CGAN Jan 2016 - New Dawn - WIPs

Cherry, lighting and details on the squirrels is looking awesome, really crisp looking Really brings out the fur texture, there's a lot of close up detail in those chestnuts, but they have a realistic look to them which is great because you made the large one a focal point.

Atto, looking much better now, can't really notice any issues perspective wise now. The characters are really looking great, anatomy wise much better then I can do.

Quetzel, I like the color choices so far, as everyone else is commenting, just work on more solid colors and lighting and
will look awesome!

Val that is an awesome design! The color of the her eyes really works with the rest of the pics tone, you managed to get that done so quick, but it's looking real nice so far.

I'm going to focus on the monkeys next on mine, going for a bright fuzzy fur texture around them to bring them out more and focus on the moonlighting.

Some beautiful work this month all.

Cherry - I feel you always get a great sense of story into your work, they are the kind of images from the books my parents bought me as a child. So when everyone else was into Mask and He-Man (god.... remember Mask?) I was reading Grimms fairytales full of beautiful watercolour illustrations and falling in love with Willow the Wisp and Bagpuss.

Val! Welcome to the dark side my friend! Good to see you over here now the zodiac challenges are finished. Loving this - you mentioned the symbolism in my entry in an earlier post but I think you've gone one better. The idea is awesome, I can almost hear the voice over from I, Robot ... "Welcome to the future of domestic and child care duties around the home......Dawn, you never knew how much you needed her 'till today - Now please return to your homes during this transitional period." And the sunburst above her head as the New Dawn breaks above planet earth is a touch of genius.

Micro - You had to go monkeying around with it eh? ............and I'm so glad you ignored my advice - I think this is a much stronger composition. The tree is nice and solid and yet the illumination on it has that really ethereal quality to it. I don't know why but seeing them sitting on branches closer to the ground also adds something - stability? Comfort? I'm not quite sure but it feels more.............domestic? I dunno but I know it works.

Quetzel - You're at that stage right now that I love and hate in my own process. I hate it because I always struggle to make those decisions about mood and colour unless I already have a strong idea in mind. Dropping that first colour brings me out in sweats. But I also love it, its that point where, if I'm feeling it, something clicks - form and light begins to appear, issues with the original sketch resolve themselves and the drawing drags me in its own direction.
When it doesn't come it sucks, but when it finally clicks? Well, that's why I continue to paint.

Atto you were right the first time, I wasn't liking the direction I went int so decided to use some of the changes to update the original and happier with the results. I'm going to keep it simple and not try to add too much just keep working on adding small details. Everyone's stuff is looking great this month definitely

LMAO

Atto you were right the first time

Oh I give up! Seriously I did really like the second one Micro but you go with what feels right - I do prefer the sky on this one though - it doesn't try to compete as much with the rest of the image. How did you render the bark by the way though, its gorgeous!

... poor little monkeys who disappeared on the branch on the ground.... they lost they're tails wherever theyare now...

I like this composition more with half the tree. the background is finer here - it isn't too much to look at..

yeah Val is here again! very nice start with the I, Robot eh ... robot. something I could never paint, because I don't have ANY knowlegde about technology

I finally gave my tree window an outlook and there is light and glowing and... everything I like.


And thanks a lot for all this nice comments

Hah sorry Atto, i'm really struggling to finish this, the look i'm going for is harder to pull of then I thought. I might just start over !

Cherry, the light coming through the window looks like a good angle for dawn, really ties the pic together now, the details you put in there are plentiful this month, really digging the way you textured and managed to lighten the fur on the squirrels, everything looks really bright and polished, if only I could sit in a tree all day and eat chestnuts, ahhh



Here's the texture I used for the bark Atto, I just put it on a color dodge layer and then merged.

thank you micro

Guess I'm done now. Or almost done. Changed the shadows and lights to give the picture the right mood for dawn. Kind of fairytale book illustration now. Maybe I should write a story about the two squirrels....

Really digging the lighting in yours Cherry, but the story that i'm assuming is that they're like an odd couple, one is dirty and has substance abuse problems and passes out after binges, and the other always has to clean up the mess but they are buds so they work it out

I like this perspective a lot more, i'm going to put in vines and snakes and maybe some other critters, but not sure about the lighting on the right side of the tree, or if I should have more elements.

Cherry: The warmer glow to the window light is only a subtle change but it adds so much more to the homely atmosphere and gives a sense of the dawning of spring, coming to melt away that snow.

Micro: I just never know where you're going to go with all your changing wips. I think my favourite was the dark one with the dawn just emerging on the horizon, but then I just like stars so don't let that change your judgement. Just go with whatever works for you, they usually turn out right.

Minor update from me. It doesn't look too different from the last one- I've just been working the edges and adding the interior details. Slow, boring work and not very noticable but it has to be done.

haha Val, but this month is worse for some reason ! You're right about adding small details, gets very boring, but that's what makes everything look more interesting and balanced. The spine is looking great, cool design, I like all the little mechanisms you added, you should try to add some shadows across some of the other elements to bring them into the background a bit to add more depth.

I don't have an update, but have found some rather funny monkey pics i'd like to share while researching for my pic, hope you enjoy There's a tiger hanging in there too