Guidance and critique please

JamesLarden

Hey there PolyCount, i'm just posting this because it's the first time ever i've actually attempted an environment digital painting, I have no background in art or anything like that and this is for my college course, besides all the 3D modelling we have one lesson a week which is concept art and our task is to create 3 final rendered pieces, 1 of an environment, 1 of a character and 1 of a prop and I REALLY want to get it right.

So any advice on what to do, because I really don't know the workflow or where I go from here.



EDIT: I should probably explain what you're looking at, oops. It's meant to be you're looking through a hole in a tree down at a small city situated underneath a large tree.

Avanthera

I'm not the best, but I have a few suggestions. Your composition is very head-on with your focal point in the middle and it's also very symmetrical. These two make the whole shot feel awkward. I'd suggest placing your focal point using the rule of thirds.

When I start a sketch like what you have I usually start in value with my focal point having the most value contrast, and just building from there.



From there it's just a lot of building up. I'd suggest to work really zoomed out, and when it looks great, zoom in till you see things that need cleaning up, then fix them and so on till it's as polished as you'd want it.

Good luck!

JamesLarden

Thanks very much for the information, I definitely see what you mean when you compare the two in terms of composition. I'll keep at it and update the thread when I have something to share.

Two Listen

Is there a reason it's "looking through a hole in another tree"? I agree the more standard compositions in Avanthera's posts work better, but think the off-center frame of the tree hole in the foreground is hurting it. Would be much cleaner and more pleasant to simply have it be a large branch/log/something of the sort that you're looking over.