These are great! I think I should try this myself. :D

Oh, thank you =^D


You should totally try it!

It could get a bit frustrating when you think a particular study is gonna be easy,
but that's because there is always a lot going on.

Good way to flex those art muscles haha

Overall, I have to say it's pretty interesting. I especially love the plane and the sunset one next to it. By far they look like the best images compared to each other, and they just look absolutely stunning.

For the first image (going from left to right, top to bottom) while it's not bad, I'm afraid that there's a low amount of contrast to the colors, as well as a lack of contrast in the value. There could be some more blues used in the mountain, some darker, deeper blue in the top-left corner of the sky, and there could be some more almost-greens used for the grass near the side of the road - not a lot, but if you were to translate that to a real life color, I'd imagine a mix of dark sienna, yellow ochre and hunter green if anything else. The brown on the right is also a tad too light, and could be a bit more saturated, if my terms are correct. The road, while it has a nice contrast from the clear yellow lines to the dark of the road, lacks some more of the subtle blue hues from the reflection of the sky and the like. If anything else, I have to say the interpretation of the clouds were quite awesome; those are some interesting cloud formations and definitely quite different from what people might imagine clouds to be. (Looks like someone laid a roll of cotton over the mountain and just left it there XD )

The next image isn't bad - However your version gives the feel of a much foggier look to the image - the contrast of the mountain and the sky is lost, resulting in what looks more like a sea of clouds and fog, than any hint of a mountain, in this picture. Granted I could see someone doing that in an image, but I assume you're trying to re-create these images as to resemble their originals fairly well. The contrast is lost, as well, and there could be a much better use of black here, most specifically in the bottom corners of the image, and the base of the almost-middle pine tree. The forms are overall quite good though, and while the contrast is a little weak, the silhouette of the forest actually works pretty well.

Granted the picture has a lot of green, but the waterfall seems to really suffer from an idea of depth here. Contrast and shadows are a bit muddy here, moreso at the edge of the cliff - the river leading to the waterfal isn't bad, and the little foamy details towards the bottom of the image is good, but there could have been some more definition at the tree line (by the base of the waterfall) and a bit more of a distinction of what's grennery and what's the rocky cliff wall (on the right). The very distance, however is really awesomely done, and has to be the most successful part of this particular study.

The house is pretty nice, and the colors overall seem to work, albeit the contrast is again slightly off, and a bit lacking. The slight greener tint on the reflection (as a result of the water/sky) is a nice touch, though you are missing some more of the white and blue tones that are found in the water, from the reflection of the sky itself. If you were aiming for a -little- more detail, I'd say you should also have included the ripples of the water - namely the more noticeable ones (take note of the semi-white lines striating on the right of the image in the distance).

The plane... is stunning. The colors are a bit more monochromatic than the original image and there is a bit of a contrast issue again, but it's amazing. There's definitely a noticeable form here, and the shading actually works overall (the only complaint is the lack of shadow near the pylon shapes for the engine, and the back of the plane, and the lack of a more prominent highlight on the back of the plane). I'd like to have seen some more contrast for the ground - the subtle blue hues towards the top of the image and the slightly darker green/tan ish colors towards the bottom, but even then, it's really, really awesome. It's a really successful image in the end, and I had to do a double take to make sure you didn't just photoshop the image and alter it a bit. It was really well done.

This sunset is awesomely beautiful. I've seen this one around at times, and this has got to be your most successful image. Seriously. The contrast is damn near spot on to the original, and I had to do a double take to see if it was just a copy/paste of the same image. It's awesome, and if anything else, you should be really proud of this - even the people silhouettes in the distance are awesome.

This one is very, very pale, and unfortunately while the sky is good, as well as the sunlit grass, the shadows for the grass, the various colors and shades of the structure is almost completely lost, and looks like you sort of started it and just up and stopped it halfway through the study.

The great wall (At least I'm pretty sure that's it!) isn't bad - though it seems that you sort of lost interest in this one also? While the wall appears a bit straight-er in your rendition of it, it's like you sort of just stopped it partway - you could have used some 'colder' and darker browns for the darker parts of the mountain, too as again the contrast is a bit low here, as well.


All in all, the images are good, but not completely fantastic. Granted these were intended to be 30 minute studies, but I do hope this critique can help you keep an eye out for those colors and details for your other work. I'd love to see more of these turn out like your first color study, and when I get my own motivation to draw back, I've gotta do these, myself. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for your thoughtful critique and kind words!


After carefully went through it I can't do other thing than to agree with everything, haha


Maybe point out that sometimes you are aware of a mistake,
but not so much about how much time it will actually require to fix,
so you try to focus on what feels more wrong to optimize your time,
and at the end that mistake remains.

Mentioning it because, even if sounds trivial or like a all-purpose excuse, is something very important!
When didn't managed properly you end up with things like that pale second last:

"You get slightly stuck with a particular detail and pay too much attention to get it right.
Then while doing other bit you realize, thanks to having more to compare,
the part where you spent so much time is not so right,
now you don't know if keep going or coming back but had already spent a lot of time,
oh noes still have to do that part, nothing looks right, *panic*, now I don't know how to do that part, running out of time!
*ding!*ding!* 30 min ..you littLE...!"
Damn haha :B


As a general note, Yep, ending unintentionally with less contrast is a very recurrent mistake of mine,
have to figure out that one somehow >=^T

Also, special mention to the lack of depth in the waterfall.
I really tried but didn't catch the key details to properly show deep in the mid part,
and bothers me because is my favorite study among the strictly done in 30 min.
Remember that the plane, sunset, and many in the first color compilation may look better,
but were also in more time.
Restrain the time like this is very good to train the workflow and such,
I think? haha


Thanks again for the critique, and hopes you also gives this a shot!

I did some timed pictures in the past, and honestly? For a 30 minute study, they aren't bad. And I can tell that you put more time into those other images, as you mention. I do hope you can really bring that level of detail into the shorter studies.

I'd suggest see if you could quickly lay down base color, and the more or less start with the extreme contrasts - the very bright light colors and tones, and the very dark ones. Blend them as you need, and add more colors and blend them in over time - it will let you get your main colors in and experiment with getting them right, and then you can just blend them around. It's something I've done in my traditional and digital work so hopefully that can help you cut out unneccesary work, you know?

Anyway enough with that critique as looking at them from a "normal" perspective they are still pretty kickass! :D