@eishiya I have another problem that suddenly popped out. I can't get how to draw a sold rock. I easily draw individual stones, but I can not understand what a solid rock looks like. I can draw a mountain from afar or a stone near, but if it's about the average distance, I'm just lost. I draw a couple of separate stones and do not know what to do after that. When I begin to add details, it all looks like an ugly pile of unconnected cobblestones. How can I avoid this?
@bit_aspect Cliffs and hills aren't piles of rocks, so it doesn't really work to draw them that way. Look up "cliff" or "rock face" and you'll see what I mean.
Smaller stones break off larger rocks and are then worn down into rounder shapes by wind and water. Large rocks are worn down as a single mass, although they can be layered and they can have cracks (the cracks within a layer will tend to be parallel due to the rocks' structure), and can be worn along the cracks.
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@bit_aspect Reference is your best friend here. Study rocks that look like the sort of rocks you want to draw, find the patterns. How smooth (worn by wind/water) are they? Are there layers? Are there obvious places where chunks have recently fallen off (worn by gravity)? Are there cracks? If so, how deep are they, and how smoothed are their edges?
I hope this info helps you decide what sort of rock structure you're going for, and I could give more specific feedback then, if you still need it.
@eishiya yeah, I get that, but I'm facing another problem. When I try to paint a rock with a single mass, it looks flat. Depth and volume disappear. When I try to draw cracks in it, it turns out even more ridiculous. I can not find a balance between the details and the volume.
@bit_aspect Can you show me what you've got?
Rocks are in themselves big 3D forms, so don't forget to light/shade them as such before you worry about detail. Perhaps treating them as flat canvases for detail is giving you trouble?
@eishiya for example this cliff based on Monet's painting. I did lightshade and does it really look like rock? I mean I've tried to make it as much solid as I could but this god damn lack of details...or maybe I'm just doing something wrong
https://octodon.social/media/IEq_YWQekr47duxVxLw
@bit_aspect Don't start with the details like that, start with the overall form. From your shadows in the final frame, I don't understand the form of the rock and where the light is. Focus on that first, add details later.
You might also find it easier to start with blocking in the forms instead of filling in an outline. It's hard to get forms that make sense when you're beholden to an outline made without the forms in mind. Try building up your desired rock out of a bunch of simpler 3D forms.
@bit_aspect Yep, except the pieces don't all have to be blocky!
I highly recommend looking at some real rocks (not drawings) and breaking them down into their component forms while ignoring the smaller details, to get a feeling for the structures and shapes. It's difficult to learn how to draw a thing well without studying the thing xP Studying can save you a lot of time wandering in the dark, too.
@eishiya like Lego? :)