The following are presented in ascending order, from not so great (bad), to really awesome. Here we go!
This one's not so great, it's kinda the worst. I suppose I shouldn't say "kinda" 'cause it is the worst. I rushed, didn't use my time wisely, and couldn't really focus on the task at hand. Surprisingly this was done on 1/7, not 1/1, so I'm sort of proud my first one wasn't the most bad. This leads us to number 9 on the list.
This one's not so bad, there's just something about it I don't like. I think it's probably the strange angle all of the trees appear to be leaning at, and the lack of contrast in the mountains on the left. I think the foreground's pretty successful, along with the grassy patch leading back in the distance, but that's about it.
It might seem I'm grading this one a little harshly, but I feel like I dropped the ball here. It's alright, but I didn't really take the time to define any of the forms really well and I think that just created a flatness that displeased me. Not the kind of work I wanted to be producing at the end of the month, these were supposed to be getting better! It's still okay though.
I was super excited to work on this piece when I found the photo online. I think my main complaint with this image is the foreground detail (or lack there of). I got super tired of painting trees, which is really lazy of me, and that's why I'm unhappy with it. Seriously though, painting a billion trees is terrible, it was kinda like Chinese water-torture. I messed with the brush settings in Photoshop to help stop the madness. Points deducted for sloth. The mid and background are nice though.
I just really like this one for some reason, I thought the photo was really beautiful. I think my favorite part of the image is the highlight on the mountainside, it really gives a great sens of dimension to the image. The clouds rolling over the mountain are pretty cool looking too. This one also gets points for making me do a double-take when I see it beside the original image. It's pretty accurate!
This one was super cool because it's a really great illustration of atmospheric perspective. Hues become more blue as they fade into the distance, and there's this really nice rainbow effect the image has because there's so much land in it. I'm really happy with the way the rocks in the foreground turned out, along with the foreground detail in general. I also really like how the sky turned out. I exaggerated the brushstrokes used there to add a little more interest.
I think this piece is successful because there's this really great point of contrast right in the center of the image. There's this bright green space that draws you into the center and then you can almost walk around the rest of the image. I'm also really happy with the way the rock formation turned out. It's not perfect, but I learned a lot about defining those shapes while doing it.
This one was really great because I was working from an image that was just awesome. There's a great amount of contrast, the aurora in the sky is gorgeous, and the colors are fantastic together. This and the next piece were the ones I spent the most time on. I was so drawn to their subject matter I just couldn't let myself finish until it felt right.
Here we are, finally we've arrived at my number 1 pick! This is absolutely (and obviously) my favorite of the bunch. I was initially disappointed with how it looked, I felt like while I was working on it that the outlook was kind of grim. That all changed once I put the finishing touches on it. The golden explosion in the background that is the sun setting was absolutely spectacular in the photo, and I think I did a great job of capturing the light there. The clouds to the right of the sun are really great too, they do a good job of leading the viewer right to that yellow light. I'm also really happy with the cliffs and how they fade off into the distance in a really natural way, the reflections painted below them add to the sense of depth well. Lastly, this image has my favorite foreground detail. I didn't rush or fudge it, I took the time to render it until it was right. That's why this piece made the top spot.
Now, without further ado, here's the last new image for the month!
This image was pretty spectacular, when I saw it I knew I had to use it. I believe I tried painting this one originally on the 26th, I just couldn't get it right so I set it aside. I knew this is what I wanted to end the month with after that, and I'm really happy that I did. I struggled a bit with this one because the perspective's a bit crazy. This must have been shot with a wide angle lens to fit all of that stuff in there, so it was difficult laying everything out. In the end it was totally worth it, I'm really happy to end the month on a high note like this. Here's the original photo below.
I claim no ownership of this image, it was used for the study above.
I want to thank everyone for viewing what I've done this year so far. All the comments and likes on Facebook have been a huge boost to my confidence. That's something I've always lacked in my art, a belief in what I was doing, so thank you to everyone that helped me find it.
Tomorrow's a new month, so that means a new theme! Check back to see what that will be on February 1st.
