fantastic, the moon adds plenty to the scene!..the colours are sublime…
Crits. Yes the left hand rocks seem to be a litle too uniform, i find them quite distracting…but this is without the characters…who knows, they may actually help the scene when you paint them in…I think you can vary the cumulus clouds aswell, My mind races at the possibilities you could do with them :)…
great work now, bill.
Marley
This is looking great. Those clouds are superb - they add a lot of drama to the image.
I like how you’ve got different kinds of rocks on each side of the image - the rough, natural rocks on the right and the more sculpted piled-up ones on the left make a nice contrast and add real interest.
Wonderful stuff 
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[li]Thanks John, yes when I started I was in half a mind to make the formation into a mountain, but it seemed to work better as a cloud formation when I started painting it.[/li][/ul]
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[li]Thanks Ben, I’ll certainly try :)[/li][/ul]
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[li]Hey Marley! Thanks mate 
I agree about the those rocks on the left I will have to work something out with that area for sure. At least one large figure will shadow that area I think, but we’ll see. I was thinking of revisitng the clouds later on when I’ve nailed down the whole composition in full so I reckon you must be reading my mind right now :D[/li][/ul]
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[li]Thanks Mark, yeah I wanted to get a cross a contrast in the textures especially where the rocks are concerned. At the moment I’m not sure how the left side will turn out as I’m toying with a largish figure in a lot of that space. I’m thinking the best thing to do is try and make it work more before I place the figure… we’ll see :)[/li][/ul]
This is a great setting pearlyking. About the characters, have you considered flying aliens/humans? That way the sunlight could hit them, and you could paint then with really rich colors to fit with the landscape.
Anyway, beautiful pallette. Keep it up!
I think you can give your clouds a bit variation and subdue some of the blue hues at the bottom of them. Try to lessen the contrast of that background as well. I agree with Marlin about the rocks try to get those rocks to feel the same as the other rock formations in the environment. get them consistent with each other. I am waiting to see how the figures will fit in this space. Keep painting on. Your doing good I will be back to check your progress.
I very much like your painterly style. The moon in the background doesn’t quite fit with it, though, and it looks a bit too much like the Earth’s moon. You might want to paint over it a bit, both to disguise it and to help it to match your excellent foreground work.
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[li]Many thanks Maurizio[/li][/ul]
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[li]Thanks Frederick I’ll get working on it soon :)[/li][/ul]
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[li]I think that you are right Gerardo. I reckon that my figures would be confined to a shaded foreground if I didn’t get at least one or two up in the air. I think that would make the composition more interesting too. Thanks for the suggestion :)[/li][/ul]
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[li]You’re given me some good advice Bryce, and I’ve acted on it already. Hopefully my next post will fix some of those issues. Many thanks![/li][/ul]
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[li]I agree Vikram and I’ve taken care of that for my next post. Thanks for your advice :)[/li][/ul]
Stage 6, took on board some advice and made some more changes. Varied the cloud formation and lowered the contrast for the background. Painted the planet a bit more. Changed the rock formation on the left to have some semblance to the one on the right (still have a lot to do on these rocks). Re-painted the two distant rock formations. Will most probally add one or two flying aliens to take advantage of the lighting, and will more than likely add some flora and fauna to make the foreground more interesting… Thanks for looking!
Looks nice . clouds are hard!.
I guess you are leaving the alien-human relationship for last!
waiting for more>!
Remember that clouds have depth as well. You want to make those clouds feel like they are going back into space. So painting some clouds closer with a bit more contrast from the ones that are way way back in background, that have little contrast. Here is another thing you want to consider as well. It is totally fine to paint the forground a little more saturated as well as the sky color. Go look outside for a minute and really study your surroundings. Look straight up then look straight foward. You will see the transition of color in the sky. More saturation more contrast to less saturation to less contrast. Look at clouds when the sun is setting. You will see that they are more red than the top of the clouds. Pull that look off. It just takes referencing things and seeing how it really works then applying what you’ve seen into your painting or drawing. Looks better though, more unified. Bounce some of the blue hues into the rocks. Do it subtly though, or better use descretion when adding the blue into those rocks. This will give it a bit more realism.
I love the amount of detail you have put into the clouds and rock. It is looking great! You got any ideas for the subject yet?
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[li]Thanks Daniel, clouds are hard especially without references! Yes the figures will go in last but I’ll probally make a few concept sketches of how they’ll look.[/li][/ul]
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[li]Many thanks Anthony![/li][/ul]
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[li]Hi Bryce, I really appreciate the advice you’re giving and I’m taking it all on board, hopefully you’ll see the results of this in the finished article - thanks![/li][/ul]
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[li]Hey Andy! Yes I think I have the right idea for this scene now, so I’ll probally sketch out the alien I intend using very soon.[/li][/ul]
This landscape is truely stunning! I look forward to seeing where this goes. Best of luck!!!
Stage 7. Ok so I’ve worked the rocks on both sides and added some colourful lifeforms to brighten the place up a bit. I also added a couple of rocket trail cloud formations with a bit more colour.I was hoping this might give the background a little more depth (not sure if this works at the moment). I 've also added a little work at the top of the picture. I’ve got a story ready now and an idea for human alien relations. So I’ll work on this now that I’ve got the stage almost ready! Thanks for watching!!
It’s amazing what a few life forms can do to a landscape! They look really good. I like what you’ve done to those rocks too
Wow! I like the way this is developing. Very cool style too. So have you thought about what’ll happen in the foreground yet?
Good luck!
Dimitrij.
