Sketchbook Thread of Vicmonty

#73

Is this done in photoshop? And are you using a brush with lowered opacity settings? I ask because this seems similar to how Iā€™ve been painting, and it actually makes my life more difficult. This is a very difficult subject on top of that. Good luck!

#74

thanks for stopping by. i always enjoy seeing your sb.
yes itā€™s done in photoshop with a brush from zhuzhuā€™s set. I think i got it from deviant art. the pen pressure may be set to opacity. iā€™m not really sure. iā€™ve been painting with different settings lately.
i like painting this way because it lets me see a ā€œsketchā€ of the what iā€™m painting if that makes sense. i can build with value if that makes sense. itā€™s really fun. i haveā€™t done anything else with this painting. i got bored with it and moved on to another study. i should probably post that.
someone said that when painting digitally you shouldnā€™t paint mess with opacity settings. the color should just lay down solidly. he compared it to painting with actual paint. when you lay a red down itā€™s red, not a lighter red or the value you get when painting with opacity setting. I donā€™t know about that. it offers something for me.
Iā€™m still learning about painting so i canā€™t say one way or the other. i know you can mess with opacity settings to help with rendering or you can just use the color picker and manually select all the different shades. i may be wrong, but iā€™m learning.

#75

New image here. Howā€™s my progress going so far? What can I change to improve this image? Itā€™s taking a long long time, but itā€™s still fun. Iā€™m very slowā€¦

I see that i may have to work on the proportions of the arms.


#76

I should smooth out his right arm to get rid of that outline that seperates his shoulder from the rest of his arm. Itā€™s also seperating the bicep and tricep. I know they should be seperated, but how do I make it no so much of a dark outline?

#77

I changed his pose. Now I donā€™t have any arms to use as ref. Comments and critiques will be great!

#78

You can always use a mirror :wink:
Also, you shouldnā€™t be spending a lot of time rendering, when youā€™re not certain of the pose yet.
Do some quick sketches, say a dozen, pick the best pose and then do 5 or 6 different quick light thumbs, in which you let the light source have a different position. Pick the best one of those 6 thumbs and stick to it. Then use a mirror and simulate the lighting conditions as you want them in your painting.
Have fun!

#79

Do you remember the first time you had something ā€œclickā€ while you were painting? I canā€™t really explain it, but it happened while I was rendering. All that reading I have been doing about painting seemed to make sense and was real to me.
It was a great feeling and I felt another barrier come down. I think thatā€™s why I jumped ahead without fully nailing a pose. 12 thumbnails, then 6 with light and pick one. got it!
Thanks for always visiting my SB. I really appreciate you sharing your knowlegde with me.

#80

No worries mate, I learn just as much as you do by doing this (remembering myself of what to do) :smiley:

#81

hereā€™s the latest. almost 2 wks now. i learned a lot with this one. great time.

how can this one be improved?

#82

Your improvement from the beginning of this thread is really impressive. It gives me a little push to keep working. Great work!

#83

well I appreciate it. I have a long way to go. If it wasnā€™t for the response from this community, Iā€™m not sure how far I would have gone. The community just existing gave me a drive to move you know? The resources and the idea of creating and adding to the greatness that is CGS. Itā€™s frustrating, but rewarding when you see what you can do. Also, when people say practice helps, you have to listen.

#84

okay, so hereā€™s what iā€™ve been up to last wk in between family, work and school. Iā€™m starting to let loose a bit. enjoying this more. letting go of that ā€œfearā€.

photo ref. i fixed the hand once, still looks a bit twisted. 3 hrs photoshop

1 hr photo shop. photo ref.

photoshop. unsure about time, i started and stopped a few times. maybe an hr. masterstudy from this cgs thread. sorolla copyā€¦

#85

hey vic, your value studies are getting a lot better. I think for an hours work they work quite well. If I could leave a little tip, I would suggest not leaving large areas of white in a portrait painting, or else the image begins to look ā€œblown outā€ to use photography terms. Keep it up!

#86

1-2 hrs speed painting. not so much ā€œspeedā€ hehe.

looking at this now, it looks blurry. is it because of my strokes. nothing hard enough?

does the white in her dress give that ā€œburned outā€ look?

at first i thought i could pull off her sash with a really dark green. then i thought i saw a dark blue or dark purple. my eyes playing tricks on me?

her dress almost looked like it was a white, almost yellow dress.

I went with bright yellows for the highlights in the dress. was this a good idea?

I saw pink in here arm. then i thought to add some of that yellow highlight on her arm too.

the photo itself isnā€™t what we normally use to study because it was dim, to me. i guess the photographers style? I auto adjusted and got a pretty clear photo.

ref: http://stacifilth.deviantart.com/

#87

I agree with some of the other posts on your sketchbook your improvement is really inspirational. Keep up the hard work!

:beer:

#88

Thank you very much. Itā€™s that fear that keeps us from progressing. It takes a hold of us. Just let it goā€¦

#89

hello everyone. continuing to do what I can. I started a Rubenā€™s study. Then I caught wind of a Zelda 25th anniversary contest at cghub. So I came up with thisā€¦

photoshop, plus 4 hrs. comments and critiques please. Thank you. I hope to produce work good enough to go into my cgs portfolio soon.

#90

photo study. photoshop 2 hrs intuos 3. sorry but i canā€™t remember what site I pulled this photo from.

#91

currently working on a contest desinging street fighter zombies. I chose vega. ref photo courtesy characterdesigns.com



#92

everytime I start a new painting I think about all the work itā€™s going to take and feel like I canā€™t do it. Looking back at my Zelda piece, even though itā€™s not great, it makes me feel accomplished.

I just always feel like Iā€™m starting my first piece every new piece of art work I work on. I get confused as to where to start. Darks first? Lights and then darkest darks and lightest lights? I try to think on how I navigated through my last picture. I canā€™t remember.

All I do remember is that I felt overwhelmed! I also remember that I just dove into the piece. I chipped away at it one piece at a time in a sense.

When I paint, I have a bad habbit of expecting to see a masterpiece after a couple of strokes. I have to remind myself that itā€™s the gradual build up of a piece that makes it into something that the viewer would say ā€œoh yea, I accept thatā€.

Hereā€™s what I have so far in PS with my intuous. Please Please I need critiques on this whole SB. Thank you.