[Gecko]

Okau, most of my day has been painting this, and I'm in some trouble realizing which values make this kind of setting look realistic.
Right now the thing looks as if copy/pasted on top the background. Is it just the background & foregr�und being too different to match, or does the mech itself have a lot of incorrect contrast / whatever I may be doing wrong in there.
Also, I was notified of some symmetry and perspective problems going on with the.. wait, im not telling you which part.. tell me if something catches your eye.

I read capt.Flushgardens thread which addressed a similar thing, but I'm not getting anywhere.

Thanks in advance, the mech is on hold until I get some answers! :]



starting sketch if anyone's interested: http://members.surfeu.fi/pveik/turhatjpgt/mech4sketch.jpg

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Gecko
[email protected]
GeckoArt.Net

[Frost]

Hey Gecko, nice to see I haven't destroyed your will to paint with my previous critiques! -- let me try again. hehe.

(entering "pretending to know what he's talking about" mode...)

Indeed, there is a perspective problem in my oppinion, which may be the cause of some of the problems you're encountering. First, the front of the mech (and everything parralel to that plane) seems to lack perspective. Objects closer to the camera inherit more perspective deformations than things in the back -- drawing a two-point perspective with lines will demonstrate that point. Another perspective problem that you seem to have spotted but not put a finger on is that the mech is painted as though the camera is above ground at mid-height of the mech, but your background does not show an horizon at that level, nor do we have any visual clue as to seeing the ground BELOW us -- right now it looks like a toy in grass.

On to values and readability...

I personally cannot make out the form of the mech, especially the back because the values are too close and there is no back light. A slightly lighter and rather 'solid' background color might work. The values on the mech itself are pretty darn good, but perhaps the lighting doesn't lend itself to easy readability. A simple thing would be to fill in the empty front hull so we don't see through it, making the form easier to understand, especially under these lighting circumstances.

Aside from that... it's a pretty ORIGINAL mech

Good going Gecko... I love this stuff. =)

[Muzman]

Interesting mech. Looks like I'd expect some guy with a baseball cap to be driving it, possibly with a Confederate flag bumper sticker or something.
When you asked him why he kept this one he'd say; "What need I got fer any o' theem new fanangled John Deer Mechs? Mah Daddy patroled these parts for yers in this Mech. They don make 'em leik this no more. Yesssiree."

I don't think that funky camera angle is working for you. Looks like drawing it at that angle got you confused and threw off the front of the cockpit among other places (I sympathise, really). I think I'm on the same wavelength as Frost when I say it more like a regular 'horizontal horizon' picture thats been rotated rather than one that 'lives' at that angle. (fear not, it's damn hard; I doubt I'd attempt it.)
Looks good though, don't get me wrong. As for a bit of extra lighting; you could suggest that the fire is spread off to the right and then you have an excuse to that whole dark side in an orange glow.
Maybe. I dunno.
Good luck anyways.

[burn0ut]

Here, im not expert or anything but i thought this could help out a bit, your angles seemed to get skewed around on the front, so i just drew some guide lines for ya.



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-stephen

Trial n Error.

[wayfinder]

The round structure (the "eye") looks definitely escher-esque. Impossible construction. The part BEHIND it suggests that it should be right in the middle of the mech, but it's not, if you look at the snout. The snout suggests that the structure is somewhat lower and more to the left (from the mech's own point of view)

looks like you squeezed it in there, fourth dimension, woohoo

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---
way-fu - xr size

[faustgfx]

gecko, your drawings make baby faustgfx cry.



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sky high with a heartache of stone you never see me 'cos i'm always alone/ministry
the law of lead now reigns!@#!/earth crisis

[email protected]
icq#35983387
http://faustgfx.0wns.org

[Clockwork Bacon]

I would definitely add alot more backlighting from the fire. With the greenish-blue moon light spilling over the top and front of the mech, the orange light from the fires will look cool highlighting the back.
Also, with a whole forest on fire behind the mech, there'd be alot of smoke and haze in the air that'd be underlit by the fire.
Oh yeah, there'd be little glowing cinders in the air too. You could put that in as a final touch.
That's my two cents. I like where you're headed with this image, can't wait to see it done.

[Jenn]

Awesome as always babe..
Love it .. tis my fav so far

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DarkChyld
http://asylum.wibble.net

[Gecko]

hey again, im coming back with a new version that looks like it has been saved by the forum help :)

frost, burnout: 2 point perspective solved a lot, though I'm not sure if it still looks silly since the vanishing points arent really on the same horizon line, somehow I couldn't get it right so...... :] about readability, I think it makes much more sense now with the damned hull repaired and the orange helps a lot as well. Horizon line bumped higher, helps, right?

clockwork bacon:
One step ahead of you! I redid the background, and as Muzman pointed out, moved the fire (haha i think the original idea was sunset, lost that pretty fast in the making) farther to the right. result: Some backlight! and some more lighted sky. I thought the actual fire wasn't necessary to be in the pic since the coloring implies it so strongly.

wayfinder: what?

faustgfx: use that oversized damned board of yours and get some pics going. you dont happen to use as your food tray as well, do you? just a thought

jenn: woo, i think its my favorite as well. oh well, i guess i usually like my latest piece most

everyone, muchos appreciated, I wouldn't have figured these things out by myself :D

if you have the energy to crit more, im willing to tweak the picture more so it won't be in vain.

whoa, note to self: the smoke might be too dark compared to the light the mech is receiving.

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Gecko
[email protected]
GeckoArt.Net

[Gecko]

Hmm, for some reason I can't edit my post and I think you want to see the actual pic as well...



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Gecko
[email protected]
GeckoArt.Net

[faustgfx]

:\



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sky high with a heartache of stone you never see me 'cos i'm always alone/ministry
the law of lead now reigns!@#!/earth crisis

[email protected]
icq#35983387
http://faustgfx.0wns.org

[Wyatt Turner]

looking better to me. the orange highlights are making it more apparent to what you making. very odd design, keep goin on this guy. the last image you shown us was hard to understand.

y@

[TheMilkMan]

Looking good gecko keep working in the details it should look fine now that you fixed the problems