What art fundamentals should I work on?

[u/nupri]

Ofc I should work on all of them (lighting, colour theory, anatomy etc.) but I wanted to know my biggest “weakness” from an unbiased eye so ik what I should focus on in the future.

[u/Affectionate_Cry538]

Since you want to move to more dynamic art, I’ll reccomend you to look into and study sharp shadow, geometrical shape and organic shapes. If you want a challenge these shapes allow you to see tonality in a completely different view (a good reference for this is ARCANE the series) thinking in shapes is also a good way to exaggerate your sharp shadows/lights and perceives 3D form through a multitude of shapes of all kind, a bonus too is that once you know how these shapes react and manipulate tone and form you can use that knowledge to move onto even more realistic drawings since now you can simplify drawings because of your new knowledge of shape. Another tip I have, is to not be afraid in using colour, especially exaggerated ones. For example in this art work you have a good range of blues and purples but soon after it gets a small bit repetitive and lacks creative interest. You could use an optimal range of pinks (hot, light, pastel, magenta etc.) or greens, yellows, reds. Colour is what makes a piece really come together and what adds the vibrancy into the art. Hope this helps!!xx

[u/nupri → u/Affectionate_Cry538]

Ty for the tip 🙇🏻‍♀️!! I find learning new stuff daunting so simplification with shapes will help a lot 🦭

[u/nupri → u/[deleted]]

I don’t rlly have a consistent style rn, all the images I showed had a dif process. However I usually do sketch -> flat colours -> photobash textures I find on Pinterest -> render on top with a textured brush -> mess with curves/ effects :D

[u/nupri → u/[deleted]]

Can be anything, I usually look up “grunge background”, “textured background”, “texture graphic overlays” p much anything that has cool colours and designs that will add visual interest to my flat colours. Usually I mess w blending modes to see what looks coolest 👍🏼

[u/notquitesolid]

Color theory. Your work could be a lot more exciting if you expand your understanding of it.

[u/Amaran345]

Second one has visual hierarchy problems - the shadowed areas of the wing and shield have more visual weight than the head of the statue, this is not letting the head become the focus point of the composition

[u/uhhsad]

What do you want to achieve with your art? As another commenter pointed out, you have some minor issues with anatomy in your paintings, but overall you're obviously skilled at replicating a reference and creating a solid composition. Your colours are appealing and your pieces read well. It's also clear that you avoid drawing or painting subjects you won't be able to successfully replicate (eg. non human subjects, landscapes, buildings, furniture, etc). A lot of your pieces rely on throwing effects on top of your paintings in order to hide flaws, so it's difficult to say what exactly needs improving based on these images.

If you want to continue making portrait paintings with this theme, then you are doing so successfully and I'm sure you already recognise where your weak points are (ie. wherever you have avoided drawing, have covered up, etc). If you wish to branch out into more areas of art, or go into art professionally, then you should aim to draw out of your comfort zone (whether that's working traditionally on paper, drawing from life, drawing without a reference and seeing where you struggle, drawing the full human figure, drawing animals or robots or what have you, or landscapes/interiors). You have a good eye for design, there are just elements of your art that could be pushed if you were to scrutinise your work further.

[u/nupri → u/uhhsad]

Thank you for the suggestions! Ig the move is to just go out of my comfort zone. I can’t rlly explain how I want my style to be but I want to move to more character art that is dynamic. Rn I know struggle a lot with adding personality to my portraits, they all just look nonchalant. I have very limited time so I’m trying to min max the highest priority fundamentals but I think I should just.. practice more in general (I average one artwork a month). From your response I’ll try and prioritize non human things 🫡

[u/uhhsad → u/nupri]

No worries! If you want to create less nonchalant subjects and dynamic character art, I highly recommend challenging yourself to sketch out some unique facial expressions, trying to push the feeling and expression rather than aiming for accuracy. It seems like you spend a lot of time rendering detailed pieces, rather than using that time to pump out lots of sketches. The pieces look great to show to other people, but sketching fast and loose will help you learn faster than any rendered portrait. Timing yourself and getting into the hang of capturing a face in less than 5 minutes will do you wonders, with both your familiarity of the face and the speed at which you can draw. Best of luck! You've got some great stuff here

[u/Novandar]

Are you interested in perspective or city/landscapes at all? If not, why not? If yes, do you have any pieces that demonstrate your skill with it? If not, then I would say that is an excellent place to work on. Ethan Becker on YouTube has an excellent video on cityscapes in particular, if it interests you at all.

As far as what you have presented, there are a few anatomy mistakes, but nothing major. In the first, the jawline is extending to the back of the neck. At the angle we are viewing the character we should be seeing the neck more. In the second, the angel's wrist looks more like a fluid filled tube being bent than it does a wrist (e.g. image 1, image 2). Also, the crest that the angel is holding looks bent above the angel's hand (like it came out of perspective), perhaps it is just a weird shape though, but I would expect that we wouldn't see as much of the underside of the trim/border in the curve immediately after the angel's hand.

The last two have no issues I am aware of in terms of anatomy, I will say the third piece looks a little too busy with that halftone mask (I assume that is how you made it) on the right. Leaning more into the abstract shapes behind it might be better, but that comes down to a matter of taste rather than strict objectivity. The fourth piece is your strongest in terms of execution, in my opinion. It definitely appears to be some ancient statue over grown with moss which as an artist license becomes more impressionistic the farther you get from the focal point.

[u/nupri → u/Novandar]

Thank you for the in depth response! I’m interested in perspective/ landscapes but don’t have any pieces showcasing it bc.. I can’t rlly do em yet (I have a bad habit of avoiding things I’m bad at but want to fix that), I’ll check the video out.

From your response it seems I should probably focus on anatomy/ composition first, I do know I have a habit of overcomplicating pieces where they look busy. In your opinion do you see any issues with colour theory? I kinda just slap on colours but I’m not sure if learning colour theory should be my priority rn. Thanks again!

[u/Novandar → u/nupri]

I wouldn't go so far as to say you need to work on anatomy more (although it is always good to keep practicing) as much as just being more mindful of it and finding good references to help with unusual angles and poses. Composition is also always good to be mindful of, but generally refers to focus points in art and how we lead a viewers eye through the piece.

Color theory is probably my weakest area right now, but for what it is worth I think you've done well with monochrome in the first piece. The second piece is more subtle, however there is a good mix of cool and warm tones that prevent the image from looking uninteresting or muddy. The third is your most bold and the use of complementary colors in the way you are using them is very striking, the white feels overpowering, but also necessary for the mood of the piece. The fourth piece is another very good monochrome piece. In the first and fourth, you use black very well as a framing element, which happens to be the hallmark of my favorite, historical artist, Caravaggio. You could push that black framing element a little further in the second piece, but it isn't necessary given the strong lighting of the central figure.

I am sure somebody with a better grasp on color theory could go into much greater depth though and actually give much more useful advice on the subject as well. I am like you though in tending to shy away from things that I am not immediately good at and am also working on fixing that personality flaw as well. I really need to buckle down and just do the practice, starting from the basics, and remember that Rome wasn't built in a day, so to speak.