I'm always glad to help, Uwe. Don't get down on yourself, though - you're doing great! And I've got a "day job" too, so I know what you're going through! My day job is art-related, though (Art Directing) - maybe that helps a bit. Maybe you should try that?
Thanks Patrick for the advice and for the compliment about my work, but i exactely know where i stand and i know how much i have to learn - progressing gets harder and harder to me since i still work at my dayjob and time for painting and experimenting is so damn limited ...
anyhow i tryd my hand on this textured look, and - lol - what shall i say - it turned out terrible - lol - but i keep trying - thanks for all Patrick, you are a great guy - THANKS!
Glad you liked it, Kay! I always admire artists who can do the big impact pictures, with crazy textures all over the place. I'm trying to get there, too.
Wow Pow Bam! In your face man. I love it. I love the greytones with the touch of color too. I have been too chicken to try that. Great textures. Awesome metal. I love how you faded the back figures too. That is hard.
Thanks for your comments, Liptak. I see what you mean... I had meant to make that part look like it's not as solidly attached to the helment (I had seen some old helmets where the ornimentation like that was not very closely attached, with a small gap). But since it doesn't work for you, that means I didn't entirely succeed! Oh well! I'm glad you enjoyed it otherwise, and took the time to write.
Nice pic. I like the lightings, and the movement. The sword is great. I feel its weight... Only one thing disturbs me: those ornaments on the warrior's helmet. That part differentiates from the helmet. It is ungraded. IMHO something is missing: perhaps it is too sharp and the other parts of the helmet is a little blurry, or perhaps a color (or I don't know) what helps to fade to grey. And it has too strong contrast (the shadows are too black - it makes that part... hmmm... cartoon-like. Check the sword. It is perfect, because it has only dark grey shadows, so it's coherent). Sorry for my english, and again: this pic is nice, I like it, and as I mentioned the sword is awesome, I'd grab it;-)
Thanks for the nice comments, Uwe! Your art is looking pretty great without me... I think you are progressing at a fast rate! On this piece (and more over the last few months) I have been using PhotoShop's new (version 7 and up) brush features for textures. Scattering, Texture, Noise, and other features, used with custom brush shapes, are very useful. I just put in very rough (and sometimes random) colors, then make an interesting texture "bed". Then paint over that! (And lots of scribbling, fast brush strokes when I paint the details).
Thanks Michel! Glad you like the colors - I'm doing another piece with a different character that will be very similar, but with more red/oranges instead of the blues here. Hopefully they'll work well as a pair! And yes, this is for Game of Thrones.
Patrick this is fantastic! You know how I love your work, each and everyone but this experiment here is it!!! Youve got such interesting textures going on here. If you dont mind, I will copy this piece to my harddrive and study it extremely carefully, cause this is exactly the look I want to achieve one day so if you have any tips for me dont hesitate and let me know . You know i am still not really satisfied with my digital pieces, they still just look too digital if I could get such an textured look in my pieces I would be one step further to my goal! So any advice from you would be much appreciated thanks for posting this lesson in art!!!!
Wow Patrick, this is imho one of your best pieces !!
The textures and gritty look works really well with your style.
The colors in the background are also superb.
Many thanks, James! I wish they could all come out this dynamic... though I think I'm on to something with the deep blacks and dramatic highlights. That helped the metal, too!
Hey, glad to hear it, Chris! The face was the focal point in my sketch (though it seemed to switch to the sword as I painted it). I took a photo of a friend for reference, which helped with the highlights a lot.
Well this makes it into my top picks for your work: the grittiness really sets the mood wonderfully - let alone the high tension mood the man's face gives.
Comments
Thank you! You have expressed yourself better in English than I would in French.
Sorry i'm french .
Your work is a great Work ^_^.
Well, sorry the book wasn't good... but I'm glad you like the art. Thanks!
I know you! You did the cover art for a book a girl in my school wrote (the book wasn't that good though). Your art is simply fantastic.
Oh, man, you're blowing my mind...
Thanks for looking - glad you like it!
I thought of one word when I saw this ..."AWSOME".Yeah, I like your artwork watch gonna do about it? Just kidding ...about the whatcha gonna do ect.
I'm always glad to help, Uwe. Don't get down on yourself, though - you're doing great! And I've got a "day job" too, so I know what you're going through!
My day job is art-related, though (Art Directing) - maybe that helps a bit. Maybe you should try that?
Thanks Patrick for the advice and for the compliment about my work, but i exactely know where i stand and i know how much i have to learn - progressing gets harder and harder to me since i still work at my dayjob and time for painting and experimenting is so damn limited ...
anyhow i tryd my hand on this textured look, and - lol - what shall i say - it turned out terrible - lol - but i keep trying - thanks for all Patrick, you are a great guy - THANKS!
Glad you liked it, Kay! I always admire artists who can do the big impact pictures, with crazy textures all over the place. I'm trying to get there, too.
Wow Pow Bam! In your face man. I love it. I love the greytones with the touch of color too. I have been too chicken to try that. Great textures. Awesome metal. I love how you faded the back figures too. That is hard.
Thanks for your comments, Liptak. I see what you mean... I had meant to make that part look like it's not as solidly attached to the helment (I had seen some old helmets where the ornimentation like that was not very closely attached, with a small gap). But since it doesn't work for you, that means I didn't entirely succeed! Oh well! I'm glad you enjoyed it otherwise, and took the time to write.
Nice pic. I like the lightings, and the movement. The sword is great. I feel its weight... Only one thing disturbs me: those ornaments on the warrior's helmet. That part differentiates from the helmet. It is ungraded. IMHO something is missing: perhaps it is too sharp and the other parts of the helmet is a little blurry, or perhaps a color (or I don't know) what helps to fade to grey. And it has too strong contrast (the shadows are too black - it makes that part... hmmm... cartoon-like. Check the sword. It is perfect, because it has only dark grey shadows, so it's coherent). Sorry for my english, and again: this pic is nice, I like it, and as I mentioned the sword is awesome, I'd grab it;-)
Thanks a lot, Michael - though of course I see lots of things I could improve!
That's always the way...!
Thanks for the nice comments, Uwe! Your art is looking pretty great without me... I think you are progressing at a fast rate! On this piece (and more over the last few months) I have been using PhotoShop's new (version 7 and up) brush features for textures. Scattering, Texture, Noise, and other features, used with custom brush shapes, are very useful. I just put in very rough (and sometimes random) colors, then make an interesting texture "bed". Then paint over that! (And lots of scribbling, fast brush strokes when I paint the details).
Thanks Michel! Glad you like the colors - I'm doing another piece with a different character that will be very similar, but with more red/oranges instead of the blues here. Hopefully they'll work well as a pair! And yes, this is for Game of Thrones.
This is a very expressive piece. The lighting, and detail couldn't be more perfect. Well done!!!
Patrick this is fantastic! You know how I love your work, each and everyone but this experiment here is it!!! Youve got such interesting textures going on here. If you dont mind, I will copy this piece to my harddrive and study it extremely carefully, cause this is exactly the look I want to achieve one day so if you have any tips for me dont hesitate and let me know
. You know i am still not really satisfied with my digital pieces, they still just look too digital if I could get such an textured look in my pieces I would be one step further to my goal! So any advice from you would be much appreciated 
thanks for posting this lesson in art!!!!
Wow Patrick, this is imho one of your best pieces !!
The textures and gritty look works really well with your style.
The colors in the background are also superb.
btw is this one of your game of thrones piece ?
Many thanks, James! I wish they could all come out this dynamic... though I think I'm on to something with the deep blacks and dramatic highlights. That helped the metal, too!
Appreciate the comments, Marley! I used lots of PhotoShop 7 brush features to make the gritty textures, plus a lot of scribbling.
Hey, glad to hear it, Chris! The face was the focal point in my sketch (though it seemed to switch to the sword as I painted it). I took a photo of a friend for reference, which helped with the highlights a lot.
Thanks, Kirsi - but don't touch it! It's very sharp...
Thank you, Catharine - that sword was a bother... I re-painted it about five times until I got a hilt I liked!
Thanks Rita - I will! Very glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks! Yeah, he's kind of dirty and gritty - more realistic than the usual Fantasy battle, I hope.
Thanks, Scott! The textures were farther than I'd been before, so it was a bit of an experiment for me. Glad you liked.
Man, a real in your face dynamic piece of work, Patrick! packs a brilliant dramatic punch! wonderful textures, your metal work is awesome!
Thats wicked. Texturally amazing piece patrick, yea it is very gritty, i appreciate that in digital!. Fine composition too patrick ^^.
Well this makes it into my top picks for your work: the grittiness really sets the mood wonderfully - let alone the high tension mood the man's face gives.
Allright! This is fantastic. The shine of the silver is touchable..