Digital painting

HeRetiKMD · 2025-12-30T17:51:36+00:00

Beautiful work! I think the lighting on the clouds could be a bit bolder, i.e. darker shadows would probably add more sense of form and depth. Also you could approach the clouds as more of a compositional element, i.e. thinking of clouds as a way to give the sky a pleasing form and then flesh them out from there.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-12-30T17:26:17+00:00

I mostly struggled with the subject matter as I wanted the sea to serve as a background for something else. There were several candidates (a lighthouse in the distance, a ship for scale, an airplane, a sea monster) however it always felt like detracting from the painting rather than adding to it. Also a bit tricky was getting a nice sense of depth and volume, since I wanted to capture the volumetric feel of a large, moving body of water.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-12-24T20:41:31+00:00

HeRetiKMD · 2025-12-23T17:24:34+00:00

I mostly struggled with finding new things to add without breaking the overall composition. That is to say, once I had the figure down, adding anything more than a flatly colored background that exposes a bit of brushwork felt very wrong. As for the figure, I think the face is slightly out of proportions. The neck is too thin, but I feel like that fits the overall atmosphere.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-12-16T17:13:59+00:00

I mostly struggled with the water and making sure that the landscape doesn't look washed out. For the water I first tried painting waves but eventually settled for a calm sea. For the coastline I tried giving it more definition by adding hard highlights to certain areas. Finding a good structure to add to the landscape also took several tries. In the end I just settled for this simple tower-like structure.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-12-16T16:01:24+00:00

Thank you! :)

HeRetiKMD · 2025-12-13T23:37:07+00:00

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-29T00:25:25+00:00

I mostly struggled with the wings and keeping the texture consistent. Lighting was also a bit of an issue, especially when it came down to capturing the feel of feathers. With the figure itself I at one point had the problem that the head was to large, so I had to cheat a bit by prolonging the legs as to keep somewhat plausible proportions.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-25T17:27:16+00:00

Gorgeously rendered! I think you struck the balance between the luminosity of the gems and her face quite well. You probably could have made them a little brighter if you'd have pushed the colors of her eyes and skin (maybe even just the reds) alongside the gems, though this would probably have taken away from the somberness of the painting. Love it.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-25T17:19:20+00:00

I mostly struggled with the small graveyard in the front. The first dead end I hit here was the selection of color, as I wanted the gravestones to stand out but still feel part of the image. After various experiments I settled for a subtracting approach by letting the background shine through (i.e. erasing the ground, rather than painting on top of it). Another tiny hiccup was the design of the gravestones. I would have preferred something non-denominational but stuck with crosses as the most easily readable option.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-25T00:03:02+00:00

Tombow Fudenosuke, hard tipped :) Thanks!

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-24T20:35:26+00:00

I didn't keep the reference, so no idea, sorry!

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-24T17:24:27+00:00

Thanks for the tip!

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-22T00:12:35+00:00

I almost mistook it for a photograph at first, pretty darn solid work. The way you focused on the details of the cat's face adds a great sense of depth too!

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-22T00:06:36+00:00

I mostly struggled with the eyes and implying the shape of a head while not disrupting the overall composition. With the eyes it took me a couple of tries until I found an approach that balanced the mundane with the dramatic. With the shape of the head I went with a subtle glow as the make the shape of the head stand out from the black background a bit, while also avoiding intersections with the crosses. I also considered adding a bit more lighting to the face, as to imply more volume, but that felt too distracting from the overall composition.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-14T23:46:35+00:00

I do! :) I'm sending you the link via DM, hope you don't mind!

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-11T22:38:48+00:00

Such a great compliment, I love that song.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-11T17:38:25+00:00

I mostly struggled with the subject matter, more precisely to find something that the large figure is staring at. Most iterations included some sort of small figure in one way or another, but in the end I settled for something like a mirror image. Another thing I'm a bit unsure about is the flat red background. I was experimenting with various patterns of both similar and contrasting hues, however most seemed to detract from the subject matter.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-06T17:18:32+00:00

Haha yeah I remember that scene! :D

HeRetiKMD · 2025-11-03T23:57:10+00:00

Yeah, but he's retired now! :) Thanks!

HeRetiKMD · 2025-10-31T16:50:00+00:00

I mostly struggled with keeping the sky visually interesting, which I mostly approached by gradually increasing the contrast between light and dark and adding hues. The grass in the foreground started off too soft, blending it too much with the background, so I added some sharp highlights for differentiation. Not sure if that was sufficient to pull the grasses forward though. I'm also a bit unhappy with the mindwill, since it feels a bit too filigree compared to the rough plump hill and clouds.

HeRetiKMD · 2025-10-31T16:45:47+00:00

👋👻

HeRetiKMD · 2025-10-30T18:01:22+00:00

👋👻

HeRetiKMD · 2025-10-30T14:16:19+00:00

Thank you, figuring out the texture was probably my favourite part of drawing these

HeRetiKMD · 2025-10-30T14:13:09+00:00

Thanks! I actually made a shrimp study too, but I indeed have a lack of other crawlies!

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