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sfox8
06-04-2009, 05:47 AM
I could really use some help on the lighting for this picture. I'm trying to make this the best I've ever done and I'm attempting some dramatic lighting but for some reason after looking at other pictures, and looking back at my own, this is starting to look rather dull. Any tips for getting the picture to draw more attention through the lighting and coloring would be greatly appreciated. Do I need to use harsher colors? Sharper brushes? Also, any tips on painting a believable wall of water (such as the kind in the sketch) would be very helpful as well.

Here's the original sketch:
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1958/moonlightmushroomssketc.jpg

Here's the painting without the sketch lines:
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/5493/moonlightmushroomswip1.jpg
Draigr
06-04-2009, 06:38 AM
I believe contrast is your friend here. Really define the mushrooms and make them a lot clearer than the background. Brighten the light glows and really work it out. Emphasise it.

So basically contrast and emphasis are your friends here.
CircusRobot
06-05-2009, 05:14 AM
The painting is coming along nicely but if you want to you could probably flesh out the story a little bit. There are a lot of pictures of sad people out there so you want to make the audience go deaper than that. When you were drawing/painting this you might have thought up a back story or something really interesting, try to incorporate that somehow without changing what you want to say. I think this has potential.
sfox8
06-08-2009, 11:51 AM
Thanks for the tips so far. I did try to brighten the highlights more and emphasize them a bit more as well. I will keep going and hopefully it doesn't change the mood from what I originally wanted it to be.

CircusRobot: Yeah, I did have a back story in my head actually but could you explain a little further what you mean by fleshing out the story for the picture though?

Here is an update. I took some reference photos of water running over stones in a river to hopefully get a better idea of how a curtain of water might look, but it still hasnt reached the look that I want so here are two versions. I may or may not continue with the water-curtain idea because it might distract from the rest of the picture if it has to be applied to every mushroom...

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3484/moonlightmushroomswip2w.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/2844/moonlightmushroomswip2.jpg
CircusRobot
06-08-2009, 11:02 PM
I don't know what your story is but here are a couple of things that come to mind. First, what is the relationship between the guy and the mushrooms. Is he a normal sized person and the mushrooms are huge or is he small? What if the guy had wings and the rain was keeping him from flying? What if there was an antagonist (or the rain could be)? I didn't really have anything specific in mind earlier it was more of an observation. If you want to you could write out the backstory quickly on here and see what ideas start to come to mind.

Note: This is all just a suggestion based on my personal taste. I like art that has a story to it or has many layers and I'm still trying to improve that aspect of my work.
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06-08-2009, 11:02 PM
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