Dear Friends:

My artwork is awful.

I have a degree in art from Pratt Institute earned in 2002. I have bought numerous tutorials on how to use Vue. I have seen many "Geek At Play" tutorials. I have read many inter-net articles on Vue. I have purchased numerous tutorials on Matte Painting from the Gnomon Workshop. I have read many Renderosity inter-net articles and books on composition.

In a nutshell, I know Vue is a fantastic art tool. I have familiarized my-self with Vue's fucntions. I.e. setting atmosphere colors etc. But I lack knowledge on making Vue masterpieces (Pictures). What is it that is causing me to err? And how do I improve quickly? Please view my artwork if you must.

Here is a funny story on the subject of programs features and aesthetics. You might laugh at this.

Rochr is a great artist. The other day I noticed Rochr had a thread on creating one of his latest super extravagant master-pieces. To make a long story short, Rochr implied that he did not use the program fucntions correctly. However, the image he created then was truly extraordinary.

I know what the program functions do but I lack knowledge on aesthetics. I would like to improve my aesthetics abilities. But how? Guys please tell me.

Rochr has given me tips on improving my artwork. And my artwork improved. But not enough so. What are my options in terms of improving my artwrok? Can anyone point a tutorial that I might benefit from? I.e. paid or unpaid please.

 

Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

Fidelity2.

Hi Fidelity, 

Firstly, your artwork is NOT awful.  far from it in fact, your star trek pictures are, for the most part really very good, you certainly have your own style, and I admire that.  Some of your Cinema 4D work is very good too, again in your own style, I particularly enjoyed your latest "Untitled" its obscure, yes, but its also interesting to look at.

Honestly, the thing I think you need to improve in your vue renders is lighting.  For the most part I observe that your renders are mostly overlit, or have odd atmospheres which tends to bug me in a way.

I also find it hard to understand what you mean with your pictures, for example in "I Am Going Crazy" you have created what I would describe as a wonderfully abstract piece, but I dont understand what your intentions where with its design, this is the second thing that bugs me.

Overall, I would say you could improve on two points.

1:- Atmosphere and Lighting

2:- Descriptions of what you intend with each piece

I have been following your work for some time, and viewed most of your pieces.  I cant think of any tutorials specifically that you could look at for now, but if i find any I think you might enjoy ill certainly forward them to you.

Keep up the good work!

Rich

Sorry my English is bad. :scared:
In Vue you must think more like an photographer. Camera position and lighting are very Important in Vue. Use Global radiosity in renders, use real world scale. For example place some Houses in scene  set camera hight to 1.8 meters and walk through the streets. Or place some trees and walk throug the woods. Arrange your scene, find a nice Pov, think like a photographer. And let do Vue the work for you.

Mazak

As was said above, you can improve your artwork tremendously by improving composition and lighting alone.

If you can afford it, I cannot recommend enough these two workshops :

- Becoming a better artist with Robert Chang

http://beta.workshops.cgsociety.org/courseinfo.php?id=40

A crash course in all aspects of visual creation, from how to set up your tablet to composition, lighting, color and texture. If you can stand the heat and the difficult quetions this course will bring, the payoff will be priceless.

- Face and Figue Painting with Don Seegmiller

http://beta.workshops.cgsociety.org/instructor.php?userid=589

A great, practical introduction to digital painting. I noticed you have portraits in your gallery - this is a great course to get started with a good method with huge improvements if you can put in the time and practice. Don is not giving this workshop at the moment, so keep an eye out for it.

In both workshops, the techniques are surprisingly simple. I learned that most roadblocks come from not practicing enough and lacking general instructions on your own to work more efficiently. The workshops take care of the instructions - the time and practice are up to you.

Personally, I think Rich hit the nail on the head. Improve your lighting (specifically light and shadow) and I think you're on your way so to speak.

Keep it up!

-Marshal

 

Quote - Hi Fidelity, 

Firstly, your artwork is NOT awful.  far from it in fact, your star trek pictures are, for the most part really very good, you certainly have your own style, and I admire that.  Some of your Cinema 4D work is very good too, again in your own style, I particularly enjoyed your latest "Untitled" its obscure, yes, but its also interesting to look at.

Honestly, the thing I think you need to improve in your vue renders is lighting.  For the most part I observe that your renders are mostly overlit, or have odd atmospheres which tends to bug me in a way.

I also find it hard to understand what you mean with your pictures, for example in "I Am Going Crazy" you have created what I would describe as a wonderfully abstract piece, but I dont understand what your intentions where with its design, this is the second thing that bugs me.

Overall, I would say you could improve on two points.

1:- Atmosphere and Lighting

2:- Descriptions of what you intend with each piece

I have been following your work for some time, and viewed most of your pieces.  I cant think of any tutorials specifically that you could look at for now, but if i find any I think you might enjoy ill certainly forward them to you.

Keep up the good work!

Rich

Nice to see you Guys helping out here.

I like your more surreal images very much. 

 

Teque  

Quote - But I lack knowledge on making Vue masterpieces (Pictures). What is it that is causing me to err? And how do I improve quickly? Please view my artwork if you must.

One question before I look.  Are you typically objective or subjective while working on your scenes?

ADDED:

Ok.  I looked.  First thing I noticed is that you have 5-star ratings and glorious comments from friends.  Do you agree with how they are rating and commenting on your work?

Also.  You say you have a degree in art, so you have lots of art you did in school.  Can you post some of that here or in your gallery so we know what kind of art you did that you want to now also do using Vue?

First off, I think "Dominican Pirates" is a marvelous piece!

I noticed, as others mentioned here, that some of your Vue renders look too washed out or foggy. In some of those, it looks like you are adding a fog effect post render. If that's so, you're missing out on one of Vue's more outstanding features. Take some time to fiddle with the atmosphere settings. Vue can produce some great fog/mist without obscuring foreground details. No post work fog needed.

Dear Fidelity,

It is a long way to become satisfied with own art results because there are always people who seem to be better. they are definitly not. They just have other souls and work in a diffeerent way.

So if you want to be an artist and enhance your art then there are two points to note:

1. Always give the best you are able to do. The road to success is long and has lots of curves.

2. Never, really never ever care about what other people think, say or write about your art! Reason: When you create an art subject/object you are offering a deep view to your soul. So others should feel honored that you open your soul.

I hope this might help you.

All the best to you and chin up!

;-)

Yours Bernie

Fidelity2,

I forgot to ask you what Atmosphere model you use for lighting.  Standard, Volumetric, or Spectral?

sometimes it helps to light a scene with low resolution objects,just get them roughly in place and then you can quickly sort out (and test) different lighting setups fairly quickly,then when youre happy substitiute with the finished models.

this technique is also helpful when deciding what cloud and atmos settings you want too as they can drastically alter your scene.

Have a bit of fun and play with vue a bit before commiting yourself to doing serious renders mate you have the talent,just give it time to flourish :-)

Tell ya what - start your new scene/image, and post it as a WIP in the Critique Forum (or here in the Vue Forum - since you will have the greatest wealth of Vue users at your disposal).

Vent your frustrations - you want it to "do this" or "have that look" or "it's just not coming out like THIS" kinda thing and we'll all chime in and push and pull the directions you're hoping to go.

We'll do the whole "try this, try that" and you go back and play, come back with a new iteration, rinse, reapeat until you're (relatively speaking) happy with your image.

And keep in ind you'll NEVER be 100% happy. Even Rochr looks at his finished stuff and has SOMETHING to grimace about that he wished came out better.

-Lew

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2762854

Some excelent advice...But I dodnt think fidelity2 is interested really. (S)he does that periodically - see attached link for example. Poses a very general question but doesnt respond to suggestions to be specific, doesnt come back with results of trying suggestions given. Doesnt even come back to say thank you for all the considerate people posting replies and suggestions.

Seems like a ploy to get views on his/her images.

Still, it was interesting to read the posts.

Maybe Fidelity 2 is putting a book together with the advice given! 

 No matter, the advice given was well worth the question!! 

Dear Friends:

Well thanks a million to all of you dear freinds. All of you are very special to me. Can any-body offer more suggestions? By the way I am currently speaking to Steve at Maxon to claim a one on one trainning. Thanks.

 

PineCones you are one of my favorites. You have a great sense of humor.

 

Sincerely,

 

Fidelity2.

Quote - PineCones you are one of my favorites. You have a great sense of humor.

 

I, just like the men in black in the FBI, have no sense of humor that we know of.  I was dead serious in every thing I said.

But, I admit, sometime being confronted by the truth can be more hilarious than any attempt at humor...

At least this time you bothered to come back to the thread and say thank you to people who contributed suggestions thinking your plee for help & wish to learn were genuine - I guess this can be considered some progress? Well done you!

But in practice you are still just as disrespectful to the posters as before. Did you try any of their suggestions? If they helped can we see how? Were they not helpful? could you post some pictures so we can see your attempts at incorporating the specific advice you got, and we can all learn why the suggestions were not useful? After all, you are asking for other suggestions, and seeking private tuition elsewhere so obviousely what you got here wasnt satisfactory...

I can give you one piece of honest  advise - stop throwing money at the problem. From your descriptions you spent enough, and then some. Follow through with what you already have (including the kind FREE advice/tuition you already have here and on sites like geekatplay). If you genuinely tried it all and it still doesnt improve your 'art' - look for a new hobby. You dont lack tools, you either lack basic aptitude or the willingness to stick at one thing at a time till its sorted/learned. In either case paying more won't help you. (And if you have money to throw away there are plenty of worthy causes hungry for donations).