HOME | DD
Crescent-Winged — .: a Firefly's Serene Embrace :.
Published: 2013-01-23 04:47:12 +0000 UTC; Views: 705; Favourites: 22; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description
This is an entire redraw of an old picture of mine from 2011 for a before and after meme.There are some major changes to the picture such as the poses, Violet being in her updated outfit and the inclusion of Akili since the formation of their team. As a whole I think this picture came out much better than the original. For starters the drawing itself looks better and the scenery actually looks like the setting I wanted to place them in and secondly, the colouring is better than in the previous one. I mean, in this one it actually looks like night time because everything has a blue and darkned tint unlike the last one. The one way you could tell was because the sky was black with stars spotted on it and the moon.
I was worried that I hadn't really improved much in the few years I've been here but now I can see I was wrong. I'm still not great at doing some aspects of backgrounds (F&@king leaves, grass and bushes!) but I'm certainly a lot better than what I was and I'mm sure to get better in the future.
But poor Akili..first time I've really drawn him and he's half asleep in the background XD
Related content
Comments: 12
Hey, Chelsea! Sorry it took me a little while to get around to this, but I'm glad that I finally have the chance to take a look at your nice art. ^^
The very first thing that stands out to me about this when compared to your original is like you've mentioned, the colors. Your choice of more muted tones is definitely marked improvement from the original. I feel that your palette is much more convincing of a nighttime scene, whereas before the colors gave off the impression of midday. On that note, I also appreciate the fact that your sky shifted from the colorless black tones to the bluish tinge that fades in intensity. This is, to me, a lot more appealing and interesting. Though, it looks like the sun is almost completely gone, but not entirely. As if nightfall has only just begun. I don't know if this was the intention, but it looks nice. If you want the scene to appear to take place in the middle of the night, darker and more muted tones can help out (just not too dark). We have to consider moonlight as well.
Again, the tones of the trees are muted and much better matched to the scene. I like the detail you've added to them, and that I can see some definition in the bark. The same goes for the shrubbery in the background, as well as the leaves in the trees. They were before very blurry and undefined, and now they are certainly taking on a stronger form. Well done!
I would say to take it a step further and add even more detail, as well as to try experimenting with color yet more. Try muting the hues until the bark of your trees appears almost a bluish-gray. This will create an even greater nighttime effect. You can try (just for fun) playing around with hue and brightness adjustment in Photoshop to see what I mean. Try the photo filter with a darker blue color. See what different ambient effects can be achieved just by color shifts. Most importantly, make sure your whole image appears balanced. If you desaturate your painting entirely, does anything stand out awkwardly? Any particularly bright/dark tones? We can oftentimes become so distracted by color that we lose grasp of what is actually bright and what isn't. Level it out a bit, and if necessary, concentrate the brighter spots on your main focal point. In this case, I would say the character in the foreground that's reaching out to the fireflies is the main focus. You can go further yet and add some glow casting off of the fireflies onto her face.
The fireflies... They do look better this time around, though they are still a bit blurry. I am under the impression that they are all directly in front of the camera, causing them to appear large and blurry. This is okay if you add smaller and sharper ones behind the larger blurry ones. This will give off the impression of depth and be a lot more convincing to the viewer, especially since we are led to believe that the character is holding one in-hand (which would be made smaller, in this case). It would be unlikely that they would all be in the same place at the same time, so just a small variance in size and sharpness will remedy this tiny issue. Concentrate a small, sharp round brush stroke in the middle (where the insect is) and then go over that stroke with a larger and softer brush at lower opacity. This will define the glow around the bug. You can put the fireflies on a separate layer and play around with different blending modes, like linear light. That can create beautiful glowing effects if used just right.
The grass blades are much sharper and nicer. For a more convincing effect, try to make the grass even denser. You should make the blades smaller as they get further away from the viewer and closer to the horizon line until they fade away into obscurity. This will give off a lot more depth. Also, take note that as objects get further away from you, they become more muted in color and definition, taking on the color of the ambient light. Think of it this way... There are tons of little micro-particles in the sky. As objects drift further away from you, they become obscured by these particles. Also, to simulate human eyesight, objects lose their clarity as well. Concentrate definition and detail around your focal point. The rest can remain muted in detail, and lacking in detail as objects recede into the horizon. Try this theory on those trees in the background, and you may see what I mean. The ones in the very back should take on most of the bluish color of the atmosphere, and the others gradually getting brighter as they grow closer.
The characters are drawn very well, and I really appreciate your relocation of the purple character. I can now see her clearly, without being covered by the character in the foreground. Much better planning and execution! The sidewalk is much more convincing within the perspective plane, and I love your addition of the light and bench! That glow casting off of the light is very nice, and I would suggest to try something similar with the fireflies. Definition inward, blurry glow outward.
I also want to add that the shading on the characters is much more pleasing to the eye this time around. I love how you shaded their clothes, it looks very natural and relaxed. Clothes can be tricky, so I appreciate your good work!
Please don't be disheartened. You have improved so much in so little time... Just keep at it, and you will certainly reach your goals. We are always improving, and that's part of what makes being an artist so rewarding. There is definitely fun to be had in the challenge of creation, and helping each other along the way.
You are a very gifted artist, and I'm proud of your progression! I can't wait to see where you'll be in another year from now. You have a lot of great visions and a vivid imagination. Combine this with your continued efforts and you will go a long way.
I hope that some of my advice will be a little helpful to you. Remember that nothing is set in stone... Art is very subjective, and there are no truly "right" or "wrong" answers. For personal projects like this, you are free to trust your own intuition. These are just my personal opinions for improving overall technique to achieve better balance and realism.
What is most important is to love what you do. Enjoy what you create, and paint with passion. The rest will come naturally. Good luck!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
No it's fine. I know that you're busy so I'm just grateful that you actually took the moment to look at it and wow..write so much. I had to come back and re-read this at a time I had a bit more of a chance to reply properly after you put so much time in writing up so much feedback.
About the night sky, that was my intention to have it lighter as if the sun was just setting. I don't know why but I have always been a sucker for sunset and night scenes when darkness is just falling. I think it's because I love how everything takes a more orange or blue tint to their colours. As for the moonlight I understand that I could take it into consideration when colouring to give the colour a bit more depth and realism. I think my concern at this point is that I'm still learning and I didn't want to overwhelm myself with light sources as I already had to consider the fireflies and the light from the star atop Akili's head.
Greenary has never been one of my strongest forms. I always seem to have trouble giving the leaves, grass and shrubs right or to get the look I am going for. It's good to know that I'm improving.
Next time I'll be sure to mute the colours on everything a bit differently. When working on this work I used the one filter over the entire picture. I didn't think about muting each layer differently. Though when I stop and think about it, yeah the trees should of been more grey in colour I think. I think I have to organize my layers differently. I've been so paranoid about my shading and colouring style I've adapted to doing everything on a seperate layer. I'm guessing the colours may not blend the same way if I shade like that.
Yes the fireflies >_> unfortunatly I wasn't too sure how to go about making them. I continued to switch between Sai and Photoshop trying to get something that looked right. In the end I grew frustrated after photoshop crashed once I had gotten something I liked and later crashed again. I think at that point I was just..eager to get them done and continue on with the work. I'll be sure to take the blurryness into consideration. I may look up some references next time to try and see how they render them.
Grass >_< I hate grass. I have a bad wrist sometimes from my RA so when I work for long periods or I grip the pen too hard my wrist or my hand begin to hurt. So many small, repeating motions can be brutal. That and I find it so..tedius. I'll be sure to try and endure it next time XD
As for the characters it is reassuring to hear that you think they are drawn well. I wasn't too sure on poses and how they may of come off as far as Anatomy is concerned. Specially with Ember (the purple one). Since poses also give insight into the character's personality much like the expression I was worried that I may not of captured it right or how I wanted the scene to come out. I'm not entirely satisfied as I would of liked them to come out better but as far as my current drawing level, they came out pretty decent. The light and bench I decided to add as I thought it gave more to the scenery and helped to show the scene I was trying to portay. The previous one looked so empty. The old sidewalk in the last picture makes me was to cry nowadays XP
Your comments mean a lot to me and I'll be sure to take in your advice as I continue to try and improve. I'll be sure to do a third try of this picture once I get better and even a fourth if I have to. I wanna keep working on this setting or scene until it is as good as it can be.
Thank you Myla. I'll keep working hard and I'm please to know I'm still improving
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It is my pleasure to help out when I can. I won't pretend to know everything, but I can at least guide you in ways that have helped me progress as an artist. I think with every piece we learn something new, and that's part of what makes each work so special.
I too am very fond of sunsets and early night scenes, where you can literally see a blanket of darkness envelop the sky. As the sun slowly fades away underneath the inevitable nightfall, there is simply unmatched tranquility to be found. So many rich colors, so much potential for a painting!
As for moonlight, I was only speaking hypothetically for future works. Since you've defined your time of day, the moon probably wouldn't appear too bright just yet. c: I think you did a great job considering what you were going for! It's good that you know how to manage your work load, and don't allow yourself to get overloaded. I don't have that much discipline, I'm afraid... I'll oftentimes grow frustrated and trash paintings if I can't achieve the desired effect in a timely manner.
As far as working with separate layers, it all depends on what you're most comfortable with. I've found that working all on a single layer can oftentimes produce more natural results, and you learn more about color theory along the way. However, I tend to have my flats on separate layers in a group and my shading layer on top of that. This is a bit of a "cheat" since I can play around with blending modes for this shading layer to achieve nice color harmony.
Ahhh gotta love the random crashes of Photoshop. :c I will say that ever since I have switched to CS6, it has been a lot more stable. You may want to disable GPU acceleration as that can sometimes lead to a lot of complications. Also make sure your memory usage isn't too high! I have 16GB of RAM and I can even still run into that limit when painting in Photoshop.
Technical sillies aside, I think it is a fantastic idea to use references. I encourage it wholeheartedly, as that is an excellent learning tool. Just don't go too overboard with the fireflies and drive yourself nuts, since they're really just a tiny little detail. Once the image is scaled down you won't be able to see the bug in full clarity. When I'm outside I know I sure as heck don't see the bug clearly, I just see the concentrated light source. The key is getting some definition in the center with a sharper brush, then go over that with a more blurry brush for the glow effect. This would be easier to demonstrate to you visually, but alas... Time doesn't permit for such things at the moment. D:
Ahhh you have RA, too? :< Oh man, that sucks! Yeah my wrist cracks and pops everywhere. I tried to hold my friend's hand once, and she freaked out because she thought she was breaking my wrist off. ;___; Hey, since you're using Photoshop... You should consider making your own custom grass brush. This brush should consist of several quick upward strokes. Keep playing around until you get something that looks dynamic enough, and you can use that to add more density. It's a shortcut that I have used to save some time (and spare my joints)!
I'm glad to hear that you will keep going with a passion, and I will certainly look forward to your future work! Your strong desire to improve will only guarantee your success.
Thanks for giving me the chance to offer my advice, and I wish you the best!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thank you ^_^
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
No problem ^_^
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
