Here is a digital painting I did as part of a workshop at another forum.

Woah, that's a nice painting you've got there. :-) I like the contrast between the flower and the background--really makes the flower stand out. I also enjoy the layering you did with the leaves (from light to dark) so that it seems more three dimensional. You know, the middle of the flower almost looks as realistic as a photograph. The background gives it a more painting-esque look.

Might I suggest that the flower could have some more changes in color? You know, beyond the white and the pink, perhaps you could add some more flavor to make it a bit more vivid. Right now, the contrast between the flower and the background is a bit too obvious.

By the way, did you have a reference photo for this particular painting?

Yes. The color choice was one 'bummer' moment at the end of it. I basically did want a white flower with a pink tint - but the mistake I made was that I started the mid-tone qutie close to the edge in the color pallette. I got stuck up with not able to give a lot of tonal variations. >< A mistake I have to learn from.

And yes. We did use a lot of reference pictures. This picture was not an exact replica of any photograph, but we did have reference pictures.

Thanks for the input, Arbitrary.

Wow, you have a lot of talent! I like how the background really makes the flower jump out more rather than just blending in, and there is so much detail. About how long did that take you?

I recently just bought a tablet, because I've been really interested in digital art, I've been doing some tutorials, I hope I can get as good as you one day

Keep up the good work.

What do you mean by digital painting (was this done by literal hand or on a PC, maybe using one of those pen things?).

Either way it looks amazing though, I don't think I could ever have the patience with anything graphical to ever be that good lol.

It took around 3-4 hours. Did not do it in a stretch. It was for this workshop at another forum, and like I did bit by bit each day - taking my time.

Tablets are good. It is not too long since I got a Wacom Intuos3 for myself - and man! Am I loving it!



Digital painting is where you emulate traditional medium in a computer. It is quite similar to oil painting, water colors, acrylics or pastels - it is just that we do it on the software. Check out this blog post on digital painting I wrote couple of days back. You may use digital pen and tablet to do it, but I started to do it with mouse. Many people do it with mouse. It is more the technique that counts in digital painting than the actual tools and software used.

Thanks for the comment though. This is one of my best works in digital painting to date - but trust me. There are awesome artists out there. For example, check out the the gallery of Genzoman at deviantART. Mind blowing!

Wow point taken, that guy is insanely good lol.

That must take a whole lot of years of practice and head aches getting to that sort of level :|.

Beautiful work Vyoma! I think this is my favorite of all the work you have posted here.
What programs did you use? I would be interested in hearing about your process.
I actually really like your color choice, just might need a little accent hear and there.

Below I posted an image with some suggestions that I think that I would make.
It is was a quick sketch so I hope I didn't make it too bad and I hope you don't mind

I added some subtle rendering/shadows on the pedals so that the flower didn't
stand out quite so much. I added a more orange color to the flower stems and
also orange accents on the pollen.

I also added another set of leaves to balance out the composition. I just recylced
the original ones because it was quick. I made the color on the new set of leaves
less saturated/more dull so that they didn't take focus too much from the flower.

When I saw you replied to this, I knew I would be struck with something awesome.

And here it is - as expected.

Regarding process - well there is not much. I just sketch (on the PC itself) on a separate layer.

Then pickup colors and paint different things in different layer. Like the pistil in one, petals in one, and the leaves in one. The background was just a filler.

I agree to that another set of leaves there. The issue is that it was a workshop focused on hibiscus. A weekly workshop and the focus is on getting the subject as proper as possible.

Oh. And I forgot - I use GIMP.