Art I have made, looking for critique...

[wizelsnarf]

This is the first card art I freehanded


For this card: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,12024.0.html

It was the first card I free hand painted. I did it all in gimp, using the HORRID touchpad on my laptop no less. (really need to buy a mouse)

I tried to think of what vrt said about many layers of low opacity. I started with a wire frame, then painted over that (without worry about the lines). As the tree came together I tried and unify the lighting (though it is a little off because when I first made it I assumed light was left but later added light from top left. I also painted the grass, snow and flower buds by hand.

The leaves were from a preset brush so I cheated a little there but it looks good so I am not going to complain.

Any thoughts/suggestions for future art? (sorry for crappy gif quality)

[ratcharmer]

That's really good. 

Do you have just the images by themselves?

I'll have to try the "many low opacity layers" thing.

[redium]

The biggest issue concerning the art is the emptiness.  If you could throw in clouds it would do wonders.  The colors are nice, the form of the tree is a little off but very forgivable, how the leaves change and snow forms are great touches.

[Djhopper :)]

The biggest issue concerning the art is the emptiness.  If you could throw in clouds it would do wonders.  The colors are nice, the form of the tree is a little off but very forgivable, how the leaves change and snow forms are great touches.

He lies, its awesome

[Krava]

hmm, critique.....

Here's some!

“The panels, a touchstone of familiarity to the bourgeoisie, as immense labia beckoning, even taunting the onlooker to become, to be the phallus penetrating into Mother Nature – the maternal yin imprisoned in the mechanistic yang of the city and yet floating above the concept of restraint – the “Four seasons” welcome yet repel; they silently ululate like a shtetl of schmatte-clad yentas and yet remain silent with the deafening-yet-voiceless torment of the ur-mensch; metaphysical yet material (or rather neo-material, smug in its tangibility yet internally, silently, futilely screaming in horror at its immateriality. The “Four seasons” are, in short, of a piece with and yet utterly discontiguous from the fundamental leitmotifs of our age.”


Oh, you meant constructive criticism!

ok, ok, it looks very well for a way you did it. Also clouds or some kind of sky could give it depth. Yeah, depth is missing. I think you need a shadow of a tree. Fall is actually very good!

[guolin]

Excellent! I could never freehand that well.

[vrt]

I'd pick apart the individual images, if you'd be as kind as to post them.

[wizelsnarf]

[wizelsnarf]

ok, ok, it looks very well for a way you did it. Also clouds or some kind of sky could give it depth. Yeah, depth is missing. I think you need a shadow of a tree. Fall is actually very good!

Yeah I think it is lacking depth. It really shows in that the branches are 2d. They only stick out to the side, not to the back or front. I was able to give the trunk a little illusion of dimension but I failed on the branches. I couldn't figure out how to get them to stick out of the screen. Summer makes it look 3d with leaves in front but I couldn't figure it out for the other seasons...

[guolin]

Wow, the way you made the tree(s) is just brilliant. Can you give me a tutorial on this kind of freehanding (using pixlr if possible), wizel?

[vrt]

Alright, let me give you some proper critique then.

Kicking it off with the tree trunk image here..

Your brush lines form a nice texture on the tree, but there's little contrast. A little more colour and value contrast could've really made the tree stand out a tad more.[/li] Mind the edge strokes! The trunk has a few brush strokes going outside the general shape; do clean those up.[/li]Branches cast shadows. Mind that self-shadow is an easy way to convey depth and volume.[/li]

The seasons:

The spring blossoms are a bit blurry, thanks to the default soft brush you used. Try and add more definition to them.[/li]Are those summer leaves the scattered leaf brush with lighting effects applied? Nice. Again though, try and add some more shadow and contrasting area's.[/li] Snow falls randomly. Your layers of snow are distributed really evenly, and have the same colour.. Mix things up a little.[/li]On all images mentioned above: Incorporate the tree's roots! They just look a bit.. slapped on, as it is.[/li]Autumn one needs lots more colour to be convincing. The leaves on the ground need some shadows around them, too.[/li]

Basically, the things you want to work on first are depth, light and colour. For depth, try painting up some quick landscapes from reference. Notice how it gets lighter and more desaturated towards the distance? Desaturating will also help, and show you wether or not you used a nice full field of values. For light, be critical of your own work, flip it horizontally to see what you're actually doing. Colour, finally, is the hardest of all. There's plenty of articles on colour theory out there, though, go out and find some.


All in all, a nice start. I think you could push it a bit and become even better quite easily.