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4:55 AM, Saturday July 16th 2022

You're welcome, Rhyldur.

It looks very structurally sound as is, but I think what it may be missing is intentional lighting. The image has an overcast feel to it where it's mostly evenly lit. Maybe use this image as a base and try different lighting scenarios. I've seen a few times when people took the same image/scene and repainted it in various situations (e.g. sunrise, midday, stormy, golden hour, night, snowy, etc.). I've not tried it myself yet, but I imagine it would be fantastic practice.

Have you used much reference? It'll help you know how to light the various elements of the scene and provide a lot of information you may not otherwise think of, like the light reflecting off the water onto the underside of the boat and the subtle changes in colour temperature in the shadows, etc.

You could also practice creating thumbnail composition studies to try out different 3 or 4-tone studies of what kind of light and colour structures you want the piece to have before committing to a whole painting.

If you've not taken it yet, I'd highly recommend Nathan Fowkes' Pictorial Composition course on Schoolism -- I found it to be tremendously enlightening in gaining a good understanding of composition. I had to rush through the course due to some time constraints, but I feel I grew a ton as an artist trying to do the exercises as I had time and doing my best to soak in the instruction. I'd say what he teaches is gold for any artist willing to apply himself.

Here's a piece of a viking ship by Justin Sweet I saw a while back. It's gorgeous! There's so much going on -- from atmosphere, to colour and light design structure, to beautiful lighting in the water; I'm nowhere near this level of skill, but it's really inspiring.

I hope you're feeling better.

4:08 PM, Saturday July 16th 2022

Thanks so much for all this info Nathan, you are always a lighthouse in a dark and misty night! Talking about light I do know I am missing lights and shadows (there is no way to tell which hour it is in the drawing) but well, aside adding a bit here and there I was clueless.

I just used historical references for the drakkar and some for the ways of transporting and preserve the ice along human History. But you know, no references for the most basic things like sea reflections, water bodies and so on due to time costraints and being covid sick at that moment. I also wanted to make the dock feel a bit more... "lively" but I had no time.

I still need to take care of a lot of fundamentals since I'm just a newbie (only has some notions on perspective and construction). I haven't even touched anything about composition, color or even anatomy but I'll definitely check Nathan Fowkes course if I have some free income in the future to afford it!

That viking ship by Justin Sweet is amazing and to be honest I see some of it on your own art, so you are not that far!!

Thank you again for your interesting and unexpectedly elaborated answer. I'll read it a few times again in case I missed something important since there are a lot of terms I am still not able to fully comprehend.

We'll keep grinding!

8:51 PM, Monday July 18th 2022

You're welcome, Rhyldur.

Regarding the Schoolism course, it may be possible to pay for a one or two month subscription without committing long-term; that's what I did; two months cost me $85 CAD back in the summer of 2020. They said they wouldn't be able to accept individual monthly subscriptions frequently or regularly because it requires higher administrative costs for them, but a one-time payment was permitted. During my two-months' subscription, I used most of my time for Carcamo's Watercolour Fundamentals course, and in my remaining two weeks I took Fowkes' Pictorial Composition course; I'd really like to take his composition course again at a slower pace: truly enlightening stuff. I took very detailed notes and many screenshots (with permission) for my own reference.

Feel free to ask me to further elaborate on anything I said that you didn't understand.

10:57 PM, Wednesday July 20th 2022

Well, I'm in quite a complicated economical situation right now so I would only be able to afford 1 month even saving money here and there. For now I´ll spend some of my savings in official reviews here at Drawabox but I won't discard any paid courses in the future if things go a bit better.

I was wondering if you somehow know any free resources on basic composition for example since I see you have a great grip on it.

I won't bother you much more, Nathan! I don't usually reach out to people who know as much as you on any art subject so you have been a very valuable source of information and guidance.

Thank you so much again.

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