[Marvel]

I had a previous posting on the guy itself a couple of weeks ago, but now I have finally managed to build some surroundings to the pic.

What's still missing:
- a HUD in the glass
- gauges, lights, buttons etc. panels from the cockpit
- some nebula from the 'sky' as well as some stars
- plus some other detail (the engine-burst, enhanced controls, guy's hair etc.)

So what do you think?

[Dryfire]

wow, looks nice from here.. i would dim down the highlight around the edge of the window and add some lighting to the black rimms.. other than that i like it! hehe nice face

[Icannon]

i'd like to fly around in one of those. nice detail, to begin with.. but i think some of the textures give off the wrong impression. his visor almost seems like a patch of human skin, try adding a slight reflection. his face is shaded a little weird in that the whole bottom half is lit up yet half the nose is pitch black. if i blur my eyes he looks like a skeleton. your 'to do' list ought to spark it up nice. keep at her.

[Keto]

just how does a fire spark up in space, i just always wanted to know. i saw when you first posted just the tinted mono-chromatic guy, and i still get a kick out of the mouth piece. good stuff. finish it up.

[EviLToYLeT]

fire looks like it's at the wrong angle. You are traeling very fast in space...the fire would streak off in the opposite direction your going... right now the fire's indicating the ship is plumetting towards earth.....but the ship seems to be cruising along fine....except maybe for the expression on the guys face who just broke his windshield.

[stneil777]

well in all accuallity the atars would not be visable.
To see what i am talking about go take a picture of a street lamp at night time and make sure the camera is focused on the lamp.
You will see that the stars in the night sky will not be visable.
Just my thoughts on the star bit.

[Marvel]

Well puh-lees, is the point of making images only to get them realistic or to get them look good? Not to be a b**ch, but stneil's comment seemed so irrelevant - of course everybody knows that if there's a brighter object nearby, you really can't see the smaller, darker ones further away (and that's not just due the halo, but rather exposure). But then again, I really even thought about realism when thinking about adding the stars etc. they'll just make the picture look nicer.

As to Keto and Eviltoylet talking about the fire - first of all it is a known fact there is no oxygen in space, so no fire also. My point is to reduce the fire-effect and make the engine look torn instead - why I want to keep a little fire is mostly for the looks and also because I feel the ship is near enough to the planet, in a sort of half-space (stratosphere whatever). And also the point was that the ship _is_ going down, but not in a steep angle - one really can't say which way around a ship is in space by looking from the orientation of a planet, now can one?

I may be harsh on you but the comments still help, so keep them coming. Thanks.

[sacrelicious]

Stneil is correct about the stars bit. The light reflecting off the Earth would pretty much overwhelm the relatively faint stars. You might see a handful of the brightest stars in an area the size of your sky, but I'm talking between 3 and 6, at the most. You could add a moon to make it more interesting, but then you really wouldn't be able to see any stars. A nebula or two would look pretty sweet.

And in addition to the earlier crits, I have a couple: There is almost no space for the pilot's legs, let alone the hardware that would exist inside such a vehicle. Also, there doesn't seem to be any glass in the top of the center canopy section. Don't get me wrong, I really dig this picture, but those things immediately stood out. I'm curious: Is this a combination of 3D and 2D, or is it entirely hand-painted? Either way, it's extremely well done. Looking forward to seeing progress!

Edit: That close to a planet there might be enough air to sustain a fire- and you could definitely have an explosion! (wink, wink) A trail of smoke/vapor emanating from the engine could also fill the empty sky in interesting ways.

[ May 08, 2001: Message edited by: sacrelicious ]

[Marvel]

Sacrelicious, you're true, there's a bit of the canopy missing - I accidentaly removed it and haven't brought back yet. And about the sky/space, I wasn't going into anything extremely drastic (also thought about a moon or even a second planet - some Saturn-like one could be cool).

Smoke, perhaps. Sparkles, yes and also less fire and no real explosion. And I'll still do some adjustment to the angle of the fire.

About the 'technique', the pic is mostly 2d, but the ship and the basic lighting are based on 3d-renderings.

[Guy]

i like the look of the pic and all, but how the hell does that guy fit in that thing. i mean. from what i can see it doesnt look like their is enough room for his legs. unless he doesnt have any :P

thats my only complaint. good job otherwise

[Sumaleth]

This is certainly quite an intense image. I look forward to seeing it complete.

Comments? I think the bright flames would make far more of an effect on the side of his face and body. It would also be good to make the engine look heavily damaged, although I assume that's still WIP. Also, there doesn't appear to be any room for his legs!

Row.

[Marvel]

- I've adjusted the flame, also the light it gives out
- Made the cockpit larger (so that the feet would possibly fit)
- Added HUD
- Added engine effect to the back of the ship
- Added a sketch of a torn plate for the broken engine (I guess I'll have to look more closely into actual torn metal, since the sketch isn't too convincing)

Comments on the changes? What you feel I still need?

[roundeye]

dude, youre totally missing glass at the top of the cockpit. you lost the edge in the cetre panel. if you keep the fire, make some yellow/orange highlights on him and maybe deepen some of the shadows. the additions look really good...

[sacrelicious]

The changes you made were pretty great, man. This keeps getting better and better. Keep it up!

[RRoam]

isnt there a 3d-bug in the glass above his head, if the glass is really is convex?

[Bjorn]

I really like the pic, and I won't reiterate what everybody else has been saying about logical stuff...
I'm just wondering,
why have the flame at all? It's a matter of opinion, I know, but to me, the pic would have the most intense effect when everything else seems fine, only the cockpit glass is breaking.

It's such a small detail that has such IMMENSE consequences if it DID shatter entirely, I think the picture would be far scarier if that was the only thing wrong. Something like:
"Cruising along just fine...dumdeedum...hey, what's that on the windshield? Is that a crack? OH MY GOD!! I'M GONNA DIE!"

But like I said, just my opinion man.

Keep it up, would love to see the finished version.

Da Bjorn

[Marvel]

Ok .. now the pic is somewhat nearer to a finished version. I guess I've forgotten half of the stuff I was supposed to add there, but that really doesn't matter. So, any new comments about the pic (if you look closely at the latest one, you propably see some changes in the engine damage as well as in the flame - not to mention the overall cockpit lighting). Anyone?

[roundeye]

brilliant! i like those cracks better than the tears in the metal. and nice to see you fixed the glass.

[SpiralEye]

I think you should add reflections to the pilot's goggles. IMPSO (In my pretty spiffy opinion)

Royal

[Tiger Eaten]

Looks really good. I like the angle that you are trying with this pic and I REALLY like the colors that you've chosen for your fire (speaking as one who NEVER seems to get that aspect of a pic quite right.)

What I would like to mention is that you might want to give some thought to the expression that you've chosen for your doomed pilot. Since you've chosen such a tight 'camera' shot he is really the dramatic focus for your peice.

The look on his face strikes me more as that of a man who has just discovered something with many legs in his coffee or has just remembered he left his wallet back in the office as he goes home. You have his eyes covered in this picture and so have given the mouth the heavy responsibility of conveying most of the pilot's feeling.

A quick test: Mimic the pilot's expression yourself, open your mouth exactly that wide and think about how you feel.

For me it feels like mild shock or even amusement.

Now picture your flesh starting to cook and stick to your helm controls from the heat of your burning craft; all while your ship hurtles out of control and into the deadly gravity well of an alien homeworld......

Does the expression match?

Some possible OH MY GOD I'M GONNA DIE pose suggestions.

- turn the head away, from fear of impending oblivion or from excess gforces or both. Sometimes not seeing the face is an expression in itself!

- hands fly up to protect the face or
hands ball up to crush whatever is in the doomed person's grip.

- Damage, head trauma, cracked visors, controls belching smoke may add to a scene (or may not)


Just an idea or two. Don't touch a thing and I think it's still an excellent picture.

[Marvel]

As for replying 'Tiger Eaten' a tad late, just have to say I assumed the pilot was experienced and well trained, thus not one showing the fear and one being controlled even under serious stress. Well, I used this version for two magazine ads, but will still be upgrading/perfecting it for a poster.

Thanks everybody taking the time to look at the pic and even more to the people posting their comments.

[Mo]

fire is posible in space if the air is leaking from teh hull of the ship like air lines running through the hull posibly for presure valves in the engine or for any numerous reasons. i think the expresion is fitting.. i mena i'd be screaming like alittl baby.. but thats why tehy don't letr me fly space ships.. i'm a blubbin lil weeb.

tears look great.. and though the cockpit looks cramped it still looks possible..

jus my opinion

[Salty Dog]

Great effect here. The only crit I have (and it happens to be a major one) is the lack of space in the cockpit he's in. For the size of the figure, it seems like the bottom of the craft was almost an afterthought.

[Steven Stahlberg]

This is looking really good now, love those cracks and the fire.
Most of the comments I'd make have already been made, except these: the white airbrush-'frosting' on the windshield makes it look sandblasted, maybe a bit less of that. Sharper edged reflections might be better, you could try raytracing the 3d model perhaps, if nothing else then just for reference. (Don't forget to include a dummy-planet to catch it in the reflections too.)
Try to get the 3d parts more 'radiosity'-like, I mean: wherever 2 surfaces meet at a sharp angle there should either be a zone of added darkness, or brightness, depending on the lighting. Like where the airintake (?) meets the body, or those ridges meet the inside wall of the airintake.
Maybe the lighting on the pilot should be more orangey?
Which way is the sunlight coming from? It seems to be hitting the planet, but not the vehicle?
That green down on the planet looks too strong if this is anything like earth, but then if it isn't I should just shut up...

And please don't put a lot of stars in! The lighting here would almost be as strong as cloudy noon on earth from the looks of it. It's just a bad Hollywood habit, don't give in to the temptation...

On the other hand, if you darkened the visible planet surface to night, you would solve 2 problems in one swell foop.

[EBE]

This is a great pic. Good work. All I had to say (besides th point, that he doesn�t have enough room in the cockpit, (but maybe he�s got no legs??? Who knows? It could be a special version of a spaceship, just for people without legs!!! )
was to put more firelight on his face, but you already did, in the last version.

I�m really thinking he looks like Gary Oldman in "Fifth Element" !!!
He�s got his face
keep up the good work
Glenn

[Marvel]

Everybody, nice that you found time to view the image and give input, but especially I'd like to thank Steven for his comments; it's really good once again to get an extra pair of eyes to view the pic and notice 'flaws' in it - and knowing Steven's work/reputation, I value this even more.

One good thing is that I still have time to adjust the picture before the posters get printed (I already had to use that version in a couple of magazine ads since I was on a tight schedule) and I intend to make use of it, every bit as much as possible. What concerns me most here is the fact I really am not a first class artist when it comes to doing images like this one, but I sure try like hell.

So I/you'll just have to wait and see what I come up with the image - that'll be like in a month. And if anybody wants, I can give you a higher-res version of the pic later on.

[Snake Grunger]

I'd say this image was way too detailed to be called "unfinished" to begin with.