Finally got it!!!

After Last week’s presentation I have made a decision to continue with the oil/acrylic media look do to the facts that digital watercolour technique seem to be time consuming, especially when trying to get it to look right (as realistic as possible), also there is that layer issue mentioned in my last week’s post. I think oil/acrylic look is a bit of a safe option, but at the same time still very interesting one and not fully explored. In addition, there is a lot of practical information available online about digital painting in general and some of the digital artist (especially the ones that came from or also practice traditional media) now and again mention their use of certain techniques or types of brushes or other tools (e.g. Smudge tool) or ways of work on layers that are a little bit similar to traditional art. For exampleNykolai Alexander comes to mind. I've seen/read quite a few of her tutorials, and she seem to like using photographs of traditional media or even everyday patterns or textures for her custom digital brushes, as well as adding layers of some stains, or just smudges of colour and reducing their opacity to create a bit off 'mess'/'imperfection' to eliminate that 'digital polished look' in her own digital art. I do think that since human eye is trained to see patterns, facial features in various things, subconsciously we can recognise the repetition of brushes/brushstrokes that is visible in the digital art. I think subconsciously we might be able to recognise that there is something in-organic within the painting that is going on. But that is only my own theory and at the moment there is probably no point going in to it even if I really want to find out because I already have too many things going on.

So after I made up my mind about the media style and still was not happy about the previous attempt I've done a few more quick tests (see images below). I have wanted to see if I can find a better way of painting that looks more natural.

In the image above I was experimenting about leaving the black outlines and just layering the low opacity colours. It looked more like a watercolour then oil/acrylic so I decided not to continue with it.

In the image above I was experimenting with brushstrokes. How in a dark environment I could still possibly show some of the texture of the tree trunk.

Here I was trying to experiment with the sky: what brushes to use how it would work with the tree.

In the image above I was experimenting with a different kind of brushstroke.


I could feel it that there was something not quite right. The colour palette was what I wanted it to be and for some reason it was not working, and I had this issue with textures of the paint of the trees and the sky, how can I make them look different so they do not look boring but to still make it work. Something just wan not there and I was not happy.
I had to take some time off because my neck and my back were starting to hurt like crazy. After a day and a half I have returned back to the art and things just fell in to place. To help me along with the colour I did use an array of images that contained my desired colours and then just colour picked them and went on top with my brush covering everything that was there previously just keeping and mixing the colours I wanted. The same technique I have used it last year for the creation of animation background paintings. Also played some more with the colour dynamics on my brush. Below is an image I have managed to create and it just worked. I knew I got it! (see image below)

It just made me feel sooo good. Now just have to improve on it and make it things work better.


Now that I have the artwork on the way, I will also need to go back to the dissertation writing. During Crit presentation everyone was asked about their research and their dissertation. It certainly worked as a reminder to do the written work. I definitely need to go back to the aesthetics books as I really need to understand how I can tie it properly with the art that I am creating and digital 2D game art in general, and especially if I’m going to analyse art in my dissertation. It is still a very confusing topic to work ones head around. My plan is to complete the dissertation by the 21st of April with a few parts regarding my work missing and to be filled in later). I  do not like writing dissertation before my practical work is done but it has to be finished well before the submission because my supervisor needs at least 2 weeks to read it and give feedback.

Also need to make sure that I will have something to submit before 7th of April for the showcase reel.

On Thursday I had also been recommended to look at some art as practice books (e.g. Graham Sullivan 'Art practice as research') but so far I did not have time to do it.