My second, greatly improved, Manip!

So, some of you might've seen my first manipulation, and I asked fore critique on it. Now I took plant of that into consideration, and tried again. Here is the final product.

http://votheiaagapi.deviantart.com/art/Manip-Hewlp-601086674
Credits are in the description of the image.

It is missing a little something, but I can't figure out what. I know the shading is terrible, getting the horse and the background to mesh well together is a problem, and I don't have a batter brush to use for mane/tail.

Now, I truly like how the horse itself came out this time, compared to last. This one took a great deal of time, much more than the last, but it isn't the beast quality it could be I think.

Also, a lot of tutorials I've looked at aren't much help, because I don't use a computer and a comp download for my art, I use my kindle fire, and a n app that I downloaded into it, to do my art. But still, if you could help that would be amazing!

I do like it, but I agree, the tail mane and tail could look better. But I agree with the person on DA who said about the splashes :) Maybe just put heaps of strokes of different shades for the mane and tail.

Magic, I don't really think putting "heaps of strokes" will help much, being horse tails generally aren't that thick. If you have any other suggestions instead of just opinions that would be super helpful to though! XD♥

For the mane/tail I usually have a base color than I add highlights and lowlights. Use ref pics if you're unsure. Usually the hair closest to the crest has some highlights. The mane looks pretty good but the tail is too raised/arched.

As for the splashes maybe add some white/lighter green? Or if they are causing trouble you can take them out and just say the horse is doing a calm walk that doesn't disturb the water?

Jezarae, yeah, that might've been helpful had I used pics to help, xDd. Thank you! I would've loved to leave put the splashes , I can't find a way to bled the legs into the water in a realistic matter very well.

I actually agree with magic on the strokes thing. Most of the time, people give horses thicker manes and tails than usual in manips (it's funny you said that because you made yours thicker than most lol) just because it's more pleasing to the eye. You just want to use your base color to get the shape, and use thin lighter and darker lines like Jezerae said to give the appearance of strands.

As for the water, that really needs work, but water is hard to begin with. Any movement is going to disturb it and you have no surface movement at all. The "ripple" and "wave" effects in PS help a lot. For the splashes, use reference. They look like smudges of nothing. You don't want to blend them into it, they're a solid object in a liquid surface; they're going to contrast.

Your color and lighting is also all over the place. It helps to make a new layer and draw a sun on it where your lighting is so you remember. You're going to want to manipulate the background more than just putting a horse on it and calling it a day.

For color, I mean that your horse and background clash badly. Putting a solid orange or solid green (whichever tone ol you like more) on a new layer, setting it to overlay or another setting, and lowering the opacity until it looks good can bring everything together a little more.

Last edited on 2016-04-05 at 13:48:02 by Zell™

I like it, however I agree with everyone else!

Here is my favrioute mane and tail tutorial, I can also link you to a TON more to help you, but message me :)

link

@Zell, is love to be able to do anything with the background, but I can't due to the app (not a program on a computer, a literal app on my kindle) I use, I can't change the background other than smudging it or adding things to it. Changing the color of it isn't something I can do. I also don't have anything that would work as a replacement for a ripple/water/etc effect, again due to my limited options. ASA for lighting, I'm really stuck on it because I can't even get the slightest bit of sharing without it looking very painterly and out of place.

@Hali, that tutorial was very helpful! I'm sure there is many helpful tutorials, but as I stated before, non are all that helpful due to noon of them are using the app I use.

I am curious as to how it will look if the horse is a bit smaller.

I would work on basic stuff one at a time before you try things like markings. Lighting is important and the size of the image is too small taking away any detail. The splashes are too dark, looks more like grass or vines going up the horse's legs. There needs to be more flow to the mane and tail, and more streaks for realistic highlights and lowlights. I understand your resources are limited, but you will get better only by getting an actual art program and upgrading.

@Caballine; thank you. And as much as I'd love to upgrade to an actual art program, I can't. I don't have a computer/laptop. Just my kindle. Nor can I afford to buy one either.

First, Ive noticed a lot of newer artists tend to try to "squish" everything into a tiny area. I had to actually zoom in to find any detail or look over the image due to lack of size. Try using a larger canvas, larger stock images, larger backgrounds, keep them the original size as you work.

Second I am going to address the horse itself, its a very un-natural color, very deep red, unlike most creatures, almost repainted. Lowering the saturation would be the best option here - playing with lighting in brightness and contrast also. The horse itself is over smudged/blurred - this can be fixed by addressing the percentage of amount of smudge, and brush size within the program you use. Its a lot of trial and error. Generally no more than 10% smudge and 5px brush size as a rule of thumb, if you need to smudge/blur a horse. The markings also need work, here is a tutorial to try and help with that: http://rhinebeck.deviantart.com/art/HOW-TO-make-white-markings-72255418?q=gallery%3Arhinebeck%2F43329283&qo=1 and another one http://rhinebeck.deviantart.com/art/HOW-TO-make-paint-markings-136628803?q=gallery%3Arhinebeck%2F43329283&qo=3
http://tigerstriped4.deviantart.com/art/Equine-Colour-Change-Part-1-479078014?q=favby%3Arhinebeck%2F1160831&qo=59
http://tigerstriped4.deviantart.com/art/Equine-Colour-Change-Part-2-479078226?q=favby%3Arhinebeck%2F1160831&qo=58

Third the mane, I am going to separate mane and tail as I have tutorials and walkthroughs for both. The covering of the face with the mane, not the best idea, and with this horse, a black mane or darker mane would have been best. You have the right idea with the movement (GREAT JOB that is often the hardest) and your base is spot on, you actually want an almost solid base to build your mane off of. Starting with around a 10px brush, then working your way down to a 1px brush adding colors of highlights and shadows as you go. It takes practice but you will get there! http://rhinebeck.deviantart.com/art/Mane-Painting-Tutorial-Walkthrough-515753370?q=gallery%3Arhinebeck%2F278748&qo=2

Another Mane tutorial: http://foolishsunsets.deviantart.com/art/Mane-Tutorial-2-0-482469460?q=favby%3Arhinebeck%2F1160831&qo=123
For making Horse Hair: http://i-mi.deviantart.com/art/Horse-Hair-Tutorial-342637473?q=favby%3Arhinebeck%2F1160831&qo=283
I had mentioned Movement: http://rhinebeck.deviantart.com/art/Mane-and-tail-movement-walkthrough-425556056?q=gallery%3Arhinebeck%2F43329283&qo=0

Now onto the tail, Just like manes, you need a semi solid base, but you want a shorter base to build on, same idea as manes, but use a slightly larger brush and work your way down from there. Be careful to work on checking it to match your mane often.

Blending into the background, the horse just kind of "sits" there, this center piece of a red animal (for lack of better words im sorry) a tutorial for Blending: http://xdancingintherain.deviantart.com/art/Blending-Tutorial-347351920?q=favby%3Arhinebeck%2F1160831&qo=274 ..... This fits in with the above ^^^

Onto your Splashes: http://tigerstriped4.deviantart.com/art/Splash-Tutorial-505024883?q=favby%3Arhinebeck%2F1160831&qo=57 - another toughie. But they should be white/off white grey not green, and in this case would be ripples more than splashes, as the water is mainly still and not running. The horse is casually strolling through.


Heres a whole buncha tutorials: http://rhinebeck.deviantart.com/favourites/39119009/tutorials

Hope this helped. Feel free to message me for more info :)

Last edited on 2016-04-07 at 05:09:13 by rhine.

While the critique itself was helpful, Rhine, if would help if I could use those tutorials, but I don't have very little of the tools needed to do so. I didn't smudge the horse at all, actually, also. But thank you agaim!

Not to be rude, but if you're not able to do anything different with the program you have, and are just going to repeat that every time someone actually offers critique, why are you asking in the first place? There's nothing much you'll be able to change no matter what we suggest.

Because no matter how !Manny times I say it, things I've already said I can't do are critiqued.