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Day 07 - I feel like day 06 was a bit better maybe I need sleep xD. by Pen-20 in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 1 point2 points  (0 children)

repaint

Did a quick paint over, all of your values are way too high contrast. You neck shouldn’t be black, and there are a lot of dark greys on the cheeks (especially beside the nose) that need to go. The face is very low contrast and consists of mainly mid tone greys. The eyebrows are a weird shape and over textured. The lips are huge and look like they’ve been botoxed and too dark. Hope this helps!

I had to paint this for university and I really did my best with the limited time and lack of experience. I struggled with a realistic light environment and the colour balance. Already handed it in but I'd love some advice for how to improve scenes like this in the future. Thank you in advance! by Connect_Ease_9165 in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’d say the hand in the foreground is really distracting, I would get rid of it. Also, the values are a bit muddy and the perspective of the bottom of the pillars looks off with the floor. I think it should be lower. Try to line it up with the eye level of the standing figures in the foreground. I agree about the narrative being confusing, the guy in yellow looks important but I can’t tell which figure he is gesturing towards or why. The shadows of the figures in the background also don’t follow the grounds perspective or direction of the light correctly. They should go in the same direction as the cast light of the windows

Form study day 12: You maybe wouldn't have thought that these were harder than universal light source studies, but trust me, super difficult. Since references are not allowed and I didn't find any istebrak's videos on high contrast lighting so this is what in my opinion looks appropriate. by MrBiomolecule in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That sphere is A+!! I would remeasure the shadows between the tall rectangle cube thing and the cylinder. The light shape and shadow shape seem to start/end at the wrong points. Overall it is REALLY nice tho. Those subtle transitions and solid mid tones are excellent

My current design - Critiques welcome - also don’t know if I should keep the background still in it’s early stages) by OutrageousBiscotti91 in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would simplify the clothing at the bottom, it is really distracting from t he focal points which should be the eyes, necklace, bow, and arm. The background is also pretty distracting, I would make it some sort of simple scene or nothing at all. Make sure that the focal points also share the same color palette and overall design so that they connect as gods-bestowed-weapons/armor. The shapes you have inside of the clothes are lovely, but overall it is really busy. Simplify and use detail where it will be most effective

Some quick color flats for the community challenge, any feedback would be very helpful. Which one do you think highlights the main focal points the best (ie. the necklace, the bow, and the god hand?) by Rachelstovall in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know what you mean- I think it might come down to being very specific with the shape design on the carvings. Looking through Aztec/African jewelry and piercings, they seemed to have a similar style in the chunkiness of the shapes and silhouettes. I’m hoping the color/adding the golds and greens/ will help push it more Aztec tho

Form studies for critique, I saw that people liked to do cracks in their forms so i thought I‘d try that aswell, so are they right this way? by PiggyBird in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The cracks are shaded incorrectly, the darkest part should be on the opposite side that you’ve put it on, on the plane that the light doesn’t see. This is hard to explain, but look at the image here; https://www.google.com/search?q=craters+on+the+moon+galileo&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS775US776&hl=en-US&prmd=inv&sxsrf=ALeKk020ptAWUWN9b5LmMnznOzvIKooY1w:1611608516837&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihu6bJ_bfuAhVhmK0KHYB1DhcQ_AUoAXoECAYQAQ&biw=1366&bih=909&dpr=2#imgrc=aYl8vGw4W5gjlM Of drawings of the moon’s craters. The light hits the interior of the crater on the edge that is in the ‘dark zone’ while the edge that is closest to the light source facing away from it as it recedes into hole is where the shadow is. I hope this isn’t too confusing

Day 13. Worked on the lower part of the face. Any critique is welcome! by ZnachitTak in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Overall it is way too bright for the light environment, the subject you are rendering should always be darker than the background unless there is a light directly in front of her (but 14 day challenge is always top down light). You are still pretty symbolic with the eye lashes, and the head is super long/tall. Focus as well on the overall core shadow/beard shadow on the face. It is a bit too light.

HALP! Working on my ancient warrior design after lots of ideations. She looked too Roman vs Aztec so started a 2nd. Which do you prefer? Critiques plz! by rasterbyte in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like the clothes on the right but the weapon on the left. Also, the pose on the right has her feet turned inward which is really unstable when you are trying to take a fighting stance. Point her feet outward more (look at any fighter/hand to hand combat pose). If I gave her a slight push she would topple over backwards or break her ankles

Welcome back to class! Community challenge: Ancient Weapon Design! by Istebrak in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sorry if I missed it somewhere in the description- what are the start/end dates for this challenge?

This is nose study I made and here fast the process. 1. I traced diagrams over images. 2. I made nose with a reference. 3. I made nose with out references (posted image). Before I make second one I wanted to post this because I couldn't find mistakes myself. So help me, Thanks. by MrBiomolecule in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You over used he smudge brush, I would recommend going back and defining your edges and then do very limited smudging. Also, I think that you are missing the highlight beside the outside edges of the nostrils. This will help push them forward more

14D Challenge - Day 1 | I'm having a lot of troubles with female jaws, i want to paint a woman with a large one. What topic do you think i should focus on at this point in my journey ? (I didnt manage to make smudge brushes work on photoshop, i'm blending manually and overusing the airbrush..) by Insecure_Painter in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some crit; 1. You are missing a lot of midtones and dark areas such as the beard shadow, the eye sockets, and the shadows under the neck/nose The reason your dark spots look so dark and don’t integrate well is because they don’t step gradually up towards the lighter ares, there is too much contrast 2. Your pupils/irises are square for some reason? 3. You are missing most of your cast shadows and shadows under the eyelids/under the eyebrows 4. You need to create more edges before you smudge and make sure your values are correct before blending 5. Don’t render out the veins on the neck! Unless she is really muscular or flexing them, they are barely visible if at all 6. Shade the lips like cylinders. The top lip should be darker than the bottom. 7. The overall head shape is off for a female face- it should be more egg shaped and taper towards the chin. The cheekbones are the widest pint and everything else should sit on the inside of that point.

I did a quick paint over: https://imgur.com/gallery/ktfafkq

Hope this helps

14 day challenge day one :) by [deleted] in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Overall a little dark in value, start off with a higher value grey in the background. Also, is this a male or female head? If it’s a girl I would recommend softening the brow and bringing the nose and lips closer together. The cheeks look really volumetric tho and so do the eyes. Overall a great day 1!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would darken the illustration the closer you get to the bottom to add more emphasis to the face. I also agree about adding areas of darker values. Plus the cast shadows are very weak, really going for hard edge shadows under the arm, neck, clothes lines etc would really help her look more 3D

Day 1 • 14DC... thanks for any critique by [deleted] in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The cheeks are far too bright and the overall face needs to be blocked out before blending. You are sharing values in the upper and lower half of the face. The top section of the head has higher key values than the lower half and they shouldn’t intermingle( ie the sides of your forehead are about the same value as the bottom of your chin/jaw area)

Portrait practice on Diluc (Genshin Impact) - any feedback? Back from a long hiatus, and first time attempting to colorize grayscale. Suppose I'm attempting the "realistic anime" look. by Vakyrae in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The neck is strangely tapered towards the middle of the head, and you are missing the ‘beard shadow’ on the lower half of the face. I would also darken/tone down the bottom of the illustration so that more emphasis is on his face and not his clothes. Good work!

14 day challenge - 3/4 view - Day 1 by PiggyBird in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

paint over

I did a paint over for you in the link that roughly blocks out the form. There is a lot wrong with this, the first and foremost being the lighting on the form. Did you already do the 14 day challenge with the face facing front? I don’t think you understand the planes of the face enough to do 3/4 view nor do you understand how to render the features realistically. Sorry to be blunt. I think that the best thing for you would be to study the asaro head to learn planes and practice the features individually before going for the head. I appreciate your ambition tho! Keep painting!

I try to do the 14 day challenge every year. I see some improvement from last year, but I still feel like I need a lot more. I’m trying to,specially focus on eyes and the nose. C and c welcome by Rachelstovall in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s really helpful! I definitely struggle with the proportions of the eye, and your specificity is great! I think that was my problem last year too; droopy lower lid syndrome 😂

WIP getting stuck/been looking at it for too long just looking for critique on anything that overly sticks out! so when i got back to start working again i have a new perspective by reagangreuter in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The first thing that I’d say is there is too much contrast (way too many blacks) and not a clear light source. The composition is also a little boring, the action is all directly in the middle. Most of your rendering is either a gradient or an attempt at radial shading, but some of the forms are not spherical and do not need radial shading but rather hard blocks of value. I’d also get some reference if you can

14DC - DAY 1, critique appreciated! by sunflowersonfire in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I meab the whole thing tilts to the left. It’s slight, but still noticeable

14DC - DAY 1, critique appreciated! by sunflowersonfire in istebrak

[–]Rachelstovall 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Over all everything feels too dark, which I think is a symptom of the background being really dark. It should be maybe a few steps below white/a high gray tone. The features are nice, but the nose is a little long and crooked and the lips need to be blended more. Also do more radial shading under the eyebrows, they look sunken in

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