I am really taken with the work of Pre-Raphaelites like John Waterhouse and John Collier and also other romantic and academic artists and want to try and bring this out in a digital work also - thus this is my first draft of a picture based on Countess Erzebet Bathory 

 

 

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Zum hoechsten Dasein immerfort zu streben.

Too early I think to give proper critique, but it looks promising, keep it up.

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http://www.artfulscruff.co.uk | deviantart

cheers, if anyone has any tips on creating a traditional oil painting style that would be great - I want to make this a little project - to effectively create a work in that style, with its evocative lighting and opera like arrangement of figures

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Zum hoechsten Dasein immerfort zu streben.

With what you have so far, I'd say you're successfully achieving the style you are after - if I wasn't for your intro, I'd have thought it was a study from a classical piece.

Knowing a little bit about Countess Bathory, my only little crit/suggestion for development of the image would be to have some highlighting of what I assume is a blade in her left hand.

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thank you, i will check to do that. It is based on perhaps more of the legend of Bathory than the truth, I remember seeing a painting of her when i was one and i think it is the image by Istvan Csok and it was so evocative, - funny though when i look at the reproduction of his now lost painting it doesnt look exactly how i remember it and i wonder if there is another painting out there of bathory with young girls being brought before her - i have been searching the web but there is no trace of any other work -

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Zum hoechsten Dasein immerfort zu streben.

Wow. What you have there is really impressive so far. It's definitely got an Old Masters feel.

As for advice, you probably don't need any! But just in case, the only thing I'd say is build up in layers, and use layer modes to simulate glazing (Color, Overlay, Soft Light), scumbling (Multiply, Darken, Overlay), and impasto (Normal mode).

I'm excited to see how you get along on this.

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Nick Avallone
AngryFungus Art Blog | Sketchbook

THAts really good advice thank you as there is always so much more to oil painting that just putting down paint and even when i did just do that with oil painting it was in itself something always needed layers - i am always amazed how working over several layers can solidify an image so much more than if just work on one layer. - the soft light and layer modes i use but i admittedly do not understand how best to use layers like darken, color, and multiply - i get what they do but dont know enough about what their effect is to know whether they will bring out something in my mind or not

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Zum hoechsten Dasein immerfort zu streben.

Hey, Agathosdaimon: I'm glad that helps! Many Blending modes are still a complete mystery to me, and I'm not 100% sure how even some of the ones I often use work. I found a moderately useful cheat-sheet at Adobe, though.

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Nick Avallone
AngryFungus Art Blog | Sketchbook

thank you again - that is a helpful list i am going to print off a copy of that as a quick reference too.

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Zum hoechsten Dasein immerfort zu streben.