[Curtis]

ya i worked hard on this but it feels cluttered to me, if anyone has tips for avoiding such a cluttered feeling please tell me and any other cnc you have

[TimDavis]

I think the reason your image feels cramped is because of your composition. You have split your painting near the middle of the painting. In general this is a bad idea. All of those rocks, which I'm sure you spent some great amount of time on, create a path for the viewer's eye. But it doesn't go anywhere. Just from one side of the screen to another. So the viewers eye gets "caught" in either the upper region or the lower region.




The best way I've found to deal with this is to block out the path you want your viewer to follow. I've blocked out a very rough path which vaguely follows the blue arrow. You could have done it in the other direction if you wanted to (in fact that kind of makes more sense now that I look at it again.) It doesn't matter how you move the viewers eye, it just needs to be done.

A path can be made by using values or colors. Your lava waterfall is a path because of value, but it goes nearly straight down the painting, cutting it in half vertically. The rocks are a path because they're similar in value, but as said earlier, it also cuts the painting in half. "S" patterns are nice. Circular paths work, but spirals can be interesting too. These are all things you need to be thinking about before you make your first mark on the paper.



The idea is interesting, even if I'm not really big on the subject matter. I'm sorry that the overpaint isn't better than it is. But hopefully you'll get the idea anyway. Good luck!
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Tim Davis
The Art of Tim Davis

[Curtis]

thank you very much
thats an important lesson to learn, the next time i make something i will have composition in mind
I am really glad you took the time to show me this