So the agreement was,If my uncle bought me my aquarium light I paint him a picture.I suck at painting,lol.And not only that but I have to paint some forest scene with wildlife.Lemme pain a horse or a fish,yeah?And on top of that I am no good at actually painting.Photoshop I can do,free unlimited paint in all shades,opacity,layers and undo button,lol.

Anyhow,I have some of it done.Its not that good,and mind you it isnt not near complete.I have to paint the bear,do the rest of the background and yada yada.dummy me added the tree and mid ground before finishing the back.Please let me know what you guys think.This is actually canvas too so yeh.



Be harsh,be gentle,whatever I just need crit other than family,who of course showers me with praise on things.

__________________
http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Waaaay better than what I could ever do! I wish I could paint! (Never was too good with the 'goopy' mediums!!) Come to think of it.... I'm not real good with the solid mediums, (pencil, pen, etc...) either, lol!

But really, it's good! I like the white highlights and the bushes and trees look really cool! Can't wait to see the bear finished!

__________________
20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

I'd show you how I draw but it would just encite laughter. Looks great, if your better with digital picture I'd really like to see that. But truely the painting is very good can't wait to see the end result.

__________________
100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel

I wouldn't give up your day job just yet but hey it's really quite nice to look at, nothing to be ashamed of. I'd say you have some natural talent, getting really good is just a case of practice.

A good tip if you are painting from a photo or picture is to look at the photo upside down while you paint, I know it sounds silly but it really works. It helps your brain to see what is really there rather than what you think it should look like.

thanks,lol.Yeah no photo,just my brain.I am used to photoshop more than canvas now,so the ability to add layers was so convenient,I would work on parts I felt more at ease that day on.its not uncommon for me to make a piece with over thirty layers,just because,lol.But yeah Im bummed by this,every time I look at it I hate it more and more.When I can Im going to get more paint and do something else most likely.Its just irritates me more every time I see it.

__________________
http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

That happens to me with my paintings. I have to put them out of sight for a year, when they come out again I think hey that's pretty good! You can do as many layers as you want with paint too you just have to wait for the paint to dry!

Yeah true,but in PS,the paint is free,haha!I hate though looking back at my art.I see mistakes everywhere.I think thats why I think my family is biased and wont tell me what they really think.Hence the posting here.Of course family will dote and tell me how wonderful it is,but I wanna know the mess ups,and what looks off.

__________________
http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

i think it looks good cant wait to see it all done

__________________
What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

I honestly like what you've done but I'll give you a few pointers if you really want them. Painting is very much a question of taste and the look you are after so if any of my suggestions don't work for you just ignore them.

First off the picture lacks a little in depth of color. The pastel colors give it a it of a dreamy, far off misty look, which might be what you want but if you want a close up feel like your really there depth of color will help.

A good place to start is to make sure you have pure whites(which you already seem to have done) and really dark colors/black. You've done well adding shadows but there are are no really dark areas. For example around the base of a stone a shadow will look black. Lack of deep shadows gives your path a watery look (if it is a stream I apologize) Often painters like you have and add in the darker shadows as they go. This helps make the picture feel more 3D.

As well as shadows use as many colors and shades of colors as you can. You've done this well by layering two different greens on the bushes and using some pure yellow on the grasses. that makes it come to life. The trunk of the tree, the stones and the branches in the foreground are still all more or less the same brown, try making the brown of the rocks. The bare branches that are further back are already a bit of a darker brown which looks good.

On a general note try to avoid mixing white with colors too often as it will give a muddy look. You need to mix white sometimes to get highlights (which you've done nicely) but it's important to have pure colors too. Cheap paints are a problem that way because the often come with more white mixed in to make them cheaper. Something that most people do is to get their whites muddy too. It's good to use some pure white which you have done.

A second thing that's important is to have all your shadows going the same direction. You've done this except the shadows by the grass which are going the wrong way from the other ones, it might just be that you haven't finished filling in yet and they are not really shadows.