Critiques - - Japanese Garden Painting -Critiques Please

Photomaster · #1 03-28-2006, 02:31 AM

I'm looking for your assessments of this painting. Such as: artistic merit, composition, asthetics, technique or your overall impression. Be honest, I can take it (I hope). Thanks.

For this piece I used Corel Painter IX, Photoshop and a pen tablet. To start I scanned a photo of the garden. I ran the cutout filter in Photoshop to reduce detail. In the Painter IX SELECT menu I selected ALL. Holding down the ALT key I then clicked on FLOAT, again, in the SELECT menu. Then I created a new blank layer and clicked on "Pick up underlying color" just above the new layer. I chose the OPAQUE ACRYLIC brush. Brush settings as follows:

Size: 10 to start (Varied as needed)
Opacity: 40%
Resat: 0% (This allows the brush to pick up the underlying color.)
Bleed: 40%
Jitter: 1.1

I worked at 100% view on a 720KB image with 72dpi. The brush technique I used can best be described as tap and push. (Tap the pen and give it a slight push or pull depending on which way you want the color to spray.) I continued this over the entire image until satisfied. Then I added freehand detail and additional highlights and shadows.

I saved the image and reopened in Photoshop and did a CURVES adjustment layer. Finnaly I added a canvas texture to complete the painting.

Janet Petty · #2 03-28-2006, 05:53 AM

Beautiful work. Thank you for sharing with those of us who enjoy photo art. I just have one question/statement however. Since this is a forum where we are all supposed to (I hope) learn, practice, and have fun on a posted photograph, wouldn't it logically follow that you might want to post the original so the rest of us can use it as well? Please.

Janet

Kraellin · #3 03-28-2006, 08:05 AM

PM,

like janet, i think it's a beautiful work. my only dislike here is along the top, if you look closer, you'll see what looks to be clone marks above the tree. this could just be a coincidence or something and not really cloning. but it has that look to me. in the green area above the tree, especially above the right half of the tree. no one but a digital artist/retoucher would notice this as such, i'm sure. so, it's a very minor thing.

aside from that, i like it. great colors. good composition/form, nice painted look and i could easily see it on canvas, framed and hanging in a home in a prominent position. very nicely done!

craig

Photomaster · #4 03-28-2006, 09:01 AM

Janet, thanks for your kind assessment. Per your request here is the scanned photo for everyone to work from. I have also included the CUTOUT filtered image from Photoshop to show you how I started. Have fun.

Please post you intrepretations on the PhotoArt forum. I'll start another thread there.

Craig,

Dang! You're good! When I cropped the scan initially I inadverently left a strip across the top of the photo. Rather than recrop I did a quick clone intending to touch up later and then forgot. No one except another photoart junkie would have noticed. Glad you liked the painting. I value your opinnions.

Swampy · #5 03-28-2006, 11:43 AM

Photomaster,

Lovely picture. Not often I get to see trees in their fall colors. Enjoyed working on this.

Select color, Yellows of the tree. Copy to a new layer and added texture

Hue/Saturation on the background to shift colors to olive tones.

palms1 · #6 03-28-2006, 01:24 PM

I think that this tree would look even better in my garden ! Beautiful picture.
Swampy i think that the colour of this tree ( Japanese Maple) is its natural colour so you could see fall colours any time you wanted.

Palms

Kraellin · #7 03-28-2006, 01:25 PM

PM,

Quote:

Dang! You're good! When I cropped the scan initially I inadverently left a strip across the top of the photo. Rather than recrop I did a quick clone intending to touch up later and then forgot. No one except another photoart junkie would have noticed.

now if i could only paint as well as i see

and thanks

i'll make one other suggestion here too. this is totally a preferencial thing and not a criticism at all. if you ran the finished image in a hue/sat/lightness adjustment layer and brightened just the yellows/golds/oranges, i think this would 'pop' a bit more. in fact, i think i'd make a rough selection of just the tree and do only that. this would add a bit more depth and pop to the image. if pop isnt intended or desired, then ok. it's almost more of a question of 'what if you did this?' than anything else.

and i love the original and the garden.

craig

Kraellin · #8 03-28-2006, 01:29 PM

ok, i posted my last post before looking at swampy's rendition. that's the pop i was talking about. lots more depth there. almost looks 3d. nice, dee dee

and palms, i love that. simplicity rings true.

craig

Kraellin · #9 03-28-2006, 01:31 PM

and i dont think that's a japanese maple... at least not the variety that grows around here. the leaves dont look right and the coloration is usually more reddish, but again, that's around here. the size and overall shape are very close, but the leaves look too small.

craig

Swampy · #10 03-28-2006, 02:42 PM

Palms, Actually, I get a little fall color in my oak trees, but it must be neat to have a tree that is something other than green all year. I lived in Kansas for a time and fell in love with the olive trees.

Thanks, Craig. :-)

Janet Petty · #11 03-28-2006, 05:01 PM

Yippee. more fun photos to play with. Thanks Photomaster.

Janet

palms1 · #12 03-29-2006, 12:18 AM

Thanks Craig,I wasnt a hundred percent sure that it is a japanese maple, but there are over 300 cultivars. My garden isnt quite that big though

Palms

Photomaster · #13 03-30-2006, 05:01 PM

I did this sketch of a red fox in Photoshop, resized and added it to the painting. I also did some overall color adjustments.

Kraellin · #14 03-31-2006, 01:51 PM

ok, technically, the only thing out here is that you didnt correct the clone marks at the top.

preferentially, i'm prone to louder colors, brighter. so, i did your original up myself and i realized in doing so that it's not the colors of the tree that are making for a bit of a lack of 'pop', but that it's the greens in the foreground and background. they are kind of muddy, duller greens than i'd prefer. so, ok, that's just a preference thing.

also on the preferential side, i'd have loved to see the fox a bit more prominent. i'd have placed him about 15 foot closer up, but in the exact same relative horizontal.... maybe in front of that dark green patch of ground. and again, just a preference. as is, i think it's a marvelous addition and does make sense that he might be a bit camera shy and more into the background. so, ok. either way, it's a great addition.

i think your brush strokes are perfect. i wouldnt change a thing there.

the nice thing about digital is, you could post such an image for sale and offer preferences: a red tree, brighter grass, duller grass, smaller tree, larger tree, etc. i've actually never seen this offered any where, but i dont see why you couldnt. in fact, if one really knew web site creation, you could even create a little app that would allow folks to make their own changes, save, and order their own renditions. how's that for an idea

craig

MargaretM · #15 04-01-2006, 06:50 AM

PM - overall very nice composition. Good vibrant subject and nice brush work. I would have taken some of the green out of the trunk and make it a little starker, to set the tree off more. Also I read a good tip for texture, which I have yet to try. After applying texture in either Painter or PS, add a see through mask and then with varying opacity, remove from some sections to give the effect of thicker paint in certain areas. I like the fox where it is - subtle but an added interest. Very nice!
MargaretM