiting for the number of requests to dwindle as Mr. Stahlberg finds the time to help us out, I have now counted up to 8 unanswered requests. He has asked for us to keep it to a maximum of 4 unanswered requests. So please be patient and respect his guidelines.

Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze mine in here at some point too :D Thanks again!

[JTLowe]

Whoops...will post at a later time. :)

[CybrGfx]

You guys need to stop posting images until these are replied to.

If you go back to the first post of this thread, Mr. Stahlberg requested:
5. Only submit until there are 4 'untreated' images in a row (if you see 4 images that haven't been overpainted please wait a little).

[azraele]

Yes, you'r right, sorry about that

[RichSuchy]

Just my two cents, but look in the mirror. Your eyelids ride your eye in a particular place, based on where you are looking. With her lids as closed as they are, she is looking more downward I think than you intend.



Hi Stahlberg,

second :http://www.geocities.com/azraelle_art/paintover2.jpg
I know it's just a crappy sketch, but I need help because the propotion, anatomy is really bad... and I want the woman to look at the water, but I don't know how to add this scene on the landscape behing her...
I don't know if you'r able to understand because I'm from canada and english is my second language, so my apologies for the mistakes I made.
Hope to have an answer from you :)

[Stahlberg]

Here are the latest. I'm going to Copenhagen for 2 weeks tomorrow I'll be unable to do more POP until I get back

http://www.androidblues.com/POP329.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP330.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP331.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP332.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP333.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP334.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP335.gif

.

[Sky_Eagle]

wow, awesome. Thx alot!
Just a question , how long did it take you to "repair" (don't know how to say it:p) my image ?

[Stahlberg]

I didn't do as much changes to it as I've done to some of the others, just 10 - 15 minutes I'd say. I could have done a bit more, it's a bit rough, but I think it gets the main idea across?

[Sky_Eagle]

wow , only 15 min. that's amazing.
Thx for helping me.
Just a question , do you use a sort of guide to help with the perspective ?
Cause i've allways have perspective issues and then don't go away :( even if i tried real hard.
And how did you the transition get that smooth between dark and light around the breasts ?
Did you use the smudge tool or used a gaussian blur? cause when i use the smudge tool its so slow. ( i use photoshop 8.0)

[Drakkheim]

Wow, many thanks.

You make it look so easy and obvious. Is it just because you've done this a bazillion times before and it's just instictive on what to fix/change, or is there more of an analytical thought process that you follow? I'm assuming it is a bit of both.

I guess I'm just looking for a way to better look at my work and 'see' what simple changes can be made to make it better.

Again, thank you very much.

[Stahlberg]

do you use a sort of guide to help with the perspective ?
Cause i've allways have perspective issues and then don't go away :( even if i tried real hard.

It's all in the practice. We all need to hash through our first XX amount of bad drawings, to get to the good ones. The number of bad drawings to get through is individual, for me it may have been 950, for another guy it might be 1020 or 640. You see what I mean? All you have to do is knuckle down and do a couple each day, and you can rest secure in the knowledge that one day you will be through with the bad ones. :D

No I didn't use a guide for this one, because it's kind of rough, and I've managed to train myself to 'remember' and visualize the shape. I might use a guide if I wanted to be really certain of doing a perfect perspective. Or reference.

You make it look so easy and obvious. Is it just because you've done this a bazillion times before and it's just instictive on what to fix/change, or is there more of an analytical thought process that you follow? guess I'm just looking for a way to better look at my work and 'see' what simple changes can be made to make it better.

It's partly because I've done it XX amount of times (see above), but in the case of lighting it's never instinctual, it's always analytical. You have to look around your scene, even the parts not seen, and nail down in your mind what exactly is the lighting situation. Then you have to trace light rays, to see where light can reach and where it can not.

[Nigh7shad3]

Yep I agree with Mr Stalhberg, it's all practice :thumbsup: 950...how do you keep track of that? haha

Thanks again for your help, Mr Stahlberg. awesome POP as always. Have a safe trip to copenhagen :D

[azraele]

Thank you a lot stahlberg :) I really appreciate it!

thank you again !

[anden109]

hi steven,hope u enjoy ur trip to copenhagen.
Here´s one for u when u come back,hope its ok to post analog paintings.
The painting Ive painted from a small reference and will be a gift to my bigbrother.
Whole idea for it is to look as natural as possbile and in some way be similar to the picture.I havent done anything on the background so feel free to give mess with it:P

Tackar:D

[aldog]

http://www.androidblues.com/POP334.gifwow stahl, I knew it didn't look right but I wouldn't have been able to pick out what you picked out. Great work, thanks as always.

[MastahUK]

Hi Steven, I'd really appreciate it if you could quickly paint over this sketch and give it some direction in terms of composition. This image was a quick doodle that I did about a year ago and haven't been able to develop any further; the concept is that a lone samurai is gazing across a valley in despair as an enemy army approaches. Or something similar that would cause him to gaze in despair....I never could decide, hence why it is not painted in yet!

After seeing some of the amazing work you've done in this thread, I was reminded of this image that has been lying around gathering dust in my hard drive and wondered if perhaps you could come up with a more interesting concept and composition so that I may be inspired to have another go at it.

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/9252/warrior3ik6.jpg

Thank you so much, I can't wait to see what you can come up with!

[paintingbeast]

Can someone help me fix this trash? Possibly show a GIF of the steps slowly so I can study them little by little? Thanks to anyone who wants to help.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6609/untitled2bs6.jpg

[azraele]

If someone does'nt see the message of Stahlberg :

<Here are the latest. I'm going to Copenhagen for 2 weeks tomorrow I'll be unable to do more POP until I get back>

[robinmitra]

thanks alot Mr. Stahlberg..ur paintovers are great :thumbsup:

[johanflood]

I just discovered this thread and I have a bunch of pictures on my drive that definetaly needs mr stahlbergs artistic knowledge to reach the next level.

This is a character concept I have been working on but got stuck and I cannot really pinpoint what is wrong. PLEASE help me ;) A dramatic and sexy pose is what I am looking for.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/johanf/fluffy_skirt.jpg

thanks,

Johan

[justinwol]

Hi Steven, I'd really appreciate it if you could quickly paint over this sketch and give it some direction in terms of composition. This image was a quick doodle that I did about a year ago and haven't been able to develop any further; the concept is that a lone samurai is gazing across a valley in despair as an enemy army approaches. Or something similar that would cause him to gaze in despair....I never could decide, hence why it is not painted in yet!

After seeing some of the amazing work you've done in this thread, I was reminded of this image that has been lying around gathering dust in my hard drive and wondered if perhaps you could come up with a more interesting concept and composition so that I may be inspired to have another go at it.

Thank you so much, I can't wait to see what you can come up with!

Here's just a friendly reminder of Mr. Stahlberg's rules for this workshop:

3. Originals should be relatively 'finished' looking - no sketches or big empty areas. This thread is meant to assist with a piece you've worked a lot on, but gotten stuck with.

However I'm not the moderator of this workshop, he is and might still help you, but I'm sure he would still appreciate his rules to be honored.

[Bapsis]

Greetings Steven,

I've always been a big fan of your work. I would be interested in knowing what you would do to improve some compositions I worked on in the past and never was fully satisfied with. Perhaps your paintovers could help me, please feel free if you have time.

Best Regards,

Matthew


http://student.vfs.com/%7E3d48matt/content/still_images/jedi_wip.jpg


http://student.vfs.com/%7E3d48matt/content/still_images/sonic_gets_ring.jpg

[johanflood]

I would be interested in knowing what you would do to improve some compositions

Rules for submissions
Submit any 2d or 3d image of yours you'd like me to overpaint - except:
1. Only one per session

Please respect the rules.

[StefanStavrev]

Hey Steven,hey folks

This drawing is not meant to be anatomically corect so i am not asking Steven to corect it anatomically.

This is me trying new things,playing around with line strokes,gesture,shading,rhytm.So that is where i would like to see a litle of Steven's magic.

Cheers and thanks

[CybrGfx]

And for those of you too excited to count, there are now 4 (5 because one person uploaded 2 images) submissions for paintovers, so please contain your enthusiasm/desire, and don't upload any more until Mr. Stahlberg returns and addresses them.

His efforts are a treat and a blessing. We certainly do not want to take advantage of him, or overwhelm him to the point that he doesn't want to do this anymore, right?

[Bapsis]

Please respect the rules.


Ooops, my bad. Must have missed that when I was reading over the thread. :)

I will just submit the Jedi one, as I'm more interested in finding how to improve this pic over the Sonic one.

Thanks again, and sorry about the missed rulez. :)

[Marsupilama]

Hi Mr. Stahlberg I would really appreciate it if you could paintover my picture, at this point I always have coloring problems ...

http://img2.imagebanana.com/img/ecxjaxka/plant.jpg (http://img2.imagebanana.com/)

[Marsupilama]

can be deleted

[nubeslocas]

http://davidnavarrot.com/images/cow/Hypnotic_CGtalk.jpg

Hi Steven, I'd really appreciate it if you could help me with this one. I was fighting trying to paint not so dark. I tryed many times to change the background colour to separete it from the foreground or to make the colouring more interesting. Anyway, I can't see what is not working here but I feel it poor in colours and too dark in general. (people excuse my poor english writing!) Any ideas?

Thankx a lot for your help here it is great to study your overpaints in here. love this forum!

[ienrdna]

Is Steven still aroung?

If you could you suggest some dramatic, gloomy lighting for this one?


http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f349/ienrdna/imp.jpg

[CybrGfx]

Did you bother to read the page before you posted????

He's on vacation, and there are ALREADY 5 images posted,
The rules ask for no more than 4

3. Originals should be relatively 'finished' looking - no sketches or big empty areas.
Maybe you should read before you post...

[Stahlberg]

It's okay, I just came back, I'll get to work on the backlog shortly. :)
And yes, I can suggest some rough type of lighting for this one - but it's important first to know the context, which I can't get from this sketch alone. What exactly are you trying to communicate with this image? Is is a concept design, where the details need to be clear and visible? Or an image that needs to convey a particular mood? Like a frame from a graphic novel or other kind of illustration. If so what is the story, the mood?

[Stahlberg]

http://www.androidblues.com/POP337.gif
This one, not much to crit as I don't have the original image, but I tweaked some things anyway.

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP338.gif

.

The image that would have gone here, #339 by paintingbeast, I can't quite see what's going on, so if you'd like to explain what it is, and what you're trying to communicate?

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP340.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP341.gif
This one has a bit too much going on, so I simplified it a bit. I also darkened it, to let the many glowing lightsources really shine.

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP342.gif
Not sure what to do here, as the artist didn't want an anatomy crit, so I just had fun.

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP344.gif
This one the artist wanted to know how he could make it lighter.

.

Marsupilami also posted an image that he requested be colored, but first I must ask about the mood. The main purpose of color in illustration and design is to evoke some specific emotions, so I need to know what those should be.

[Stahlberg]

The last one, adding dramatic lighting

http://www.androidblues.com/POP345.gif

[Marsupilama]

thanks fot the request Steven. For the picture I wanna have a dark mood, like a dark green for the plant and red for the blossom... the head should emanate some relaxed coolness. And for the skulls, they aren`t that weightily... maybe just the upper once are dimly lit, like that you know there are skulls, but just on the second glance.

[MisterE]

Hi again Steven. You helped me w/ my Hugo Weaving model a little over a month ago and have since refined and finished it off, largely in part to your paintover. So, thank you, once again.

Well, I could use your expertise yet again, as I have two additional celebrity sculpts. Before I consider it "finished," I was wondering if you could suggest any modeling changes and/or lighting setups for my demo reel.

Here's my Keanu, based on these references (http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c364/Rockymaru/3D/Keanu/Keanu_REF_Sheet.jpg):

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c364/Rockymaru/3D/Keanu/08-16-07_LineupPREV.jpg (http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c364/Rockymaru/3D/Keanu/08-16-07_Lineup.jpg?t=1188516036)



And Patrick Stewart, from (http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c364/Rockymaru/3D/Picard/Picard_REF_Sheet.jpg):


http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c364/Rockymaru/3D/Picard/08-30-07_LineupPREV.jpg (http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c364/Rockymaru/3D/Picard/08-30-07_Lineup.jpg)


Please keep in mind that for the Keanu, I'm trying to match his slightly younger facial features from the first "Matrix" movie (1999-2000'ish), but style his hair based on "Reloaded" (2003). For the Patrick Stewart, I'm aiming more for older Picard (mid-to-late '90s), rather than old Professor X in X-Men 3, for example.

Much obliged if you could help me out here. :)

[anden109]

Thanks alot for the overpaint on the analog-painting.Will get right on it. :thumbsup:

[Bapsis]

Heya Steven,

Thanks so much for going over my comp. I really like what you did with the light sources, it has a much more dramatic feel. And sliding the character over to the right definitely makes the picture feel less left heavy.

Thanks so much, i will be studying this and will keep what i learn in mind for my next piece. This is very cool of you to freely share your knowledge and help other aspiring artists. Cheers!!! :)

[Fuzzy_Blue_Ape]

Hi, Mr. Stahlberg!

I know it's been said a thousand times already, but what you are doing for all of us in this thread is just amazing and extremely generous of you. Thank you!

I just started drawing again after a very long absence. I have been doing about 2 hours every day for the last few weeks. I am really struggling with doing female faces. I'm not sure what to do about it. I have drawn drawn and redrawn until I can't stand it anymore and just leave it how it is. Any crits would be greatly appreciated. =)

***editted after reading DArcy's post. I removed my pic because I agree with what he says about why this thread is here to begin with.

[Zookoo]

Hi Steven,
Thanks for taking the time with us!
I've been starting to practice realistic shading and colouring, and finding it really hard to make this character look finished. I don't think the linework and colouring goes too well together. I would like it if the mood and lighting were more dramatic. There are probably other things that could be improved. But I would like you to have fun with it and change it in anyway you think would make it look better. I 'll appreciate the critiques!
Thanks again! :D

-Sandra

http://quailfoot.crayongrind.com/warr.jpg

[Xelar]

upload.worldofplayers.de/files/pbposter5vorschau.jpg

The horse and its Rider seem a bit wrong. Especially the legs
I want to create a gothic and spooky atmosphere.

Thx!

[craban]

There is something fundamentally wrong with this picture. The reference is quite small and fuzzy. The eyes are bothering me and I can't seem to get it right.
Could you fix it for me Steven?

Reference (enlarged!)
http://users.pandora.be/strange-enterprises/tmp/tinne-1.jpg

My effort ?

http://users.pandora.be/strange-enterprises/tmp/tinne-14.jpg

Thanks in advance Steven.

-Craban

[DArcy1]

I don't know if it seems this way to many people here, but it seems that a lot of the more recent posters are uploading images that really are most appropriate for the WIP forum. A lot of the requests seem to be for simple issues like basic anatomy, or "this is my first effort can you fix what's wrong?".

This is supposed to be a thread "meant to assist with a piece you've worked a lot on, but gotten stuck with". Mr Stahlberg's is an expert, asking him for such basic issues is kind of like asking the best mechanic in the world to fix your flat tire - it's overkill :) .

I wonder, if we should get as much as we can out of the WIP thread support, and once we're taken the image as far as we can, *then* ask Mr Stahlberg for help. Just my thoughts; I apologise if I've given offence to anyone.

D'Arcy

[MikeTheHunter]

DArcy1 - You're 100% right. Still most of the people that need help are in the beginning of their artistic road, so mostly it looks like WIP, and really there's not many people that would paintover their mistakes, that mostly are basic - no offense, everyone does them :) . Still it seems that the most common mistake is that many people don't really look at the other paintovers - or maybe they look, but draw little conclusion out of what they see and post their work with mostly the same mistakes others did.

Almost every work that involves lighting has been paintovered (? :) ) with a scheme - less contrast, drawing attention by lighting or contrast to main focus subject of the painting, rim lighting when background dark/dark silhouette against lighter background, always lighter shadows etc. By looking at all the paintovers you can learn soooo much of the mostly used painting tricks, composition, lighting.

You just need to look at it and examine it, what was done, how it was done and what it does to a painting. It's easier to say than to do, but it's possible. You'll see that the more you examine, the more you observe 'what and how it's done', the more things you'll notice. :)

[Stahlberg]

MikeTheHunter, I agree.

Rockymary:
Picard: check the inner eye corner, and the thickness of the neck in the sideview, the back of the neck extends back a bit too far.
Keanu: his face should be a bit smoother, the folds at the corners of the eyes, the nasolabial folds, less prominent. I think perhaps also his forehead might be higher and wider in real life.

Zookoo, I'm sorry but I look at your pic and I really can't find anything really wrong with it! :D You know, like normally there's someplace I can start, like some obvious mistake, even if minor... but this image is just very cool. I like it!

Here is the latest image:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP346.gif

[craban]

I am sorry for posting here, it seemed the easy (lazy!) way out. I did not re-read the paintover rules, all I remembered (some seventy-ish pages ago) that the picture was supposed to be quasi finished.
DArcy1, you are right, it should have been posted in the WIP section.
Steven, you are incredibly fast, you caught her very well. Thanks a million. I was too late to moderate myself to the WIP section. I just hope you had fun doing this one.

Regards

-Craban

[apts]

Hi, I've got an image here which I've honestly pushed as far as I can (other than just a few little nit picky things which wouldn't make much difference to the final product) and although I've spent a fair bit of time on this and for me this is about as close to finished as I get I'm still not really happy with it so I was wondering if I could get some pointers on firstly the composition as all my pictures where I include a character with a fairly complex environment tend to look fairly similar and unimpressive and secondly with lighting and textures, I was really unsure of what to do about the lighting from the lightning.
I have asked for a paintover on here once before ages ago and if it's against the rules to ask for another just ignore this, otherwise thank you for the great work you're doing helping out all the artists on this site, personally I've learnt a great amount from the paintovers you've done for others and have read the enitirety of this thread.

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2898/aztecpiratefromhell3qd0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[MisterE]

DArcy: I'd have to agree and disagree.

If you're partially referring to me, I disagree in that people "should ... [post on the WIP thread]... and once we're taken the image as far as we can, *then* ask Mr Stahlberg for help," because that's exactly what I did. I posted on these very forums (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=43&t=517876&page=2), because I felt I was pretty much done the modeling aspect and wanted some crit's before I considered it "final." Therefore, I came here to see if Steven could offer a paintover, or even some helpful insight to see if anything was wrong, considering some of the responses weren't very courteous or helpful (just check out "utchamp's" post).

I agree, though, that there are a ton of other images Steven has to look through that could probably benefit posting to the WIP section *FIRST*, as did I.

Now with that being said, I'm appreciative and glad Steven responded and offered some helpful insight for my models and would again like to thank him. Thanks, Steven!

[DArcy1]

Hi Rockymaru

definitely not talking about you :-). Because you did post on the WIP thread and made changes based on the feedback you got there ( I recognise it's not always super helpful). And you models do look "almost done", which was ond of the criteria for this thread.

D.

p.s. Your models really are quite good !

[jr2joao]

Hi! I'm working in the 3d sculpting workshop - Old Age and I think the feedback here is what I need. Having trouble with the skin tone and I wanted to know what would you change.

(Stahlberg, you are amazing :blush: :D)

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/4301/colorpass2copyws4.jpg

[CybrGfx]

The bottom lip looks "lipstick red," and the nose pores are a bit too blackened, but the eyes are spot on realistic!

[Zookoo]

Lol,
thanks for the compliment Mr. Stahlberg! :bounce::bounce:

[Stahlberg]

Here are the two latest.
The first one, note that the sky can never by darker than the ground. It is always brighter. (Unless the ground glows for some reason.)

http://www.androidblues.com/POP347.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP348.gif

[THECLYKE]

http://http://features.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/105955/105955_1179340755_submedium.jpg
what would you do different Steve?

[PaulZant]

I was curioius what you would make of this. It's like an assasin that suddenly appears in the night.

http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/6195/stealthpsaw9.th.jpg (http://img357.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stealthpsaw9.jpg)

thanks in advance

Greetings

P.Zant

[VasiliGaidukevic]

This thread made me (hardcore forum lurker ) finally register :).

I'm pretty far into this one but before i go to detailing i thought i ask for help ;)

Basically it's suposed to be a wallpaper for an indie rpg and also the way the character is posed
probably will work well for a vertical banner.

I have limited illustration experience (been doing lowpoly stuff with 256x256 skins for over a year) so i would be glad to get a kick in the ass to bring this to a finish.

i want crits on the overall lightning of the scene + composition / placement.

the only restriction regarding background is that it should contain those glowy crystals (color doesn't matter) - like in the game.
I basically went for 2 light sources 1 cold and one warm + ambient light ..probably get rid of the ambient for more dramatic apearance? - its a scene in a cave.


What i want to comunicate :).. -->hey i'm a sexy barbarian rogue please click on me.

The game is very colorfull so i wanted to have some pretty saturated colors in the end while still aiming for realistic shape of things.

http://www.basilstudio.com/portfolio/viprogue.jpg

[IronMan429]

This is the coolest thing. I need a little help with this one. Its Darkstorm from the old 80's show the visionaries. I am trying to make him look like a actuall person but, im struggling with creating realistic hair, skin tones, and skin texture.

http://www.deviantart.com/download/65233346/Darkstorm_WIP_by_Iron_Man_429.jpg

[kami1314]

it was explained what was wrong with the anatomy,but i cant seem to wrap my head around it.will you plz paint over,sensei:)i changed the pic to one i had abandoned,hope u hadnt started
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l53/pencildj/fire-and-Ice.jpg

[Zookoo]

Hey Steven!
Did a sketch of a friend and was wondering about your thoughts on his proportions/perspective/muscles or just the basic fundamental form :P
I don't mind the feet or any of the little details too much. But theres something alittle weird about his chest/arm area. That part was a real head scratcher to draw out.

Any comments/critiques will be awesome
as always! Thanks again! :D

http://quailfoot.crayongrind.com/wolfham.jpg

[CybrGfx]

4 images, people 4!!!

[Zookoo]

Oops! I forgot about that that rule. Sorry! :D

[Sk3tcher]

very cool work Mr Stahlberg!
Awesome.

[cuatemoc69]

Hi, I've been stuck on this drawing for a few weeks now. I want to add some drama to it, but it just seems flat to me. any help would be appreciated. Thanks

http://chaosincorporated.com/Buttons/CaveSunriseV5.jpg

[Nigh7shad3]

Hi, I've been stuck on this drawing for a few weeks now. I want to add some drama to it, but it just seems flat to me. any help would be appreciated. Thanks




In my opinion, the piece looks really monochromatic and needs some colour variations. My eyes are drawn to the left part of the composition, which has a big negative space and not much going on around. A few good questions to ask ourselves: What is my focal point? What is going on in the scene? What mood am I trying to convey?

That's just my 2cents, But let's see what is Mr Stahlberg's view on this :)

[cuatemoc69]

thanks Nigh7shad3, i think youre right, it needs some more color variation to really get that dramatic effect i am going for.

[yiorgos]

I consider this to be my best work, and I'd like to see if you can do anything to improve it:


http://features.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/296917/296917_1191030495_submedium.jpg

[eown]

Hello, I'm trying to draw a jungle scene, but I'm in difficult to place light and shadow, especially on the trees, so I need a little help to be able to continue my draw.

Thank you, your work is wonderful.

http://www.eown.info/jungle2.jpg

[hpslashluvr]

edit: will wait until next batch

[zokito]

Hi Steven,
Great offer from you. I appriciate it a lot. I post my latest work here. What do you think how it could be improved?
Thanks
Zoran

[CybrGfx]

Ummmm PEOPLE, PLEASE LEARN TO COUNT TO 4!!!

Mr. Stahlberg is GENEROUSLY giving his time and effort, and ALL he asked was that we limit the requests to 4 images, and then wait until he addresses those, before posting more.

STOP POSTING your works until these have been addressed. PLEASE!!!

If you overwhelm him with a dozen works, he will then have to spend more time on them, and may eventually decide he doesnt' have enough time.

PLEASE! Don't ruin this good thing by stacking up too many pieces!

[Nigh7shad3]

yeah i agree with CyberGFX. As a professional illustrator, Mr Steven is busy enough as he is with work. I have some works to show him too, but I'm waiting for him to clear this batch before posting.

as always-read the rules :)

[hpslashluvr]

Well, then, to be technical, I didn't count all the unfinished pieces or sketches that people want him to completely paint or resketch for them, since that is also against the rules.

"Originals should be relatively 'finished' looking - no sketches or big empty areas. This thread is meant to assist with a piece you've worked a lot on, but gotten stuck with"

edit: BTW I don't mean to sound inflammatory, but it's honestly very frustrating to be waiting behind a group of people who may not have put very much time into their work or haven't looked elsewhere for a tutorial. I'll take my pics down until the next batch.

[Stahlberg]

The first 6 in the latest batch

http://www.androidblues.com/POP349.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP350.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP351.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP352.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP353.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP354.gif

.

[Stahlberg]

Three more, I think there's only one left now:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP355.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP356.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP357.gif

.

[daw]

Hej Ståhlberg - have followed this thread and I really think this is awesome!

I started this one as a daily sketch (1212) and there is something strange with it and I can't let go...

don't know if it is the light or their pose or the environment or all together hehe

I have put them in a bigger environment (http://www.dplays.se/cgtalk/goodvsevil_wip.jpg) to see but I don't know...

really appreciate if you could tell me what's wrong with it, or what to do... thanks
http://www.dplays.se/cgtalk/1212_4.jpg

[Nigh7shad3]

phew! all awesome paintovers , good job Mr Steven:thumbsup:

Looks like it's clear to post new stuff now that the old batch is done. I'm doing this piece as my Intermediate Anatomy final assignment and I'm having difficulties with the figures in prespective, especially at this angle.

Mind drawing Some guidelines/correct my mistakes? Thanks again!

ps: edited and changed the picture. Same concept but different sketch, which looks much better.

[PaulZant]

awsome thx alot mr Stahlberg it looks far more realistic now, do you have any tips on how you did the cloths.

greetings

Paul Zant

P.S
the drawing you did for me was the assasin the first pic in your second last paintover.

[Stahlberg]

Two more images:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP358.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP359.gif

.

[Stahlberg]

do you have any tips on how you did the cloths.
Hm, not really... anyway it's not that great or detailed, just a rough sketch...
I just decided precisely where the lightsource was, and then tried to be strict with the logic of what parts the light could reach, and not, etc. I really can't show you any more clearly than the gif animation exactly what I did. :)

[daw]

thanks Steven - I really need to study more anatomy - now they looks more like warriors instead of boys - love those wings!

now I have a good ref to finish this one - thanks...

[Sk3tcher]

hi mr.stahlberg
cool workcrazy stuff...
how about this one->
I want to keep the comic style perfect would be POPArt style.
Later I try to paint on canvas.
hope you have some ideas. thanks

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/Sk3tcher/doorKopie.jpg

[StefanStavrev]

Hi Steven

First of all thank you for helping us.

I need advices to improve my rendering style.I want to achieve realitistic renderings.Sci fi concepts but realistic and beleivable renderings and representation of those.

Any crutiqes except anatomy and proportion which obviosly i was not going for,are welcomed.Apsolutely anything.Shading quality,line quality, anything you think i can make better.

Here is a very brief intro on the character story.Metheor falls on earth.Strange virus begins to attack human race by distorting their bodies,so they end up like crazy sci fi mutated creatures that will further kill other humans.No one knows about the metheor so humans don't know what are they fighting against.This guy is a victim of the virus.Humans decide if the virus gets into a human,that needs to be killed cause there is no cure and it will start killing others.But this man,his wife decides to protect him and hide him at home.This scene is,the guy locks himself in the room,the wife is screaming to open.He takes a gun,falls down on the floor,points it in his head,says "I love you" to his wife and you know the rest.BOOOOOOM.

After i improve my style i hope to finish this full image.

Hope i did not scare anyone ... lol

Cya

[Zookoo]

Thanks for helping us Mr. Stahlberg, you rule!

[Stahlberg]

Sk3tcher, I'm sorry I don't think I can help very much with images that have to follow a particular stylization, such as cartoons or comics or the Popart you mention. I have my own style, it's basically pushing realism as far as I can... which is sort of the opposite of stylization. Also, stylization is usually very subjective.

[Auria]

Stahlburg!
this is an amazing forum!! and what a fantastic idea, i admire you for being able to keep track of it and help so many people out. that says a lot.

with this picture, im having the most trouble with the outfit. the hands im going to paint in, shes going to be holding a pocketwatch kind of hanging down from her hands. its mostly the flow of the outfit. any anatomical errors you see as well would be amazingly appreciated.
thank you so much.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb139/yournewmyspace/071009alice.jpg

[IronMan429]

Thank you Mr. Stahlberg, you sir are my savior.

[yiorgos]

Thanks Stahlberg, your paintover was straight to the point; It's hard for me to find a well balanced midtone, and the contrast of my images is a bit too high. I'm really trying hard to improve that aspect, I always had this problem ever since I was drawing on traditional media as well.

Thanks again, appreciate it.

[Sk3tcher]

It's a real pitty.
But maybe u have an idea for a better lightining and then I get a new idea?
would be cool. thanks.

[IronMan429]

This is an older image but, I was wondering how I could improve the armor and cloth textures, and create a more dynamic lighting.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs18/i/2007/288/e/3/God__s_Avenger_by_Iron_Man_429.jpg

[Nigh7shad3]

Heya Mr Steven,
While waiting for your paintover, I went and worked on the piece some more. Took a picture of my friend as a reference. Posted it on conceptart.org and cgtalk WIP/crit section but I'm not getting the proper response that i need to make it look right :hmm:


abit about the piece: it's the near the end of ww2 and an allied POW was about to get executed when he saw the bomber planes carrying the nukes. It gave him a sense of hope and relief eventhough he's about to die.

hope you don't mind me reposting an updated piece, thanks!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/Nigh7shad3/hwwdtlightstudcolourizexx.jpg

[Maidith]

Hi Steven,

I'm once again totally stuck and frustrated with a painting. My main problem here is light and color. I've tried the "grayscale-first-then-color"-approach, but it seems not to work for me, instead creating total disaster.
A paintover would be much appreciated :)

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/7518/deathofgiuliano3nl9.jpg

[zokito]

Thank you very much Stahlberg. It is a great input for me.

[CybrGfx]

Night7Shad3, if you will please re-read the very first post at the beginning of this thread, you will see that Mr. Stahlberg posted a very few, simple, requests.

The one you need to observe is:
3. Originals should be relatively 'finished' looking - no sketches or big empty areas. This thread is meant to assist with a piece you've worked a lot on, but gotten stuck with.
This piece is NOT relatively 'finished' looking in any way. This is a very rough Work In Progress, and should be posted there, NOT here.

Mr. Stahlberg should not be expected to help you finish your work by giving you suggestions on how to paint it. He is only to help with blocks keeping a completed work from being visually effective.

Everyone, c'mon, here! Counting to 4 is not hard. NOT submitting unfinished pieces may be harder, but we still need to honor the few "rules" Mr. Stahlberg gave us when he started this thread! PLEASE!

[Nigh7shad3]

ha you're right :blush:

but there's no way to retract what's been posted, is there? Mr Steven, you can disregard mine for the time being then. I'll come back later when it's more finished :wip:

[Stahlberg]

I have all 3 versions you posted, actually the earlier ones were more finished, I was going to do a paintover on one of those. Soon. :)

[Nigh7shad3]

I have all 3 versions you posted, actually the earlier ones were more finished, I was going to do a paintover on one of those. Soon. :)

Cool! I know it's sketch and unfinished but I'm sure you understand how important it is to nail it all down before going into detailing :) having a hard time choosing/finding a nice composition with impact. I'll be working on it in the meantime-you can skip mine and do the other's first, i'll return with a more refined version:D

thanks Mr Steven

[sir_rubberduck]

Hi!
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p60/narcissus_narcosis/quermianwipS.jpg
I'd be more than happy over a little overpaint of this painting. Somehow I can't get the character/vehicle to look 3d. Also, I'm not too sure about the lighting either. It's supposed to be a bright day with the sun a little ahead of him.

[jojo1975]

http://www.webalice.it/giorgio.luciano/CGTALK/BRtyrrel.jpgdear Steven first of all I wanted to thanks for sharing your works. You are really a telented artist and I've always enjoyed to see your painting.
There's my tribute to Blade runner. I modelled in 3d the tyrrel tower using max and then painted with corel painter upon it. It's more concept but I feel that I miss something
Any help will be appreciated
jojo

thanks again

[agamenon]

Hi steven! I enjoyed very much this thread very usefull!.....I am a 3d artist, but I wanted to start painting in 2d to improved my skills here is my first attemp in 2d paint, A paint over will be a really help for my nexts 2d paints..Thanks!

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/2919/personajekv3.jpg (http://imageshack.us/)

[Digitalpaint]

Hello Steven,

I’m impressed by your work here. It’s an amazing job. Do you ever sleep? Your days must contain more than 24 hours.. and if this is not the case than please share with us your way to get so much work done( ludicrous speed )J

Anyway I’m kind of stuck with this painting : Armchair adventurer. As an experiment I painted it in b/w. When I felt that most of the elements were more or less in place I added some color

http://www.emilen.nl/ArmchairAdventure.jpg


My problem is that I cannot decide on the right light, the right color of the book and it’s cover which explains something about the scene .. It should not draw too much attention away from the boy’s face and the action scene.
I’d very much appreciate your opinion on this.

[Stahlberg]

jojo1975, that's not the Tyrell headquarters, that's the police headquarters. :)
This is the Tyrell headquarters.
http://fusionanomaly.net/bladerunnertyrellbuilding.gif
http://dc-mrg.english.ucsb.edu/WarnerTeach/E192/Images/BR.Tyrell.corp.building.jpg

I'll find some good reference for the police one.

[Stahlberg]

Here's one reference I found:
http://www.brmovie.com/Images/Locations/brsm_city_police_tower.jpg

and here are the latest paintovers:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP360d.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP361.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP362.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP363.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP364.gif

[Stahlberg]

And the rest:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP365.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP366.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP367.gif

.

[Stahlberg]

The two last ones:

http://www.androidblues.com/POP368.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP369.gif

[Digitalpaint]

Thanks Steven,

That's a very different approach. One that I never tried myself, probably afraid to lose too many details. But I see now that the painting tells my story so much better this way.
Thanks again for getting me back on track. :thumbsup:

[Maidith]

Thank you so much, Steven! :love: I appreciate your help.

[jojo1975]

thanks a lot I will try to add details.
:) I did'nt have those reference
and sorry for the mistake ;)

[Max4ever]

Incredible thread Mr. Stahlberg. :thumbsup:

[agamenon]

Wow, really thanks Steven It was very usefull for me!!:thumbsup:

[Sk3tcher]

wow ^^
amazing
thank you very much. =)

[IronMan429]

Thanks again dude, much appreciated

[sir_rubberduck]

thanks a lot man, i think i'll post the repainted version when i'm done with it.

[Auria]

thank you very very much mr stahlburg! the lighting suggestions you gave made a great impact, let me see the painting in a slightly different ... ah ha Light. gives me some ideas to improve the image. i truely appreciate it ^^ its amazing the time you dedicate to this. ^^

[Intervain]

love what you did with the last painting [the one by cre8tiv] :thumbsup:

[Lithiumdawn]

http://features-temp.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/297926/297926_1192481380_medium.jpg


I think this may be my subconscious depiction of the female mind (not all females) from my experience. Its very complex and organized (again, from my experience) even though men and women are very different the female mind still retains many familiar characteristics, it doesn't seem to be alien or foreign at times its like a weird futuristic earthly machine thingy that has power over men like large machinery and cars do.


I want this picture to look rugged but yet elegant, the machinery needs too reflect the age of the face.

[Stahlberg]

Lithiumdawn that's very nice! But to take it to the next level, better than a quick paintover from me, I think would be if you could build and light those mechanical parts in a 3d program. It wouldn't have to be UV mapped or textured at all, you could just use it as reference.
I'll get around to it, but I'm moving soon and it might be a month or two before I have my computer and internet back.

[staticpen]

Wow, this is pretty much the best thread I've ever accidently come across in my life. Thanks so much Stahlberg!

I painted this not long ago. I enjoyed the general landscape, but the hikers never quite looked right to me. I couldn't come up with an interesting composition with the kite, either.
Basically, a father and his two boys are hiking to the top of the hill for a picnic, but the youngest boy loses hold of his favorite kite and it flies away. I wasn't looking for a sense of urgency in the painting, but rather a subtle look at the concept of loss through a child's eyes.

I've moved many times in my day, so if you haven't got the time I totally understand. Good luck with the move!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/staticpen/2007/cloudyday.jpg

[karlrickhunter]

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5734/dancerdp9.th.jpg (http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dancerdp9.jpg)

hi i i'm stuck:
paintover pls

Some Questions i have

1. Any tips for painting so tat it looks good zoomed in?.. everytime i zoom in sometime i overblend i lose the big picture and some brush strokes dun look as good. or is that suppose to come with experience...? i hope it can be good enuff for print.

2. Some of my shadowing makes the skin looks dead or dirty. how do i avoid that.? Especially the skin on the highlight areas.. the darker ones i try to rub in more saturation and some purp and its still okay.. but the light areas just look dirty.

3. i had alot of problems getting hands to look elegant or the whole body to look more soft, its a bit stiff i think

any other comments are welcomed

thank you very much. :)

[Cilmarion]

Well, risking sounding repetative, Steven your help in this thread is the best constructive/artistic aid I have seen out there and I am very grateful for all of the effort and free time you have put in. I have a piece that I am fairly comfortable with, I like the lighting and flow of the piece but was wondering what changes you would make if it were your own. The concept is fairly simple, in mythology most people know about the genie or djinn but while reading about it I came across mention of the Marid which are genie but with a particular affinity to water. I decided to paint my own version. So I came up with this scene which really helped me learn to paint water even though it isn't spot on exact. BTW I didn't want him crushing the boat, more curious why it is floating in his domain, which isn't exactly what I ended up with but that was my thinking. Any thoughts or input would be invaluable. Thanks again!

ps you might need to give it a second to load, I'm linking the image from my website.
http://home.comcast.net/%7Ejohnlong/Work/Digital/Marid.jpg

[sharkcellar]

I love this thread so much. I've been lurking it for a long while now but I haven't had the confidence in my painting skills to bother submitting anything. But, I think I am getting there and I would very much appreciate Mr. Stahlberg's opinions on the things that are confounding me, namely the chalkiness and lack of contrast in my paintings.

Okay I just realized that there are only three "unpainted" pieces up so I'm submitting one.

These dolphins are in the sky. Don't ask me why. I was trying to get the effect of the blast of light from the setting sun along with atmospheric distortion.

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/3701/skydolphinsyr3.jpg

[Crunchie]

I have to say that once I stumbled onto this thread I signed up to the forum. Already from going through the posts < start to finish in one go.. couldn't stop watching :)> I can pick up on areas I tend to mess up on when painting. What especially hit home were your comments on contrast, made me take a second look at a lot of my work.

What you're doing is very generous, I hope you continue to forge on with this epic thread. Seeing how much time you put into replies makes me want to kick my ass into gear and do more painting. Heh I feel so lazy :D

Well, I'll get doing some work and maybe will find one that I could ask your opinion on.

Take care!

[astralalpha]

This is the second head model I've ever done so I'm really new to modeling. So obviusly I'm a bit stuck. I've been working my ass of tweeking this model. I've posted WIP's of the head model on two 3D forums and I have only goten one reply so far, but no crit. So I'm kind of taking a leap and posting it here hoping for some crit's, cus I'm getting desperat. I don't kow if you will consider this model to be to undone, Thats up to you to decide.

The concept behind this model is some sorte of creature form the dark abyss of my head. It's supposed to be a goblin like head. I kind of want it to have more defined lines/wrinkels but I can't seam to make it look realistic and I was hoping for some suggestions on that part. And suggestions in general

The base mesh was modeld in 3D Studio Max but most of the work is done in ZBrush. I'm planing to add teeth and eye's when I get done with all the detail work in ZBrush.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/nisroc2/uglyorc_zbrush_test016.jpg

Hoping for help.

[Stahlberg]

I'm switching off my home computer for the big move, should be able to get back online early December. Meanwhile I lock this thread, temporarily, to avoid overload, I'll reopen it ASAP.

edit:
I'm sure you've noticed it's now late December. I've had to use my home computer at the office. Naturally I don't want to be caught by my new boss doing POP's at the office :) sorry. They've ordered a whole batch of new pc's, when they arrive I can take mine home. That should happen early January I'm told.

edit again:
Well it's late January now, sorry about this guys. I do have my work computer set up, and my own computer brought back home - but I don't have a tablet, or my big screen, or a comfy chair and table at home (just a wood stool and a crappy old desk), plus my kids keep blocking me from it... I will wait just a little longer, until I can have my work space set up the way I like it, at home. :)

edit yet again:
Okay it's March and I finally have my home setup back to normal, kids computers fixed so they stay off mine... except for my ftp app which is in the fourth computer, and that one just broke. Just a few more days now, I hope. Sorry for the delays.

[Stahlberg]

I finally managed to open the thread again. Please, if you have a 'backlog' of images waiting to be posted to this thread, don't post more than one. I'm still much more busy than I was in Malaysia, and have much less spare time left over for this.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP370.gif


http://www.androidblues.com/POP371.gif

[kweechy]

Steven, there's nothing I can add that hasn't been said already by countless others. Your work in the thread is a truely selfless and invaluable service to the community. We can't thank you enough.

As I scrolled through all 80 pages (yes, I took the time!) I can't help but be awestruck at how adept and yet effortless your ability is to light, render, compose and correct perspectives and proportions.

I've been working on an environment sketch that has gone from sketch to something more exploratory and defined. I tend to start sketches by doing values first, I'm not sure how strong/weak an approach that is overall... I'm really just starting to delve into the sketching and painting world (was way too 3D focused previously).

Anyway I was looking for an opinion from you and maybe even a paintover. The mood that I'm searching for with this one is one that is partly mysterious and eerie and yet deeply beautiful and inspiring at the same time. Like this grove (adding more smaller trees later) has the power to lull you into a false sense of carelessness despite the uneasy feeling you really might feel.

I still need to paint the right hand side of the image and also I feel my background hills aren't matching the perspective at all and will need to be lowered. I'll add some more trees into the scene as well as some foreground elements (as if this picture was shot from the opposite side of the pond looking through light folliage). I'm hoping to hint at a small waterfall inbetween those two cliffs as well. Also the sepia coloring effect is really strong right now... it's just sort of to add a little more interest than B&W provides.

Thanks a million Steven.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a197/kweechy/Board001_007Value.jpg

[yueyume]

Hi Steven, I'm so glad you're opening this thread again! Thank you so much for continuing to do this.

I'm working on this piece right now and mainly trying to move from more cartoon-style drawing to a more realistic one. It's hard to make her realistic and look good though, maybe I'm missing something? Also, no matter how much I fix her anatomy it seems off--I can't seem to figure out what's wrong here. I also can't seem to get that dead-looking stare off her face. I wanted her to look more fierce, but she either turns out scary looking or dead (I haven't put highlights in her eyes because no matter where I put them they look wrong). :\

She's sitting on some sort of throne and I wanted the background to be somewhat of a dark forest with random lights (candles?), but either they're too bright and competes with her/throne or they're too dark and they lose their illuminated feeling...

So those are my main gripes about this image right now, but please do whatever you see fit that will bring it back to life. I always paint things that turn out really lifeless--do you have any suggestions on how I can work on this?
http://imnot.mrngoitall.net/queengirl.jpg
Well thanks a million in advance! :)

[Stahlberg]

two more old ones

http://www.androidblues.com/POP372.gif


http://www.androidblues.com/POP373.gif

[Stahlberg]

Two more, the last of the old ones

http://www.androidblues.com/POP374.gif


http://www.androidblues.com/POP375.gif

[hpslashluvr]

[/url]I think if you could give me some direction on how to make her pose more natural? Thanks a bunch.

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/8139/silhouettes3bs6.jpg[url="http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/8139/silhouettes3bs6.jpg"] (http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/8139/silhouettes3bs6.jpg)

[sharkcellar]

Thank you thank you Mr. Stahlberg! To find that this thread is open again has just made my day. I will analyze your paintover deeply.

[staticpen]

Ah, thanks so much. ;) You've got a much better sense of scale going on, and again, less is more with the figures.

Great stuff, and thanks again!

[abeld3dg]

Hi Steven,i create this image for one of my friends !
and now it stuck me there's nothing I can
hope u can give me some direction about color or someting else!

thank you very much.

[ArranDengate]

Mr Stahlberg,

Thanks so much for this thread!

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk38/ArranDengate/Overpaint/Storm-5.jpg

This piece is about being lost - I'm trying to get across a feeling of isolation and despair. The lighting and atmospherics are killing me. :)

[phungdinhdung]

thank you so much for these works , Mr Stahlberg !
:) i have a piece here , i see something wrong but i cant figure it out and dont know what should i fix .
:( hope you can help me !
( anyways :D may you post your brushs setting pls , that would help alot :) )
thanks in advance !
Best Regards
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/phungdinhdung/hpbd_pc_pnist_send.jpg

[RalphDamiani]

Hello again Mr. Stahlberg!

What would you overpaint here for a visual boost? Thanks!

http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/12/06/99/50/roadto11.jpg

[Stahlberg]

Six more paintovers. The one that's missing, somewhere in the middle - sorry but that's highly stylized and stylish and also very very well done! I don't think I can add anything useful to it! :)

http://www.androidblues.com/POP376.gif


http://www.androidblues.com/POP377.gif


http://www.androidblues.com/POP378.gif


http://www.androidblues.com/POP380.gif


http://www.androidblues.com/POP381.gif


http://www.androidblues.com/POP382.gif

[ArranDengate]

That's amazing. Many thanks!

[Ney]

hi mr stahlberg, just like everyone else here i think that the work you have done in this thread is worth more than all the tutorials, books and classes i have ever seen. thank you

if you ever made a book of these paintovers, with maybe a little more in depth explanation of what you had changed and the techniques you use, i would buy it in an instant. until then though i feel like i owe you something and i'd like to give something back, what have you worked on that you'd recommend buying?

anyway this is a picture i drew a while ago and i've never been happy with it. i'd really appreciate it if you could suggest some ways it could be improved.
i'm trying to make it look like the cat is emerging from the shadows, with strong sunlight filtering through the leaves from above. one main problem is that i was originally planning to have a more cartoony looking cat, but i got carried away with the detailing, but i doubt there's any way to fix this other than starting again.
http://features-temp.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/263631/263631_1209334269_large.jpg
i just noticed that uploading this to cgsociety has lightened all the darkest areas, is there a way to prevent this?

[RalphDamiani]

Excellent points, Mr. Stahlberg. Impressive how sometimes minor corrections make a huge amount of difference.

Thanks again for your time. Cheers!

[yueyume]

Thank you! She looks a lot less mad/scary and wow the cleavage balances out the length of her torso! haha, thanks again!

[moneca]

Hi,
I'm new to 2D digital painting...
I'm trying to study this Paintover thread, which I find one of the most amazing threads!
There are some amazing artists here, and Mr Stahlberg's paint over really improves the art!

Mr. Stahlberg, I'm trying to figure out what are the common mistakes some of us do when painting?

Would you say some of us have the tendency to

-use too much contrast and detailing on the subjects and backgrounds, making the scene confuse because there is to much information to the eye to absorb?
-use too much pure white and maybe too much use of primary colors?
-use the incorrect lighting etc???.........

so here is my question....what are other good sources to learn about these things ?

are there any books or training DVD's for 2d digital /fantasy painting
about "how to use light and color ?

Study lighting in movies, etc? Use of references?

finally, thank you for this thread. It is of great help for me!


Monica

[phungdinhdung]

thank you so much for the correction ! :beer:
her pose looks better and more nature now! :D
thanks again !

[Stahlberg]

I'm trying to figure out what are the common mistakes some of us do when painting?
Would you say some of us have the tendency to
-use too much contrast and detailing on the subjects and backgrounds, making the scene confuse because there is to much information to the eye to absorb?
-use too much pure white and maybe too much use of primary colors?
-use the incorrect lighting etc???.........

Yes, to all those three points. I think you are on the right track, good observations. I also write more about this in a couple other places in this thread.

so here is my question....what are other good sources to learn about these things ?
are there any books or training DVD's for 2d digital /fantasy painting
about "how to use light and color ?
Study lighting in movies, etc? Use of references?
Again, all those are good sources to learn from. I don't look for books and DVD's so I have no idea which ones could be better than others, but I've heard lots of good things about the Gnomon DVD's for instance. There's a big collection of helpful links and info in the Art Theory thread.

[sebastian___]

This is a movie project and since I don't have yet any material, I did this matte painting / 3d render as a quick way to promote the movie (Raining Fire). This was meant to be a picture like a movie poster. Something designed to catch your attention . The foreground is rendered. The ground is made with Vue, while the trees, house and everything else is rendered with 3dsMax (except the girl :) . The background = photos and Photoshop paint , and 3d birds. I think maybe the picture has some issues with the composition ? scale ?

higher resolution - http://download.vam-online.com/test/RainingFire-hiRes--v3.jpg
(the higher resolution picture is cropped - so maybe it's better suited for paintover)

http://movie.vam-u.de/assets/images/Raining-Fire--poster-inc.jpg

[Sky_Eagle]

Hey mr. Stahlberg , i've made 2 portraits and there seem to be something wrong but i can't say what is wrong , could you maybe help me out ?

Thx alot !

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/475/portet1betereschaduwreslv6.jpg

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/7522/portret2resizemc3.jpg

[piajartist]

Ive been dreaming of this exact kind of one on one help for years now. I wish i saw this up from 2006. Really cool that your playing the free instructor Steven, Ill be sure to check out that gnomon dvd

[snakke]

Wow... How can I've missed this thread :) You're doing a great work Stahlberg! I have a picture that I wish you could change a little. I'm pretty new to digital painting so this was my first painting that I actually finished.

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/1878/cassieklarmindrenq7.jpg

[smasse]

My humblest thanks in advance, I love this thread, looking at others being painted over also offers so much lesson-wise. Here's a single pose painting I'm working on ... I wanted some dynamic movement, and somewhat referenced myself in the mirror for key points, but something about feels wrong.

Thank you again!

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z193/ssnaples/Untitled-4.jpg

[Stahlberg]

The latest paintovers.

After these I will close this thread but only for 2 months. I'm just starting another one of my online cgtalk courses, and that will definitely make me too busy to do paintovers. See you in August!

http://www.androidblues.com/POP383.gif

http://www.androidblues.com/POP384.gif

http://www.androidblues.com/POP385.gif

http://www.androidblues.com/POP386.gif

http://www.androidblues.com/POP387.gif

[Stahlberg]

Well as you can see it became much more than just two months. Sorry about that, but that's how it has to be, this thread has a lower priority than some other things in my life and I've been going through some... stuff... lately, so I don't know if I have to close it again in a few weeks. We'll see, let's hope for the best and that it stays open.

[sharkcellar]

Vive la Stahlberg!

[mlru]

good to see this back online again!

[Aldarion]

Thank you for doing this , Steven. The whole community is learning a lot from this thread.
Hope you get your problems sorted out :)

[Lexalotacus]

Hey Steven!
Great contribution to the art community here. Was wonderin' if you'd be so kind as to suggest some improvements via overpaint? Thanks a bunch!
Lex

(by the way, I understand that the anatomy is almost purely conceptual but I would still be grateful for any critique)

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e194/615106951/conceptskinless.jpg

[Stahlberg]

Sure,
so, let me know what you are going for here. What kind of character is this, what role does it play in the story line? What do you want it to communicate to the audience? (and what is that thing hanging under the nose?) :)

or are you only looking for a paintover on the muscles, to make them more realistic?

[Lexalotacus]

Of Course!
My goal with most of my art is photo realistic concepts with strange twists. The character is tribal and the thing under his nose is a nose ring like you see on bulls and such. The story has yet to be written, as of now it's just a character design. One thing I would love to see would be some sort of coloring on him (I have no color skills yet). I'm just really interested in what you think would push this design/character over that edge and make it stand out on a professional level... Thanks again!
Lex

[Stahlberg]

Ok, here it is. Not really sure what I'm doing here, it's really difficult to take someone else's vision and expand on it, so I really don't know how useful it might be... it was fun though. :) I made him kind of reddish, as what you did made me think of exposed muscles.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP388.gif

[kowalski]

Hi Stahlberg,

Great to see you are still doing Paint overs, man. I've been sitting on this one for a while now, just can't seem to get to lighting right without ruining whats already there. She's one of my favourites and i'm sure you'll do her justice. and other tips on anatomy and form would be greatly appriciated.

Thx
Dan

http://www.pseudohuman.com/cherub.JPG

[Lexalotacus]

Whoa!!

It's intense seeing a professional version of my ideas... I noticed you made a lot of anatomical changes (deltoids, sternocleido mastoid, cranium, etc...) and it looks great. I'm inspired to take more of my drawings into photoshop and paint over them even though I have no real experience with color.

Thanks for the inspiration Steven! Keep up the brilliant work!
Lex

[Stahlberg]

Okay here it is

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP389.gif

[odf]

Thank you so much for doing this. I've learned a lot from following this thread.

Here's something I did a while ago that could probably use some critique.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/289/sophiefinalup7.jpg

[Stahlberg]

Okay there's a couple problems with this image, the biggest I think can be summed up as too much contrast in the background. Also the pants wrinkles, should not be so uniformly horisontal, only across the crotch. In other places wrinkles are diamond shaped. I also cropped the image a little, and simplified the lighting.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP390.gif

[khatake]

Hey. I think this topic is great and you are doing great job. I hope you can help me make this one more feminine. I wanted to make her subtle and in my opinion beneath the eyes she looks like ...a man;P. If the render is useless for paintover please tell me and i will post new. I hope you wouldn't mind if i ask : how to make eyelashes ? splines or textured plains with good alpha ? (or maybe another way) /PLS dont hit me if i cant ask in this topic/.

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/8661/stahlbergji8.jpg

[odf]

Okay there's a couple problems with this image, the biggest I think can be summed up as too much contrast in the background. Also the pants wrinkles, should not be so uniformly horisontal, only across the crotch. In other places wrinkles are diamond shaped. I also cropped the image a little, and simplified the lighting.


Wow! Thanks so much. So many things I hadn't noticed.

[z3phon]

I've got a friend who's trying out new painting techniques in photoshop, here's something he recently painted. I'd really appreciate it if you could paintover this.
Thanks alot!

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq166/x3phon/1a757416.jpg

[Stahlberg]

Okay, here are the two last ones.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP391.gif

.

http://www.androidblues.com/POP392.gif

[khatake]

Thank you. Great job (as always)!

[justinwol]

Hello, thank you so much for doing this. I hope this is still an active thread, I browsed quickly to see if there was any mention of it being closed, but didn't see anything.

I would love a paintover of my lastest painting. I am finished now and was working to improve my realism techniques and ability. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out and what I learnt from it, but its still a far cry from reality.

http://fc25.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/004/f/2/f2908b1c2cd2cdf0dad928b9ed94e8dc.jpg

[kowalski]

Mr Stahlberg

Thanks again for a marvelous paintover. I realise now that the lighting for the scene wasn't too far of in the first place, which has renewed my faith in my own work. Changing the perspective of the mountains and the foreground plateau was a major help aswell. I had not noticed how far off they were before. also the proportion changes and the wings have given some great insights.

Thx again for the help
Dan