"PAINTOVER PLEASE" - painted crits on demand - with Steven Stahlberg

#1001

Hello again Steven. Firstly, I’d really like to thank you for these paint overs. I can’t stress enough how much I learn from them. I feel I get better by leaps and bounds with each one.

Anyway, I’ve been trying very hard to keep in mind all of the things I’ve learned, especially in the following pic. I’m trying my hardest here, and I’m wondering what could be better.

A description of what’s going on: This is set on some sort of alien planet, close to sun set. The area is a lush mountainous environment. The vegetation is fed by a waterfall off to the far left. Alien buildings are constructed to be in harmony with their environment looking like they’re a part of the mountains or jungle in which they are constructed. (I’m sure there was a better way to word that.) The buildings which extend beyond the jungle floor are on fire having recieved some damage from some unwanted visitors. The unwanted visitors are in the foreground. A chapter of Space Marine from Warhammer 40k called “Angry Marines” their motto: “always angry… all the time” One of them , a giant even in comparison to his battle brothers, has the alien leader captive . The alien leader is a beautiful blue skinned alien. Her legs are constructed similarly to a camel, but for the most part, she’s humanoid. Her fuschia colored hair is styled in to a top knot like pony tail which juts out behind the leg of the space marine that’s holding her. Her hand has only 3 fingers and 1 thumb, even though it can’t be seen. The other marine, a little shorter and slightly more stocky, is giving the Angry Marine “salute.”

#1002

Now that is a cool thread! bookmarks
Heh, I have ideas how to help on two paintings, especially for Gelvin :slight_smile: hope that Steven will have some time for her soon or else I’d love to try to help here :wink:

(edit: in private I mean I don’t want to disturb this thread _ but I’d also love to post a piece to get it overpainted anyways ^_^)

#1003

Greetings All!

Okay, this is my first venture into the paintovers here. I’m a little nervous. My goal is as an illustrator and I use whatever 3d program I can to create an image … therefore, I’m not trying to be a modeler. I use Bryce, Vue, Poser … and others, but work to individualize my work and give it an organic feel with emotion and expression. I want a look that is remanisent of Vallejo, Franzetta, Bama, Russell and Rockwell. Here is a piece I was particularly proud of but got a mediocre responce in other gallery/forums. I’d like some help to make this look like a proper illustration. (I do have a strong background in figure drawing and traditional art techniques). I’m just lost here. This is a Poser base with extensive Photoshop postwork.

Thank you for your help.
Sincerely
~ Boni ~

#1004

Dear Mr. Stahlberg
I read the hole thread and it’s great ,that u make it possible,hope u will overpaint this one from me.
One day i was in a very bad mood ,so i decided to paint me.This is the one.
It’s a vampire who bites just this second a women.Had no idea for the backround and there r still anatomical problems to fix.May u can fix the light,that it becomes more interesting.
Looking forward to your overpainting.
Best wishes to you,greets from germany

#1005

Dear MR.Stahlberg,

I hope you have time to do a paint-over from my latest drawing, i do not exactly know what’s wrong with it, but i think there are some faults in the lightning. And I would like to have more depth in the picture, can you please give me some advise how to continue at this drawing.

Any help would be nice,

greetings Edouard

here is the picture…

#1006

cool,
can I also have any reference you found for the suit of armor? It makes it easier

edit:

I have ideas how to help on two paintings, especially for Gelvin :slight_smile: hope that Steven will have some time for her soon or else I’d love to try to help here

Sure, I’m doing the paintovers right now, but by all means go ahead and add your comments, it can’t hurt. :slight_smile:

#1007

This is the reference i have used for the armor…sorry i don’t have a better picture.

greetings edouard

#1008

Here are the latest batch

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#1009

And the three last ones

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#1010

Thank you verry much, i’m gonna work on that some more.

Greetings Edouard

#1011

Thank you Stahlberg.

I really like what you did with her face. She looks more attractive now and i can finally
continue and finish it, now when i now a bit more what to do. Thanks again :slight_smile:

#1012

I would like your help once again with this one… Maybe you can help me getting the light (if it’s not , i really dont know …) and the mountains right…
If ever you have any tricks or councils , i would be very glad to receive some !

(sorry for the ‘‘gorgeous , is’nt?’’ I wrote it because i sent it to one of my friend who’s always teasing me because i’m never satisfy lol …)

#1013

It certainly can’t be repeated enough, this is an incredible thread. Helpful in the extreme. I was wondering if you had a few extra words about finding good photo reference, since it really is so key. I know sometimes a google image search turns up some wonderful results, but do you have any tips about where to go from there if you don’t find what you need?

#1014

Once again, I thank you for your time and the paintover. I learn more and more with each Paintover.

Now, just to make sure I've interpretted everything correctly, the Atmosphere wasn't right being varying shades of just reds and yellows. It needed some blues and purples to register as a sun set. The fires in the background were too intense. The anatomy of the woman needed tweaking. And I'm not quite sure how to word this, but the background needed to be pushed back using colors from the background to acheive atmospheric perspective. Finally, it seems like the lighting on the Marines needed work. I'm not sure how to word this either,  the shaded areas needed to draw from the darkest colors in the atmospere, and the high lights needed to be smaller, and more pronounced, since they're basically back lit. (Like the high light traveled to far on the head to make it look back lit.)

Is there anything that I missed or got wrong? Any other advice that you can offer.

Oh, and I hate to ask for another paintover, but I've got another one that I've gone as far as I can, SOMETHING is bugging me but I don't know how to go about changin and fixing it and I need guidance. 
[](http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/thegreensquid/Dakka_Vs_Daemonette_Color_by_morgan.jpg)[Killa Kans vs Daemonettes (nsfw.. I think)](http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7632/dakkavsdaemonettecolorbba3.jpg)

Basically, it's based on a miniature game that a friend and I were playing. It was [these guys](http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/orks/catalog/killerkan.htm) vs [these guys .](http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/chaosspacemarines/catalog/daemonettes.htm)a The Daemonettes attacking from cover, destroying one Kan, as the other Kan misses with it's close combat weapon. I added the towers to try and make things more interesting and involved, but I'm not sure if they confuse things or help. I have a bunch of concerns about the painting it self, basically, I have no idea how to paint a buzzsaw in motion, a flat circle would just look like a dinner plate. Moreover, I'm not sure what it would look like when a buzzsaw would impact in to rock. (And I'm not too eager to go out and shoot that particular reference, lol.)  I'm concerned about the Warboss Ork in the background, but that's all I can really say. The kans themselves, well I can sum up in one sentence, "Ork Technology works because they believe it can." I'm not quite sure how to go about making the Kans look like pieces of crap, without making them look like pieces of crap (err... if that made sense.) The daemonettes themselves, I don't even know what to say. Think daemonic exotic dancers with claws that can tear a tank to shreds.
#1015

this thread is amazing! steven you are a great man.

I dont post here enough, daunting sometimes, but heres a piece i need help with.

I had a really rough time getting the massive army to show as…massive.

#1016

I know sometimes a google image search turns up some wonderful results, but do you have any tips about where to go from there if you don’t find what you need?

You have to be very careful about the wording - not too specific, not too general. Too specific and you don’t get enough hits, too general and you get too many and the good ones are hidden on page 312. You also have to try a few different variations of your search terms. If you have Safe Search on, and nothing is coming up, you may want to switch it off temporarily.
Also be prepared to alter your search terms, refining or redirecting as you gather more knowledge during your search - sort of like a hunt for clues.
You can also try
flickr.com
http://pro.corbis.com/
http://creative.gettyimages.com/source/frontdoor/DefaultRMImages.aspx?brandID=41

#1017

Great to see how you’re helping the community Steven. I did this painting some time ago and I really liked how the head and weapon came out but I had a hard time with the rest of his body. It would be nice to see what direction you would have taken with it. Thanks in advance!

    [img]http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r304/swendly/sohei_smal.jpg[/img]
       [](http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)
#1018

Initially i was tryin to figure out why have u shown the legs too in the image … Then it just suddenly struck me that it was the reason why it seemed like an odd twist to the man and the strange shape to the torso in my image .This change really was something … and also … mainly … told me that i better get my concept more practical and then work on it …

Thanx a lot sir !

#1019

I thought I’d ask for a paint over as well. I read through most of this thread yesterday (and late into the night), so when I sat down to work on this painting today I made some changes to try to put into practice what I observed from the paint overs.

The main area I feel I need help is finding the right way to make the hand holding the eyeball “pop” more. That hand (and the eye) should be a main focal point, but since the hand is covered in blood (which is dark) I’m having a tough time making it stand out in a way that seems believable. Also, I may have over compensated by making the eyeball TOO light and attention grabbing.

A little help would be greatly appreciated.

#1020

Hi there I wonder if you could help paint over my latest work. I try to get better at realistic painting but I don’t seam to get it any help and advice. Also here is refrence too.