[WIP]Forest Scene

[Xamllew]

I probably shouldn't have waited so long to request CnC but I began this scene two days ago and keep running into walls trying to figure my way around all the bits. I'm fairly satisfied with the boulders but that's about it. What do you guys think needs help (like the grass)?

I'd especially like pointers on trees and grass. Thanks.

[pistachio]

I'm usually too lazy to make edits on these sorts of largish pieces, so forgive me if you end up not understanding something, because I probably won't make an edit to show you.

First off the light source seems pretty inconsistent. If the light's coming from the back, as the largest boulder portrays, why aren't the boulders casting significant shadows like the sword (or is that just a crack)? Or why does the tree trunk seem to be shaded from the front rather than the back? And why does the smaller boulder seem to be lit from the opposite direction as the larger one?

If it's coming from the front, the tree trunk's at least consistent. But everything else I listed also applies here.

The grass also seems to be wind-blown, or something along those lines. I've never seen grass growing so diagonally. I'm thinking the direction of the blades should be more varied if not stick up a good deal more.

[SimTheDog]

The texture of your shaded tree looks strange. I think that it's because of the choice of texture that you chose. I'm not interested in gardening, so don't take my words for granted, but maybe changing the texture of the tree wood would help. Also, You've added bits of light source on the main part of the background, but it doesn't fit in with the rest of the background at the back because it doesn't have light source, so maybe adding some light source at the back would help, or just removing light source altogether.

[alspal]

I'm pretty sure all the grass blades shouldn't have the same exact angle across the whole area, I think you should add a little more variation?

[Cure]

agreeing with the grass comments, you could keep it that way if the trees are also being blown by the wind but otherwise it'd probably be best to break up the diagonal patter. the tree texture looks fine to me, a recognizable variety of bark. light source on the two big rocks seems to be coming from opposite directions

[malkomk]

I like it. I can't really tell where the light is coming from, but I like the rest of it pretty good.

[Xamllew]

Thanks you guys. I will fix the confusing lighting soon but like I said, I sort of hit a wall with the grass so I kind of went with a lazy styled look instead of actually pixelling blade of grass after blade of grass. My biggest problems are giving the grass a believable texture and the tree bark.

[st0ven]

you shouldnt have to pixel every blade of grass, lucky for you. in fact if you did it would most likely look largely unrealistic and over rendered and could kill the focal point of the image. sometimes less is more when the area in question isnt even the main focal point of the scene.

i like your colors and rendering techniques on the rock a lot. the colors chosen resonate perfectly imo, the reddish hues are complementing very well with the greens in the enviro. however the rock formations themselves look rather unnatural. rock faces can be one of the hardest things to 'get right', and do require a good bit of study to get the technique down correctly. unless of course youre naturally a genius then that doesnt apply to you.

ill third (or fourth, i lost count) the comment about angling the grass blades in varying direction as the uniformity of it kills the 'flow' of the scene.

I see that its WIP but your middle layer is looking rather rudimentary and geometric. take a little effort to make it feel more organic like your foreground layer. also there is a large disparity between the tree density in your bg layer and your other two fg layers. makes it a bit inconsistent.

[Xamllew]

Trying a different method for the grass although I'm worried it looks a bit more like sea oats than grass now. Changed tree texture, flipped the rock to conform with the light direction.

I guess the sword is looking okay. perhaps I should add a stronger shine in the blade.


Update: Lengthened the sword's blade by about a half a foot, changes to color of blade and smoothed it out some more. More grass. More leaves. Few more branches in the BG. Some AA on some of the leaves in the BG.

Thinking about how to texture the tree on the right, now.

Does it look like there's a tornado of leaves in the BG to anyone else? lol.

[Ixis]

I think the grass is looking awesome, a lot better than before
The blade does kinda look green-ish, but I wonder how much brighter you could make it with the palette. I also wouldn't make it too bright, but maybe add a glint or two. Also the dithering in the back needs more shaping.

[Greger]

Trying a different method for the grass although I'm worried it looks a bit more like sea oats than grass now. Changed tree texture, flipped the rock to conform with the light direction.

I guess the sword is looking okay. perhaps I should add a stronger shine in the blade.

I think going with a more blueish tint (maybe even redish?) on the sword could make it pop out more. It doesn't quite look metallic right now.
Personally I think the background sticks out too much now, the leaves in the background near the sword is too easy to see what it is. Maybe make it solid instead of as spread out as it is now?

[ptoing]

Looks quite nice so far, tho I have to say the blade looks a bit puny in relation to the grass and all that. I would probably make it at least 1.5 times bigger.

[Helm]

It's looking very nice so far. Here's the bad news: You're not half-way, I think.



That extra polish step on the aa and cluster construction is what'll make this shine. You have redundant colors and a need for sharpness in some cases. You need to work every cluster of pixels to behave well with the ones around it. You think you're close to done because it looks together, the image coheres. But you're not because every single shape and line in there stands a few more passes. Is what I am saying making sense to you?

[Xamllew]

It's looking very nice so far. Here's the bad news: You're not half-way, I think.



That extra polish step on the aa and cluster construction is what'll make this shine. You have redundant colors and a need for sharpness in some cases. You need to work every cluster of pixels to behave well with the ones around it. You think you're close to done because it looks together, the image coheres. But you're not because every single shape and line in there stands a few more passes. Is what I am saying making sense to you?

Yeah, wow. I didn't realize how unpolished it was until seeing that edit, thanks. My plan was to work more on the aa around the focal point and leave the outer areas a little less refined.

[Helm]

Why? I mean, I can understand 'so that I can finish this eventually', but otherwise I don't think that's a good idea.

[Xamllew]

I just want there to be a pretty strong point of focus. I mean if I were to refine everything and have everything as detailed as the rocks/sword it wouldn't read well. Like if I were to detail mountains in the distance as much as mountains in the foreground it might be confusing. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I've always understood it, it helps with time (not that time is a matter) but also that's what I've always seen in traditional paintings and such.

[ptoing]

True, you should not detail everything to the same standard (foreground/background), but you should AA everything I think. Not AAing part of it and going "because of focal point" is a pretty bad argument. If you want a good focal point you plan the drawing out first and make a good composition. You can do all kinda of stuff, like having more intense colours around the sword, having that area be brighter, having certain lines lead there or whatnot. Just not AAing the surroundings will look pretty poop I think.

[Helm]

I mean if I were to refine everything and have everything as detailed as the rocks/sword it wouldn't read well.

I urge you to challenge that notion. There are many schools of painting as there are human beings. Not all desires are equal and what your image would gain from the baroque, heavy detailwork that would tire the eye of the viewer initially, it might gain in richness and depth. I am not saying go render every speck of dust on every surface, but let's look at this:

[Dusty]

In my opinion the only method of AA that can be used for composition is too much AA for objects out of focus. But I'm not very good with composition. Either way I agree with the above, there are much better ways to create a focal point that doesn't involve sacrificing refinement.

[Âme]

Something I noticed is this area

It draws your eyes away from the focal point (the sword)Im not sure exacly how to fix this but you could try darkening it or adding a few trees in front. Another idea I had to focus on the sword would be to add a beam of light coming from above, on to the rock and the sword. 

[TheChannel]

If Focal Point is a problem read this and you should be good to go.
http://www.n-sane.net/fundamentals/focal-point/index.php

[Ixis]

Maybe just throw the light-yellow green color in there instead of the pale green. Also consider adding a shaft of light shining on the sword maybe.

[Xamllew]

I decided not to try to edit the bright patch in the background and just soften the darker values with some dithering.
Latest

Seems the BG contrasts with the foreground a lot, maybe I should add another tree in the midground not as bright as the back ground ones.