Would love some Comments And Critique!

MarcoSkoog

Hey everyone, this is 2 recent studies I made, started out plein air and finished up from photo. I'm not very happy about any of them, they feel really muddy. How can Iimprovee these??  

Fauxin

Do you shade with black (or a darker shade or the original colour)? If you do this explains why it looks so muddy, shading with black, whilst can look good in some cases, often makes images, especially ones like these, look super muddy and can ruin the mood completely. Try shading with a slightly different colour and hue, for example, adding an orange tiny onto the shading can make the whole image look a lot warmer, blue makes it look colder etc.

EricElwell

Yeah, @Fauxin is on to something there. Look for the color in the shadows. Light bounces all around, and in most outdoor scenes you'll have ambient light bouncing around from the sky and clouds. I'd suggest squinting a bit and looking for the simplified shape and value. You're off to a great start by blocking in your major shapes with the lasso tool, but I'd recommend carrying that on in your brushwork by using hard edged brushes, and make decisive color choices. What I mean is that blending your colors on canvas with soft/translucent/feathered brushes will contribute to that muddy result. A little bit of indecisiveness upfront can result in the need for a lot of clean up on the back end. Obviously, those brushes have their place for sure, but for a time that's a limitation I would try putting on yourself for the sake of learning, at least for these plein airs. Good luck! Keep them coming!

MarcoSkoog

Fauxin said:

Do you shade with black (or a darker shade or the original colour)? If you do this explains why it looks so muddy, shading with black, whilst can look good in some cases, often makes images, especially ones like these, look super muddy and can ruin the mood completely. Try shading with a slightly different colour and hue, for example, adding an orange tiny onto the shading can make the whole image look a lot warmer, blue makes it look colder etc.

EricElwell said:

Yeah, @Fauxin is on to something there. Look for the color in the shadows. Light bounces all around, and in most outdoor scenes you'll have ambient light bouncing around from the sky and clouds. I'd suggest squinting a bit and looking for the simplified shape and value. You're off to a great start by blocking in your major shapes with the lasso tool, but I'd recommend carrying that on in your brushwork by using hard edged brushes, and make decisive color choices. What I mean is that blending your colors on canvas with soft/translucent/feathered brushes will contribute to that muddy result. A little bit of indecisiveness upfront can result in the need for a lot of clean up on the back end. Obviously, those brushes have their place for sure, but for a time that's a limitation I would try putting on yourself for the sake of learning, at least for these plein airs. Good luck! Keep them coming!

Thank you! This is great critique! Yeah I\ve gotten a lot of crit for using very smudgy brushes, and I think a lot of it comes from insecurity, I'm going out to do another plein air today, so definitely gonna bring this with me!

EricElwell

@MarcoSkoog I don't want to project my own experience too much, but I went through something very similar as an artist. My work was very smudgy and "soft". It was entirely a confidence thing. I remember one of those similar conversations distinctly and as daunting as it was to make a drastic change, I now am very thankful for it.