Illustrating Environments That Feel Alive【Francesco Pizzo】Art Review

[00:00:01]Hi Dav here and today we have a new episode in the channel and today we're going to be checking out the work of Francesco Piso.

[00:00:08]So we do have a couple of their images downloaded from their Instagram page and I think they're main like a they work in Visdev or I forgot their description for their uh their bio thing but I do think they focus mainly on backgrounds and color. Um, and I think they teach. I'm not sure, but they do have a couple of shots here. I think these are like their three pinned posts on Instagram. And you can see in the the upper lower corners of the the image, it kind of has these like these like black bars. And if you look at the ratio, it has that cinematic what is it? 2.39 something by one. I'm not sure. But you can tell it's mainly focused for films. Um it's a very interesting kind of illustration stuff cuz I know another artist they do a lot of like key frame art. I think it's key frame illustration. Uh Alexand like Mandra JV something I think they worked a lot on Marvel and they kind of have the same format as well where they do include like black bars in their images to kind of uh simulate that kind of cinematic feel.

[00:01:25]But if you look at their work, wait, this one, it's mainly painted, but this one does have a little bit of line art for some of the buildings. It looks a bit animeish, like gibbly-ish. Um, but in the background, it's mainly painted. It does have the gouache feel. Maybe they do have a traditional background or some traditional experience because it does, sorry, it does have that vibe. I just got an email. You know how you get emails but they're like emails from like softwares? It's like gh so lonely. Anyway, [music] um look at how they did the reflections here for this like pod. That's pretty cool. Um like you can see the brush strokes and it does have that impressionistic kind of vibe. Meaning not everything has to be detailed and I like that. It's more about the the the storytelling. And you can see this character right there below.

[00:02:26]Look at that.

[00:02:30]This one.

[00:02:32]Do you see how they do like texture as well? I do think they use heavy paint for a lot of their paintings.

[00:02:40]Um maybe I'll try dabbling on it, but I'm not sure if you can make make like custom brushes there. Who knows? But I mean, you can paint without textures, but when you have just a little bit of texture, it just adds a bit of like teeth. Like, it makes the painting stick to the page somehow.

[00:02:59]Um, hold on. Look at how they're emphasizing shapes. Like, you can clearly see the silhouette, right? Like the edges are kind of sharp. Maybe they'll erase, add some edges here and there to kind of suggest cuz if it's too sharp, it looks a bit too almost like a what they call a collage, right? And it can be too harsh, but if you just add some of these textures by adding it or erasing bits of dy edge, it just makes it look a little more painterly.

[00:03:32]Uh but yeah, very clear edges, shapes, and it's just e it makes your image easier to read if [music] everything is sort of segmented in this way.

[00:03:47]Um look at that. And if you notice, the shapes are not even that complex, right?

[00:03:53]They're like blobs, circles.

[00:03:55]Um, and I think the more complex that your silhouettes are, I think it doesn't make it as memorable because I saw this like advice of like the designers would give this advice where you want to make sure your silhouette is recognizable from afar [music] and they gave an example like they were drawing uh the Simpson character uh the Dragon Ball I forgot his name character as well and you could tell like these were these characters despite not having details.

[00:04:25]uh all all this designer did was draw the silhouette and you could instantly tell who the character was. Um so you can have some complexity, some uniqueness, maybe not so much complexity but uniqueness in the the silhouette, but you [music] want to keep it simple enough that it's that it becomes memorable, right? So lots of round brush use here. Very opaque.

[00:04:53]Look at that.

[00:04:55]the mountains could be like a landscape study.

[00:05:00]Yeah, it does look like a a gouache painting. It reminds me of some of uh James Gurnie's work, the guy who did Dintopia. I haven't read the book, but I do like dinosaurs. And yeah, anyway, very cute. You know what's sad? you don't often I I know this is still part of the the process in terms of creating animated films but I don't know does everything have to be 3D?

[00:05:31]I I cuz it's sad, you know, Disney, you know, they're one of the the pioneers, the big boys in terms of animation, right? But I think when it comes to like 2D animation, even like combining both 2D, 3D, I think Japan is taking over, even China, you know, South Korea as well.

[00:05:53]Um, I mean, you still have like cool unique, for example, I really like the the Spider-Verse one. Like, it's so unique. And also, I haven't watched the the show, but the the arcane kind of look. It's pretty cool. And also the sorry, uh, the Star Wars, the recent one that came out with Darth, not Vader, the the red guy with the horns.

[00:06:16]Oh my god, I really like that look. So, it's not totally bad, but like 3D can look kind of arty as well. Um, hey, you know what? I think it's also because of the the textures, right? In the spider verse, you have like those halftone textures and in the the arcane one and the the recent Star Wars, there's a lot a lot of like painterly textures within the the with the Oh my [ __ ] god. within the the 3D. I think that's what makes it kind of cool. If it's if everything is smooth, I mean, yeah, it's okay, but you want to have some texture, if you get my drift.

[00:06:54]Um, sorry.

[00:06:57][gasps] Like, don't shave everything if you get me. Okay, let's move on. Let's move on.

[00:07:01]Sorry. We got some Is that tomato? What?

[00:07:05]Pomodoro. I think pomodoro is a tomato in Italian. Or am I just You know what?

[00:07:12]I I won't speak on it cuz I'm dumb. Oh, wait. So, three main colors.

[00:07:18]Oh, I saw this advice somewhere where if you want to make I think they were focusing on games, but this applies everywhere. If you want to keep your color simple, just pick three main colors and make it into like a 60 3010 ratio. Meaning, you have one major color and then you have the the complimentary color. It doesn't have to be like the actual opposite of the the main color, but just one more color. And then you have like one accent color that's going to be like the uh not accent but oh maybe the 10%. And you can create very diverse looking scenes while still having just three colors. Um so I haven't applied that enough. I think this is the the Hunter Hunter anime or from that show.

[00:08:06]I haven't watched it, but Full Metal Alchemist, you know, I've heard some great reviews for this show, but because it's so like popular, I've seen like some clips, especially of the was it episode 6, The Dog. [laughter] That's so [ __ ] up.

[00:08:25]So, I'm kind of spoiled, but I don't know. I think it's a it's an interesting show. I want to try it.

[00:08:33]But right now, I'm I'm into season 3 of Mushoka Tensei. And I also started watching uh I'm going to be watching season two cuz I just finished season one of Mob Psycho 100. So anyway, directional plus shape carving.

[00:08:51]Okay.

[00:08:54]Right.

[00:08:55]High contrast in front, low contrast for furthest elements. Shape carving.

[00:09:00]It's a very common rule in uh if you're trying to suggest depth. The things closer to you tend to be darker. The things further away to you tend to like become more gray. Basically, they fade out.

[00:09:12]And because of that, it makes it easier to read. I first learned this from this guy named Fanggu, for those of you who are old. [laughter] [gasps] Um cuz I've noticed that in this new generation because there's so many artists like no no no one really mentions this name anymore but during my time even if you were even if you're not a concept artist because there's there was a lack of like YouTube videos on art that actually had like a voice over that had someone talking uh like you had no choice but to eventually end up on Fenju's channel and I think we learned a lot from his channel and one of them being this whole the things closer to you that be dark as things go further back, they tend to be lighter. I'm not saying he invented it. It's a a very old like painting technique, painting, drawing technique, but uh I think when it comes to the the digital art realm, he was the first big one of the big ones that really pushed uh for that in terms of like education. Um so we have Spider-Man here uh in the suburbs.

[00:10:19]in the suburbs. But is I haven't been to New York, but I think he is from New York, right? Um, are there suburbs in New York? I don't know.

[00:10:32]It seems like a fun city, but as an introvert, I don't know if [laughter] if I can make it. And the walking, you know, I have gout. So, it's like, dude.

[00:10:42]Oh, I love the textures here. Very like pointy. I think they're splatter brushes. It it it it just adds a bit of crunch.

[00:10:53]It has a gouache like feel, but meaning big strokes, very opaque.

[00:10:59]Um, but look at how rich that tree is in the middle, dude.

[00:11:07]And I Oh, this could be like a custom brush, right? Look at how one edge is like curved and then the other side is like feathered out. That could be like a custom brush.

[00:11:18]But as much as you can use custom brushes for trees, it's still nice to do it this way where you've kind of painted.

[00:11:24]It just feels more artsy that way.

[00:11:28]You know, a lot of art it it's not always about the the accuracy, it's about the vibes. If everything is too detailed, too, it's just not vibing in terms of art and might as well just take a photograph, you know? Even when it comes to 3D, um I used to think 3D was like like it took away the art element, but you can tell the difference between an artful 3D, whether animation or sculpture or just model, even without like lighting or rendering there. There there is Oh my god, there is a difference.

[00:12:04]Um [snorts] like you can see the the more artful one.

[00:12:10]This one does not have a lot of texture.

[00:12:13]I feel like they're just using like a lasso fill with a a very flat brush, maybe.

[00:12:20]And for styles like this, notice how they tend to skew the perspective a little bit. Like it's kind of wonky. I like that you do see this style a lot.

[00:12:30]Not just in Visdev visual development, but in editorial illustrations.

[00:12:35]They tend to make they tend to lead more on abstraction. Abstraction, which I do like.

[00:12:41]Um.

[00:12:44]Oh, we have a closeup of a a cutting board.

[00:12:48]Nice spoon.

[00:12:51]Got a Is that a stove?

[00:12:54]Got a nice cat. The obligatory cat.

[00:12:59]Hold on. What? What is this?

[00:13:02]I see some like texture. Maybe that's added in the story at the end.

[00:13:10]Look at these trees, right? The the sun seems like it's setting, dude.

[00:13:18]And do you see how the you have like these dash strokes? They're almost like curving. Like it's almost like a like a coil.

[00:13:26]Like the line does not break.

[00:13:30]It It can seem kind of childish because you know how children draw like leaves, right? They do the whole circular kind of thing kind of like in this way but if you don't add it sometimes it feels wrong not to do it right obviously it's not like the major thing it's like a an accessory but I mean you even see this in like architectural illustrations like this kind of style of drawing foliage like it it can seem premature on its own but you see it in in its context for example here in its with these trees with this like sky with this atmosphere.

[00:14:08]It just works.

[00:14:14]Okay, this one seems a bit abstract, almost dreamlike. I'm not sure where this is from, but lots of hues, lots of colors. It's giving a bit of I don't know the pyramid kind of at the top. It's pharaohesque.

[00:14:30]The coil in the neck.

[00:14:32]Yeah. Pharaoh ass like uh North Africa and maybe a little bit of subsahar subsahar Africa. You know how there are some tribes where they put the the go is it gold like coils around their neck?

[00:14:46]By the way, I think it's kind of hot.

[00:14:47][laughter] Not to Okay, let me focus. Um I don't know. Uh this one seems like a an artifact from that show. The mummy.

[00:14:59]Some kind of amulet something.

[00:15:03]I don't know. Anyway, it's very like dreamlike. I I think it's because of the the amount of hues.

[00:15:15]Oh, and they're also not afraid to use black. Interesting. Strong contrast.

[00:15:22]Oh, this one.

[00:15:25]I like how you can see a little bit of what's going on here, right? Maybe you're witnessing a murder or perhaps someone cheating. Oh, come here.

[00:15:37]Lovely noise. Look at this nice texture.

[00:15:40]I think it's from a brush. Not so much an actual like noise texture filter, but a very small tiny splatter brush.

[00:15:49]You know what's so interesting? being able to suggest light via painting without relying on like a soft brush, which I'm not saying it's wrong to use a soft brush or some kind of gradient tool.

[00:15:59]But it is, I would argue, a little bit more challenging to do it this way where you just paint it where you paint light um without relying too much on like airbrush types of brushes.

[00:16:16]Dude, I like it. Even though there's light here, your your focus is not there. First of all, because this thing is really in the center and also look at the contrast. Pure black almost like orange. It's in the center. Very high contrast. Like you have no choice but to see what's going on here.

[00:16:36]Oh, makes you wonder, right?

[00:16:44]You know, if there were more people around me, I would be cuz I think I'm kind of like a people watcher. Like I just like watching people. The only reason why I don't do it is because there's hardly anyone around where I'm at. Uh but if I was in a city, [laughter] I would like to buy like a a set of binoculars. Is that weird? [laughter] I don't know. I just like watch or uh if you know what it feels kind of boring if it does have binoculars like I want a camera with a very long long shot like you can really see a see from afar. I don't know there's something like sexy about it. Or maybe I'm just a creep. I'm sorry. Um nice tree. I love the bark.

[00:17:26]Right.

[00:17:28]I'm really into the industrial look.

[00:17:31]Like lots of black, gray, really like wood as well. Like dark wood.

[00:17:37]Like I think industrial types of settings. If you look at interior design, just go to Pinterest, type in industrial something and type in maybe wood. There's something cool about it.

[00:17:47]Like I feel at home. I don't know.

[00:17:53]Look at how as you go further above the the the oh my tree leave area, leaves area, the foliage, it almost becomes like one silhouette, you know? So, the main focus here is the uh the actual trunk. And look at how it's actually lighter than the trunk. Like, you would expect it to be uh expect it to be a bit darker because you're underneath the tree, right? But you you don't have to follow that rule. You can make it uh lighter.

[00:18:22]Very interesting.

[00:18:27]Look at this. You know, I want to have one of these in the center.

[00:18:32]Wait, first of all, do you see how with the edge it's not always clean? And that's okay, right? In fact, if you make it too clean, remember that piece we saw earlier? Do do you see how even though they were like clearcut edges, they still went back and added like their own manual strokes [music] just to break it down a little bit? Because if it's too clean, too harsh, too sharp.

[00:18:53]It's not that it's wrong, it just it makes it less painterly, you know? So, yeah. Basic. Anyway, I I want one of these, but for oil. I'm not sure what it's called, cuz I don't want to keep pouring oil with like the big freaking bottle. And sometimes when I make like fried rice, like it's like I want a a minim a very small oil dripping thing to happen around the sides. Do you follow for those of you who who like making fried rice? Um anyway.

[00:19:26]Oh, you know what? this shot. It reminds me of a very classic famous painting of this guy. You can see him from the back. He's kind of in a cliff like this, right? You can see him in the back or from the back. He looks kind of like a romantic guy, like a very intuitive, introverted kind of guy, short hair, wind kind of gushing a little bit, and he has like his foot on top of like a rock.

[00:19:54]H it's such a a common painter. I forgot the the name, but I don't know. It's it's giving me [gasps] um you know, sometimes you're you're like not depressed, but you're just sort of like you're you're experiencing is it mel melancholy or something? Melancholy.

[00:20:15]Oh, [ __ ] You're not depressed. You're not even like lonely lonely like you're sad, but you're just sort of you just want to be an emo.

[00:20:25]>> [laughter] >> and it feels good. Um, anyway, let's move on. Oh, look at how I think this is heavy paint. Look at these textures. You can achieve this with uh if you're using Photoshop or CD paint, um, color jitter, color dynamics, stuff like that.

[00:20:47]It makes it look more natural as well.

[00:20:52]And it adds extra variety cuz again if you took away you can have textures but if you make it black and white this image but you did not have like these color dynamic things this color jittering it would still be okay but it just adds something more aside from just texture and that variation hue variation. Maybe a little bit of value variation. not as much value variation but more about hues.

[00:21:22]Um and in a way this do you see how it's an impressionistic painting right? Uh very everything is like suggested but because of these hues it has way more realism than other kinds of paintings. Even if a painting is like detailed in terms of accuracy, right? Um [music] where it kind of looks like the actual thing, if it does not have enough hue variation, it can seem kind of fake. Not fake, but just it doesn't have that touch that touch of life. So maybe it's not so much about realism, it's more about the aspect of life. Because when you look at real things in real life, it's not just one color, it's a combination of different colors. They're they're just kind of muted down, you know? So you can see all sort of hues.

[00:22:06]So it's because of those it's because of that hue variety that makes something a little more realistic. So anyway, nice cat. Meow.

[00:22:19]Interesting. They drew like a line here.

[00:22:22]So it's not line art, but it's Yeah, even like some of the fur bits here.

[00:22:28]Look at how it's drawn out.

[00:22:31]this kind of diverse style of uh this [laughter] it seems like a diverse approach where you're kind of drawing some parts, painting some parts.

[00:22:42]I do see it a lot in editorial illustration only only because you don't really have rules in editorial art. It's about the it's very conceptual. So you're I I think you are rewarded to be a bit more experimental and unique unlike for this it's not wrong but there's like a pipeline in like visual development or you know background art whatever it is design right so ooh oh oh what are they cooking oh it's one of those glass things we don't have that we have like the the flame one. [laughter] That's a proper term, by the way. But to to me though, it just seems very modern when you see something like this.

[00:23:30]Like it's just like you're in the future um in the digital kind of thing. It's so freaking cool.

[00:23:42]What are they cooking? Oh, I love the canvas texture. I really like that. uh when uh painting digitally, even though you're painting digitally, there's something about the canvas texture.

[00:23:53][music] It doesn't have to be everywhere, but it just it makes it look more artsy. You can see some some of that here as well.

[00:24:06]Oh, by the way, if you want like a if you're into concept art, uh especially in the illustration side, if you want like a combination of like design plus that painterly vibe, I think there's a I would recommend the work of Derek Zabra. I think he even has like a school uh and he works with someone else who's also an artist. But he has like a very nice painterly big brush strokes kind of style. Uh some of his work can lean more where the 3D is doing a lot of the work and sometimes he becomes a little more conceptual where the painting kind of takes over. So, I do recommend uh Derek Zabrai for that.

[00:24:50]And I think I even bought some of his like tutorials on Gumroad. So, yeah, I think it's Polish.

[00:24:59]Oh, yeah. His school is a focal point something. Hopefully, I'm right. Um, again with like the line here. Do you see that? The squiggly lines as well.

[00:25:12]It kind of makes it look a bit fresh, right? That kind of technique.

[00:25:19]And in a way, it does add a bit of variety because if if everything is painted sometimes, it's not it's not wrong, but it just makes it a little bit exciting, I think.

[00:25:31]Oh, I really like seeing statues like this of of like angels, even like the gargoyle ones, the gargoyle ones. I don't know.

[00:25:43]I wish there was more stuff like this around only because it's it if you look at Greek architecture, right?

[00:25:57]Any old civilization, the amount of statues there, like it it just makes us look like as human beings, it it makes us look really cool.

[00:26:07]If everything's just glass, it's like we need some of this aura forming [laughter] cuz when you look at a statue like this, it's made of earth, you know, like you can it's it's made of rock. It it just feels solid, right? So, it's sort of a sign to the universe to aliens that we make [ __ ] right?

[00:26:27]Um, I'm not uh downplaying our current modern accomplishments, but there's something about these types uh sculptures that Yeah. Anyway, nice. I really like the way this tree looks. It's a Is it a palm tree? I don't know. But it just has like a It It's It feels fun to paint, I think. Especially the the leaves cuz they're all emanating from one point, right? And you can just kind of fade it out as you go further away from the the central point.

[00:27:01]Oh, look at how they did the gradient for the sky. It's a noise brush. Oh, not a a very small splatter brush.

[00:27:11]Very cool.

[00:27:17]See that canvas texture? Canvas texture.

[00:27:19]I like that.

[00:27:23]We have a cat again. Meow.

[00:27:30]Look at that.

[00:27:33]Is that a a gnome? A garden gnome.

[00:27:38]Very cool.

[00:27:41]This guy feels kind of cute. But if you just look at the the landscape, it feels very like Lord of the Rings. I don't know. Like it feels old.

[00:27:50]Feels like there's something hidden in the forest.

[00:27:57]Oh, wow. This one's a bit of a bit saturated.

[00:28:01]Spritz. Is that cool? I'm not sure.

[00:28:05]Colelli very saturated, very bright.

[00:28:13]Color dynamics are there. Meaning it's not just like one flat color. You can see like a variation of values. It's not so much cheese, but more about value.

[00:28:24]Oh, you can see that kind of this effect a lot with the the work of Greg Ritkowski.

[00:28:29]Um, they have a they have a more traditional looking digital style where it kind of looks like an oil painting.

[00:28:36]Very like crunchy, very heavy with the these types of textures.

[00:28:41]Um, yeah.

[00:28:46]Oh, I like it.

[00:28:52]Wow. This could be like for like an architectural magazine, right?

[00:28:58]You could add like some text here like architectural digest or something. I I don't know. Like it seems even the building itself, the environment, the lighting, it seems very like bourgeoa, [laughter] like rich like I like I belong here, you know, away from the the peasants, right?

[00:29:17]Anyway, [snorts] oh, it just seems fancy to me.

[00:29:22]You know what? Without these lines, it wouldn't have the same aura. So, I do like that.

[00:29:29]In a way, it kind of unifies everything.

[00:29:31]Even the notice how in the background these trees over here they still have lines in some paintings as you go or in some art styles they can have line art for like the the main subject but as they go further back it becomes more of a painting meaning there's no lines but here they're kind of connecting everything the foreground here for the trees the the main subject here for uh in terms of this building and the trees behind the building they all have some kind of lines in them so it kind of unifies everything in uh in a So, I do like that. Now, for the sky, it does get very painterly.

[00:30:05]Uh, I'm not sure how they would approach a cloud. Would they still add like some lines? Maybe tone down the the opacity or the uh the dark the uh the darkness?

[00:30:15]Who knows? But I like it.

[00:30:20]Oh, I actually thought this this was like a butt, but it's a No, it's not.

[00:30:24]It's a a a guy a very big guy with like a young kid. Anyway, so we're going to we're going to end the art review here. Hopefully you enjoyed.

[00:30:32]I'm going to I'm going to link their page in the description below. And yeah, I'll see you in the next episode. Bye.