There's a specific style I really want to try and draw but I have no idea where to start and couldn't find anything in the sticky. I call it "implied detail", where you can draw these massive towers or armies and you can see where everything would be very complex and littered with detail, but when you zoom in on the pic it's just almost random assorted lines and shading, seeing it as a whole piece however seems to give you the illusion of detail. I see it mostly in dark fantasy, I'll post some pics for examples.
In this picture, you can see that there is a massive army of orcs and it feels like you can make out their shapes and what they would look like, however they are just a bunch of lines upon closer inspection
This is someone's work I saved from here, everything looks super detailed with the picture as a whole, but when you look close at any one part it loses that detail and appears as blotches of muddy color and lines(this isn't bashing, I like the style.)
>>2561333
There's no trick to this, it's just effective understanding of how to simplify complex things to their basic essence. Working zoomed out will help so you don't get too caught up in it.
This one interests me quite a bit as it uses barely any color yet seems so vibrant. I have no clue to what the process is for drawing something like this. Do they sketch out random rock like shapes, fill in dark colors and slowly highlight to what feelS right? I need a method to this madness
>>2561345
edge light my man.
>>2561344
>>2561344
I didn't imagine there was some how to guide to replicate the style exactly, but I feel like it must have a very different approach than just sketching out the line work with a very concious constructive skeleton. Unless you do it that way and then once you get to rendering deconstruct it down to the basics but that seems like it would take more time, and I feel like this method should be used to draw immensely scenes without spending weeks on it.
>>2561355
Learn to paint with shapes and not lines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY3W9oTc_mE
>>2561345
I see that, but I'm curious as to all the squiggly rock lines that make it look "rocky". Do you just kind of bullshit it with random jagged shapes and the color work makes it look good or is there more to the rock shapes?
>>2561365
Thanks man, this seems more like what I need.
>>2561366
If you wanna draw rocks you study rock formations, there's no bullshit to it
>>2561383
It will take a while before you can invent with shapes, so don't get frustrated when you can't do it too well at the start. Focus on painting from reference without doing lines for now to get used to that way of thinking.
>>2561390
Yeah that seems like a good start. I cant imagine how to do these kinds of things from your head though without reference, even if your amazing at painting stuff from life
>>2561417
It's a somewhat separate though very related skill to do it out of your head. It takes a lot of experience under your belt and a lot of knowledge before it comes naturally. Craig Mullins is a good example of this, and if you ever read through the sijun pdf of his then you will see just how much time and energy and thought he has put into values and shapes over the years.
>>2561390
So I guess with the army picture I posted, maybe the artist looked at a picture of a real army with the whole squinting thing and just found the base values and added some edge lighting to make it appear more detailed? It's kind of clicking now that art is copying more than creating (not that that's bad, I play music and I don't know if there's any art more derivative)
>>2561417
It's about building your visual library, which is just references you remember in your head. Just do a lot of studies and really break down how things are put together so you can reconstruct them on your own
You just described concept art/speed painting
>>2561510
A lot of digital painters use this approach, but it's not exclusive to concept are and speedpainting.
Op here again. I'm pretty shit, but is this a step in the right direction for the shapes/values with no line work? I know the shadows is wrong and makes it looks like it's floating but I'm not sure how to fix it. If it's so bad you can't tell what it is its my computer mouse
>>2561582
It's in the right direction. Next time try to use a harder brush so you don't have blurry edges everywhere. Pay close attention to the shapes and try to get them as precise as possible, so not all choppy or skewed or indistinct.
>>2561604
So break it down even more, and then once I get the hang of that I can smooth the edges out and make the shapes more natural? Seems smart to do so I don't get into any bad habits that I need to go far back too to break out of
>>2561604
Also this is on my galaxy note 4, so it's not the best thing but I don't think fundamentals should be all that different on a better or worse canvas
>>2561613
Basically. I mean, play around with stuff. Watch some videos of artists working. Try things out. Not everyone does it exactly the same.
http://janaschi.deviantart.com/art/Katia-steps-497921466
>>2561619
alrighty, I appreciate the advice, I guess now it's time to walk the walk
