Mountain City

[rihana_m]

I've taken this image as far as I can, but it still doesn't feel as solid as I'd like. It's certainly not 100% finished - I'm just not sure where to go from here. Advice would be very much appreciated. :-)

For reference, the original pencil sketch can be found here.

[chaosrocks]

needs a big ol punch of value and shadow
its all kinda grey
decide where your light is
BAM!

chaos

[rihana_m]

Thank you for the advice. Light is something I struggle with constantly. I chose sunset in order to force myself to deal with that. Advice duly noted... I should readjust my shadows.

It does lack some deeper blacks - I think I chickened out when it came to adding those. I was too worried that it would wind up looking harsh.

[methion]

Not a bad premiere...
It does lack a strong focus, but the painting technique is very dynamic.

If you want to keep the overview, add more details. Give it some more character. The rocks are nice, but theres just too damn may of them.

Next go round, play with more sketches of different views. This layout made it hard to have a lot going on and still have a focus. The problem lies in the pre-planning.

[Whitevillage]

I like the concept. What I see that can be improved are the size of the houses. Some look very big or small, like the one at the very right, compared to the other houses at the same depth at the left from it. The rocks make me also confused about the perspective of your painting. They seem to bare mostly the same size.

[fajitaofdoom]

I like it. Just did a quick paintover to show an idea of how to add some more/deeper shadows to give it a little more shape. Hope that's alright. You might also consider smoothing out some of the rock face, right now its all chunks about the same size and the cracks between them are about the same depth. You could join a few into some larger flatter rock faces to make it more interesting.

[rihana_m]

Thank you for your critiques, and especially for the paintover.

I've started applying some of the advice that you have given me (including adding some sort of focus) and will post the resulting image when I get the chance. I needed a break from it for a bit (was getting frustrated).

[space-sprayer]

I definitely agree about the rocks being too similar. Try getting some different sizes, angles, shapes etc, and maybe overlay some texture to make it pop!
Nice work so far! Keep it up!

Nick

[rihana_m]

It's been a while, but I set it down to come back to later and didn't get the chance to work on it.

I took some of the lighting and texture, etc. comments into consideration.

I realize it still needs more of a focus so I'm in the process of enlarging the door on the righthand side of the painting.

There still seem to be too many rocks. hrm.

[JohnQ]

I agree with 'Chaos Rocks". The Light Just Seems To Be Everywhere. I Guess you gotta chose a light source.

[infinitemonkey]

The houses are a bit lost among the rocks. I would brighten the greens (lawns, plants, whatever) around them and tone down the rocks immediately around them just to make them pop a little more.

[rihana_m]

Oh, thank you! That's actually a very good suggestion.

I guess I'm going to have to listen to people about the rocks/light and redo them. I can't deny that the critiques are accurate, I just can't get them to look right. I'll keep hacking away at it though.

Thank all of you for your help so far, though. Things never look great in the 'intermediate' stage but hopefully by the time I'm done with this I'll have an overall stronger piece. I appreciate all of your input.

[rihana_m]

Ok, I've been working on the rocks. The rocks and the lighting seem to be the things people take issue with the most, and I can't address the lighting until I've addressed the rocks.

And this is me roughly blocking this out, some of the lighting layers have been turned off as well (just so I don't get any comments about needing to shade them :-P )

Still too many rocks?

[Hiddnfox]

if you struggle with light and value a good thing to do is to start out drawing you pictures in black and white to get that much needed value. It doesn't need to be B&W but just one color (i.e brown or blue) just draw it using that one color and adjusting how light or dark the 'paint' is. after that you can just paint over using a low opacity brush with the colors you desire

[CarlaEspana]

Hey I liked the rocks but I understand you want to give the environment character as well, it looks great with the added depth of shadow. Could I recommend adding trees among the houses, to make them stand out more? It seems everyone's input is making you work a lot harder (which is great) but mines just a matter of personal taste ;P I think trees would compliment the tiny houses with the large boulders etc. Again, great work