true fire criticism?

[tallon]

first and second trys at true fire, i am posting them so someone can tell me what I did wrong mostly lol I know there's no rules but they don't look right to me, the second one i tried to do mostly freehand
I always mess it up when I get to the white, even a little with the yellow. lol not sure why they both look completely different. Oh and I used hok mike lavellee kit.

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/1880/tf1sw6.jpg
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8905/tf2cr6.jpg


sorry I've tried to take a lot of pics and this is as good as I can get :S

criticism please!



,Bryan

[AndyW]

If the 2nd is the bottom it looks better, first thing you notice is the stencil shape, try a little more free hand, also lifting the stencil away from the work to help soften the edges, from what I can see, like the colours of the 2nd better.
The bottom pic also has a bit more "flow" to it which helps it a lot, rather than trying to cram all the flames in. So with the bottom pic, looks like you are on your way, study some more flame pics and keep at the practice as it has the startings.

[voodoopaint]

looking good ---
I agree maybe more freehand and less on the shields but it looks pretty
good for your first tries

[redanner]

I agree needs more free hand! My thoughts are also that you only need to use the pre-made perfect arches & radius including French curves about a 1/3 of time when developing a fire image! And I'm being kind about 1/3 of the time so as not to be bias, but you will never see perfect half circles or any other sharp line in a real fire! Thats why real fire is so hard to paint!

Edit: Sorry about being so obtuse but I love to watch fire. In fact if I was a real nut case I would probably be sitting behind bars for being a arsonist pyromaniac! I've watched many of camp fires being stoned or drunk or both & straight! Oh Yea! That makes for interesting fires! The best is when ya throw a log on the fire and bugs, ants, or termites are running on the log trying to find a way off! Heee he heee!

[Shiva]

top picture.. I see the picture as sheets of translucent paper, with circles and such cut out.. there are several layers glued up, to construct the picture..

what am i saying? I see NO continuity from color to color? that make sense?
no blending from say, orange to the yellows, too abrupt..

the lower picture, flames too thin, looks like tree limbs painted.. it needs 'body' to the flame..??

[tallon]

thanks for saying what you thought about them, it helped a lot :)
and the body to the flame hmm that might be a problem in the first layer as I'm not good at drawing flame shapes yet I'll keep practicing
thanks!

[sharonsstudio]

nice try tallon.. I still have problems with fire.. but from what I can see you bottom pic is a great background now just build it from there with the flames getting wider like shiva said.. post some more..

[minniemouse]

I think its looking good. If you have problems drawing fire, try tracing it a few times.. it helps get your hand flowing with the contours of it. Funny enough I always work sideways when attempting fire and it works for me. Good Luck, and Keep up the good work - you'll get there.

[ARTSPRAYJ4J]

i think the trick is to take the parts you are happy about and try to repeat those keep looking back at those parts and just keep practiceing

mike lavelee has been doing it for a long time and he has a natural flow to his work which makes the job look easier than it is he knows the aspects that look right

try printing some good quality images of his or others true flames and study them closely you will start to see things in them that you have succeded with in yours

the dvd instructional is great but still images are far better and will give you more information when you start to read them with the memory of what you have done if you follow me lol well i hope this makes sense

paul

[Shiva]

ok, suggestion.. get something to practice on and do NOT draw a 'fire'.
draw ONE FLAME.. perhaps at MOST 2 points, and a connecting curve. no more than this.
now you got this sketched out-pencil for instance. NOW, color EACH FLAME in, with how many ever colors you want. red, orange, yellow and a bit of white.. do NOT do any more than the 1 at the time.. then go do the other.. look at it-whats right, and whats wrong?
dont like? do again fresh..
like? do it again ANYWAY..
next time after the second attempt that is good, make 3 points..

[tallon]

Yeah I didn't mean drawing the fire I just meant making it look like the licks are moving, etc

Surprised how many comments there are you all helped a lot thanks everyone :)