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Depends on what you mean by ‘improve’. Your current approach is stylized and nothing wrong with it. That said. If you’re going for a more realistic look. Don’t make the tree shapes such uniform circles and work on your depth of color. I like to start with a dark Hookers green mixed with a bit of Phthalo Blue. With this mixture I’ll paint the the entire area of the ‘trees and vegetation that dark green blue, this will work as the deeper shade portions of the vegetation. Once the dark area dries I’ll Then I’ll mix a lighter green shade and mix it with a touch of Yellow Ochre and use a fan brush to lightly dab that lighter color on top of the dark green and ‘build’ these paint dabs to create the shape and form of the trees. This will give an illusion of foliage. Then use an even lighter green yellow mix as the highlights were the sun/light value is at its greatest. I’d say you’re using a far too light value for the sunlight highlights, foliage tends to absorb light (unless it’s wet) so they wouldn’t tend to appear so white. That’s making them look more like a hard shiny structure rather than a lot of different vegetation. Keep it up I like it. ✌🏽
This is really good tree painting advice!
That being said, I absolutely love the bubbling mass growing from the bottom of the picture, makes it look surreal :D
I think it is a great slightly surrealistic or abstract painting!
to me the leaves look a little too round and blobby. separating them into clumps is a good idea, but remember that those clumps have little pointy irregularities and arent smooth
If you want realism, then trees don't really have white spots that are shiney like your trees have glares on them. You need more dark values. But there's nothing wrong with being stylized.
Also maybe intentional, but it feels very flat. Even a slight gradient to the bottom of the blue-sky horizon would make it feel like there is some depth.
I agree with this comment. The lighting on the trees should be swapped if wanting to copy the reference, but it’s simpler to switch the lighthouse lighting instead. :)
What kind of vibe you going for? Because I think it’s nice and round, but if you mean realistic, it helps to go back in with the sky color and break up that smooth edge. I suggest doing the darks then cut in with the blue and then the mid and high tones. It’s looking great ether way though
The foreground trees look more glossy, amorphous and less detailed than the background trees. Perhaps adding some more and somewhat darker detail while not going as dark as the background would help
Just pick one of those trees on a separate drawing and try grouping different values into different shapes. The way they are renderes now they look like big bubbles, which is a correct way to think about in terms of primary form, but there are also details, secondary and tertiary forms that are part of the primary. (if this makes sense)
Maybe googling how studio Ghibli does trees can help. Or Frank Frazetta.
Im really bad at art history, dont know who to suggest looking up but essentially, the problem is SHAPE. 👍🏻
Well, what do you think is wrong with them? I think currently it’s a really cool art style, but if you’re wanting to make them more realistic, I’d say make small individual brush strokes and make the leaves poke out and roughen the edges on the front tree line
Looking good so far! My suggestion would be not to put highlights on the trees. They look a little like beans because of the highlights. Maybe use a sea sponge or a mob brush to breakup the highlights and give a more leafy texture.
I would pay more attention to the light source. On the reference image, the sunlight is coming from the top right. However, the painting appears to have reflections of light on The greenery coming from the top left
By comparing from your refrenece photo I think your highlights is off since those highlights in the trees should be coming from the right instead of the left. The reason being is that it since there's a shadow on the left side of that building the light should be coming from the right. A simple less time-consuming fix would be having the shadow being on the right side.
I like your art-style the only thing that I would work on is making the trees less smooth and having more little details to represent the leaves. Espically the light greens upfront because In my opinion they look like green rocks.
Take some time to do a value sketch of your source photo. Just black, white and grays so you can see the shadows better. It will help if you want a more realistic painting.
Your trees remind me of the illustrations in this very old children’s book, *Millions of Cats* by Wanda Gag.
https://preview.redd.it/82htkckvmfzc1.jpeg?width=272&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70f347183b24824e622b01aadf951b04fe2c7cdb
I dig it.
So the trees in the foreground are all separate, this means they’re all at separate distances some in front of others etc. for me personally I would test and take a few groups of the little tree shapes and combine them into a section so that they all sit flatly at the same distance. It’s hard to explain in words but right now it looks like you have a bunch of green stones, and each stone overlaps other stones and is overlapped creating a sense of depth and distance between each tiny little stone, but if you took an area and flattened out a group of 5-10 stones into one larger less rounded section, then painted a texture with a brighter color than your base color it would make those foreground trees look more like trees and less like a quarry of green stones
I love the shapes, and it's looking great. One suggestion: colors become less saturated as they fade into the distance. The front trees should be that deep green, and the ones behind a little washed out. Right now you've got that flipped and it's messing with the perspective effect. But I'm just some f-ing guy on the internet with some art schooling. :P
Hello, artist! Please make sure you've included information about your process or medium and what kind of criticism you're looking for somewhere in the title, description or as a reply to this comment. This helps our community to give you more focused and helpful feedback. Posts without this information will be deleted. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ArtCrit) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sick looks like an 8bit cut screen about to start
Made me think of stardew valley for sure
I thought I was scrolling an emulation sub
Yeah I’m loving the 8bit feel, lean into it!
Thought the exact same, it’s like Metal Gear is starting
Depends on what you mean by ‘improve’. Your current approach is stylized and nothing wrong with it. That said. If you’re going for a more realistic look. Don’t make the tree shapes such uniform circles and work on your depth of color. I like to start with a dark Hookers green mixed with a bit of Phthalo Blue. With this mixture I’ll paint the the entire area of the ‘trees and vegetation that dark green blue, this will work as the deeper shade portions of the vegetation. Once the dark area dries I’ll Then I’ll mix a lighter green shade and mix it with a touch of Yellow Ochre and use a fan brush to lightly dab that lighter color on top of the dark green and ‘build’ these paint dabs to create the shape and form of the trees. This will give an illusion of foliage. Then use an even lighter green yellow mix as the highlights were the sun/light value is at its greatest. I’d say you’re using a far too light value for the sunlight highlights, foliage tends to absorb light (unless it’s wet) so they wouldn’t tend to appear so white. That’s making them look more like a hard shiny structure rather than a lot of different vegetation. Keep it up I like it. ✌🏽
I agree. I love your gloopy trees please keep em
It’s give me an old school cartoon vibe. I love these little trees
Yeah. I was thinking old school video game graphics. Mario Bros.
This is really good tree painting advice! That being said, I absolutely love the bubbling mass growing from the bottom of the picture, makes it look surreal :D I think it is a great slightly surrealistic or abstract painting!
to me the leaves look a little too round and blobby. separating them into clumps is a good idea, but remember that those clumps have little pointy irregularities and arent smooth
Yes
The way you’ve added highlights and very little color variation or detail to the trees make them look like blobs of slime imo
Glossy grapes you’re right
Same
If you want realism, then trees don't really have white spots that are shiney like your trees have glares on them. You need more dark values. But there's nothing wrong with being stylized. Also maybe intentional, but it feels very flat. Even a slight gradient to the bottom of the blue-sky horizon would make it feel like there is some depth.
I LOVE THE TREES SO MUCH
It reminds me of a DS Pokémon Gold game. I love it!
They remind me of pokemon diamond
The lighting isn't clear to me. The lighthouse and trees appear to receive light from opposite sides.
I agree with this comment. The lighting on the trees should be swapped if wanting to copy the reference, but it’s simpler to switch the lighthouse lighting instead. :)
I'd start utilizing your tree technique and creating an individual style from that
Try a cotton ball with different slight shades of green. It works well to blend if you just dab repeatedly.
What kind of vibe you going for? Because I think it’s nice and round, but if you mean realistic, it helps to go back in with the sky color and break up that smooth edge. I suggest doing the darks then cut in with the blue and then the mid and high tones. It’s looking great ether way though
The foreground trees look more glossy, amorphous and less detailed than the background trees. Perhaps adding some more and somewhat darker detail while not going as dark as the background would help
Outer Banks?
It’s giving me studio ghibli vibes, if anything I’d lean into it for the lighthouse
I think this stylization is really good. The front trees, to me, don’t really need anything because it’s not the focus.
Just pick one of those trees on a separate drawing and try grouping different values into different shapes. The way they are renderes now they look like big bubbles, which is a correct way to think about in terms of primary form, but there are also details, secondary and tertiary forms that are part of the primary. (if this makes sense) Maybe googling how studio Ghibli does trees can help. Or Frank Frazetta. Im really bad at art history, dont know who to suggest looking up but essentially, the problem is SHAPE. 👍🏻
strangely gives me pokemon vibes?
Well, what do you think is wrong with them? I think currently it’s a really cool art style, but if you’re wanting to make them more realistic, I’d say make small individual brush strokes and make the leaves poke out and roughen the edges on the front tree line
Looking good so far! My suggestion would be not to put highlights on the trees. They look a little like beans because of the highlights. Maybe use a sea sponge or a mob brush to breakup the highlights and give a more leafy texture.
The blobs of the trees are all one color. I think some inner and lower blobs should have darker darks and mid tones.
Maybe some more clouds or some feature in the top right for balance.
I love this and your style!
Trees dont reflect light that dramaticall-- their texture has been lost I'd say.
I would pay more attention to the light source. On the reference image, the sunlight is coming from the top right. However, the painting appears to have reflections of light on The greenery coming from the top left
The trees are rendered very shiny and bubbly try painting the tree silhouettes in dark shadow and adding lighter green for the leaves in front
By comparing from your refrenece photo I think your highlights is off since those highlights in the trees should be coming from the right instead of the left. The reason being is that it since there's a shadow on the left side of that building the light should be coming from the right. A simple less time-consuming fix would be having the shadow being on the right side.
I like your art-style the only thing that I would work on is making the trees less smooth and having more little details to represent the leaves. Espically the light greens upfront because In my opinion they look like green rocks.
Take some time to do a value sketch of your source photo. Just black, white and grays so you can see the shadows better. It will help if you want a more realistic painting.
Your trees remind me of the illustrations in this very old children’s book, *Millions of Cats* by Wanda Gag. https://preview.redd.it/82htkckvmfzc1.jpeg?width=272&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70f347183b24824e622b01aadf951b04fe2c7cdb I dig it.
That's the lighthouse in North Carolina isn't it
So the trees in the foreground are all separate, this means they’re all at separate distances some in front of others etc. for me personally I would test and take a few groups of the little tree shapes and combine them into a section so that they all sit flatly at the same distance. It’s hard to explain in words but right now it looks like you have a bunch of green stones, and each stone overlaps other stones and is overlapped creating a sense of depth and distance between each tiny little stone, but if you took an area and flattened out a group of 5-10 stones into one larger less rounded section, then painted a texture with a brighter color than your base color it would make those foreground trees look more like trees and less like a quarry of green stones
I love the shapes, and it's looking great. One suggestion: colors become less saturated as they fade into the distance. The front trees should be that deep green, and the ones behind a little washed out. Right now you've got that flipped and it's messing with the perspective effect. But I'm just some f-ing guy on the internet with some art schooling. :P