I guess I�m on a bridge kick?

I haven�t practiced urban scenes very much lately, so I decided to give it a shot yesterday and today.

On the first one, I messed up on the perspective of the buildings in the background. On the second one, I messed up on the value, and tonality of the buildings in the back ground. Looking back at them both right now, I think the best approach would be to paint all of the distant buildings as a single shape, with a light value.

Here�s the first one:

The composition here is unfocused and distracting. I like the lines in the composition, but I haven�t defined the focal point well enough.

While I like the Arches on the underside of the bridge, they are distracting, because the strong value contrast against the background draws the eye like a magnet.

The colors are all super muddy… so I decided to try to focus on fresh washes on the second one.

I started out OK on the second one, but I gradually added more and more detail to the distant buildings. This darkened their values, and added a lot of crisp lines, both of which pull them forward. On the next version, I�ll try to paint all of the distant buildings as a single light shape.

I like the bridge more in this version, but it�s still pretty muddy. This is largely because I found myself trying to pull it forward by darkening the values. Each time, I muddied it a tiny bit more.

This taught me that getting the values right on the first pass is really important. While it�s possible to darken values with glazing, it doesn�t result in the fresh gradations I�m looking for.

I�m not feeling particularly well today, so I think I�m going to just go lay down now.