Textures and Lighting

Hey guys, hows it going?
Sorry i have not blogged on a tuesday again. Was feeling really unhappy with my work so i decided to change it before i blogged about it again.
As some of you may know i have been following along a tutorial in " A beginner guide to digitalpainting in photoshop" from 3d Total.
The artist who did the tutorial is Nykolai Aleksander
Last time i posted about this tutorial my work looked like this:

 

As you can see if lacks any kid ofdepth or texture. i couldnt grasp these, so i sought help from other artists on Chris Oatley's Academy (which i cannot recommend enough. Not just for the awesome content from Chris but from the supportive community.

So with advise from them  and pressing on with the tutorial and trying not to get too down about things my work now looks like this:

I know it isnt great but it does look alot better than it did before. A tip i definitely recommend it to change you work to black and white to see if you have good tonal range

I did cheat a little with the clouds and blended in a photo with my image but i think it works ok. Its also my first proper digital paint of a scene. Im still very much learning the ropes. I daresay il be changing this image again soon but ill prob have a break and work on on something else for a bit or ill go mad with it lol
If anyone whats to drop some constructive feedback you are more than welcome to :)

Im going to go do some anatomy practise now guys. Sorry its been a short one this week but really been trying to make progress with my digital work :)

Peace
Menja X

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Resources:

"A beginners guide to digital painting in photoshop" by 3dtotal book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beginners-Guide-Digital-Painting-Photoshop/dp/0955153077/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407267148&sr=8-1&keywords=a+beginners+guide+to+digital+painting+in+photoshop


Chris Oatley's Academy

www.chrisoatley.com/





***I do not get paid to recommend any of these links, i suggest them as i genuinely find them helpful myself and want to share with you guys :)****