Hymn WIP

[girando]

Terve :)
That's a beautiful piece.
I think the atmosphere is warm and calm and the mood of the theme is captured very well.
Look forward to seeing the next step in the process.

[colt51]

...it is quite lovely. I do not have the ability to imagine how beautiful this is going to be when finished. Wow!:applause:





Colt

[Dianae]

This is going to be wonderful Henna! The lighting is, as usual, very very lovely and well handled! I can't wait to see more!

[Hennaha]

Hello again!

I’m happy you guys found your way here :)

I’m adding two more steps now I painted yesterday evening. Today I’m going to spend the day in spa to get all the tension off, so no more painting before the evening. It surprises me greatly how much time I have lately been able to spend painting. I feel hooked and can’t spend a day without thinking about it. Partly it must be the art school that has changed my attitude. The “forum life” is another thing. I’m very blessed to know there are people who support me and who think that what I create is beautiful.

I could not wish more.

See you darlings very soon,

Henna

Refining her facial features and hands:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/hennah-/Hymn_4.jpg

Candles, hair and part of the curtain:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/hennah-/Hymn_5.jpg

[colt51]

This is well on the way to being your best work so far!:eek: I am humbled to see the process.






Colt

[Hennaha]

Haha! I'm quite sure it is just the lighting :D

I'm happy you like it anyway! Lots and lots of hours were spent painting it, and there is lot more to come.

[Cilmarion]

You have an amazing grasp of subtle color, the warm and cool browns really make the piece. The only improvements I can see at the moment would be a slight more subtle transition in the shadow in the hair and it might add even more to the atmosphere of the piece if you added in wisps of smoke floating off the candles. A wonderful piece overall.

[Hennaha]

Colt, I guess you were right after all and this is the best painting I have painted so far. Only yesterday morning I did not know it yet.

Refreshed from my trip to the spa, I finished the base work of the curtains and rest of her clothing. Then I moved to texturing of the piece. I have spent some time studying my earlier paintings trying to point myself the mistakes I have made. I have had a habit of repeating certain types of steps at the end of a painting process that have resulted to the messiness and the dirtiness of the textures. The painting will look much more interesting after these textures were made, but my previous way of working always resulted to fading of parts of the important line work and the colours that would have otherwise been beautiful and saturated (one of the key elements of a successful painting). Anyway the new way came to me almost accidentally and suddenly it made all the difference. It takes over twice as long to make than the old way I got used to, but to be honest – I could not care less. I know I’m a fast painter and so it doesn’t actually hurt me at all. I will never again paint textures like I used to.

Now I feel I could repaint all of my previous paintings :D

Feeling inspired by my new discovery, I spent almost the rest of the night painting, and now there is only some minor touch ups and perfecting of the lines to be made (unless any mistakes will be pointed out) before I consider the painting finished.

I hope you have enjoyed the steps!

Cheers,

Henna

Finishing the base work:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/hennah-/Hymn_6.jpg

Texturing:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/hennah-/Hymn_7.jpg

Some more texturing:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/hennah-/Hymn_8.jpg

[colt51]

...to say anything, for I am sure that the few things I notice are the very things you are intending to tweak. However, I notice 2 things that bother me.

1) The area around the larger portion of the flowers appears darker than the rest of her hair. This creates the illusion that the flowers are brighter than they actually are. The flowers are fine, just the 'darker' hair needs to fade to the same color value as the rest of the hair.

2) I was having difficulty distinguishing the edge of the right side of the gap in her robe/dress. It seemed to blend too much with her body. I saved a copy of the last image to my picture folder, then opened with (talk about cheap...I don't have any art programs) 'Windows Photo Gallery'. I increased the contrast by (literally) 2%-5%, and I could see the delineation very well.

As I said, I am sure that you already had these things in mind, as well as things that I have no idea about, but I felt it only fair to inform you of my thoughts.

The lady is so beautiful, it breaks my heart that she is only an image.

All my best, Henna.




Colt

[Hennaha]

Never hesitate! When one paints pictures like this there is so much to do that some mistakes easily get overlooked. Often when I reach this point I feel already very exhausted and wish the painting would already be finished. It feels amazing there are people that are willing to point these mistakes to me.

I can do a great pile of things that I have never seen other people my age do, but nevertheless I'm still only a student. It touches me deeply when I see someone has made an effort to write well thought out plan for me how to improve a painting.

I now feel very inspired and I'm off to paint :D

Thank you very much, Colt. It is always a great pleasure. The things you have pointed out are things an artist with a well trained eye would have pointed, and I'm in awe that you don't have your own gallery here - you are a great gift to the CG Society!

Cheers,

Henna

[Dianae]

It really looks great! Colt has already mentionned the hair problem, but I also think that her head is a little bit too small compared to her body and hands.... Otherwise it's amazing so far!

[Hennaha]

I consider the painting to be finished now. I’ll soon upload this to my gallery here, with samples of the references and some close-ups.

Painting this one surely was a great learning experience, and I’d like to thank you all for your amazing feedback :)

See you soon,

Henna

Last touch ups:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/hennah-/Hymn_9.jpg

Correcting colours:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/hennah-/Hymn_10-1.jpg

[Ransom]

It looks really nice! If you were going for a caravagio look you might want to try darkening the background and make the figure brighter. Awesome though.

[Hennaha]

Since the deadline I was given was only but tomorrow, I had the time to do few last changes to the painting. There was lot of stuff I felt needed polishing, repainting her right hand and making the colour scheme more contrasted perhaps being the most visible part.

I made this animation to help you get better idea what was actually changed:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/hennah-/Hymn_10-11_anim.gif

And the official finished version:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/hennah-/Hymn_11.jpg

[SirNeo]

Beautiful as always; keep going henna:thumbsup:

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.