Kelson's Work

#1

I am new to concept art and looking to learn what i need to work on most to improve. So please leave as much critique as you can give.

A little about me
I use Photoshop and have a cheap Monoprice graphic tablet. I am starting school next fall to get a degree in graphic design. I just want to see where i stand right now and what i can work on to start on the path to becoming a great concept artist.

Here are a few of my images


Thank you for taking the time to look at my artwork and critiquing it.

Kelson

#2

I’m not really that knowledgeable about concept art, but I’d say this: your werewolf dude is pretty interesting - he is stylised and has character - but the other two are held back by technical problems.

I’d suggest looking at some photos of cars and jets for the second pic, and landscapes for the third, to get an idea of colour and tone. It looks like what you’ve done is decide what colour something’s going to be, then picked it out, then done some minor variations of light and dark there. That’s not how light behaves though. Even in settings with little colour variation, or bright backdrops, there is a lot more depth of colour, shadow and specular (shine) than you’ve put it.

See a shiny metallic surface here:

…or a matt surface here:

As for the desert, you’re not referencing real colours, so it ends up looking washed out and weak. See how even without strong lighting or brilliant sunsets desert stone has a much greater breadth of colour and value than in your image:

To paint without reference, you need to have a really good foundation in art, and usually even then it won’t look as good as if you had something to go from. So, always try to find some refs!

Hope this was helpful.

#3

You are trying to do stuff that’s way too advanced for your skill/knowledge level. You need to first learn how to draw/paint properly through effective technical rendering exercises, as well as learn the critical foundations of visual art such as composition, perspective, values, lighting, color theory, anatomy/figure, and so on.

If you haven’t yet, go to the Art Techniques & Theories forum and read the sticky threads (linked below in my signature).

#4

The goal of a concept artist is to be so comfortable drawing and painting that you can put most of your attention on the subject, not the techniques involved, and that means a solid foundation as an artist, in all areas - composition, perspective, technique, anatomy, lighting, color theory, and hours and hours and hours of practice and study. It’s entirely out of the scope of this forum to teach you this, honestly.

You’re starting a degree in design, which generally does not cover basic art techniques. I’d urge you to take some basic art courses, if you can, especially a drawing class, an anatomy class, and a beginning painting class. The things you learn there can be applied 100% to digital painting. If your goal is to be a concept artist, a degree in design will pay the bills, but won’t do much to make you a better artist - and I say that as a professional designer and illustrator - I studied both in college. The design pays the bills, while I work as an artist freelance.

I urge you to continue to post as you learn and grow as an artist, just be patient and keep going!

#5

Thank you all for your posts. They are vary helpful. i do intend on taking begining drawing classes. here is another image i just did that is not all the way done but i wanted to show it before i get it all detaild.

#6

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