Struggling with Digital Painting
2yr
James Paris
Hey everyone, i come to you to ask for Help/advice
I don't know how to phrase it really, but I start to feel a bit anxious about this painting.
I'm pretty happy about the sketch , but when i look a the piece without the sketch layer, there is a whole " mushy/blurry " effect who's really bothering me.
I guess it comes from the lack of hard edges overhaul ?
I'm starting to think that maybe I went into redering too quickly ?
Everytime I add detail I feel more and more " stuck "
Should I push through this feeling and continue detailing it ?
Do you have any critique overhaul ?
( That's a lot of questions I know, but i'm really lost right now )
2yr
Hey everyone, sorry for the long break, here is the finished painting , I tried following your advices !
Thank you again @Christine Mitzuk @Liandro @Steve Lenze :D
2yr
Looks cool, @James Paris! 😄 Glad you took it to finish, great job! And thanks for sharing!
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2yr
Hi there, @James Paris! Sorry to be catching up a little late. Hope you’ve been able to carry through this piece since this was posted, and I’m curious to see how things have turned out!
I agree that this is a very interesting character, and I think the painting was coming out pretty good overall!
To solve that impression of “blurriness” in the painting, it’s exactly what @Steve Lenze said: hard edges and strong value contrasts. But, as Steve pointed out very well, save these for the focal point areas of your work, try not to overuse them. It’s actually great if you lack some definition (keep the edges softer and even lost) in a few “less important” areas - this helps direct the eye to the center of interest of your composition. In this case, since your idea is to use a very dim light, keeping lost edges on shadow areas (making them sort of “merge” with the background) and letting the viewer “complete” the picture sounds like a cool trick to try.
One thing I’d suggest would be to think about ways to add a few more higher values. I know it’s supposed to be a dark picture, but I think a few strategic highlights could help the character pop more and make for a more powerful composition. It could be the reflections on the eyes, or a “mock” rim light to help push the silhouette, or perhaps his teeth are self-lit, maybe they beam out light on their own - there can be various possible solutions depending on your preferences and style.
I personally don’t think you went into rendering to quickly, it seems about right! But whenever we feel stuck with a piece, I think the best strategy is to let it sit for a while if possible: go work on something else and maybe even “forget” about it, don’t keep trying to solve it. Then, do go back to it eventually (perhaps after a few days or even weeks, if needed) and it’s likely you’ll see it with fresh eyes and be better able to spot how to move on with it.
Hope this helps!
Happy painting!
2yr
Hi @Liandro , you really don't have to apologies !
I wasn't able to carry through this one yet
In a sens I actually followed your last advice without knowing, I took a little break from this piece and
" art making " in general
I started to dive into to many things and it was a bit overwhelming :D
I was afraid to burnout a little
But anyway, I will follow all the advices I got here and I'll tag you one this piece will be done :)
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2yr
Thank you again Steve and Christine , your advices will be really useful !
I will add that as I don't have any workflow yet for this type of piece, so I was starting to feel overwhelmed by this one
I think your help will prevent me from procrastinating ,and actually push through the struggle !
Ps : i'm sorry if my phrasing is weird sometimes or if I answer like a robot , still not super confortable typing in English :D
2yr
Hey James,
The first thing I do is look at what jumps out at me first. The eye is always drawn to the area of greatest contrast and hardest edges. Because of that, we save those for the area we want people to focus on. Right now, that is the teeth. Think about where you want people to look first, and make that the area of greatest contrast/ hard edges.
I personally believe it should be the front plane of the face and the hand. Hope that helps :)
2yr
Hi Steve !
The teeth were the last thing I worked on when i posted it.
( And it may be the first and only thing I started to detail actually )
Thank you for your advice, I'll keep that in mind and it will definitely help me place those hard egdes
(and get rid of that blurry feeling !)
2yr
Asked for help
I should also mention that I don't have much experience with " detailed pieces " , i tend to sketch a lot, but struggle much more when it comes to rendering/finishing a piece
2yr
Hey James, Keep going! It's an intriguing character portrait and solid drawing. I agree with what Steve wrote. I think it's just that you're mid-way in the process. It'll come together.
If you're planning on doing these next things, please ignore this next bit as I am not sure what you're intending to do next:
I would add that it looks like you're thinking about the direction of your light for the most part. And so it looks like you're going for a rendered piece. Do the same on the teeth and hand. Based on the amount of light to dark contrast that you have on the rest of the portrait it seems like a low powered light source. I would suggest lowering the value a little on the whole teeth mass. And then add the shadow side of the whole teeth mass
For finishing and making a "detailed piece":
- I would say that a big part of "finished"/"detailed pieces" in a rendered style is making sure the lighting is consistent. That gives your details some structure to anchor them. And then using those edges to help direct our focus, being selective about what to make crisp or soft.
- Not sure if you do this, I learned to use a lasso tool to select and then paint into a shape for making very crisp edges.
Lively personality in this creature. I'm also intrigued by what you're doing with the neck.
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