Work in Progress - kimono - working with photoshop CS - 5/17

[mourning dove]

The people in the works in progress section of the picture post haven't been all that much help, so I'm gonna repost this here. I have a feeling you guys will be quicker with replies and have more advice for me. >.>

This is a huge project for me, and I have a feeling I'll have more than just one question on it. So I'm going to have this be the thread for everything on my project.

Current Version as of May 17th:



Current Issues as of May 17th:

As for the actual kimono and girl, I don't have a lot more to say. Yes, I'm still fretting about the cloth pattern, but I know no one wants to hear about that any more. So while I'm not close to finished with the kimono right now, I'm already starting to think about the background.

I still haven't decided what kind of color palette I want for the background. I don't want the colors to be too light, or too pink, so I'm thinking of bringing some green into the picture by way of an outdoor background. However, that wouldn't fit into the theme of the picture so far as well.

In the beginning I wanted to set her on the inside of a tea-house, but I'm afraid the colors for that would leave the picture unbalanced. Unless the tea-house also contained either plants or other girls in colorful kimonos, the lively colors of the main kimono wouldn't blend well with the background.

Suggestions for a background will be loved.

Previous Questions (you can still give me your advice on some of these!)

February 26th:

Quote:

Current Version as of February 26th:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-12/544219/kimonofeb26.jpg

Current Issues as of February 26th:

I'm still working on the pattern... this is actually taking a lot longer than painting the cloth, because I'm making everything through paths and such. It's a lot less free-form, and my tablet is of no help here.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-12/544219/patterncomplexity.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-12/544219/patterncomplexity2.jpg

As I continue on the cloth pattern, I'm not sure of how complex I want to make it. I don't want to make it too overwhelming or distracting, but I also don't want to skimp on it. And since it's taking so long, I'm having doubts about how much work I'm putting into it. The size that I'm working with for the pattern is about 4 times the size that the final picture is going to be, so you won't be able to see all the details.

I still need some ideas on how to make it look more like cloth, right now it looks very digital.

February 19th:

Quote:

I've hit a tough spot in my kimono picture...

Current Version as of February 19th:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-12/544219/kimonofeb19preview.jpg

Current Issues as of February 19th: Right now I'm working on the cloth pattern. I've been researching kimono cloth lately, and I know it can be a very complicated affair, especially with the formal style of kimono that I'm drawing. In example of the detail, check this out. I would love to achieve that sort of detail in my picture, but I'm worried that that will take away from all that I've put into defining the cloth folds. I started on the pattern and then tested how it affected the cloth, and here's what I got, shown with and without the pattern:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-12/544219/patterntest.jpg

I'm looking for opinions/advice on this... does the cloth look better or worse with the pattern? Does the pattern make it all too busy? What do you think about the method I've used for overlaying the pattern onto the cloth?

Another thing, does anyone know of a good way to make the pattern seem less like a digital rendering and more like dyed cloth? It seems the edges are a little too sharp for me.

For now I'm going to continue on the pattern, so I'd also like some comments on where to go with it. This is what I have so far:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-12/544219/pattern2.jpg

Are the cherry blossom twigs not "traditional" enough? What other components should I add to this?

General Questions:

Please let me know if there's anything you find to be off with the picture. Right now there are some places where I obviously need to work on more, but I'm talking about the more finished looking areas, like the face, most of the cloth folds, and the patterned area.  

[SilverVixen]

*stares*


*stares*


*blinks*

....

This is absolutely gorgeous. Wow!!! I think it looks wonderful. The pattern is just right, IMO.

It might help with the problem of it looking digital to give the fabric a little bit of texture. Not sure how to go about that, but it might help.

Sorry I can't help more... I really just love it. I want to wear it. biggrin  

[GhoSt-X]

I was just quickly seeing if i could find anything online that might be usefull..

this site has a few styles you can look at ..hopefully they might give you some ideas...

http://belles-beaute.jp/main/stylegallery/stylegallery01.php

for the larger part ... i dont quite like geisha hairstyles ... but yeah ... these modern ones might not quite fit ... maybe you could find a compramise beween the two?

haha and yeah .. i love the patern that youve done .. at first glance i seriously thought it was real ~_~  

[rogue_designer]

I find two things help when mockin up cloth - or any cg in general.

I like to make a top layer of very very light uniform gaussian noise and drop the opacity down low on it... the result is it makes the image appear to have some film grain, so it doesn't look so perfectly cg.

Another thing that I've done for anything with a clear texture (rock, cloth, etc) is to make a greyscale texture map... again, on a top layer... and set it at a low opacity to multiply. You can use a layer mask to keep it off other sections.  

[Chisa]

It's really, really stunning so far eek At the moment the pattern looks to me like its printed on to a shiny cloth like silk, although I'm not sure if that's the look you're going for. I think this is too far above my own skill level to be able to look at it critically, let alone say something useful sweatdrop

For the hair... I'm not a fan of the traditional geisha hair either. Loose hair isn't necessary too modern, I'm sure they have to let their hair down sometime ^_^ What about something like Gong Li's home hair in Memoirs of a Geisha?



That probably isn't the best picture, I couldn't find any better ones confused

Good luck with this, and keep us updated! I wanna see how it turns out.  

[mourning dove]

SilverVixen: Compliments are help, too, they can keep me going after being frustrated. So thanks. 3nodding

GhoSt-X: Thanks for the link, I'll probably try and find some more sites like that... The thing with those hairstyles though is that I don't want bangs. They did give me more ideas than I had previously had, though.

rogue_designer: I've tried using that method to add texture, but I haven't been able to find any textures big enough and with a small enough grain. I've found some cloth textures that are big, but they're zoomed in too much, and when I try to reduce the size and tile them, the tiling is too obvious and the texture doesn't make it look a lot more like cloth. But I will give your first suggestion a try.

Chisa: Ooh, that hairstyle looks like it would work. I'll give it a try. Thanks!  

[Chisa]

No problem smile

I just stumbled across http://conceptart.org/ today, and I think you'd get some much better in-depth critiques there than on Gaia. Be careful though, I found it because someone I watch on dA posted her work there, was told her mistakes, and couldn't take it sweatdrop It looks like as long as you have an open attitude and read the rules you'll be fine though.  

[AntoineDelacroix]

[ Message temporarily off-line ]  

[rogue_designer]

I wonder if you could scan in a swatch of silk or rayon and create a new texture map...

I don't think you'd have to apply it across the entire piece, just highlights here and there to give dimension.

I'll ponder a bit.  

[nb080]

very realistic!  

[alis in wonderland]

Honestly, I thought it was a photo of the kimono and you wanted critiques on the design you were going to sew into it. 4laugh It looks incredible. The cloth itself doesn't look too digital at all. If anything, you could make the patterns look like they were embroidered on. Right now it looks like they're silkscreened on or something.... unless you were going for that look. 3nodding  

[SiuHai]

Haha, I thought it was a photo too! I assumed you extracted it from the real image and left the hands or something...
For the rest of the pattern, maybe you should just add more sakura flowers so there is less empty space, but not too distracting.
For hair, you should definately look at Memoirs of a Geisha photos for ideas.
I think it is realistic enough but maybe soften it? Or make it blurry or something? I'm not quite sure...  

[mourning dove]

We shall have updates as soon as I get home!

I took a break from this project for awhile, so I haven't made much progress...  

[rogue_designer]

Good looking update tho Mourning Dove. It's coming along well.  

[Chisa]

Wow, that's looking fantastic! Only problem I can really see is that her eyes are quite large and round with large irises, so she looks suprised and not very Japanese.

For the background... maybe she could be standing on a verandah kind of thing outside a teahouse, with the garden behind her? That could work and bring in a lot of nice greens for contrast.