Here's another forest, and I've been taking "pictures" of the process along the way. I'm not sure if I'm as happy with this one as the previous; it seems a little too saturated. I started with more randomness and less planning than usual, which was fun b but at the same time, I found I had to correct a lot of things along the way.



1 minute in. I drew everything more or less at random.



After almost 10 minutes, I've figured out what each of the colored blobs should be



After almost 30 minutes, it's starting to look like a forest!



Now it's starting to take longer to see drastic changes. A few more details added after 45 minutes.



More detail added. I don't think it's bad for a one hour painting, but now it's time to start being a little more careful and calculated.



80 minutes in, I start adjusting the lighting and adding shadows.



After almost 2 hours, I have more lighting in. This is when I start to wonder if the saturation is too high. Should've planned more!



As I start to add more details, that clock begins to advance very quickly!



Added some detail (leaves), and other fun things.



This is probably the final version. Loaded in GIMP and adjusted the saturation and light. There's always the risk of overworking the image, and at some point it's best to part ways. Of course, it's always good to get feedback, and maybe there will be a few things to rework... or, at the least, keep in mind for the next painting.

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It's taking time for these to unravel with my mobile broadband but from what I've seen it's coming along great. I like your use of colour even if it did get a little saturated. You've certainly got the hang of tree shapes - something I envy.

Wow merrak, that is coming together quite nicely. If you don't mind I would like to use these steps to see if I can make this work for me. I really suck at foregrounds. I have been working on a few of Griatchs basic tutes using the air brush which is quite tricky.

I would recommend that this should also be put in the tutorial section when it is finished. I think a lot of people would get a lot of benefit from it.

The colors seem to need more harmony. But I'm not one to talk, my backgrounds are nothing compared to this!

Quite nice! Good work so far!

Wow. What started out looking like rubbish became such a fantastic end result Merrak.

the fun part of being an artist is being able to see a picture go from start to finish. it's just so fun to see a blank white canvas turn into a forest in a short amount of time. That's why it's good to post step by step photos of your paintings so others who don't paint can see the magic happen. i have done this in the past but haven't done a step by step of late. i think you have done a great job. trees are hard for me. but i work and work on it. practice makes perfect even though we never get things made perfect. Bob Ross use to say if you think it's not the best painting you did, don't worry about it, you have learned and the next painting will be better because of it. learning is what it's all about. and to those who say they can't paint, don't sell yourself's short. pick up a brush and give it a go. i really think everyone can paint. so many of the artist i watch and listen to, say the same thing. great work so far. i enjoyed watching your painting become a piece of art. hope to see it finished soon. god bless and happy painting people

merrak: it's looking good - i like how you use light in your paintings and i think you're very good with compositions. fun to get these glimpses of how you work !

Thanks for comments everyone !





I think it helps to imagine clumps of leaves as big blobs, then put some in the shadows and some in the light. The trees look a little more 3D than just having a single mass of leaves.



I don't mind I'd be interested in seeing what others come up with. I could clean up the narratives a bit, so it reads more like a tutorial. Of course, I need to finish the painting, too.

At one point several years ago I worked through most of the Griatch tutorials. I'd probably get more out of them now if I ran through them all again.



Color layers and saturation layers are helpful All my screen shots show MyPaint, although I've really been flipping back and forth between MyPaint and GIMP.



Not done yet



It's nice to have step by step photos or videos so you can see your old processes years later. I still have a couple of mine from summer 2012

Thanks

I've had to adjust the light a lot between the last snapshot and now... trying to get the saturation under control.

Finished! (See top of thread)

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Turned out very beautiful Merrak. I love the way you can work your darks and lights. I started one from your exercise but I am not doing too well with it.

Beautiful forest, it's fun to see the process and how you started out, awesome work! What kind of brush did you use for the leaves?

merrak: it's really beautiful, the trees turned out lovely and i know i've already said the play of light is so well done, but i'd like to say i still think so .

Another excellent painting!

The perspective seems a bit off, still very nice!
Good job! :>

Beautiful

Great painting and I like the walk through of the stages and watching it all some together.

Thanks for the comments everyone



I'd be interested in seeing it



I really like MyPaint's set of brushes for foliage. I use one called "Particles 3" a lot, which is a little tricky to control, but does a good job avoiding the "blocky" look. There are a few that don't seem to have names - just the icons - that I found in the 08 set.



I noticed that too when I finished. Oops I usually plan a bit more than I did this time. I started by scribbling, instead of line art like I usually do.