2D art - progress thread

Sharvo

So, I have decided to create a thread to show progress of my 2D skills, it is an area I want to get better at. I don't have all the time in the world to practise but when I can, I will try and create stuff!

So my first image is some thumbs of one of my fave characters from the warhammer universe, I have a soft spot for wood elves and this is one of their main dudes Araloth...

Let me know what you think of these compositions and if any are worth progressing or if you are confused my any.

Sharvo

Well I went for number 1/2...

Been working mainly on the background and have filled in where I think my hero should be. I have been looking at all the amazing entries for the LoL competition and have learnt loads of great tips from those artists its so great to see their progression.
Here it is with just a background shot so far and the character.

acapulco

Why did you go for this approach?
I don't think that its a good idea to paint the environment and the character so split apart from each other. Theres also soooo much stuff you didn't need to paint if you had planned your image before.
The environment on its own looks very solid and can stand on its own no problem.
What can now happen is, that you can get a lot of places where stuff overlaps in ways you don't want. You could have saved yourself the trouble by planning both character and background together.
You might also want to look over your drawing again. The head seems offset from the body, the arms appear to be a little too short. This lineart would not suffice for me to paint properly with it. It contains too little information on what stuff actually is. Like the thing around his nexk, can't tell what it is.

Your thumbnail looked kinda better in way of proportions and overall image design.

Do you want to color that afterwards?

Sharvo

Hey Acapulco, thanks for the feedback.

I guess its because i noticed someone doing it like this in the LoL competition and thought it was a good idea but i guess they had a bit more scope/planning of what they were doing. I think your right about some of the proportions and will check with the thumbnail. I assume you mean number 1?

I would;d like to add colour to this as well, i looked at a few youtube videos and most people seem to create a new layer and set it to overlay, would you say that is correct?

Also i have a piece i am working on from work... Here it is so far... the piece shown so far is what i am doing at home.

I wanted to have a massive battle going on but didn't know where to start and i think i have run into a problem like the other piece of not knowing where to go...

Also i have a blog where i put all this stuff - http://simonharveyconceptart.blogspot.co.uk/

acapulco

Well, same thing here. You don't know where to start with your battle, because you are not painting a battle scene. You are painting a background. The background in itself is sweet, but its a background. I wouldn't know where to put your battle here, because its not planned that way.
You should start out different. Don't work on parts of your artwork - work on your artwork. See it as a whole, plan it as a whole and execute it as one thing.

If you compare for example with animation. Sure, there is a background painted seperatly, but beforehand everything is tightly planned out and the battle scene would be existant in a animatic and the background painter would have to stick rigorously to it.

Perhaps try one artwork where you just paint on environment and a character at the same time.

Sharvo

Hey Acapulco, thanks again for your insight and help. I have started a new piece at work to try and work a picture from a whole which has a character and landscape together.

I am continuing with the wood elf piece and have put a bit more thought into the image, I felt that the man was a bit random and have decided to have him being hunted by some nasty mounted orcs and he is letting loose of his bird. Im not sure if this image is going to succeed for me but it might be a learning curve to be more organised and think about things instead of going into detail and not being able to change much.

Well here it is anyway will add my new piece tomorrow...

Sharvo

A new piece i am working on just thinking of some colour stuff, i think i might go for top left...

Unless anyone would like me to progress osme other options i might have the horse dud flip and come towards the screen and i might have an army marching with him...

Sharvo

So updated this piece a bit, after driving into work this morning and seeing a lovely wintery sunrise i decided to change the colour palette to something like this. I also felt the character was a bit random and lost so i decided to have a chase scene... With some close up villains and our hero character looking behind him. I'm not sure on some of my elements and the overall composition...

Higuy

Newest color palette seems nice, although I should mention that I think the bottom right one in your previous post is alot more dramatic and interesting and gives off a certain vibe, especially if you want to add in a "chase scene". It feels more fitting for that. But say if you wanted to keep the regular traveler looking from afar alone, the newest one might fit better.

Sharvo

Cheers Higuy, yeah i still like the bottom right one. I felt for this story though that this person was fleeing back to his homeland and these villains were hunting him down and its nice and peaceful over there and he is safe, whilst i could still have some of those browns, oranges and reds in the foregound. I could try with the other lighting as well and maybe its in the evening, giving the impression that they have been riding all day. Or maybe lose him as a hero and have him as the leader of this scout back who are going out...

Sharvo

So Higuy, i re read your post and have taken some of your feedback into consideration... Here is the latest wip, i am going to rework some of the city/castle next as it is a bit odd looking and i feel structurally would not be stable. Let me know what you think as always. After this one i think i might do the chase scene with the dark reds and browns

acapulco

I would have not expected such quality. Good work - keep it up! That can go a long way! Perhaps check your perspective again. It looks like you're pretty near to the cart, but the perspective doesn't really support that.

Sharvo

Thanks acapulco for replying and leaving some suggestions, i do find perspective hard to lay down sometimes, i think the cart is now a bit too small. Might go for something in between.

Sharvo

So had some time to relook the wood elf piece and have decided that this will be a piece that I want to perfect my materials, as it has so many different ones from leather, skin, metal and wood. Which will help in future pieces.

The face still needs a lot of love and a majority of other bits, I still want to add the orc chaser to the piece...

Sharvo

Done some more to the other piece, just going to rework the castle/city and then i think i might move on and do some quicker sketches

Muzzoid

Coming along nicely man .

Higuy

Newest version of the traveler is looking great, keep it coming I agree with your changes to with the latest one, having the tower taller and bit more towards the left than its current position would make it a bit better as focal point, don't try to hide it behind the trees

Sharvo

Hey guys this thread nearly got lost...

I haven't had as much time as i would have liked to get into 2D, i am moving house and other things getting in the way i am still working on the pictures above.... I find it hard to put detail into buildings especially in the distance, what should be put in, what should i leave etc. I think what i have is OK, but need to flesh it out a bit more, i also thing the trees to the right are a bit obtrusive.



But i have also been thinking of some new stuff as well, i have these three concepts and i want to push one forward for now and do some more studies get some colour in and do some model sheets in the future then when that's done make it in 3d. A tall order...

Sharvo

So i took image 1 and did some development of some sketches, i think i may take a few of these and refine them a bit more and get some details into them!

Sharvo

So i am deciding to take a few of these into colour i think i must have spent between 2-3 hours on this, on and off. Is that a good amount of time? I think i should be around the 1 hour mark, but want peoples opinions on this.

Avanthera

Hey Sharvo, this last one looks really good. Not too bad time-wise, I know some artists who just slam out full paintings in 30 min, but that's just an experience thing.


The only thing that I could really say is that I wish the focal point was more emphasized, maybe some vignette around the left side of the image, and stronger contrast between the white sphere and something dark behind it?

I like your thumbnails and rough sketches above, too. Keep it up!

Sharvo

Its been a awhile since i checked this, so apologise in the delay.

Thanks Avanthera for the feedback i totally agree the orb was an extra at the end as i felt the piece was lacking some sort of focal point and what better way than to add a weird orb

Since then i created the second thumb used a view photos on this one.



A lead at work also sent round some photobashed environments and i decided to give it a go... This was really fun!

Sharvo

Hey guys and girls,

Its been awhile... Progress on anything has been slow i am going through the stressful time of moving!

So here is some art; i did a few more photobashes...



I have also started a new project which i aim to take into 3d, it is mainly based around the mesoamerican era/architecture. It initially was going to be a sci fi project, but decided to move away from that. Here are my first pieces to get some inspiration.

Sharvo

Well its been too long... I have been pretty busy with homelife and worklife to get much done (and a fair bit of playing video games)

But i am hoping to pick things up again.

This is just a WIP of a new piece i am working on i felt it lacked a focal point so have added some sort of structure thing on a cliff.

Let me know what you think and its good to be back here

Sharvo

Deciding to call this piece done, decided to go with an abandoned ship... I always do buildings on cliffs

These people have just discovered it!!! Day after tomorrow sort of thing