3rd Thursday Naughty Children FINAL
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@Bobby-Aquitania I'll try it. I've been shying away from it because I didn't want to lose them completely, but no other warm colors worked for me here.
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You can go a lot bolder with this. I just duplicated the image and changed the top to a vivid light blending mode. It darkened and brightened the areas. I'm not say that's the technique you should use to change it, because you'd have to flatten the whole image but it's just to show that it needs more contrast. And watch out for the airbrush. Your shadows are very blurry and kind of "fuzzing off" the edges of your subjects. It's making it all murky. Lee told me that cast shadows are 2 shades darker than the local color and they have harder edges. Form shadows are soft.
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@gimmehummus I figured that once I started really laying on the color it would saturate it and I'd play with the brightness, but you're so right. I'll deepen those cast shadows. It a little hard with all the light sources to know how dark to go.
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That window is so bright now, the kids look like they're about to be War of the Worlds vaporized! BWWWAAANGGHHH!!!
Just kidding... the jewel tones in the sleigh are nice though, I would keep that for sure. -
Naughty kids get vaporized in the presence of Christmas magic. Lol.
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@bharris This is such a nice piece! - one thing that I would say critique wise is that the focal point is going to be in the gutter of the book - I think too that it may be a little crowded in the space between Santa and the sleigh - would it be worth looking at to move Santa's side of the composition to the left a bit? - possibly bringing the little girl that is sticking her tongue out to the left also - the other thing I was wondering is about Santa's eye - will he get an eye?.....I think not having the eye leaves the image too open to projections - if you can define Santa's attitude for us it would remove the tension I feel there - for me I want him to be good natured and twinkly eyed in his attitude...but this may not be your intent ....he may be upbraiding the children...not sure though - anyways I really like your piece and it does look good the way it is
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@Kevin-Longueil I will add an eye on Santa!Thank you! I realize now that those areas were too close, and it'd be easy to make larger if it was going into a book, but I really don't want to try to move those layers this late in the game.... laziness...
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I've brightened the colors a lot and tried to warm up the lights. I still have to go over the details and highlights to really paint and define things. Is this working alright? I'm trying not to wash things out with color (I'm a color person anyway) and have a few good focal points across the page.
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Best idea ever!!!
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All done and sent!
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Love your lighting! All of it is so wonderful
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@bharris Looks fantastic!
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@bharris Really nice work! Your concept was so clever from the start and to now see it completed with the nice cool and warms tones and lighting - really nicely done! Best of luck tonight and congrats on such a great piece!
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@Stephanie-Hider @Chip-Valecek and @Rich-Green Thank you for your comments! It was a struggle, but worth it!
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@bharris Really nice. I was super excited to see the finished image. I'm sure they will have a few suggestions for you tonight but I'm hoping your one of the winners!
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@Rob-Smith I hope they do! It was my first time using this method and I'd like to improve on it.
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@bharris I agree with the other comments - a really beautiful piece. There are so many great works entered this month but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see this one critiqued tonight!
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It was fun to watch and participate! This piece didn't get a critique, so I'd love to hear some thoughts. I already see things that could have used more time.
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@bharris I haven't watched last night's critique yet to know who won and how they stack up to yours, but I can offer some feedback
What I think you're strong in:
- concept
- composition
- line drawing/sketch (the only thing I think is "off" is Santa's face - I feel like he's missing a round cheek rather than having a flat face that immediately goes into a big nose. His eye might be too high/inset too much too.)
What I think you can work on:
- Colour
- Rendering
To expand on these... you have some nice vibrant colours in there, but mostly I think it's quite muddy. I think it's the snow in particular that's off to me - for one, it should be more white than yellow (the snow on the ground in the foreground), and in the shadows not so grey/slush-like. I think it would be helpful for you to refer to some reference imagery of snow in a nighttime scene. I also think the overall colour harmony is off - the deep red feels out of place against the blue you chose for the sky.
In terms of rendering - do you use the airbrush at all? For me, it looks a bit "mushy". I'd work on adding some nice textures and maybe using brushes with texture right in them.
Anyway, hope this helps! I think you're off to a good start though and perhaps next month you'll get a critique
