I've been hunting this magazine for some time now and Dahlig's workshop is the reason why. Sadly I missed a chance to get it from E-bay a while back and now I can't find it anywhere. I regularly check the workshop section of the website but it hasn't been updated in some time. I wonder if anyone knows of a way for me to get the magazine or the workshop?

 

have you checked the subscriptions area for back issues? i know they are a rare thing but i guess it's worth a try, i wonder if the IFX team can upload the workshop? Marta is often on the forum too so she may be able to give you some tips.

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Hello there! I still have the files for that one I think, so if the ImagineFX guys agreed, I could send them over. The issue is quite old so I assume it would be possible to upload it to the site anyhow, too. :)

Meanwhile, just as Karen said, I will be happy to answer any questions you might have! :)

Thank you Marta! If you get an ok then please send them to my email; MissOnatopp@gmail.com

I actually think they missed to upload that workshop as unless I'm wrong newer workshops seem to be up for download.

Colors and I have had a complicated relationship, right now I have a 'formula' which I'm sure is quite flawed. My background is in pencils mainly so colors were hard for me to get into (especially skin). For skintones my formula is basically this; 3 midtones (one beige main tone, one green and one rosy), shadows a mix between a darker skin color and ambient color + 1 or 2 hightlights. I'm sure I go wrong somewhere or have forgotten something. It seems to work ok for lighter backgrounds but for evening scenes I really screw up.

 

 

Well, from the sound of it, the colours you pick seem okay.

Skintone composition is however a very dynamic task and every subject has to be approached differently, so having a standard formula might sometimes be quite limiting.

Moreover, the logic of painting skin under little lighting is much different from typical daylight scenes, as the difference between a midtone and a shadow is quite diluted. Could you perhaps show some examples of work which you have problems with? I could then analyse your stuff and see what I could help you with :)

Hugs,

Marta

Here are some samples of my work some new some a bit older. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this. :)

This one was done purely as a skintone practice and is rather old. The background is a photo that came with Imagine Fx, I even think it was in one of your workshops unless my memory is playing tricks. 

 

Something newer. I'm not at all fond of the colors of this one. I really feel her skin is lacking something.

 

Here is my latest and one I actually like (wonder how long that will last). Doing something on a light background is just easier for me. I think I'm scared of making the midtone too dark when I paint something in a different setting. -

http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/onatopps_portfolio/picture185638.aspx

 

 

Sorry for the belated answer - had some hectic time at work :( I will try to be analytic about it and hope you don't mind the lengthy comment. :)

 In general, I think you are very close to getting very realistic with your pieces. What needs a bit more balancing is the contrast between shadows and highlights.

 We could divide all lightsources into two types: ambient and directional. While the ambient light would have a form of a omnipresent diffused light, under which every element is lit rather equally, the directional lighting would be much more concentrated and (uh) directed onto a particular spot.

What I think is the issue here, is that in your two pieces here, the background seems to be under an ambient light, and the character under directional light.

The practical outcome is that both of the characters have their highlights condensed and thus the contrast between shadow and highlight is too high.In the daylight scene, I would be tempted to make the shadows lighter - the dark shadows right now indicate a much darker background than already painter. In the night time image (and yeah, the image came in one of my workshops! :)) I would dim the highlights a bit, as well as deepen the shadows (however, a directional lightsource placed above the character's head would look very cool here).

Aside from that, you might want to vary the highlights a bit. For example, I think that some pure bluish tones in the night image would look interesting.

 

As for the eyes image you postd a link to - no crits about it, the image is really good the skintones rich and the whole thing looks realistic, great job :))

By the way, the night time image is really good and has really a lot of potential - I would greatly encourage you to finish it! The facial anatomy is really original (i love her fatures btw) and with just a bit more pushing, this could be awesome. :)

Well, I hope I managed to help you. If you'd like to know anything else, please let me know, I promise I'll take faster to reply this time!

Marta, thank you so much for taking the time to evaluate my images. Lighting and color were things I used to neglect as I got obsessed with getting anatomy right (especially faces).

The fact that I forgot to implement the directional light in the backgrounds is something I was completely oblivious about and now it makes so much sense! I also have noticed that I make shadows much to dark in most my paintings, does that mean I should use a lighter color or a strong saturated one on low opacity while painting them?

I will most certainly take your advise about that image and finish it, thank you so much for the compliments on the face! My mother usually teases me that most my faces look alike. I think I may be one of those people who without use of reference makes people look like themselves. I've been told it's both a good thing and a bad one, some say it makes my stuff more personal others say it limits me. I read the second part of your face workshop recently (great work btw!) and I agree 100% with that to many people go for a generic pretty face. Your lady had a perfect mixture of character and beauty I could easily picture her as an eccentric in Victorian London. I envy the way you are able to render expressions - I find that to be such a challenge! Your ladies always have something to tell and are never stiff or dull.

And thank you so much for the comment about those eyes! I personally thought it was a step in the right direction but it feels great to get it confirmed by a professional. :D

I would love to ask one more thing; Are there any books on the subject of painting or drawing you've found particularly useful that you could recommend? It doesn't matter if they are in polish as I speak it (Moja mama pochodzi z Polski). Pardon if the spelling sucks I've never learned to properly write in Polish.

 Once again thank you for all the help! :D

Most sorry for the belated answer, I would swear I replied... I think I'm getting old. ;)

Please keep me updated about that image's progress, I am thrilled to see how will it look like when finished! As for the books, I am ashamed to admit, but I do not have much to advise in this area. I have one book which I really like, "Anatomy for the artist". Quite fun and helped me to learn underlining muscles and modelling human figures. http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Artist-Sarah-Simblet/dp/078948045X

Aside from that, back in the day I learned most by observing and imitating effects, caught some stuff from medical human-anatomy books. I believe in learning by doing, so I basically tried to paint as much as I could and tried to analyze what works I admire possessed (and mine didn't). For example, the facial expression/anatomy design thing I learned from practice in a rather weird way: I took dozens of pictures/made many sessions in front of a mirror, where I played a character: I tried to display different emotions: being evil, proud, in love, sad etc etc. After comparing the differences I finally "got it", how it's all done.

What  mean is: We all know in theory, how each of these expressions is created (arching eyebrows, lips and whatnot), however what is often overlooked is the actual muscle structure underneath which makes the features form the way they do. This structure has to be reflected in the face design, or otherwise the character will look like a plastic doll with some features (e.g. frowned brows) pasted on top of its perfectly smooth face and so on... I think there is no better way to learn things like that, other than referencing, analyzing and experimenting.

So eh, sorry I cannot help you any more here... There is a thread on CGTalk listing some book recommendations, though: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=166&t=226083   Maybe this will somehow inspire you?

 And PS. The spelling was perfect :)

 

those paintings are very nice :) the skin tones are lovely. I agree with Marta, just add a tad more contrast. Also what would be nice is to add some stightly different colours to the skin to add varriations. You can do this on a new layer, set it to colour mode, create a skattering brush and work lightly over the face and some parts of the body. then lower the opacity of this layer. it really do bring the skin to a whole new level. You could try using colours like greens, blues and reds/oranges. they all work nicely with skin tones. Even if there subtle.

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visit my website at mitchellnelson.deviantart.com

Marta - I'll most certainly check out that book! I really need to learn more about modeling the body without a horde of references by my side. And thank you for the advice about expressions, I guess I'll have to get my hands on a camera (I must confess I hate taking photos). No progress without sacrifice so I'll just try and have fun with it. Also thank you for checking my spelling. ;)

As soon as I revisit that image ( I have a commission for a friend I need to finish off first) I'll post my progress on it. :)

 
Mitchell - First off, thank you! :D

I do suck terribly when it comes to contrast, I'm dead scared of making shadows too dark and have them 'take over'. I used to do this a lot when I first started out (the lady in the desert is actually a toned down example of this). So this is something I really intend to work on. I do wonder if it's best to build up shadows as you go along or lay them in while you sketch and then lighten them up while blending?

As for color mode - I have quite a past with this setting as I tried and tried to do what Henning Ludvigsen does. I had no success with it and started viewing 'color mode' as evil. Perhaps it's time I make peace with it. At the moment I use saturated colors on low opacity to get more life in my skintones. In the first two images I posted I didn't do this at all and completely neglected to vary my midtones. In fact I think I used my shadow color where I should have used midtone variations.

Marta, if your still checking this thread often, I'd like to pick your brain regarding getting foreign colours into the skin tones, greens, purples, cyans, and the like, I have trouble painting those colours in, and keeping the figure believable, also, a lack of knowledge on my part on exactly where to put the foreign colours (for lack of a better term)

I'd appreciate any tips or comments you'd like to share, cheers.

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www.shap00pi.deviantart.com

its like someone is reading my mind! Marta can you check your inbox please

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hmmh. Maybe you could show the work form e to see a direct example? It's really much much easier to share a tip which is tailored to the case, than to just pull some general rule, which will not even apply to the particular painting. =)

hmmm....and here I thought you were psychic..... j/k  I think it's great the help you're providing here Marta. not only are you a great artist but you're also very personable with your fans.

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"Live life like a fantasy. Reality is only in your mind!" - Fabledgoat