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majeexxe In reply to TrufflesTheMushroom [2011-04-19 22:08:39 +0000 UTC]

Lol, you could, but I don't really think it'll be much help now xD Unless its easy to fix. Or I could use it for future reference.
I do know that the head is enormous though

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TrufflesTheMushroom In reply to majeexxe [2011-04-20 03:18:12 +0000 UTC]

*v* That means I'm ALLOWED. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

1) No tone definition whatsoever, a fatal mistake. This is my biggest problem with this painting. You sacrifice actual depth in exchange for quick prettiness. Lack of base tone layout gives a finished piece an 'unfinished' quality to it. How many layers do you think the paint runs deep? Doesn't look like a lot. Without marking out the light sources and shadows you have a boring image that looks plain and two-dimensional.

2) Your brush strokes are very controlled in some places but obvious in others without any indication of smart layering (ex. hand versus hair). Lack of consistency also gives an unfinished appearance. Out of curiosity, are you using Liquitex? With controlled strokes, it should glide down on the board a lot smoother.

3) Palette is... iffy to say the best. Ultra-bright red is brilliant but in contrast to the frankly boring blue and the one-tone yellow in her hair, the red becomes too 'bold' and jarring without any tone contrast to minimalize tackiness. Red, yellow and blue? Where's the mood scheme?

4) I'll forgive the upper-body anatomy, but honestly, if her entire fish-half can bend backwards like that with her lower half being (ostensibly) based on a fish, her spine would have been broken in two at this point. (Have you held it up to a mirror or flipped the JPEG horizontally? Helps sometimes to catch any mistakes).

5) You've followed basic structuring rules to a T- a boring T. What's there to look at besides the mermaid and the fishy she's looking at? Nothing. Lack of definitivive negative shapes makes the eye give any piece of work a casual glance-over. There is no eye-catching 'hook' or fluidity to the work as a whole. Sometimes the process of thumbnail-to-sketch-to-painting makes you lose some of the life and artistry, but... I don't think you were thinking that far ahead in the first place.

6) And lastly, don't even lie. This looks like my mermaid sketch from a few months ago, just redone in your style because you do not design things like this (I know). C'mon- side fins, schools of fish, one fish looking at her? Seriously?

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majeexxe In reply to TrufflesTheMushroom [2011-04-20 18:47:56 +0000 UTC]

Wow, you are very.. thorough xD Thank you very much, but I think you need to dumb some things down for me .__.;; I never really attended a legit art class, so I'm a bit lost.. I feel extremely ignorant at the moment Dx

1. Tone definition? D: I dont even know what that meaansss, aasdlfgl. You mean the background? Dx If yes, then I see what you mean, haha.

2.What's liquitex? It was an art project, so I only used Mr. Park's materials :U

3.Yeah, I see that >: How can I get used to creating better color schemes though? Just practice? Color theory is what I find the most problem with honestly

4. Lol, yes, I have no flippin' idea what I was thinking now that you point that out. I was lazy and wanted to just fill up the page, so this is the first thing I came up with, I think.

5. Definitely wasn't thinking so far ahead xD Iono if cherie told you, but this was supposed to be more of a collaboration We had this idea of if we put our paintings together, on which ever side, it would be connected in some way. Is that confusing? I'm not sure how to explain it. But yeah, they would be linked through the fish in the background or the fins or whatever. But then she got lazy and didn't feel like finishing it. So I ended up slapping on whatever onto the canvas.

6. Honestly, I never really saw your mermaid sketch before I came up with this I caught a brief glimpse of it on cherie's phone or camera or whatever, but I didn't really know what it looked like until like.. iono. I think my first real look at your sketch was at that assembly However, we did take your idea of basing it off of a real fish She said that yours looked amazing and you based yours off of an anglerfish, and we both thought that was really neat. Very truffles of you to go beyond the norm, xP So I did a lionfish (although I failed at pulling it off Y-Y;, and she did.. iono. I forgot, haha.
But it looking like yours was unintentional, really :/

All in all, thank you very much I'll keep this in mind for my next painting. Oh, but, what do you think I could do now to make it a little bit better? :0 Without having to paint over everything? ;

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TrufflesTheMushroom In reply to majeexxe [2011-04-21 03:17:59 +0000 UTC]

Pfft sorry. I'm just very srs bzns about getting people to buckle down on art and improvement. Here's that whole thing, only much clearer:

1) Color definition means first using a neutral color (leaning more towards brown in neither warm nor cool) in three or four shades (dark, semi-dark, semi-light, light)to block out the composition to get the final tone and lighting perfect. Color isn't only color, it's marking and defining the behavior of light.

2) Liquitex is my fav. brand of acrylics. It's SUPER pricey but I think it's worth it

3) Color theory you can only really understand if you practice and study. Just mix colors and swap them around when you're bored (like with markers or stuff) and find different combos that 'feel different'. My quick dragon painting in my gallery was one huge color theory project.

4) You should have caught that mistake while you were doing your concept sketches and thumbnails. XD

5) URRRRGHAFAwsgkaqekvag WHYYYYYYY. 'I got lazy' is such a terrible excuse! Half-assing never got anybody anywhere!

6) PFFFT Lionfish. Glad you gleaned something that was geniunely... 'edumacational'? My real beef with it is that there is still no definitive 'theme' So, okay, pretty lionfishmerlady in a school of fish. Where's the point? The catch?

My suggestions are as follows- You have the soft yellow in her hair which is fine, but mood-wise the red in her tail and the blue in the water clash and don't provide any 'oomph'. Choose either the red or the blue to die like a sacrifice. Take a light, watered-down wash of a neutral tone (dark if you chose the blue, light if you chose the red) and go over it in even strokes. Maker teh mergirl more definitive in the piece by adding contrasts wherever you think you can afford a light coat of dark or light. Otherwise, I think you're set. Nothing much to do now except remember everything I just told you for next time. XD

And remember, I'm no pro. I might be telling you bullshit right now with neither of us knowing it. Good luck!

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majeexxe In reply to TrufflesTheMushroom [2011-04-21 06:26:07 +0000 UTC]

Lol, yeah I know lazy is a crap excuse XD I was scared to put it down, because I knew you'd react like that, bahaha.

Thank you :> I'll try my best, heehee. I should go to you more often

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majeexxe In reply to majeexxe [2011-04-20 18:49:32 +0000 UTC]

man, I hate these stupid smilies.

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majeexxe In reply to majeexxe [2011-04-19 22:09:36 +0000 UTC]

And that her pose is very stiff and static =w=;;

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majeexxe In reply to FabulousFish [2011-04-19 22:08:55 +0000 UTC]

Thank you I hope it will Dx

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