first digital painting/concept

SnowGhost

I decided that in order for me to be a better level artist I would learn digital painting and concept art at least well enough for me to portray ideas to work out designs.

This is a second iteration of one I did yesterday (my first ever.) It looks like a chalk I did in middle school but none the less I'm learning. I bought 3dtotals "Masters Collection: Vol 1 Digital painting techniques" but Haven't tried any techniques in it yet since I'm still trying to get down the basic techniques.

I started with some general shapes and colors and just let my imagination take it from there with nothing in particular in mind. Ended up with a kind of mountainous area with some scifi-ish buildings ontop the ridges.

Feel free to say how much I suck as long as its constructive
I wasn't paying much attention to composition or color but I would still love feedback/criticism based on those areas as well.




*I really need to work on shading

Saiainoshi

The one thing I notice most about people first starting out is their timid itty bitty low opacity brush strokes. I think it's cute, no really Think of painting just like making a level. Your painting pipeline should be something like: block out, refine, details, and polish. The same rules that go into the 3d process, go into the 2d one. A great way to practice digital painting is to paint a fruit a day. Just get an apple or something, set it up on your desk and try to paint it using different techniques. Also to make your color palettes interesting, try to stay away from using white and black. Also for environments, try to remember to stick a person in there somewhere so you can show scale to the viewer. I think your composition is alright, but there is no destinction between background, middleground, and foreground. Generally foreground is the darkest, and background is the lights. Also, use tons of ref! I can't iterate that enough. I spliced two images together for a more believeable composition and marked the BG,MG, and FG. Don't be afraid to build on top of photo reference. PLENTY of concept artists do it. Hope this helps!

Krazy8

Excellent information Saiainoshi! I don't really have anything to add to the digital painting world because I am no where near close to being good lol. Just like he said do a fruit a day lol. I might start doing that lol.

vofff

simple advice...paint paint paint paint, do lots of life drawing, your brain will unlocks things you wouldnt imagine.