Progress Log For Hand Painted Road Sign (Critique Wanted!)

AutumnPioneer

Hi all,

So i'm new to the hand painted scene, and polycount. I don't really have any experience with painting or digital painting, so any pointers and critique would be very welcome.

There is a lot of inspiring work on here, so i thought i'd get some motivation going for my own stuff too and log my progression. So here is where the piece is at so far. I'm just working in photoshop and blender currently.



Thank you!

AutumnPioneer

Coloured the main pole, about half way finished, needs more wear and grunge. Any feedback would be appreciated, as i'm finding it hard to make the dirt and metal to look right. Thanks!

aceofspades230

It's coming along good. What I would say is try and smooth the edge of the sign. As for the texture, I would add scratches to the paint and put some minor dirt here and there. Look at old signs for reference. Also is that a light at the top? If so that would be a nice touch once it's done.

AutumnPioneer

aceofspades230 said:

It's coming along good. What I would say is try and smooth the edge of the sign. As for the texture, I would add scratches to the paint and put some minor dirt here and there. Look at old signs for reference. Also is that a light at the top? If so that would be a nice touch once it's done.

Thank you for helping! Are you suggesting using more vertices for the edges of the sign? I thought it might be best to keep it low poly, but maybe I can spare a few more?

There are a few scratches on the sign already, but maybe they aren't big enough or have enough contrast, so I'll take another look and add dirt.

And yeah, there will be a light at the top to make it a bit more exciting. Thank you

aceofspades230

AutumnPioneer said:

aceofspades230 said:

It's coming along good. What I would say is try and smooth the edge of the sign. As for the texture, I would add scratches to the paint and put some minor dirt here and there. Look at old signs for reference. Also is that a light at the top? If so that would be a nice touch once it's done.

Thank you for helping! Are you suggesting using more vertices for the edges of the sign? I thought it might be best to keep it low poly, but maybe I can spare a few more?

There are a few scratches on the sign already, but maybe they aren't big enough or have enough contrast, so I'll take another look and add dirt.

And yeah, there will be a light at the top to make it a bit more exciting. Thank you

I mean it looks pretty low poly already, not sure what your poly count is, but it wouldn't hurt to add a little bit more poly's on the edge and smooth it as best you can.
I did see the scratches, but they should be in the texture as well as your normal, so they are more visible, but nothing too major you know? and I would add some dirt to the pole as well.
also, question what is the the green stuff? Over-all though, its looking pretty good. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

AutumnPioneer

aceofspades230 said:

I did see the scratches, but they should be in the texture as well as your normal, so they are more visible, but nothing too major you know? and I would add some dirt to the pole as well.
also, question what is the the green stuff?

Sorry, I'm new to all of this. What's the difference between normal maps and texture maps? I was under the impression that hand painted stuff was all done on the same map? Thanks again, will update more progress when my internet is working properly...

aceofspades230

Oh, fine to be new. we all start out new. good of you to come here for critiquing.
did you put the scratches in the texture? If so that makes sense. Normal maps are special amps that gives the model extra detail without modeling it. usual for the smaller detail. but yeah, I would add some color to scratches to make the a little more visable.
 you can have a normal map on model with hand painted textures. whether the texture map is hand painted or not, its still just a color map you know?
For an example, here is a hand painted sword I did that has a normal map on it:

AutumnPioneer

Thanks for the explanation. Normal maps are just for faking 3D right, without the extra polys? I'll add to the scratches tomorrow, and rework the light as it needs to be less bright and yellower. But for now i've got these shots.

I'm still looking for advice on painting the dirt, as it doesn't look right. Also, the green stuff at the top of the sign is a sort of stylised moss. 

aceofspades230

Yeah no problem. That is pretty much what normals are, extra detail that isn't modeled. Also, I would look at moss and kinda paint what you see. right now the moss looks like slime or sludge.
As for dirt, I would suggest getting grudge brushes, which some artist that make their own brushes will post online for free. Just use google haha. You might be able to use those brushes for your moss.