164 replies to this topic

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

I changed my mind and I worked further on the lightening. I think the new version is much better! Thank you Aliya!

Death Tyrant

Edited by Silinde Ar-Feiniel, 12 March 2009 - 09:47 AM.

[Aliya]

If you need the 'it comes from the darkness' effect, use soft brush and on a new layer, paint some black. Then set it to Linear Burn. That should do it.
Anyway, use the 'Screen' effect on its tentacles.

[WeeRLegion]

I think you've shaded it too much according to the surface shapes, and not the overall bulb-shape; it makes it look a bit flat. Mmm, maybe could also use a rougher texture, looks kinda smooth. @_@

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

Death Tyrant V3


@Aliya
Thanks for the advice! I've used a screen layer for extra lightening!

@WeeR
I hope in the new version the shading is not that bad. I'm trying to create an effect that the Death Tyrant comes out from a dark cave in the underdark. Maybe it's not completely successful... but anyway I like it enough. I believe that with the magic thingy as a light source, the upper part of the cave should be bright while the down part of the cave walls should be less bright but brighter that the beholder's shaded half part in order to "come out". I'm too lazy to start all over creating a new background with a rougher texture but I'll use your advise on future drawings.

[WeeRLegion]

Oh, uhm, I meant the skin texture, aside the major ridges and bumps, it's a bit rubbery looking. Really, none of my comments were concerned with the background. .p
Hmmm. I think it'd be better if you used a secondary lightsource for the underside highlights on the creep. As it is, the lighting from the magicky effect sorta 'bends' a bit to also light the jaw-spikes and what not; it's not realistic, and thus leaves it a bit lacking in the perspective department.


Mmm...
It's not a bad picture, but the nightmare was that much more kickass. ^^

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

Oh, uhm, I meant the skin texture, aside the major ridges and bumps, it's a bit rubbery looking. Really, none of my comments were concerned with the background. .p
Hmmm. I think it'd be better if you used a secondary lightsource for the underside highlights on the creep. As it is, the lighting from the magicky effect sorta 'bends' a bit to also light the jaw-spikes and what not; it's not realistic, and thus leaves it a bit lacking in the perspective department.


Mmm...
It's not a bad picture, but the nightmare was that much more kickass. ^^

Sorry for misunderstanding! lol So about a skin texture, how am I supposed to do this? Using a special brush? Or is it a technique? I've only created a special brush for rock texture but i really doubt if it would do for it. So any ideas? Here is the pic I used as reference if it helps. Probably i'll let it as it is for now because i'm tired working on it and move to new thingys. But anyway, i'll need the texture advice for future works.

PS: I know it's off topic but do you know any bands who play with 7-strings guitar like Korn? I mean able-to-play bands. (that means Dream Theater and Nevermore won't do due to great level of difficulty)

[Epantiras]

Looks good
I agree with Legion's idea about adding a secondary light source, make it of a different color maybe (blue or red, it depends on the 'mood' you want to convey)

[WeeRLegion]

Tips? Hmm. Zoom in? .p
The idea would be to break up the solid highlights with smaller and darker shades (somewhat sharp edged, but only slightly darker), to create the illusion of little cracks and protrusions.
Keeping it faint enough would be key.


A band, eh, well... There's this finnish band, but they're mostly light-rock.
And, umm, IIRC, KoS used a 7-string on this track:

Oh, and there's another finnish band. Stam1na.
Tabs

It's in finnish, but eh... Just look for the section under the A-D-A-D-G-H-E tuning and the GP version. .p

Edited by WeeRLegion, 13 March 2009 - 02:20 AM.

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

Tips? Hmm. Zoom in? .p
The idea would be to break up the solid highlights with smaller and darker shades (somewhat sharp edged, but only slightly darker), to create the illusion of little cracks and protrusions.
Keeping it faint enough would be key.


A band, eh, well... There's this finnish band, but they're mostly light-rock.
And, umm, IIRC, KoS used a 7-string on this track:

Oh, i now got it! Thanks for the advice! You're right about it. I had done some shading but it was "burned" by the light. I'll see if i can add some extra shading directly to the final pic. Maybe i'll try it later. For now i've got to learn some songs to play with my band. Lol
I'll check the ones you suggested. The finnish band i'm afraid won't do because our singer won't have a chance with it haha

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

Info: Faerie Dragons are little dragons, the size of a pseudodragon or a wyrmling with butterfly (fairy) wings on their back. Although they are small and cute, they can be very powerful. Most faerie dragons are Chaotic Good, they have pure heart but they are very playful. (wikipedia)

Made in march 2009

Credits: brushes used from Obsidian Dawn http://www.obsidiandawn.com/

Faerie Dragon


As always, i'd love to hear your comments!

[Epantiras]

Awww cute
I like the little sparks around the flower and how the wings are so bright compared to the rest of the picture. What bout the background? Did you draw the trees yourself or did you use some stock picture (I'm asking 'cause I can't draw them that good).
I like seeing the 'drawn lines', I think you should keep on using them until you're confident enough with coloring that you can make almost-realistic pictures where drawn lines are not visible.
BTW I've noticed that you always make the creature's name blend with the background, making it not so easy to read: is it a stylistic choice?

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

Awww cute
I like the little sparks around the flower and how the wings are so bright compared to the rest of the picture. What bout the background? Did you draw the trees yourself or did you use some stock picture (I'm asking 'cause I can't draw them that good).
I like seeing the 'drawn lines', I think you should keep on using them until you're confident enough with coloring that you can make almost-realistic pictures where drawn lines are not visible.
BTW I've noticed that you always make the creature's name blend with the background, making it not so easy to read: is it a stylistic choice?

Thanks Epantiras!
Well thank you so much about your kind words! You know that without your help i wouldn't make such progress. Btw, I was just going to PM you about the "drawn lines". I'm wondering if I should keep them or not. For example, Death Tyrant and Nightmare are without lineart while the others are with lineart. Do you think I'm ready to try without linart? In that case how am I supposed to work? I mean, should i draw over them or just work without them (placing just shadows in their place?)
As about the trees, I didn't draw them (don't worry, you can still draw better than me ), and they're not even stock pictures, they're brushes! Normally, tree brushes suck IMO. BUT: I put the opacity low (about 30%) in order to fade. While the front brushes are with bigger opacity. Adding some random clouds (before the tree brushes in layer order) on a deep green background in very low opacity with color range from deep green to bright yellow-green (adding the brights on the top and the deeper to the bottom), then adding some light effect and whoa! It looks cool! I actually discovered this by luck! But I'll keep this technique! I like it! What do you think?
Well, about the creature name, I can say, it is intended to blend with the background, in order not to attract much attention. It's just info and the drawing which is the main theme should be the eye-catcher. Btw, I seriously think that my laptop screen shows the images somewhat more bright... lol

PS: I know it's off topic but what do you think about joining fan-clubs in DA?

Edited by Silinde Ar-Feiniel, 22 March 2009 - 04:36 PM.

[Epantiras]

Adding some random clouds (before the tree brushes in layer order) on a deep green background in very low opacity with color range from deep green to bright yellow-green (adding the brights on the top and the deeper to the bottom), then adding some light effect and whoa! It looks cool! I actually discovered this by luck! But I'll keep this technique! I like it! What do you think?

Good technique, that's how I used to paint vegetation with real paint (at school when I was 13... aww good days) and I kept using it even with digital art, even though I choose brushes according to what kind of plant I want to paint (and a lot depends on my mood too).

I'd suggest you to keep on using linearts for now. You should be a little better at using light and shadows to outline objects, otherwise your pics will be too messy and blurred. I'm not very confident with painting without lines myself, it's something I've started doing only after learning to use the tablet. If you want to "speed up" your learning, I suggest you to find a good photo of a face, paste it on one half of your virtual canvas and try to copy it on the other half; no tracing, of course. This should help you to understand how lights and shadows help the human eye to recognize shapes. It may sound funny, but paitning a portrait of myself from a photo of mine helped me a lot!
For example, if you see my avatar on the left, it has been painted without lines from the start: I used lights and shadows to outline features like the nose, the chin and the horns; there are "light dots" on both upper and lower eyelids so you feel that the eye is not flat but is a round surface. There is light on the skin right above the lips but not below (BTW lips are damn hard to paint! Especially male lips as if you don't paint them with the right shapes and the right lights they end up looking like female lips).

I sent you a PM about DA ;-)

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

Adding some random clouds (before the tree brushes in layer order) on a deep green background in very low opacity with color range from deep green to bright yellow-green (adding the brights on the top and the deeper to the bottom), then adding some light effect and whoa! It looks cool! I actually discovered this by luck! But I'll keep this technique! I like it! What do you think?

Good technique, that's how I used to paint vegetation with real paint (at school when I was 13... aww good days) and I kept using it even with digital art, even though I choose brushes according to what kind of plant I want to paint (and a lot depends on my mood too).

I'd suggest you to keep on using linearts for now. You should be a little better at using light and shadows to outline objects, otherwise your pics will be too messy and blurred. I'm not very confident with painting without lines myself, it's something I've started doing only after learning to use the tablet. If you want to "speed up" your learning, I suggest you to find a good photo of a face, paste it on one half of your virtual canvas and try to copy it on the other half; no tracing, of course. This should help you to understand how lights and shadows help the human eye to recognize shapes. It may sound funny, but paitning a portrait of myself from a photo of mine helped me a lot!
For example, if you see my avatar on the left, it has been painted without lines from the start: I used lights and shadows to outline features like the nose, the chin and the horns; there are "light dots" on both upper and lower eyelids so you feel that the eye is not flat but is a round surface. There is light on the skin right above the lips but not below (BTW lips are damn hard to paint! Especially male lips as if you don't paint them with the right shapes and the right lights they end up looking like female lips).

I sent you a PM about DA ;-)

Very usefull advice! Thank u Epantiras!
Of course i wanna "speed up" lol the only thingy i'm afraid is that i've started to see pixels everywhere from staying too many hours on the PC @_@

a good photo of a face-->probably not my face then haha

there are "light dots" on both upper and lower eyelids so you feel that the eye is not flat but is a round surface--> I think i already use this technique, you can see it in my DA bigger resolution of Faerie Dragon Well if you zoom you should be able to see it

Also you are absolutely right about the lips, they're one of the most difficult part of the face.
Overall I'll try to use your advice as much I can. Thanks once again!

[Aliya]

Oooh! So nice! Do you want to practise with somewhat another style? Without lineart? But still it's awesome!

If you look at dragon's right hand/paw (whatever) its fingers are a bit weird. Maybe you should, I dunno, Split them up a little? Don't know how to say it in English...

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

Oooh! So nice! Do you want to practise with somewhat another style? Without lineart? But still it's awesome!

If you look at dragon's right hand/paw (whatever) its fingers are a bit weird. Maybe you should, I dunno, Split them up a little? Don't know how to say it in English...

Thank you for your words Aliya! It's nice to hear that you like my current style! Yes, i will try new thingys soon! I will try to do art without linart. But don't wait to see any masterpieces soon... lol I have to progress step by step in digital world! There are millions of thing to learn @_@ but i'll try some basics!

Don't worry, I understand what you are trying to say. I know hands didn't turned out perfect but i hope it's not so bad. I'll keep what you're saying in my mind in order to avoid the same thingy in the future. For now i'll keep it as it is because the fingers are so long that i'm afraid that if i split them they will seem unstable (and more weird) .Ty anyway!

[WeeRLegion]

Oh, didn't comment yet it seems. .p

Yeahh, it's looking real nice, just a few minor anatomical details on the dragon gouge at my eyes, but that's nothing big, and the colors and atmosphere are quite quite spot on good. ^^

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

Oh, didn't comment yet it seems. .p

Yeahh, it's looking real nice, just a few minor anatomical details on the dragon gouge at my eyes, but that's nothing big, and the colors and atmosphere are quite quite spot on good. ^^

Thanks WeeR! I hope to improve my dragon anatomy by doing more dragons! But maybe i'll use something more easy to work on new techniques. But anyway i'll sure try more dragons soon or later!

[Silinde Ar-Feiniel]

Info: Gold dragons are the most powerful of the metallic dragons, and the most dedicated to defeating evil. They spend the bulk of their lives in human form, seeking out evil and punishing wrongdoers to the best of its considerable abilities. Its typical mode of operation runs roughly along the lines of a sting operation: the dragon will listen for stories of dangerous or evil creatures or persons, then reveals its true form and metes out punishment. They prefer to turn villains over to law enforcement if available, but will ultimately take whatever actions they deem necessary in order to see justice served. They are best summarized as the paladins of the draconic world.

Gold dragons can often be seen talking and teaching their acquired wisdom to humans, elves, aasimar and other non-hostile races. When forced to fight, gold dragons prefer to converse with intelligent creatures, using Intimidate and Sense Motive to gain the upper hand. Their attitude towards visibly evil characters is not as forgiving though, as it will try to eradicate any evil aspects in its territory. (Forgotten Realms Wiki)

I tried some new thingys with this one. I've made some anatomical mistakes in the wings but i'm still learning It really took me countless hours to complete it...

Created in April 2009

Credits: Brushes used from Obsidian Dawn

Gold Dragon


I'd love to hear your comments!

[WeeRLegion]

Ooo! That's REALLY neat!
Good colors, particularly like the wing & tail-flap fringes. This time the texture looks right too. Very neat indeed. ^^