I spent so much time painting individual blades of grass and leaves. I normally don't do that, I try to fake it. But the reference image was very much about all the foliage and the shack was just the anchor. Thoughts?

Timelapse: https://mastodon.social/@BallShapedMan/116363967837795353

I love it! The brushwork for the trees is fantastic - did you create a new brush?

it's cozy

That's beautiful! It has a unique style and I liked that. Good work!

With all the news of this world hitting me hard, this art offered me a little sanctuary. Thank you

Great lighting, very natural!

Thank you!

You're welcome! It gave me a bit of peace painting it too.

Thank you!

Right? Feels like a place to just sit in the grass and listen to nature.

I modified an existing brush to get what I was going for. Looks pretty good as leaves without being a leaf stamp.

i want you to know that this made me take a deep breath and sigh peacefully 😌

You deserve it! You've been through a lot, and it's going to be alright.

Oh, it's digital, I didn't register that at first so that's something. I like the composition and it doesn't feel repititious or forced so you got a good result from the tedious bits.

If you have the physical means, unironically follow along with a Bob Ross video. You don't have to crib the entirety of his techniques but it's an incredible exercise in what kinds of strokes and adjustments can create some wild illusions of details that don't make sense until you stop and go 'what the fuck how did that haplen'

If not I would still try and study how painters work on things like grass and the like. Taking a lot of time on details isn't bad, until you get tendonitis and hate grass forever. It's okay to take shortcuts in appropriate contexts.

I study folks like that all the time and am slowly letting there.

I used to watch Bob Ross religiously when there were still new seasons being released. A lot of his technique relies on the texture of the paint / canvas which is difficult to reproduce digitally. But when I do paint with real materials I channel my inner Bob first!

That's true, I'm amazed by what people are able to do with custom brushes but depending on your art app you can start with drag weight and opacity, and in some cases even textures and that was always a fun start if nothing else.

It was a little bit of a block for me but custom brushes seemed to be the next major step in digital painting.

That's what I'm starting to play with. My main brush is custom and solved most of my frustrations with my results. I need to learn more for sure but I've decided to let choke points in the response I want dictate when I need to take another step.

For me learning technique for technique alone seems to make my art feel forced.

That looks exactly like my new smartphone wallpaper!! 😎

👏👏👏

I like the fact that the greenery is rendered in more detail! It draws the eye in towards the shack. I guess if I were to give any feedback it might be that there isn’t much sense of depth because all the green sort of flattens everything out. There is a foreground and a middle, with my eye stopping at the shack with nowhere to go. I can tell there’s depth because of the perspective but a darkening or cooling of hue would help imagine a deeper forest. I really enjoyed this and like many others I feel a sense of peace and coziness. Thanks for sharing!

Makes sense, thank you!