AuthorTopic: Clouds  (Read 3598 times)

Offline 1ucas

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Clouds

on: March 22, 2010, 05:30:13 am
This is part of a "5-year hiatus comeback project" I'm working on. I never drew clouds before, so I had no idea what techniques I could use.
I have no intention of using this version on the final piece, so it was more of a study.



It looks ok, but far from amazing. I'm wondering what kind of tips you guys could give me on this, and if there's a general tip for drawing clouds, especially without dithering.

Looking forward to your critiques!  ;D
« Last Edit: March 22, 2010, 08:09:01 am by 1ucas »

Offline WM

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Re: Clouds

Reply #1 on: March 22, 2010, 05:39:02 am
I like how you utilized the blue as a darkest shade on the cloud formations on the very left side of the picture, but I think that the blue in the clouds over to the right is a little too much and 'eats through' the cloud rather than accenting it. I suggest either using the blue much more conservatively there, or make sure there's enough gray adjacent to it to back it up. That is unless you intended for that to be an opening and I'm just interpreting it wrong  ::)

I highly suggest using that leftmost side as a reference for the rest -- it's very dynamic, very interesting.

Offline Manupix

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Re: Clouds

Reply #2 on: March 22, 2010, 10:56:52 pm
The lightest blue on the top doesn't work I think. This kind of clouds (cumulus) don't have transitions on the top, just a sharp white to blue boundary.
Did you use a ref?

Offline 1ucas

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Re: Clouds

Reply #3 on: March 23, 2010, 07:17:19 pm
I like how you utilized the blue as a darkest shade on the cloud formations on the very left side of the picture, but I think that the blue in the clouds over to the right is a little too much and 'eats through' the cloud rather than accenting it. I suggest either using the blue much more conservatively there, or make sure there's enough gray adjacent to it to back it up. That is unless you intended for that to be an opening and I'm just interpreting it wrong  ::) I highly suggest using that leftmost side as a reference for the rest -- it's very dynamic, very interesting.

Yeah, I've been experimenting some more, and the trick (at least for cumulus clouds) is to be subtle. That blue was really a desperate attempt at getting some deeper shadow, but it didn't quite work.

The lightest blue on the top doesn't work I think. This kind of clouds (cumulus) don't have transitions on the top, just a sharp white to blue boundary.
Did you use a ref?

The lightest blue was supposed to add some background layer to it (as if the cloud was extending into the distance). At first I was happy with how it looked, but now I see how it looks a bit odd. I did use a reference for the overall cloud shape, but I shaded everything over that. That blue patch was my mistake, though, since the original clouds were kinda flat.

Since I got some slack here at work today, I decided to take another shot, this time from scratch, and avoiding dithering as much as I could.



I found out that the trick for "puffiness" is to add some randomness to the shapes. I'm really not fond of the right part here (the shadowed side), since I'm trying to use only 4 colors and the random dithering kind of ruined the whole thing. Pattern dithering was even worse.

Still, I think it's an improvement, considering how bad I was a couple of days ago. ;D

Still, that cloud looks too cartoony. Here's a quick edit I think helped on making it more realistic. I just added more self-shadows and more turbulence.



« Last Edit: March 23, 2010, 07:48:58 pm by 1ucas »