Treehouse WIP
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@tombarrettillo Thank you for your notes! Some of it I have already worked on (like the crouched kid), but I am already painting now (it was a studio day yesterday and I got caught up into this one). I will re-evaluate everything carefully and see what can be implemented still and what works without changing the format of the page. I have the feeling you saw it as the kid climbing to the treehouse - but actually he is sliding down into the water to a big splash (which I am adding in the painting) and possibly crashing onto rocks (which I have added later) - that is why his friends are trying to warn him.
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Tom's note made me think that there was something off with perspective on the the figures. So I considerably reduced the size of the kid splashing in the water. Are the spatial relationships clear in this version?
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@smceccarelli Hi Simona - I noticed a few others commented about this already - but because the boy on the zip line is facing the tree house it does not feel like he was up on the tree house and is going down and crashing into the water. It feels like he is coming towards the tree house from the other side of the water/rocks. I am not sure I have ever seen anyone zipline backwards? Seems like they always face the direction they are going, so I think it will be harder for the viewer to imagine him going back first?
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@Rich-Green One other bit of input - I am not sure I believe that the rocks are a sudden point of danger. If this zip line has been there a while and been used before - it does not matter which direction the rider is facing, it would not lead them to crash into the rocks. So unless this is the first time they are trying out the new zip line - it's not all that believable to me. And if this is the first time trying out the zip line, then going back to my previous point, I really don't think a kid would do that backwards the first time?
What if the object of danger was something less stationary - like a crocodile or something in the water that the kids on the tree house see but the zip lining boy does not?
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@Rich-Green Yes. Good points. Maybe I should turn him around? At this point I am more using it as a rendering exercise and experimenting with process. Which I am not sure it's working anyhow....Maybe I should start a new one...Here is the WIP for today.
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@smceccarelli I don't know if you just aren't at the stage where you have gotten to rendering the boards but I think I'm really liking the juxtaposition of the rendered kids/rocks/trees and the more cartoony/flat boards.
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Ok - was an interesting rendering exercise. I could noodle it forever but the storytelling is not very strong and this rendering process is not my favourite. But, I definitely learnt a lot and I like the lighting - it is the first time I am halfway happy with dappled light. Some things I learnt: the edge of the light needs to be slightly blurry and slightly more saturated. I will probably try it again sometime.
And I may do another one for the "treehouse" topic...if I find the time!
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@smceccarelli This is incredible........now I must go an cry in the corner
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@smceccarelli i love it!
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@smceccarelli Lighting is so well done!!
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Beautiful!
My one suggestion would be to tone down his nipples a bit.
This really is a stunning piece! Very inspirational- makes me want to do some art.
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@smceccarelli this looks beautiful! What about about a shadow under the zip lining boy? That might make him pop a little more
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@Eric-Castleman that is how I feel at least once a day, especially when I see beautifully designed, simple and charming styles like yours
@Kevin-Longueil I have been studying Szymon Biernacki obsessively for this piece - he has some time-lapse videos and some gifs out there, and I have been pausing at every frame to study his layer structure and his process. I have learnt some things, some still elude me (I could not reproduce his brushes, no matter how much I tweak settings). But the one thing I learnt from him is style independent: apparently you can do whatever you want with your brushwork - if you nail the value structure and the color relations, it will look realistic. Some of his pieces are extremely stylized if you look up close - nothing more than designed shapes. His bushes and trees are practically abstract design. But because he has such a masterful control of value and color, it looks like a real landscape. Also, he uses texture to suggest volume, while reducing value-based volume rendering to a minimum. It was a really interesting study for me, as I am struggling to simplify my style without loosing personality. -
@holleywilliamson Good idea! I will try that - or a reflection!
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Love it! Id turn the boy on the bottom around too. would look more natural. going to check out that guy you mentioned. love the way this is rendered. I just started practicing with Adobe sketch on iPad, and its a trip uphill, but figuring it out.
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Love it! Awesome composition!
