Stuck with draft/underpainting
3yr
Mattias Wirf
So, I guess this is what happens when your to eager and want to get started. I had this idea of painting spring as a woman (and it was spring outside, inspiring), and she was going to come down and conjure up flowers from the ground with a dark woody background. I got this up as quick as possible on a 70x90 cm canvas. Now I'm undecided on how to continue. I guess I should have listened when they talk about thumbnails, lol. There is going to be white small flowers where she touches the ground. It is back to the drawingboard for me, but if anyone has comments or ideas I'm all ears. This is off course very, very far from finished... I was even hesitant if I could post it, but what the heck, here it is.
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Jessica Harrison
I agree with the others in doing color studies and smaller thumbnails. I use to not do any preplanning because I'd be so excited to get to the painting. Since starting to plan ahead of time though, I've found my paintings to really improve and come out closer to what I had initially envisioned. I feel like you could play with color temperature more here. You could push the cool, less life-like colors in the background and then push some more warm, rosy colors to the figure, to help show how spring time brings about blooms, life, etc. Your figure is looking good and I like the gesture of her pose! Similar to what Luigi and Yiming said, taking color notes from the background and adding them onto the figure will also be a good way to tie the background and figure together. Also the contrast of those cooler notes on the warmer skin will help those colors pop more.
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Mattias Wirf
An updated, very small colourstudy, that will bring it closer to what I want.
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Luigi Manese
Really cool painting @Mattias Wirf! When I get stuck on a painting, I kind of have a checklist of concepts I like to roll through to make sure each aspect of my piece is working. For this one, I brought it back to the value stage and focused a bit more on values, light, and a tiny bit on composition. So, the lighting logic on your figure is off, BUT I do like how it basically turns the figure into a very clear bright shape to help her stand out in the composition. I'd say if you want to keep the light like this, it might be ok in this scenario. I just cleaned up your shadows a bit so that the shadow value matches the upper part of the leg that's completely in shadow. Additionally, I added a cast shadow to bring a bit more light logic to the piece. To contrast with the idea of 'Spring', I think it might be a cool idea to add variety to the background through the trees. I've chosen to use trees without leaves on them, which gives them a more threatening shape that contrasts with the main focus of your piece. You don't necessarily have to go in this direction, but it is a good idea to consider how you can use background elements to add variety to your painting, and give greater emphasis to your focal areas. I also think that Yiming's comment on color is valid as well. The areas like the grass and dirt in the foreground seem a bit too warm, especially when the colors should be influenced by the ambient cool light that we can see in the background. Hope you found this helpful! Let me know if there is anything that I can clear up for you.
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Mattias Wirf
Thanks for your comment :) Yes, that was kind of the way I was going down. I will probably try to be a little bit looser in style too. I have some reference photos I have been thinking of for the woods - I photographed them in quite chilly conditions about 12 years ago :) I have trouble making the colours on her, and with the light, work together with it. I have a model reference shot indoors in studio light. Hm, maybe I should try different colours digitally first.
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Yiming Wu
This is an unusual and interesting pose. I think what you could do next is to add indirect light reflections. You see the human colour is a bit "disconnected" with the whole frame, so it might be good to introduce some blue/green-ish reflections on her skin so the viewer can see it's united. the leg seems to have that idea already, it might be the brightness is too high as a reflection so it didn't quite unite the image that well.
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Mattias Wirf
Thank you for your comment :) Yes, one plan was to add some reflections from the left and also let her leg and feet almost fade away in the dark cold forest. I've had trouble finding reference images for the light I had in mind though.
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