George Patsouras' WIP & Speedpaintings

[CyborgJA]

Man, I already love it !
Colors, composition, face's expression! Great!

Up Up and Up with stars for this new thread !

[DarkTownArt]

Face looks a bit too hard for a female; female features should be soft in order to make them look like you would a female expect to look like.

[slickgreekgeo]

Serena : Thanks

Azurelle: I agree, some featured were left hard because I was going to make them metallic (the neck, to be specific). Still, I'm not gonne be working on this one anymore, but your feedback is appreciated regardless.

[Runecaster]

George I'm sorry your CPU crashed, that sucks the big one :/


I totally disagree 100% with Azurelle - that's tired thinking, and it shouldn't matter on a piece that good -- I totally 'got' that she was female without any other reference than the fact that she LOOKED female. I think your instincts were just fine -- they were perfectly spot on in regards to color and lighting as well. Be glad when you pick that up again -- you know, you can up the res on that and it's salvagable...

[slickgreekgeo]

Renee, it sucks indeed, but lesson learned. I'm glad you're feeling this piece as well, but unfortunately, it's a lost cause; Not only don't I have the high res file, but the client wasn’t her to look more sinister, so I'll take a completely different route on it. Having said that, here's a new piece I'm working on. I understand that it might not be suitable to all, as it depicts a fallen angel, now descended to hell (I know it doesn't look like that yet, but I'll work on it):

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/angel/1.jpg

[Iridyse]

I'm terribly sorry about your harddisk. Is there no way to recover the lost data? :(

But anyway, I just had to come and tell you how beauuuuuutiful your lastest pieces have been. You've always been really good, but I think you have been paying a lot more attention to colour-composition and it really really shows. Heck, I'm envious! The lights on the cyborg are just beautiful, I love the soft cyan bounce from behind( and I had absolutely no problem as seeing her as female too). If you are restarting this image, just take a little care about the "muscles" in the neck, they're a little hard right now (or well, you could just add some machine-ish stuff there). I also really like the composition on the latest fallen angel one. Why did you say it might not be suitable to all?
And congrats on your new thread (I've been thinking about making a new one myself) and happy new year!

[slickgreekgeo]

Shreya, no way believe me when I say I tried everything :) But I'm not one too whine about such things, so moving on...


I'm glad you noticed I've been closer attention to color, that's something I'm definitely trying to improve on. I think I've grown a lot more confident in that aspect (I used to work in fairly desaturated colors and wasn't very brave in my color choices). I'm still have a long way to go though (I'm nowhere near as good though :) ). As for the cyborg piece, I'm going to completely restart it, so it won't look anything like the previous image (otherwise, what would be the point. It'll just piss me off doing the same thing twice).

As for the angel piece, I think it might turn off some viewers, it might be disturbing for some to see an Angel in what can be interpreted as Hell, but we'll see.thanks for your input, and I wish you a great new year as well.

Here's an update on the angel piece. I still got to put a lot more thought into the background, but I'm getting there.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/angel/2.jpg

[pap87]

Well, before Satan was Satan he was the highest of all angels. So there's not much to be offended by in this painting.

Shame about your hard drive, I think we've all been there at one stage or another though. I guess you can really start the year on a clean slate.

I liked the cyborg girl, but I'm not your client am I? Hehe.
Here's to a fresh start!:beer:

[Runecaster]

I am really liking this fallen angel idea, and I agree with everyone else -- not much to be offended by! No worries there.

I like how its coming -- maybe don't sharpen up this one so much this time and see where that takes you??


I dunno, just throwing wild shite out there.

[CyborgJA]

Well I love composition and colors but I'm unable to understand that he was an angel only looking at the picture..

Waiting for updates,
Serena.

[slickgreekgeo]

John: Good point. I think it'll be interesting to see reactions to this image. And yes, the crash in a way might be a blessing in disguise, you never know. I convinced myself it is though :) Cheers with beers! :beer:

Renee: Glad you like the idea. I'll definitely try to be more loose this time, I think a more painterly feel will work well with an image like this. But what I can say, those details get the best of me.

Serena: Trust me, it'll be obvious when it's finished. I'm planning to add some loose feathers from the sky, symbolizing his descent from the heavens.

Here's an update:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/angel/3.jpg

[CyborgJA]

Man, sometimes you read in my mind!

Good work ! :)

[FrankUnique]

Good work man! I'm waiting to see more updates.

[slickgreekgeo]

Serena, what can I say, I can't help myself.

Alexandre, you got it:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/angel/5.jpg

I basically repainted the whole background with this update. I also came up with a title for this image, 'Heavenly Descent' is what I'm going for. I want the background to be more Heaven like, while the foreground will look more 'Hellish'. I'll probably add some lava as well, I'll see where it goes.

[slickgreekgeo]

Here's another update. Wings are just placeholder, I'm aware they look like crap at this point. Lava was fairly difficult to pull off, I used a custom brush to speed up the process.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/angel/6.jpg

[Salubri3i]

Having a hard drive crash recently, and loosing all the data...

gaah... that's horrible. sorry to hear that. :sad:

i wonder if you can get access to a dvd writer? if you can get one it would be a good move coz you can have your finished paintings and it's files burned into a dvd disc for storage. there may also be services available in your area that does cd/dvd burning. it's just... with the computer you never know. it's working fine one moment and crashing the next for no apparent reason.

anyways. i like this new piece you're working at and the level of realism on that cyborg is pretty cool too. ;)

[slickgreekgeo]

Ryan, I'm probably gonna end up purchasing an external hard drive. I have a dvd burner, but I've been having problems lately with that (what haven't I been having problems with?)


Glad you like the pieces, expect an update later tonight.

[Salubri3i]

i suppose as long as you don't keep your files on the same partition as your operating system it'll remain safe when your computer crashes. myself i tend to partition my drive in multiples. one for system and others for data etc...

i'll be looking forward to that update. ;)

[slickgreekgeo]

Ryan, I've been thinking about doing that too. I'll probably get that external drive though.


Here's an update. I've never worked on anything so 'landscape' heavy, so input is appreciated.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/angel/7.jpg

[CyborgJA]

It can be 'obvious' but why don't you paint some clouds starting from the top of mountains and fading to the pure light?
Maybe with this 'plus' you'll better render the idea of "falling down" - rejected angel.

[slickgreekgeo]

Serena, it looks like you're reading my mind now :) I'm definitely going to do that, but in the final stages (clouds are fairly easy for me to paint). Here are some sketches I submit to the 15 Minute Sketchathon (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=295498&page=1&pp=15) forum here at CG Talk (it's addicting as Hell!):

All done with Photoshop, no grids used.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/speedpaint/15.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/speedpaint/grl2.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/speedpaint/grl4.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/speedpaint/grl3.jpg

[CyborgJA]

Can't wait to see these clouds!

Well man....I really admire you for your speed! :eek:

[slickgreekgeo]

Here's a piece I finished for the Open Figure Drawing forum; It's a master study of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres'
"Princesse Albert de Broglie, née Joséphine-Eléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn"

I let this one go a lot earlier than I usually do, it was more of a skin tone practice I'd say. Reference here (http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/OFDW%20020/008.jpg).

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/masters/princess.jpg

[BlacKeri]

Oh, George, you are SCARING ME MAN!

Your latest panting is so bloody fantastic. The colours are just.. just... to die for. Goddamn, I am, like, gonna steal your colour themes, mwahahah!
But really, that paintign is PERFECT.

I also really like your speedys and that mastercopy is fabulous too. Love how you used blues to highlight her face. <3

PS. About your hardware problems: have you considered two RAID Sata drives? After many HDD burns I moved onto RAID Satas, and I gotta say - it's perfect. Everything I ever draw now is saved simultaneously on 2 drives, and so if one of them ever burns, you still have your files :D

[MichaelZHsee]

hie there,i must say that u have improved greatly.most of ur works here shows ur potential talent:)keep it coming.agreed what blackeri mentioned above,the last one is awesome!:thumbsup:

[slickgreekgeo]

Marta, it always makes my day when I'm complimented on colors; Colors for me is probably the most difficult aspect of painting; I can never decide on a steady palette and I constantly experiment. For the angel image, I decided on colors early and decided to go with it. I think I'll follow that route from now on :) Speaking of angels, I saw you're preview at your blog, and I'm left fiendin for more. You're a tease I tell ya!


As for the SATA drives, my brother pretty much stated what you said; He's a computer engineer, so he knows what he's talking about. I'm considering actually, I really gotta get another drive quick, as I've been having the worst luck lately it seems.

Michael: Thank you, it's great to hear I've been improving. Speed paints are working wonders for me :)

[CyborgJA]

Great work man. I especially admire how you painted her skin.
Maybe the single thing that looks a little flat compared to the whole pic is hair. In this area there's not the same value gap that you used for the others, but of course, it's a extra-beautiful piece :love:

I quote the raid-sata solution. :)

[Blessing]

First of all, I'm really sorry about your drive crash, it's a crap to loose all your data. I hope you get your second drive soon.
I forgot to tell you on the Workshop thread, but I will do it here: I really love your master copy work. The skintones are just amazing, I think I will steal your color schemes too, like Marta said. :p
I like a lot, also, your fallen angel. Can't wait to see more updates! :bounce:

Congrats for your work, man! Keep it up!

Bless :)

[CyborgJA]

News? :TarantellaDancing:

[slickgreekgeo]

Serena: Thanks for your comments on the study piece; The hair is flat looking, but this was done mostly to concentrate on skin tones, so I admit I rushed several places. I think that piece is as 'loose' as I'm going to get. Right now I'm finishing up a portrait of my brother, hopefully he'll allow me to post it. The detail I'm putting is absolutely absurd, skin pores, everything (he wants it look as realistic as possible, so this is taking quite some time). As for the angel piece, I'm taking a break from that to concentrate more on landscape painting; Then I'll resume the 'angel' piece.


María: Thanks, but aside from the Medusa piece, I don't think I lost anything too worthwhile (hey, I gotta think positive). No stealing! :scream: I'll be starting on a new piece (putting the angel on hold for a bit until I improve my landscape painting skills) for a tutorial, so I'm going to go very in depth with that.

Thanks for the support, appreciate it.

[CyborgJA]

Can't wait to see what "the God of textures" did in this "full-texture" pic ::drool: :drool: :drool: drool:

[LunaticSymphony]

Hey Slick,

I was looking at your fallen angel painting and a thought came to me. The angel in Hell is symbolic, sad, and upsetting but I thought that you could add something evil to the image to make it more apparent that their was an aspect to this angel that sent him to Hell.

I thought the shadow of the Angel could play an important role in portraying that evil- perhaps give the shadow of the Angel a persona (a dark, seeping mass that extends from his crouching form but that is alive and an evil grin or facade).

You're the artist, the talent, but this idea seems like it would be exciting. I know I'm being selfish, but could you try something like that?

[slickgreekgeo]

Sereena: God of textures, eh? Lol. I did do tend to go overboard with textures I admit, but I'm far from a God. I'm still experimenting with my style, my next piece is going to be a lot more painterly and 'softer'. I'll have the portrait complete later today :)

Lunatic: Before I experiment with the shadow, I gotta do some landscape practices. After I get a better flow of landscape painting, I'll experiment with the idea; It might work, but there's a risk it might come out cheezy, so I'll see. And you're not being selfish at all, you're just making a suggestion (one that has the potential to make the piece better).

[Blessing]

Woohoooooow! A texture tut! Can't wait to see it! :drool:

"No stealing..." Bad man, you're a selfish! :p

Here's waiting for updates! :bounce:


Cheers!


Bless ;)

[slickgreekgeo]

I finished the portrait I was talking about earlier, you can view it here (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=133&t=451121).

I'm starting on a tutorial, so I'm going to be very specific about my working methods. I usually work off references, and here's how I go about starting the sketch. First, I make sure the ruler is enabled (Cnt + 'r'). I start by opening the ref image and dragging guides to the 'hotspots' (the start of the face, foot, etc.).

Once I have the guides in place, I save the image as 'ref.jpg'. I delete the image, and save it again as a .psd. Now I reopen the ref, and place it side by side with the blank canvas. Now on a new layer, I start sketching, using the ref as a guide. Below is a screenshot to better get a sense of how I do this (click to enlarge):

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/fangel/1tn.jpg (http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/fangel/1.jpg)

[slickgreekgeo]

Here's an update, I think it's fairly obvious where I'm going with this:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/fangel/2.jpg



Here's another update, refined the composition a little bit, repainted the ground. Something's off with the wings, I'll see what I can do about that.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/fangel/3.jpg

[slickgreekgeo]

And another update. Still a long way to go, but I'm getting there.


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/fangel/4.jpg

[Blessing]

It's a pleasure to see how you work. Thans a lot for sharing that with us! :)

Waiting for the next update! :bounce:


Cheers!


Bless ;)

[slickgreekgeo]

I was about to scrap this piece, that is, until I started experimenting with the color palette; For some reason, I always seem to work better with cooler tones; I don't know why this is honestly. Maybe because it gives it a more natural look, not sure. I'm going to repaint the rocks, the look like crap at this point.


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/fangel/5.jpg

[CyborgJA]

If you want to add wings, you have to zoom out the pic in order to create the space for this element. Of course, I prefer her without wings and with colder colors :P
I think you should check the lower-abdomen area.

[redfrog]

Hi Slick,


Interesting progression on this piece. For some reason tho the composition reads a little cramped to me. My feeling is (and this is only a suggestion) is that yu might look at opening the canvas out around her to 1. not have the wings so cramped and 2. add extra canvas to the base as well to help eccentuate that the ledge she is on is high up.
Anyway they are just suggestions - I'm sure this will look awesome when you have finished.

[slickgreekgeo]

Serena: Good eye, I'll def make those adjustements.

Craig: I think you're right; I knew something was off about the composition, so I'll experiement keeping your feedback in mind. Thanks for posting.


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/fangel/7.jpg

[Salubri3i]

hey! you're losing the beautiful tones you had in the entry where you changed your mind about scraping the piece! the current one is a little bright and cool. i think the previous one had a great mix of warm and cool tones. shoot. that's great stuff man. :P

it's probably just me but i don't think the space you had at her back in the previous entry was just enought to give her wings. it seems to me that the focus of your painting isn't really about the angel and her wings but more about the angel being on a ledge high up with a great view of the sky. i think the space you only needed to give her was to her front which would open up the canvas for you to put in some cool environments. maybe an L perspective is in order. ;)

keep it tight dude. you haven't finished it but this is my most favorite pic already. :D

[slickgreekgeo]

Ryan: Colors still need work, and I'm still experimenting with the composition. I did add some space to the left and to the top, that seems to help. Here's an update; The face was a bit flat looking, so I added more definition. I'm aware that I haven't painted the forearm btw :)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/fangel/8.jpg

[cypherx]

your best update. By far.

Best colours to date.
Best face to date.

If you can nail the wings and keep the lighting (which obviously has to have two lighting sources with the way you're doing it), I think this piece could turn out to be a real gorgeous piece. Watch the hairline. Remember that right above the eyebrows is where the hairline comes out a bit, that no hairline is perfect from ear to forehead (unless peeple pluck it that way :S)

It would be nice for you to keep it soft like it is, whilst still managing to put nice light in her hair.

Look forward to the progress!

[CyborgJA]

I do not understand her pose.

[cypherx]

I think he's going to draw the arm in how it was earlier on? I mean there's of course no way it could go back behind the legs. I just figured he was colouring the rest for some reason, and was planning on getting back to the arm.

I could be wrong though... George?

[soulspline]

this is great! :)
i just dont know about that pose... thats a new one :)
hmmm i can imagine her wings is opened and torn apart all the fethers are flying all over



CHEERS!!!
my work in progress http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=31&t=451748

[slickgreekgeo]

"hmmm i can imagine her wings is opened and torn apart all the fethers are flying all over"

Harvey, I really like that idea. So much so that I'm gonna steal it if you don't mind :)

[soulspline]

"hmmm i can imagine her wings is opened and torn apart all the fethers are flying all over"

Harvey, I really like that idea. So much so that I'm gonna steal it if you don't mind :)

thats on man :)and i also had this awsome idea- you can put some faint images of flying things in the far back :) like she is on her still mode or maybe she is kinda injured thats why her wings are like that :)



i would appreciate if you can help out at my WIP tread :)

[CyborgJA]

I was asking for feet. But now I know that George will add them under her 'bottom' as they are in the reference so I'll wait this step. Thank you very much for explaining :love:

[pap87]

I actually like the previous face more, even though the pictures are smaller the face seemed to fit in better and that's probably because the new one has a highlight on her cheek which doesn't belong there.
I really like the overblown hotspot on her shoulder, in fact I reckon the colours were perfect in post #43.

Oh and good work on Yanni, what a name eh? :thumbsup:

[frostblade]

I miss this sky!
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/fangel/5.jpg

Nice work on the current figure :)
Nice shiny make up look. fresh and clean!

[slickgreekgeo]

Here's a piece I started, that I just gave up on. Inspired by Frazetta's masterpiece:


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/slickgreekgeo/speedpaint/hs.jpg

Although I'm happy with the mood I created, something just isn't working. I think it's the perspective, it's a bit flat and 'plain'. I'm definitely gonna take another shot with this concept another time, as I've wanted to do a piece with this theme for quite a while. Maybe I'll try out a different perspective, that should help.

[frostblade]

mmm horse!

I thought he was fishing in the rain before I saw the horse part...hehe not enough scrolling down.

maybe a 2/3 view of the horse with looking up camera angle? This is a bit too profile hey?

[CyborgJA]

Mm, I do not think that showing the whole side of the horse is a good choice cause you'll always obtain the "sticked to the background" effect.

My suggestion is to enhance the ground's perspective placing the horse in a 3/4 view :thumbsup:

Good work:love:

[slickgreekgeo]

I agree with the critiques, the view just kills it. Still, I like the concept so I have no problem giving it another go (yes, I'm motivated baby!).

[pap87]

I'll contradict you by saying I prefer a side view only because it gives a much nicer silhouette.
You will avoid a "stuck on" effect if you integrate the horse and its environment well enough.

[cypherx]

Watch the anatomy on that horse, George. The most obvious signs of your not being familiar with horse anatomy would definitely be the rear legs... I mean it REALLY shows.

For me, I have never seen an animal look so defeated... Horses are proud, and free spirits, and this one feels, depressed, beyond broken... like it just might fall over dead from the sadness. I know that might be what you're going for, but it's almost depressing for me to look at ha. I agree with pap... you could make the sideview work for you, but you really have to work on the anatomy, and just put something into it... a feeling. If it's sad, put more details of why, something for us to build a story with. Not just a guy on a horse... more

And when I said "best face" I meant, on any of your paintings... I don't think you should call it quits for that other piece just yet. On Marko's DVD, he shares some fantastic personal philosophies on what should be going thru your head when you're drawing, and one of them is (paraphrasing in a big way here): "if you're getting bored, you're doing something wrong & maybe this isn't for you". I am definitely going to use those words and remember them because... frankly it's true. Christ, I sound like the biggest fangirl (haha probably because I am:/)

[cypherx]

also (back to the rear legs), it looks from the entire mood of the piece like the horse is sort of trudging along, but that left rear leg is up like it's breaking into a canter... just for you to think about.

[slickgreekgeo]

Cypherx, that was pretty much what I was going for; I wanted a fairly dark, depressing mood; The character and horse are meant to be shown 'defeated' (although I could have done more work on the figure to express this, I admit). I see what you mean about 'more', I think the picture itself raises too many questions. I'll definitely give it another go.


I'm not calling it quits on the angel btw, I was just a bit unmotivated, I'll def continue working on it. Thanks for your feedback :)

[cypherx]

Um... the garb you have your rider in... it looks like a wife beater?
lol you don't see modern day guys riding around on horses too often, so you might want to make sure you go period with the garb.

I think there's ways to set the mood without defeating the animal. lol god, I love animals more than people by a longshot *sniffle* saddddd saddd pony.

I went ahead and sketched out a drafthorse using similar colours to what I think you were going for. I would have drawn the rider, but I decided against it, I will if you want me to, but yeah lol a tad time consuming this was to begin with (that isn't a complaint as I know you didn't ask for help).

Anyhow, I think you can set the mood just by going with the natural environment you were already working with...gloomy, rainy... weighing down the horses hair, covering its eyes, and using just dark paint to indicate where the eyes are... but still allowing the animal to have his pride with posture. I mean in the end it's a judgement call for you. Hope... yet again, you don't mind.

http://direwire.com/images/horse_greekgeo.jpg

[slickgreekgeo]

I don't mind at all. The painting you posted is impressive as hell, and I'm saving it as inspiration if you don't mind. You just made my horse look like complete rubbish :) What I like the most, besides the obviously well rendered horse, is the mood you created. Very dark and moody. Thanks again for taking the time to paint a horse, I definitely can learn from it.

"I would have drawn the rider"

I appreciate that, but you've done more than enough. I don't have a problem rendering characters, so it won't be much help. I do agree with your comments, he does look more modern (I didn't add any armor yet, haven't given too much thought on the design, which is a mistake I admit).

Thanks again.

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