Contraband

[jacktar51]

This painting went all wrong, probably because I did part of it in J-peg then switched to PNG, resizing several times, and trying to paint a night scene, doing a foreground using stickers, and using three layers merged, Ah well we live and learn, I am posting this so you can see the way NOT to do it, I'm not going over all the detailing again, which I would have to do to put it right, that's why I'm posting as it is, an un finished work in progress, hope you get the impression I was attempting to put over to the viewer...Thanks for looking, .....Jack.

[Delofasht]

I could care less that much of this seemed a failure the mood speaks loudly enough! Coukd you try duplicating the layer and running the layer through a blur then erase out to the details you want to take the edges off of some things you don't like and recover details where you do like them?

If you really aren't feeling working anymore on it though I can really understand that, I get that way sometimes with my paintings (especially when I was working in photoshop).

Either way, looks good on my iPhone, so you are in good shape!

- Delo

[D Akey]

It works for me just fine as it is, on my 27 inch screen. Personally I don't think everything has to be sharp and illustrative. I can see how that would be desirable if one is illustrating something that you want the viewer to be able to wander around and get excited by the details of the bootlegger's rig. But there's a reality to it that detail would spoil too. When I'm out on a dark night, smuggling casks of demon rum, why there's not a whole lot of detail in the reality of it, through my eyes anyway. And if you're watching a movie, there's often a whole lot of info that's implied and not shown. So it's actually more true to life for me. And I really like what you put in -- the band in the center where everything's happening. Dark black space is not the worst thing that could happen in a dark scene when you have enough info there to light the imagination.

[Delofasht]

It works for me just fine as it is, on my 27 inch screen. Personally I don't think everything has to be sharp and illustrative. I can see how that would be desirable if one is illustrating something that you want the viewer to be able to wander around and get excited by the details of the bootlegger's rig. But there's a reality to it that detail would spoil too. When I'm out on a dark night, smuggling casks of demon rum, why there's not a whole lot of detail in the reality of it, through my eyes anyway. And if you're watching a movie, there's often a whole lot of info that's implied and not shown. So it's actually more true to life for me. And I really like what you put in -- the band in the center where everything's happening. Dark black space is not the worst thing that could happen in a dark scene when you have enough info there to light the imagination.

Those are pretty much my thoughts on detail really, reality isn't in sharp focus (especially for me, having to wear glasses and all now days. . . going blind slowly).

[jacktar51]

Delofasht, Thanks for the encouragement, after reading yours and Mr D Akey's replies, I decided to have a go at it again, I blurred it quite a bit, darkened it quite a lot, changed a few things that were dreadful, ( one of those things was the white horses, talk about being inconspicuous on a dark night) anyway changed the heads on two of the horses( not very good at horses) I think the lighting might be about right now, thinking of putting a little more detailing in though, nice to have your feedback because it gives me ideas to try out, and if you don't try out new stuff you never learn anything, and I'm all for it, you made me smile about you wearing glasses and going blind ( not that going blind is funny, it isn't) it made me think that when I was told that I needed glasses the first time, not really going blind I hope,. Thank you for your comments ....Jack.

[jacktar51]

Mr D Akey, Hello D, thanks for coming in on this thread, I have read your comments and have taken on board what you say, I am posting second version to see if this is improving or not, quite severe blurring has got rid of many of my mistakes, makes me want to put some detailing back in though , I would like to know your thoughts on this before I go back in...Jack.

[jacktar51]

Here's the amended version, to see what you think.

[gxhpainter2]

jacktar, I like both versions , although in the second most recent version you did a marvelous job on the moonlight on the horses ears and head which added just the right amount of detail.. excellent work.

[Delofasht]

Looking good, I think you could just keep going and going with this painting. There is a lot of potential and learning to be gained from it, just try to focus on what you feel needs work. On my current landscape, I have put a new layer up over my painting to keep notes and have circled all the areas I want to work on in red with a letter in the circles to designate what I'm going to do in that area. I have no specific letters that I use often but for this set of notes I'm either D for desaturating some of the colors in an area, or H highlighting with sunlight on some areas with a few actual color scribbles here and there to designate the kind of areas I think might also do for some additional lighting too.


Here is an example of the approach I use to make notes on what I want to work on and where. Landscape WIP

- Delo

[BushcraftOnFire]

Jack..

As I read through this post I noted a few things... First off.. that you consider the original a failure... It is captivating and mysterious.. The darkness with the shadowing just draws you into the painting.

Then I got to the bottom.. and saw the updated version. I do like the extra detail on the horses.. but honestly *I* prefer the original. There was something about the softness in the painting that pleased me. The detailed difference in the shadow vs the lighting seemed to lose some of that in my opinion. With the brightness in the second piece I also lost a lot of the detail that I could see in the first (even if it was imaginary) in the horses.

I'm not saying both aren't fantastic pieces of art.. They are.. I just preferred the first one. In either case.. very nice work!

David