Fahim Farook
Posts
1410Following
142Followers
869I'm currently working on my second novel which is complete, but is in the edit stage. I wrote my first novel over 20 years ago but then didn't write much till now.
I post about #Coding, #Flutter, #Writing, #Movies and #TV. I'll also talk about #Technology, #Gadgets, #MachineLearning, #DeepLearning and a few other things as the fancy strikes ...
Lived in: 🇱🇰🇸🇦🇺🇸🇳🇿🇸🇬🇲🇾🇦🇪🇫🇷🇪🇸🇵🇹🇶🇦🇨🇦
Fahim Farook
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"Bagheera" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15380608) was interesting up to a point. The start was good, and the evolution of the character was engaging. But then there is a point towards the end (the last 15 - 20 minutes or so) where it felt as if the writer went into auto-pilot mode. Everything just felt kind of forced. It didn't resonate as much and it felt just so rushed and kind of by-the-numbers and ended rather unsatisfactorily in a bloody mess.
#Movies #Kannada #Sandalwood
#Movies #Kannada #Sandalwood
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Fahim Farook
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I started out thinking that "Brother" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23549436) was going to turn out to be like other Jayam Ravi movies from the recent past. And it looked that way for the first half hour or so. But then things got better 🙂
Maybe it's just the subject matter — about somebody who's constantly asked to live the way others do and to look away from what is right. Somebody who's asked to conform just because "this is how things are". And he doesn't. He never conforms. And I liked that.
Being told that people who don't follow the rules or don't do their jobs is because they know better, being told that the "system" works differently and that you'll only know if you are in the "system" — this kind of stupid attitudes (and platitudes) that are present in society and the sheer absurdity of it all resonated with me.
Then came the melodrama as usual. Most of the people in the movie don't seem to care about what is right and what is wrong. It's all about how people perceive you. They will take abuse from somebody to get a job done, but will also blame people who don't take the abuse from others. So all sorts of foolishness and hypocrisy where right does not matter and all that matters is that you conform and do what everybody else does.
And the emotional manipulation. Oh, the emotional manipulation that everybody seems to indulge in as part of daily life. I won't even go into the painful school skit that no school would have allowed.
At this point, there's a subtle (or very obvious, depending on your point of view) track change — instead of the movie being about Jayam Ravi fighting the whole world and how they think/behave, it becomes about Rao Ramesh's character and overcoming his ego. One thing I'll say though — Rao Ramesh is well suited for this kind of role, and he excels at it. Speaking of roles, I really loved Saranya's role in this movie too 🙂
But overall, this change in tracks was too jarring for me and the movie just feels as if it's directionless. They try to salvage this a bit at the very end but I'm not sure if it works or not.
#Movies #Tamil #Kollywood #ReverseDirection
Maybe it's just the subject matter — about somebody who's constantly asked to live the way others do and to look away from what is right. Somebody who's asked to conform just because "this is how things are". And he doesn't. He never conforms. And I liked that.
Being told that people who don't follow the rules or don't do their jobs is because they know better, being told that the "system" works differently and that you'll only know if you are in the "system" — this kind of stupid attitudes (and platitudes) that are present in society and the sheer absurdity of it all resonated with me.
Then came the melodrama as usual. Most of the people in the movie don't seem to care about what is right and what is wrong. It's all about how people perceive you. They will take abuse from somebody to get a job done, but will also blame people who don't take the abuse from others. So all sorts of foolishness and hypocrisy where right does not matter and all that matters is that you conform and do what everybody else does.
And the emotional manipulation. Oh, the emotional manipulation that everybody seems to indulge in as part of daily life. I won't even go into the painful school skit that no school would have allowed.
At this point, there's a subtle (or very obvious, depending on your point of view) track change — instead of the movie being about Jayam Ravi fighting the whole world and how they think/behave, it becomes about Rao Ramesh's character and overcoming his ego. One thing I'll say though — Rao Ramesh is well suited for this kind of role, and he excels at it. Speaking of roles, I really loved Saranya's role in this movie too 🙂
But overall, this change in tracks was too jarring for me and the movie just feels as if it's directionless. They try to salvage this a bit at the very end but I'm not sure if it works or not.
#Movies #Tamil #Kollywood #ReverseDirection
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Fahim Farook
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Edited 6 days ago
I've been looking forward to "Devara" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11821912) but it turned out to be a huge disappointment overall. The movie is alright if you turn your brain off but it's nothing spectacular.
First of all, talk about jumping the shark 😛 You'll understand what I mean if you watch the movie. They've literally gone back to the origin of that phrase.
Then there's the big plot twist — it's evident where it was headed from the moment it was introduced and I mostly watched the movie to see if I was proven right. And I was.
Then there's Janhvi Kapoor's character — the most poorly-written love interest that you could probably find anywhere. I think they were looking for humour with her but it just felt stupid, and silly.
And don't get me started on the "All Hail" a la Vijay's movies .... It just felt so very overdone.
#Movies #Telugu #Tollywood #OverHyped #JumpingTheShark
First of all, talk about jumping the shark 😛 You'll understand what I mean if you watch the movie. They've literally gone back to the origin of that phrase.
Then there's the big plot twist — it's evident where it was headed from the moment it was introduced and I mostly watched the movie to see if I was proven right. And I was.
Then there's Janhvi Kapoor's character — the most poorly-written love interest that you could probably find anywhere. I think they were looking for humour with her but it just felt stupid, and silly.
And don't get me started on the "All Hail" a la Vijay's movies .... It just felt so very overdone.
#Movies #Telugu #Tollywood #OverHyped #JumpingTheShark
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Street Art Utopia
streetartutopia@mastodon.online
Edited 8 days ago
Time to rebuild my follower base from Twitter on Mastodon!
I’m Vidar, founder of Street Art Utopia, curating the most inspiring street art from around the world.
Every new follower who comments here will receive a high-quality street art photo as a thank-you reply! Feel free to request a specific theme for your photo!
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Fahim Farook
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Editing a book on iOS development (using UIKit) at the moment — 1100+ pages. But for some reason, it has made me think about writing a book on #Flutter development 😛
Should I do it? I don't know ... But thinking about it.
#Writing #Programming #Books
Should I do it? I don't know ... But thinking about it.
#Writing #Programming #Books
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Chris Mathieson
cogno@mastodon.onlineHey friends, if you see this, could you introduce me to someone worth following on this app?
After fifteen years on that other app, it feels daunting to start again from scratch.
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Fahim Farook
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In Telugu cinema, Suhas seems to be so good at picking roles that are not run-of-the mill. I first noticed him in "Writer Padmabushan" which I absolutely loved. Since then, I've watched any movie that has Suhas in it. None of them have had the overly macho, beat-everyone-up-without-raising-a-sweat type of characters. Instead, they generally are different shades of the everyday-man.
"Janaka Aithe Ganaka" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32843331) is another Suhas starrer that I absolutely loved from the beginning. There's so much humour and sentiment in the movie. The family dynamics, the relationship between Suhas' character and his wife, and his friendship with Vennela Kishore — it all worked so well to make this an interesting movie.
Then came the core of the story. That too worked for me in terms of Suhas questioning the system. There were a few melodramatic moments which had me rolling my eyes, but overall the story worked for me.
And the ending? Priceless!!
#Movies #Indian #Telugu #Comedy
"Janaka Aithe Ganaka" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32843331) is another Suhas starrer that I absolutely loved from the beginning. There's so much humour and sentiment in the movie. The family dynamics, the relationship between Suhas' character and his wife, and his friendship with Vennela Kishore — it all worked so well to make this an interesting movie.
Then came the core of the story. That too worked for me in terms of Suhas questioning the system. There were a few melodramatic moments which had me rolling my eyes, but overall the story worked for me.
And the ending? Priceless!!
#Movies #Indian #Telugu #Comedy
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Fahim Farook
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Haven't done much painting recently. Without too much warning, I find myself in the middle of editing the third edition of a massive 1000+ page book that I last edited 3 years or so ago. Plus, we've had to move suddenly too.
So I'm writing (or at least editing) but probably won't get back to the painting and writing till next year. I guess that's how it goes sometimes?
#Writing #Painting #Life #Busy
So I'm writing (or at least editing) but probably won't get back to the painting and writing till next year. I guess that's how it goes sometimes?
#Writing #Painting #Life #Busy
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Fahim Farook
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I'm thrilled to announce that the audiobook version of "Honest, the Martian Ate Your Dog" is now available on Audible 🙂
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0DL7S8Q24/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-418986&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_418986_rh_us
If you want to listen to a sample, you can do so on the Audible site.
#Audibook #Writing #Bookstodon #Fedibooks #SciFi #Humour
Audiobook cover for "Honest, th…
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0DL7S8Q24/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-418986&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_418986_rh_us
If you want to listen to a sample, you can do so on the Audible site.
#Audibook #Writing #Bookstodon #Fedibooks #SciFi #Humour
Audiobook cover for "Honest, th…
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Aaron
hosford42@techhub.socialUp at 4am after the time change because I'm too stressed out to sleep.
Please please send work my way. I'm super talented and experienced in Python, data, and ML. I'm talking decades. It makes zero sense that my family and I should be on the verge of going hungry. I guess I just don't have the magical keyword combination to get the LLMs to pick up my resume. This is the dystopian future we were warned about. I'm certain of it.
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Fahim Farook
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I'd heard good things about "Lubber Pandhu" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27007466) but since it's a cricket movie, I wasn't sure if it was going to be just a sports movie or something else. The beginning seemed to indicate that it was going to be more than "just" a sports movie 🙂
One thing I loved about the movie was the little bits of old Tamil songs that they play every often through the movie. The selections were super!
And the other thing was the humour running through the movie — not the usual slapstick comedy track which doesn't always work, but genuine moments of humour.
And the slow build up to the confrontation between the two players is really enjoyable. On one hand, you keep waiting for the confrontation, and on the other, you keep watching it build up and laugh at the little tiny events that are made so huge due to ego conflicts.
Once things erupt, the tug-of-war between ego and love is just so very beautifully depicted. The whole experience is so totally engrossing. Basically, I feel that the movie played on so many levels and it was excellent in all those levels.
With this movie and with "Meiyazhagan" it almost feels as if we are back to the heyday of Tamil movies when they actually were worth watching and were all not about shedding blood by the buckets and beating up baddies. Will the trend continue? I'd be be interested to see how this goes ...
One thing I loved about the movie was the little bits of old Tamil songs that they play every often through the movie. The selections were super!
And the other thing was the humour running through the movie — not the usual slapstick comedy track which doesn't always work, but genuine moments of humour.
And the slow build up to the confrontation between the two players is really enjoyable. On one hand, you keep waiting for the confrontation, and on the other, you keep watching it build up and laugh at the little tiny events that are made so huge due to ego conflicts.
Once things erupt, the tug-of-war between ego and love is just so very beautifully depicted. The whole experience is so totally engrossing. Basically, I feel that the movie played on so many levels and it was excellent in all those levels.
With this movie and with "Meiyazhagan" it almost feels as if we are back to the heyday of Tamil movies when they actually were worth watching and were all not about shedding blood by the buckets and beating up baddies. Will the trend continue? I'd be be interested to see how this goes ...
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Fahim Farook
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"Black" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33298502) is interesting both in terms of being a Tamil science fiction movie and because this is probably the first one where the time travel logic actually worked 😛 There have been multiple others with time travel/time loop stories in Tamil, Telugu etc. but most of them didn't get the time travel logic right. But "Black" succeeded there and the overall story is interesting.
What I have a problem with is that the characters, as is usual in time travel movies, are idiots. They keep taking actions that move the story forward and creates conflict instead of just not doing something which they can see will cause the future that they've seen. But then again, I guess that's a fault with most time-travel movies in one way or anotehr?
#Movies #Tamil #Black #TimeTravel #ScienceFiction
What I have a problem with is that the characters, as is usual in time travel movies, are idiots. They keep taking actions that move the story forward and creates conflict instead of just not doing something which they can see will cause the future that they've seen. But then again, I guess that's a fault with most time-travel movies in one way or anotehr?
#Movies #Tamil #Black #TimeTravel #ScienceFiction
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Fahim Farook
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"Meiyazhagan" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26758372) is a beautiful movie.
It starts out with so much sadness — the achingly beautiful song which accompanies the protagonist as he leaves his hometown, the little touches like the lights being turned off in the house, the protagonist picking up a leaf as a momento — these and so many other little touches contribute to the beauty of the opening.
I've lost the feeling of sadness you feel on moving house. We've moved around so much that it has become commonplace to me. But this movie brought back that feeling in spades. It was nostalgic, and a little sad.
Then there's the relationship between the protagonist and his wife. It feels so true. So close to life. I just enjoyed the conversations between them so much.
Add to that the greenery of the village, so different from all the recent movies about city life. It almost feels like a different time, a different place. So familiar, and yet not something that I can find today.
The whole movie has so many little touches which make it flow so beautifully and stirs up sentiment.
Maybe you have to be a certain age to enjoy this movie. I don't know. But I certainly did enjoy it.
#Movies #Tamil #Sentimental #Memories
It starts out with so much sadness — the achingly beautiful song which accompanies the protagonist as he leaves his hometown, the little touches like the lights being turned off in the house, the protagonist picking up a leaf as a momento — these and so many other little touches contribute to the beauty of the opening.
I've lost the feeling of sadness you feel on moving house. We've moved around so much that it has become commonplace to me. But this movie brought back that feeling in spades. It was nostalgic, and a little sad.
Then there's the relationship between the protagonist and his wife. It feels so true. So close to life. I just enjoyed the conversations between them so much.
Add to that the greenery of the village, so different from all the recent movies about city life. It almost feels like a different time, a different place. So familiar, and yet not something that I can find today.
The whole movie has so many little touches which make it flow so beautifully and stirs up sentiment.
Maybe you have to be a certain age to enjoy this movie. I don't know. But I certainly did enjoy it.
#Movies #Tamil #Sentimental #Memories
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Fahim Farook
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I call this one "Not Just Another Brick in the Wall" ... Or maybe you'll call it a "square peg in a round hole" — even though there are no holes or pegs in view 😛
I was trying to get the idea of non-conformance to the status quo in while also getting some more practice on light and shading. Done using Adobe Fresco on an iPad.
#Painting #DigitalArt #DigitalPainting #AdobeFresco
A digital painting of a brick w…
I was trying to get the idea of non-conformance to the status quo in while also getting some more practice on light and shading. Done using Adobe Fresco on an iPad.
#Painting #DigitalArt #DigitalPainting #AdobeFresco
A digital painting of a brick w…
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Fahim Farook
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This one feels sloppy to me 🙂 There's so much more I can improve upon but after spending three days on this one, I felt that I needed a break. So moving on ...
What I wanted to do was try my hand at doing a landscape and I learnt a lot of things that I should improve upon and a few things that would be useful. But overall, I don't feel as if I did the idea justice.
#Painting #DigitalPainting #DigitalArt
A digital painting of a river w…
What I wanted to do was try my hand at doing a landscape and I learnt a lot of things that I should improve upon and a few things that would be useful. But overall, I don't feel as if I did the idea justice.
#Painting #DigitalPainting #DigitalArt
A digital painting of a river w…
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Fahim Farook
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Sometimes I'm not sure if art/entertainment is used to try and mould people's thinking, or if movies (and other artwork) simply reflect the biases/prejudices inculcated into the general populace...
I'm watching "Kadaisi Ulaga Por" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32991468/) at the moment and it does make me wonder about how the everyday Indian, or specifically Tamilian, on the street views the world. Is the movie a true reflection of how they perceive the world? Or is that how they are meant to think the world is after watching the movie?
The movie is set in the near future and sees India as surrounded by enemies. China, Russia, and the Middle East breaks away from the UN and sets up their own rival organiztion. Sri Lanka and other nations join them. India stands as the last holdout in the region.
In several scenes, they have a "war criminal" from Sri Lanka attacking and killing Indians as this new group invades India.
I have to wonder — is this how India sees itself? The one lone holdout against enemy forces in the region? Or is this propaganda to get people to see themselves as such?
If this was one single example, I wouldn't have thought so. But in addition to the constant anti-Pakistani imagery in Indian movies, I've seen emerging anti-Chinese messaging in Indian movies in the past few years.
Sure, this also mirrors what you see from the US, which also appears to be upping its anti-Chinese messaging.
But in a world where everybody seems to think that getting the message out to the most number of people, whether it's true or not, is the most important thing, how do I determine what really is true? How does the general person on the street learn to differentiate between propaganda and entertainment?
And how much do these entertainers care about the messaging they disseminate?
#Movies #Tamil #India #PropgandaOrEntertainment
I'm watching "Kadaisi Ulaga Por" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32991468/) at the moment and it does make me wonder about how the everyday Indian, or specifically Tamilian, on the street views the world. Is the movie a true reflection of how they perceive the world? Or is that how they are meant to think the world is after watching the movie?
The movie is set in the near future and sees India as surrounded by enemies. China, Russia, and the Middle East breaks away from the UN and sets up their own rival organiztion. Sri Lanka and other nations join them. India stands as the last holdout in the region.
In several scenes, they have a "war criminal" from Sri Lanka attacking and killing Indians as this new group invades India.
I have to wonder — is this how India sees itself? The one lone holdout against enemy forces in the region? Or is this propaganda to get people to see themselves as such?
If this was one single example, I wouldn't have thought so. But in addition to the constant anti-Pakistani imagery in Indian movies, I've seen emerging anti-Chinese messaging in Indian movies in the past few years.
Sure, this also mirrors what you see from the US, which also appears to be upping its anti-Chinese messaging.
But in a world where everybody seems to think that getting the message out to the most number of people, whether it's true or not, is the most important thing, how do I determine what really is true? How does the general person on the street learn to differentiate between propaganda and entertainment?
And how much do these entertainers care about the messaging they disseminate?
#Movies #Tamil #India #PropgandaOrEntertainment
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Fahim Farook
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This one's called "Lonely Planet" 🙂
Again, mostly playing with shapes, colours, lights, and perspective.
#Painting #DigitalArt #DigitalPainting
A green grassy field with rows …
Again, mostly playing with shapes, colours, lights, and perspective.
#Painting #DigitalArt #DigitalPainting
A green grassy field with rows …
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Fahim Farook
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I call this one "Mysterious Pyramid" 🙂
My main aim was to explore shadow, lighting and colour, but I didn't want to just do plain geometric shapes. I wanted something a litlte more interesting.
Hence, the fog shrouded pyramid.
#Painting #DigitalArt #DigitalPainting
A digitial painting of a stone …
My main aim was to explore shadow, lighting and colour, but I didn't want to just do plain geometric shapes. I wanted something a litlte more interesting.
Hence, the fog shrouded pyramid.
#Painting #DigitalArt #DigitalPainting
A digitial painting of a stone …
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Fahim Farook
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I finished my third painting over the weekened. I am much happier with this one since the columns in the painting turned out like I'd hoped they would.
There are a few things I probably still would want to improve upon but I guess that's the point right? To continually strive to improve upon what you do? 🙂
I am happier at my ability to transfer images in my mind on to digital canvas and I think this is something that'll I stick with this time around.
#Painting #DigitalArt #DigitalPainting
A digital painting of four marb…
There are a few things I probably still would want to improve upon but I guess that's the point right? To continually strive to improve upon what you do? 🙂
I am happier at my ability to transfer images in my mind on to digital canvas and I think this is something that'll I stick with this time around.
#Painting #DigitalArt #DigitalPainting
A digital painting of four marb…
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Fahim Farook
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I finished my first digital painting a few days ago. It was a quick painting but even as I did it, I knew it had certain shortcomings 🙂
I moved on to my second painting to try to improve upon these.
The first issue I noticed with my first painting was that it was flat — it had no depth. So, with the second one I tried to introduce that. I succeeded in some cases, but feel I failed in others 😛
The other things I wanted to do was give some texture to different elements and to add a sense of light and shadow. While I did a few things to add this, I feel I did very badly at those things.
I've been watching videos on how to draw and one thing which struck me was that a lot of the videos out there tell you how to do one thing — like draw an apple — but not why you do certain things a certain way.
Now this is by no means a slam on those people who put out "how-to" videos. Any information that anybody creates, especially the free resources, to help others learn how to do something, is a great service in my opinion. But I do wish that people added a bit more of the concepts to some of these videos 😊
What I'm saying is, if you simply show how to draw an apple, then at least some people (like me) only learn how to do that one thing. But if you tell them, "this is why you do such and such a thing", then I can formulate a process (or workflow) that I can use to draw other things.
Maybe this is self-evident to a lot of folks. I don't know. But I don't get some of this straight away 🙂 For example, I do understand that you need a source of light and that an object needs to show the light and shadow in order for it to appear three-dimensional. But I don't always put it together with somebody saying "place a lighter colour splotch here and a darker shading here".
One of the best examples I saw explainig this was this free Udemy video course:
https://www.udemy.com/course/art-fundamentals-in-one-hour/
(I have no affiliation Hardy Fowler but that course was helpful in filling in some gaps and so I'm linking to it in case it helps somebody else on the same journey. Also, he has some interesting tutorials on YouTube.)
So I'm doing a lot more reading on the subject of light and shadow and how to add texture to shapes and am preparing to work on the next painting ...
#DigitalArt #Painting #DigitalOilPainting
A digitial painting showing som…
I moved on to my second painting to try to improve upon these.
The first issue I noticed with my first painting was that it was flat — it had no depth. So, with the second one I tried to introduce that. I succeeded in some cases, but feel I failed in others 😛
The other things I wanted to do was give some texture to different elements and to add a sense of light and shadow. While I did a few things to add this, I feel I did very badly at those things.
I've been watching videos on how to draw and one thing which struck me was that a lot of the videos out there tell you how to do one thing — like draw an apple — but not why you do certain things a certain way.
Now this is by no means a slam on those people who put out "how-to" videos. Any information that anybody creates, especially the free resources, to help others learn how to do something, is a great service in my opinion. But I do wish that people added a bit more of the concepts to some of these videos 😊
What I'm saying is, if you simply show how to draw an apple, then at least some people (like me) only learn how to do that one thing. But if you tell them, "this is why you do such and such a thing", then I can formulate a process (or workflow) that I can use to draw other things.
Maybe this is self-evident to a lot of folks. I don't know. But I don't get some of this straight away 🙂 For example, I do understand that you need a source of light and that an object needs to show the light and shadow in order for it to appear three-dimensional. But I don't always put it together with somebody saying "place a lighter colour splotch here and a darker shading here".
One of the best examples I saw explainig this was this free Udemy video course:
https://www.udemy.com/course/art-fundamentals-in-one-hour/
(I have no affiliation Hardy Fowler but that course was helpful in filling in some gaps and so I'm linking to it in case it helps somebody else on the same journey. Also, he has some interesting tutorials on YouTube.)
So I'm doing a lot more reading on the subject of light and shadow and how to add texture to shapes and am preparing to work on the next painting ...
#DigitalArt #Painting #DigitalOilPainting
A digitial painting showing som…
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