Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Jopax]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think i overdid the color settings and that kinda killed the sweet little shiny details on his left hand that i really liked, but nevermind, i still think he's nice

[Spreggo]

This one shows a lot of improvement I think. The forms are much more clearly defined he has some weight to him. Don't hide the feet!

[Jopax]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Some music inspired randomness, does anyone know how to make bladed weapons look shrap, to me they always end up looking like overly shiny clubs -.-

[strongrudder]

Some music inspired randomness, does anyone know how to make bladed weapons look sharp, to me they always end up looking like overly shiny clubs -.-

There's a few things that might help. First of all, blades should generally look relatively thin and flat, so you wouldn't confuse them for something round and blunt (also because this makes them lighter and more practical). The shadows won't wrap around the form because it's flat - you're more likely to have a linear gradient if you have one at all.

Another thing is most blades have a separate plane for the sharp edge. It needs to have a certain thickness to be strong, but the cross section will taper down to that small, sharp edge. And that plane will react differently to light than the rest of the blade.

Here's a photo that shows that sharp, ground-down edge pretty well. See how it stands out from the rest of the blade?

I defined the edge on the axe in this drawing even under the blood. It's mostly including that plane, and separating it from the rest of the blade, that makes a weapon look sharp to me.

[Spreggo]

I'm just going to leave this here in case anyone still wants it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Sean Mirrsen]

I'm sort of trying to go for a guild-worthy look for my next DF-related image, so I thought I'd ask if this mug has any severe flaws I should be aware of:



prepost edit: I kinda see a few myself now, especially around the nose, but I'd still prefer someone to point them out.

[joss]

A penciled skull, coloured and enhanced in PS

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A pencil/graphite portrait of a random girl from DA, once again coloured and enhanced in PS.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A Bridgman study from distant times, when I still knew how to draw proper.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Spreggo]

Sean: Where is your light coming from?

Joss: Great work, is the skull recent?

[joss]

Well, it's from last summer, so I don't know if you consider it recent or not.
E: Also this.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Sean Mirrsen]

Sean: Where is your light coming from?

From the front (as in, from the "viewport"), more or less. I'm going to shift it around a little before I find a proper angle, but most likely it'll be on the dwarf's face level, slightly to the viewer's left (a torch held in the off hand).

edit: the whole thing will look something like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm pondering whether or not to expand the image down so as to give the legs more length, and whether or not to redraw the axe to the image's right side so as to avoid drawing drop shadows from it on the dwarf.

[Spreggo]

Cast shadows of the axe will give it a lot of depth so I Think you shouldn't avoid them.

He looks like he is crouching now. Unless that is intentional then I think the legs should be longer.

[Jopax]

With my internet being gimped untill the rest of the month i really can't upload or see much stuff, but i do have a friend who can, so i had him upload something i did, anyway, it's not finished yet, i want to color it but i really don't know how, i would like it to give off that generally cool cavern feel, with dark blues and to lighten up the middle with some warmer stuff as light comes in from that point, any suggestions on how should i go about coloring it all?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Spreggo]

When I did that cave wizard one a while back, the number one thing I realized was that I was going way overboard on cooling it down. I had colors that looked warm relatively, but I lacked the wider range that should include purer warms, especially for points of interest.

One thing I would recommend is not to just 'color' it. Using a color layer makes a painting look dead. You just can't saturate the darks like is needed for a piece to look alive. Literally repaint over it in opaque colors. Using a color layer is quick and easy but quick and easy does not make a good painting.

So yeah, remember that dark areas tend to be very saturated dark hues, not desaturated dark greys. Oh ~ and pick a palette of colors from the start. Maybe find some photos or other paintings with color schemes and base it off of that. Try to limit yourself to 5 or 6 colors plus white, and 'mix' from those. Avoid using any black at all.

Sorry, a little bit muddled. Let me know if I'm not answering the question.

[Soadreqm]

I think most photos of caves I've seen have kind of lame colors. Probably because they use artificial lighting and the subject matter is basically just rock walls Usually limestone or something like that, since most caves are caused by the rock getting dissolved by water. Basically just bland off-white. And the conditions are usually cramped and otherwise terrible for photography. I quick search of Wikimedia Commons brought up a whole bunch of pics, but you said your internet was gimped, so I guess you can't look at them?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (There's plenty more there, which probably won't help you, due to aforementioned internet thing.)
Some of the rock formations are very pretty, but colors are basically dirty brown, dirty shadowy dark brown, dirty off-white, and black. In the ones taken against a cave entrance, you get a mix of searing white and almost black that might as well be monochrome. What's wrong with using black, by the way?

Anyway, what I'm going for is that flash photography of real caves doesn't really work for natural light in fantasy caves. I guess it'd mostly be blues and greens, with extremely heavy contrast between light and shadow. Maybe some sparkle here and there, with light reflecting from dwarven constructions, or exposed formations of ore or jewels. That tunnel's lit from the inside, right? There's something like a fire going on over there. Yeah, I'd suggest doing it the other way 'round. Use cold colors for surfaces lit by sunlight and warm for surfaces lit by people.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Decided to give the axe a bit of polish before starting to detail the dwarf...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)