Monday, February 08, 2016

Critique from "Lighting for Story and Concept Art" at Schoolism



Here's a critique I did for a student, from my "Lighting for Story and Concept" class. The lesson was on material design for characters, but the student did a pretty good job with the distribution and variation of surfaces, so most of this critique is focused on selling her ideas in the best way possible.

If you're interested in learning more about the class look here. It's an advanced class so if you struggle with stuff like cast shadows, occlusion, specular placement, terminator placement, etc. then you may want to take a lighting fundamentals class first. (I also teach one of those).

The line art for this character was done by Joe Olson.

13 comments:

  1. Hi Sam, I'm currently taking your "Fundamentals of Lighting" course, and I'm almost done. I purchased some switches. I was wondering how does this class differ from your first class? Do you cover materials, even further in this course? I hope to hear back soon. Thank you. :)

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    1. The first course is almost completely about materials, and the physical interactions of light with them.

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  2. Dominik7:35 AM

    Hello Sam,

    I am a big fan of your work. I wonder what brushes you used in this one. Just one brush with different sizes, the smudge tool and an eraser? Or is there something else happening? Do you use any shortcuts? I hope you can help me. I saw a video from you where you were working with painter and I really liked how you did those spheres there. I am having a hard time getting such nice transitions in photoshop like you did in painter.

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    Replies
    1. This is mostly the same brush, with a smudge tool. You can download both from this blog, do a search for "Photoshop brushes" and you'll find a link. The brushes you're looking for are "Jason's Nice Brush" and "Smudge Nice."

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    2. Dominik10:14 AM

      Hey Sam, I already checked out Jason's brush and I really like it. Still I can't figure out a few things. I guess I have to find my own brushset/workflow. It's just so impressiv with how little effort you can create those realistic effects. So much too learn for me :). Thank you for inspiring me

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  3. Hi Mr. Sam:
    1.-Im just toke the self taught "Lighting for Story and Concept art", and time ago i saw the one called "advanced lighting", now that course is called "Fundamentals of Lighting", that course is the same now?, or have new or updated things?, or the content is the same, and just change the name?...im asking because I wondering if switch later to that course to see it again.

    2.-Will be very good a course about the mechanics or an introduction to digital painting from you, i know theres already a course like that in schoolism, but we need one from you, i think some people need to learn to paint first, before take the 2 existing courses, and this way complete the trilogy xddd.....sam nielson's introduction to dig. Painting(painter and photoshop) >> fundamentals of lighting >> lighting for story and concept art.....I hope that happen some day xdd.

    Many thanks for your knowledge ;)

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    1. "Advanced Lighting" was changed to "Fundamentals of Lighting," but it's the same class and still advanced---you need to know how to use photoshop and have basic painting skills to really get everything out of the class.

      The class is about the mechanics of light in painting, but not really an introduction to photoshop at all, so you would want to take Bobby or Andrew's class first if you don't feel comfortable with that stuff yet.

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  4. Hello Sam,
    I wanted to ask if it's possible to get your tool set and brushes that you were using in "Lighting for Story and Concept art"? The cloud, foliage, and textured brushes you used in the demonstration were beautiful. I know it may be more about your technique, but I'd be great to have those brushes, if possible.

    Also, thank you for those two great Courses on Schoolism. I feel like that's information that I wouldn't find anywhere else. I learned so much, so thank you for sharing. :)

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    Replies
    1. Those brushes are all available on this blog, here: http://artsammich.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-kind-of-brushes-did-you-use-for.html
      I'm glad you enjoyed the classes!

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  5. Just wanted to say that i've been coming to your site for years and i always find something amazing to see every time i stop by. Beautiful stuff :)

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  6. Hey Sam! Thanks for posting this, I learn so much from everything you put up online, I really appreciate it. One thing I didn't fully understand was why you darkened the top left area of the fishbowl? Was it to give the caustics on the bottom right a dark value to contrast against?

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    1. Glass has a combination of translucent effects, the darkening as light goes through the glass (increasing as the form turns and the glass gets thicker), and the lighter reflections on the top. Whether the glass is on a dark or light background affects which one shows up. In this case, the light background means the darkening of the glass is the most visible.

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  7. This is an excellent post . So great thanks for this shared here .

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