First Digital Painting

acidrain

Hey guys,

I've been mostly lurking in here for a long time. I've been messing around with modeling and mapping as a hobby and thought that I should probably start from the basics and build up from there.

So I'm posting my first digital painting here for some critiques. It'd just a painting of a girl. It doesn't look quite right so I'm hoping to get some feedback and work from there.

Thanks!

d00kie

nice shot!
Good job on the hair and creating an eerie mood I'd say. Not bad for a first timesies.
Now on to some other things.
Her eyes are crazy bugged. I dunno if you were going for an off anime-manga-hybrid or a more real life look, but the eyes were the first thing that made me go "egads!". Then again, I could be wrong and this could the workings of your style.
Either way, those eyes are doing an off kilter stare into my soul kinda thing and it's making me tingle. maybe it's the wine....

Take a gander at some real life photos of chicas and try and mix and mingle to get a more natural look to the face. Adding some background element could also help to deter that overwhelming sense of creepy, not unless that's what you were going for.

You have sort of a sense of light and shadow goin on, which is good. Try and actually create a light source to determine where your lights, midtones, DEFTONES, and shadows will be. It'll make it pop off the page and into your lap!

P.S. omg she has no neck! and it's definitely the wine.

U USIN A WAYCUM?

00Zero

thats cool, i would focus more on facial planes though and not worry about making everything look smooth and nice. it can look just as good if its rough and dirty

Vrav

Yeah, try to focus on drawing without using the soft brushes. Overuse of such a tool is sort of a "trademark of the beginner," like the smudge tool (though many professionals can use it properly and well) or filters.

However I would say it is a splendid start and of course encourage you to carry on. Draw from reference, too, though there are two ways to go from that—you can either attempt to copy the model/photo/mirror/whatever accurately and precisely, which is a tried-and-true method of drawing training, but does not really force you to learn anatomy, colour theory or anything. So, there is also to paint using it merely as "reference," referring to any number of references to gain knowledge of form, lighting, texture, etc, and apply them to the thing you're drawing. Is my one cent, good luck!

I'd call this first painting done and move on, to continue experimenting, simplifying brushwork and studying from reference.

Axios

This goes along with the facial planes bit, but her face is looking a little concave to me. Maybe work on defining the cheekbones and make the shading on the cheeks and nose a bit more pronounce. Otherwise, this is pretty good for a first time, especially in the hair. Keep it up.

slipsius

ya, looks concave to me as well. i think its the shadows around the nose actually. yes, the right side is darker, but the left side is dark as well, when thats the side the light is coming from. dark shadows on both sides push the nose back into the face.

i really like the colouring in the eyes thou. you did a pretty good job with the iris'

cycloverid

acidrain: I just thought I'd make a quick suggestion about your technique and approach.

You did a bunch of nice work on top of some weak perspective here. Make sure to set up some groundwork first, and learn to draw the face from many angles. Do this before you use color or lots of shading. I'll usually just start like this:



Just open up a new photoshop doc, and make tons of these - starting with a basic head shape like the one on the left there. Once you can crank these out, I'd start learning to shade and color your portraits.

I never said I was a pro btw, so make sure you check out some sketchbooks at conceptart.org first!!

okno

Try and look for pictures of skulls and facial muscles and become familiar with their shape. It helps you understand what you're drawing at the surface level.

AsaNYC

Take everyone's advice on this page. They all echo the same basic sentiment: study to understand what you're trying to draw, and do it over and over again.

The one thing I'd add is to do it in black and white. Avoid color at this point, and focus on the underlying skills like structure, lighting and composition. the last is not something to focus on too hard right now, but always useful keep in the back of your mind as you practice and study visual art.