Signature backgrounds dump

the waterfall scape is being used for recolors :3 but i am still interested in selling this.



WIP PROGRESSION
here is a rough walkthrough/wip progress of the underwater theme.

i use a program called Topaz Labs that helps out GREATLY with these. makes my dreams come true, pretty much. What it does is takes my (for example) rock with shading, and actually dithers it throughout the rock and makes it flow better and adds more detail. it does the work for me that would have taken me 2 more hours per piece.

it does not create anything for you though, i dont want to mislead. you still have to do 90% of the work, but it does help when it comes to distributing shading. i highly suggest this program to everyone. beginners to veterans, its just an amazing program that anyone can use ^-^

okay, end advertisement rant x)

feel free to chat and give feedback.

Last edited on 2016-03-29 at 16:57:46 by Fintron

Love these! They are so cool and look just like real pictures! They're truly incredible!

I can definitely see great plans for the sea scape. ♥

This is art, not photography? :0 ♥ Love. Love love love love love love. ♥ ♥

They're both stunning! The seascape is amazing! I love sharks and can totally see some white tip reef sharks living there happily.

I'm gonna be honest here and say that to me these just look like photos with really crappy effects slapped on .-. I'm glad you found a program that you love, that's great! But since these just look like photo effects it's a big turn off for me, and possibly for quite a few other people as well. This may in turn hurt your sales in the future, though it may not, never know.

yea, i should add closeups so you can see the detail and edges. thank you everyone for the encouragement!

eliza, thats fine. kind of hurts to hear that, honestly. It also is a compliment that you think these are photographs, means im doing a good job in making them realistic i guess. feedback is feedback, thank you.

ALSO, i am currently making a video of me painting a desert that also shows how i use the programs and what they do :) i will post as soon as i am finished.

Last edited on 2016-03-29 at 12:14:34 by Fintron

I know, nobody likes hearing negative things about their art but in order to progress you need the bad with the good. x3 Just be aware that some people may accuse you of using pics without crediting, so maybe have some wips readily available to show in case it ever comes to that. Anyway, keep on keepin' on :)

Gosh, I love that underwater one. Like Valzed said, I can just picture a happy little shark swimming in it! :>

im kind of in a funk right now, Eliza. Do you have any suggestions for what i should do to get out of the "looks fake" category.. help a girl out?

maybe i should take it easy on the topaz program? and just focus on making it more pixel looking than photoy (not a word, i know lol)

the last thing i want to be looked at as, is a phoney

Last edited on 2016-03-29 at 13:33:34 by Fintron

This does look just like a photo! Amazing! I would just make sure the horse (or whatever you put in) looks as realistic as the background, so neither look out of place.

As I'm not familiar with the program I'm not sure what it is that's making it look fake, but you could try adding another step to your process by going over the backgrounds again manually to make sure that the lighting doesn't look off and to break up some of the noise (mostly looking at the one with the rocks, the sea one looks better). Basically just adding some finishing touches to make it look more like it was created... naturally? Like just to break up the consistency and add in final touches with lighting and shadows. I think that would help loads!

Also, I have to say for the sea one, I really like the step right before you made it all pixelly. Have you thought about doing soft shaded or painterly type art? You may have quite a but of success with it, though I don't really know your art very well so for all I know you just want to focus on pixel right now x3

I like it. To each their own.

And FYI, nobody can accuse anyone of using a photo unless they can successfully reverse Google search the image and find a photo perfectly matching, so...

eliza; i see what youre saying, yea, i only like to focus on pixel here. but thank you for the critique.