Verving the Pipeline: Multi Program Workflow

Hi Tartan,

I just played a bit with your professor character, to see where I can go with him. Hope you don't mind!
He still needs a fix for that patch of hair, behind hat, to connect it above left ear (miss was revealed after color correction, and it seems that I painted over right ear lol ).

heh Thx Zen and I don't mind at all. I was going to do it myself but changed my mind later when his character look was delivered into much more capable hands than mine. In this thread the intent was always to show the work in progress because of the synergy that exists with different programs. It looks much better than it did heh. The Professor is now being modeled after a well known actor by a different better artist than me.

I guess I will go ahead and post the reprise W.I.P of an old image I did in 1997 (?) I try and save scene files and old PSDs. In spite of this I have lost a lot of work but managed to hold onto a few things like Moons of Bridgeworld. It was rendered in different layers front to back and doctored up by old painter image hoses I created. At the time it was one of my better efforts. The second image is where it stands right now as i replace layers. The towers are being rebuilt in Zbrush. The special effects will be done in Verve instead of what i left as placeholders. The background minus the moon is also a placeholder while I paint a new one. Yes it is the same one as behind the professor but it gave me a good idea of where I want to go with it. there is something more free because of that background. The mountains were repainted in Verve as a place holder and it made more sense than Bryce spike mountains I will make a decision on what to do in that area soon. The lady holding the sword is being painted in places to put a good sash and scabbard on her. her face was worked on in Verve. And of course new plantlife will be added to cover her rather large boots :p
The last thing that sorely needs to be addressed is perspective and the addition of a body of water for the fantasy ships to land in. I will do this with the grid.

Only one person has seen the second image besides myself. The end results will blow away what I have posted here.. I hope :p It's kind of exciting to be able to go back and redo some of my old work. Just remember there is a Lot of work to be done from my POV. Almost an entire remake but similar to the original so as not to lose the feel.

Tom

The Moons of Bridgeworld.jpg (211.97 KiB) Viewed 14749 times

Moons 00.jpg (212.78 KiB) Viewed 14749 times

[Taron]

Fun! A bit crazy in terms of collage clutter, but very iconic in pose, that's for sure!
Don't forget to add a few more moons into the picture, if it's about the "moons", you know!
And watch out with the placements of those bursts of fire, hehehehehe...heheh...to avoid flatulent revelations, hehehe!

To reduce clutter and overall flatness, consider the distribution of contrast! Right now everything is heavily detailed and contrasty, taking away focus and depth. Needless to mention the complete absence of cohesion or connection between the elements. Light should be managed. On a big scene such as this I would recommend making virtually all lights based on visible light sources except maybe the sun, which would provide consistent lighting over all. Provide clarity and a sense of permeating logic with lighting, colors and placement of both. Consider a sense of atmosphere, which does not have to come for haze, but simply color/air perspective, roughly speaking it would simple reduce the saturation of things in the distance (progressively), while saturating things in the foreground!
Manage the contrast! I would never place heavy contrasts on detailed image pieces smack across a frame, because you couldn't observe anything that way. Have contrast where you want the weight of your image to sit. Consider offering a path for the eyes of the observer to follow across your painting! Normally you never look at something horizontally from left to right. You commonly wonder around in some scanning pattern. Offer a pattern/path along which one would scan! Contrast, value and color help this path and can totally lead into depth, meaning it can very well fade into lesser contrast for the sake of depth perception, but the eye will follow it. Your flying ships would be perfect for that!
Needless to mention the curves of that heroin, of course!

Anyway, just felt like writing you something.

I was wondering if anyone else would notice the flatulent problem LOL. That will be solved when I correct the perspective

Good suggestions all taron. That's where I want to go with it for sure. The towers will have to be placed at more of a distance blending into the atmosphere front to back. and reducing clutter. The tree lines will need to be more subtle also. The moons will be added at the cost of making the big moon smaller but I think it's doable in a way to keep her framed. Perspective is key I think.

[Taron]

For your inspiration:
Towers in a forest
Figured it would make a nice search theme to cover some matters relevant to your design. It should offer a number of clues on various aspects you could investigate!

Yes it does. Great references for sure and some of them show a hint of the perspective I want. I have to go into Vue and set up a few test shots for reference also. Running grid tests in Verve have brought me closer to what I want. Thanks Taron for taking the time.

[Taron]

My pleasure, Tartan! I absolutely love to see such motivation and am thrilled, if I can help to get the flames higher!

Hi Tartan, the pictures are great!
They immedeately recalled my memories from the days of IRTC.
Did you take part at the challenge? I have had friend who posted his works at the time and was quite successful. He works for Blizzard now.

Hey Zen Thanks but as you probably have discerned I will be trying to take Moons to a higher level. Still these were fun to do as they stand. I met a few people at Blizz Con a few years back but I doubt they remember me. I love Blizzard art and artists like Samwise. I may have killed him in Alterac Valley a few times around 2004 or 2005 lol. I thought about entering the IRTC challenge several times but like my Halloween images never got around to it I think I have only entered 1 challenge contest of any kind besides Sculptris and that was because Bas Mazur was twisting my arm heh. The only time this image variation has been seen besides Bas was in the actual contest staged by Eon. It had to be done with no postwork. I Will NOT be trying to improve this image and let it stand as is lol. The sad thing for me with it was not being able to get the arms to spec up the way I wanted. There is a story behind it involving a crashed space ark and a highly intelligent and evolved octopus protecting her eggs. Anyway back to work on Moons

octovsserpent1.jpg (220.1 KiB) Viewed 14697 times