darkening the surface of the skull definitely helped. i don't really like the string myself, but it's obviously a good study because you've rendered it really well. i would focus on depth now that you've got the basics nailed.
as far as the landscape goes though, it definitely has lost the 'oomphf' that your previous comp did. i think largely because the you've killed the contrast in most of the values. the thing about environments is that if you don't nail space and volume, no amount of design or color work will save it; especially a large environment like this. utilize gradients to emphasize the variety of light and atmospheric effects. you've got a good gradient from dark to light at the bottom of the image that 'leads' the eye into the middle space around the barn thing. but there is no variation of light from just behind the barn to anywhere else, the meadow up in the mountains is the same value as the plane the barn sits on. also there is not variation in the mountains themselves, just texture. and there is no gradient in the sky, the result being that all those things look very flat. definitely check out work by the Hudson River School artists. Thomas Cole and Albert Bierstadt are my favorites.
You have a thing for skulls don't you? :) Actually, I think the composition on the top piece looks fantastic. It's definitely heavier on the left side, but that string evens it out a lot. The complimentary colors (red in the light areas, green in the cool shadows) is working really well too...the squares in the corner help bring out the reds/greens in the rest of the piece. One thing I might consider is moving the mid-line up a little. Right now, the black-ish cloth-thing is cutting the picture in half horizontally. I think you could get a much more dramatic look of a hanging skull if there were more space beneath it.
In the middle piece, I wish the string overlapped the skull...for more depth perseption, maybe? I like the string though. It adds a bit more commentary to the image. What commentary? Not sure. It's kind of creepy...like a hangman's noose.
2 finished pieces and a photo of a still life i am considering. does the comp/colors work?
4 comments:
darkening the surface of the skull definitely helped. i don't really like the string myself, but it's obviously a good study because you've rendered it really well. i would focus on depth now that you've got the basics nailed.
as far as the landscape goes though, it definitely has lost the 'oomphf' that your previous comp did. i think largely because the you've killed the contrast in most of the values.
the thing about environments is that if you don't nail space and volume, no amount of design or color work will save it; especially a large environment like this.
utilize gradients to emphasize the variety of light and atmospheric effects. you've got a good gradient from dark to light at the bottom of the image that 'leads' the eye into the middle space around the barn thing. but there is no variation of light from just behind the barn to anywhere else, the meadow up in the mountains is the same value as the plane the barn sits on. also there is not variation in the mountains themselves, just texture. and there is no gradient in the sky, the result being that all those things look very flat.
definitely check out work by the Hudson River School artists. Thomas Cole and Albert Bierstadt are my favorites.
You have a thing for skulls don't you? :) Actually, I think the composition on the top piece looks fantastic. It's definitely heavier on the left side, but that string evens it out a lot. The complimentary colors (red in the light areas, green in the cool shadows) is working really well too...the squares in the corner help bring out the reds/greens in the rest of the piece. One thing I might consider is moving the mid-line up a little. Right now, the black-ish cloth-thing is cutting the picture in half horizontally. I think you could get a much more dramatic look of a hanging skull if there were more space beneath it.
In the middle piece, I wish the string overlapped the skull...for more depth perseption, maybe? I like the string though. It adds a bit more commentary to the image. What commentary? Not sure. It's kind of creepy...like a hangman's noose.
The color and surface of the skull now looks really synthetic, like that is obviously a plastic cast. I don't know if your photo of it affected that.
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