I've got this picture I've been working on, and I can't think of a good background for it. Any ideas?
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Soldier-Man.jpg)
You're insane.
For some reason, I picture onion domes in the back with big holes blown out of them.
You could put a star(he look like he is from USSR) or some kind of flag.
BTW: good job
How about a nuclear explosion mushroom cloud? :)
O_O
He looks like a crazy war hero..
I would make a statue of him in the middle of a devastated place, a broken car and a lot of dust...and a chicken standing on his head...
It would be mostly a gray scale background, with the bronze statue in the middle..
and devastated but deserted, not full of trash..
no idea for a good background, really, just wanted to tell you that your rendering's gotten a lot stronger, and that this is awesome
Neat. Perhaps a biplane military airport, with a bi-plane blowing up or something?
Looks really great, Squinky, and I don't just say that because I'm a sucker for stuff with lots of details... :)
I may be nit-picking, though, but aren't the legs/knees a bit oddly angled? It looks they're a bit too stiff, like he's about to fall flat, in a way... Maybe a more broad stance would look better?
And perhaps a sort of polar/atomic winter-bakground would work for it? Siberia-ish? Like an abandoned polar station? :)Ã,Â
I think the only reason people see it as Russian is the hat, and because they look at him from top to bottom. I'd second i k a r i here, because an explosion or such violent, actionful happenings would turn out a bit too cliché. but I think i needs something grotesque.
what in the SEVENTH hell IS that THING! :o (runs away in abject terror, runs 2000 km, then comments at while looking at it through telescope) I dont think it NEEDS a backround, its very busy, and a back round int the same style woud be killer for the eyes and take away from the impact of the pic. On a historical note, it reminds me of a japanese propaganda peice from ww2. I am thinking of FDR green with fangs. anyone else know what I am talking about?
Helm Thank you! That means a lot man, and I can't tell you how much you have helped me, and I know that I still haven't grasped all your "teachings" in that other thread, but I go back and read it all the time. Thanks again....
It's an Ork (I have a thing for Orks) Soldier with some cyber-ware (mechanical implants) that I drew up for concept art for an Online game thingy I am fooling around with. May not ever amount to anything, but I am hoping.
I like a lot the ideas, but am worried about making the picture to busy, like Lo res said....I'll see if I can get something going though....
What you might consider (since you're going for a rulebook look) is to make part of the image a bit sketchy and the background as well. It definitely looks like something from a futuristic p&p rpg. Bravo.
What I actually thought of, was that the character now contributed 90% of the picture's size, it would make any background unfunctionable, it's okay to have portraits to have that large, but most of the time they don't really need much from a background (like Mona Lisa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_lisa) for example, you don't really need many interesting features from the background.
If you can give more space for background (like widening the image's dimension, say for example), it can certaining be benefited from some background.
Nice! But one thing...
The character has got a slight forward tilt which is a little annoying (at least to me). Also, I would change his pose a little, making him stand more straddle-legged. The current pose looks a little unnatural and forced. Other than that, good work!
Squinky - first let me say there's nothing I like more than to see somebody who's art I already admired [worshipped at the altar of], getting even better! This image just rocks! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see an online RPG type thing with this "feel" ... excellent stuff!
When looking at this image in the thought of "what background" to put in ... the first thing that came to mind was blasted-out, razed, and demolish city-scape. Then I said to myself, "but Darth ... it should be blurry to project a depth of field so as not to add too many more details to an image already flooded with detail!"
So I proceeded to do it ... to put a blasted-out, razed, and demolish city-scape in the background (and make it blurry).
Then I started to color:
(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/help/squinky_help02.png)
I got a little carried away.
Yes you did, looks good though :>
Everything is perfect, except the green "vomit-like" colour of his skin... Especially the background (the topic) is just perfect. A great idea once again!
He's an Ork.... Orks are meant to be green......
Holy crap Darth! That looks awesome, must have taken a while too. I like the background look, care to show how to do it? (lot to ask I know) It looks spanky!
I had planned it as a Black and White image, but the cool thing about you coloring it is that I can see where I need to improve more, makes a few little things stick out to me that I didn't notice yet. And yeah, in the setting of the Online game Orks and all the races are variants of humans and have the normal human range of skin tones, but I still love the pic and greatly appreciate the help and effort.
The background is, I'm afraid to admit, just an image I pulled off of Google images and then worked on a little.Ã, Converted it to black and white, upped the contrast a tad, stretched it to fit, and then added some blur filters to it.
To color the ork, I tweaked the contrast and brightness until there was only black and white values (giving me a coloring book basically).Ã, The actual coloring really didn't take that long ... once I figured out the technique to use.
I may just color some more of your images ... I think they rock and I enjoyed it!Ã, I'm glad it helped :)
Nobody minds if I set that as a wallpaper on my computer?
Go for it, (at least on my end, since Darth did all the cool stuff).
You really don't need my permission anyway. It's just a desktop.
Quote from: ManicMatt on Fri 16/12/2005 11:13:25
Nobody minds if I set that as a wallpaper on my computer?
:-\ :-\ :-\ :-\.... ::)......... :-X
If it is for concept art only you should leave the image as in the first post or add a landscape in agreement with the scenery of the game..
Some weird looking (crazy) jungle with signs of war would be nice...tropical looking.. ;D
Um, actually I took your uncoloured version squinky! (I do like Darth's!)
I decided to go with a plain black backing on the Ork soldier, Darths was cool (frigging nice) but I felt the picture would serve the purposes better as a sidebar type pic.
I got another request for opinions though:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Rasulka2.jpg)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Rasulka.jpg)
I am trying out medium shades of grey on my monotone drawings. I like how it makes the eye notice the detail, but I am wondering if I overdid it in the second greyed out one (This is the one I am planning to submit). Any opinions?
Lighten up the dark grey, its too near to black I think.
OH and the fingers on the upheld hand look kind of goofy
well this is what I think...
Her eyes are too separated, her legs are bad shaped (I can't express in english why ;D)...the "energy ball" should be over his hand or look like a transparent energy (something you can see in front of the hand, without loosing the sight of the hand)..
And that weapon handle needs to be closer to the trigger...
but just minimum details, it does look good in general for me :)
Energy ball? I thought it was the moon or something... :-\
She would look more attractive with her eyes closer together, I'll say that much.
Don't get me wrong, I like it!
yeah if you're not gonna mess with the gray tones any more (adding shadows or rubbing out highlights) settle somewhere a bit brighter. Right now you're punching holes through you lineart with such deep tone.
and I really really suggest you lose the point gradient in the background centered on the flare. If you're going to do comic-book style art, stylize light. Don't think of it too literally. Don't say 'well, we have a flare, so a smooth gradient will suggest the light I want' I think it clashes. Experiment with bridging from pure black to pure white through inked patterns, be them dots, cross-catching, dry-brush smearing, ink wash, whatever else than click-gradient-you're done.
She looks great, up until you get to the gun. It totally doesn't look like you drew it.
http://www.deviantart.com/view/5015589/
Here, that link might help you with an idea of how to do good mono shading.
Do not use that tutorial.
It looks like more depth and passable shading comes from hand-shading key areas rather than the lens-flare approach. It'd be an alright job if not for the lens-flare dapples across the thing.
Since your line-style has its own shading through hatching and varying line thickness, I'd rather see the same basic style for the energy ball (even if it doesn't turn out "smooth). Since you're playing with lines for shading, try to think of the gray (hopefully lighter) as a color rather than a shading resource, so that when all is said and done it's only a tri-tone pic.
I'm already far outta my league on this picture, but have to second Ikari's mention of her mid-section. Either the lower extreme of her abdomen should be visible (which might require stretching of the torso), or the crotch of the pants should be lower. Imagine the distance there between the belly-button and naughty bits and it immediately seems awkward.
For some reason only two things really jumped out at me. The eyes do need to be closer, and the bottom of the energy ball would probably look a little better if it were more out of line with the bottom contour of the glove. For some reason it just seems to throw it out of whack for me.
But really excellent drawing nonetheless. :) You're drawings have a real Shadowrun feel to them. I love Shadowrun :)
I thought that was the moon ...
Squinky - I like the addition of grey colors. But I wouldn't use the same value of grey for each area. I would use a range of greys.
By the way ... I colored this one too (couldn't resist!) ... if you're interested I'll post it as well (didn't want to hi-jack your thread again!)
Thanks all...
I was trying something out with that ball of magic/energy....I was leary to put any detail into it, because I wanted it not to be the main attraction for the eye. The posterized gradient seemed like a decent idea, but it does clash with the style...But I would never use lensflare people, trust me...
I thought her eyes were a little off, not bad. And I purposely made the hand odd because it is supposed to be making arcane gestures...
The gun is crap, I don't know what the hell I was doing...blargh...
As far as the issues with the lower torso and legs, I have a hard time seeing it...Was happy about that area truthfully, I can see that the belly button might need raised a little and I can understand the issues mentioned, but I still have a hard time seeing those problems...
I think I am either going to re-draw her, or do up another gal in a similair vein and focus specifically on the issues brought up, maybe then it'll sink in....
And Darth, yeah I wold love to see your colorized version, don't even worry about asking stuff like that...
I think she's hot :) Maybe change her nose to be less croocked.
The amount of detail you get is amazing, squinky.
Quote from: Squinky on Sun 18/12/2005 19:28:19And Darth, yeah I wold love to see your colorized version, don't even worry about asking stuff like that...
Happy to oblige!
(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/help/squinky_help03.png)
I had the impression that was the moon behind her hand ... and colored accordingly!
great colouring darth, and great art, squinky. u really have such a cool style.
she really is hot.
I'm just glad it's not only me that thought it was a moon...!
PURPLE HAIR! Lovely. :)
oi, now she's got a bit of a tummy. Great paintover darth.
Flesh colored lips make her look sad