[Joachim]

Hey I'm back with another background. Been doing a bit of that lately, and I find it quite entertaining actually.
Anyway, I often did a lot of overlaying and such before to get the grainy texturing and such, but on this I only used customized pshop brushes Iv'e made, -that's really great I think, that you can not only make brushes that simulates different mediums, but also brushes that can great good texture effects, to speed up the painting process.

Anyway, hope you like it.


and if anyone is interessted (probably not), here's the initial sketch I started with...actually it was just one of numerous ideas I threw out on a meeting and just started painting straight on:

sketch

and the quick color key

[SolarC]

Stunning work! Did you have any reference material?

edit: By the way, the texturing on the rock looks awesome!

[ June 18, 2002: Message edited by: SolarC ]

[Basse_Ex]

Absolutly beautiful.

The lighted surfaces of the rocks are just awesome. Great work on the custom brushes, or so it looks like to me.
I don't feel the blue areas convey the sense of depth as well as they could have. The quick color key does this better, probably because the bright colors don't keep themselves completly within the lighted surfaces.
Perhaps you could do some thin brighter highlights where the light bounces of the edges of the brigdes and stalacits. I've done a very, very quick paintover, where I've just used the dodge tool along some of the edges, but I'd like to believe it creates a wee bit better sense of depth. Just a wee bit.

a little dodge

Hope you don't mind.

The initial sketch is awesome. But I like lines very well, so it's not difficult for me to say that lines are awesome. Is it done on computer, or with a ballpoint pen, or?

Great work.

[pixelsoldier]

Wow.

I mean this with all sincerity.. this is the best digital piece I've seen in ... at least months. Incredible work. I absolutely love the composition, and the lighting scheme(s) you've achieved. Awesome!

[Lunatique]

Very cool.

Maybe a tad washed out? Stronger contrast?

[fuel_99]

there is a very nice mood to this picture

some things I noticed:

the flame of the torch on the bottom right it not burning upwards but sidewards.

the detail level is a bit uneven-
the big rocks in the foreground left and right are realistically textured, the walkways and some rocks lower in the picture are almost not textured at all-

did you try adding dropshadows from the walkways above to the walkways below?

don't know if this helps you.

[ June 18, 2002: Message edited by: fuel_99 ]

[[666]Flat]

Very nice atmosphere and you succeeded in makin' it look really big... and yes, those rock textures are excellent.

[[666]Flat]

quote:

---

Originally posted by fuel_99:
the flame of the torch on the bottom right it not burning upwards but sidewards.

---

It's called perspective. Try that with your very own photo camera. If you know how to use lenses you could make things look curved, even though they are not! Ain't that amazing! Try it now.

[Blind]

Beautiful, Joachim... my favorite subject matter is huge open spaces like this, which you've captured very nicely. Great colors, too!

[Mysen]

I am sorry, but this picture is totally kick ass. I love the rock detail and the damp misty feel. man.. this is a sweet piece.

[Hippie]

Looks great! I can't offer any crits on this but I do have a question.

Could you share how you create the brushes in Photoshop? I'm using PS 7 but can't seem to get brushes to work the way I want when I create them. Any help would be appreciated.

Great piece again, can't wait to see more.

[fuel_99]

[ June 18, 2002: Message edited by: fuel_99 ]

[jayceeL]

Really fantastic!!!

How is it going with the company?

JayCeeL

[donk]

wow thats really cool! i like the color key, its an incomplete version of yours, but it looks like (if i colored it) a finished version if i did it. mesa oh so lazy

[The Magic Pen]

Man that is awsome

[sparth]

very very neat, especially the lower left area, with the blue grey tones on the rocks.
one little point: dodge could have been used on the torch light sources, there's something too dark about the yellow glow, not enough brightness maybe. minor detail, as the overall scene is fabulous.

[Rinaldo]

woah, that's really nice Joa. fantastic.

did you use the same 3D block in method as you were with the other ones? or is it all painted?

[-HoodZ-]

great stuff....i always enjoyed seeing the sketches first....

[Phil]

Hey Joachim,
Just wanted to say that I really think this grade A work. Possibly my favorite by you. I really like the atmosphere and the cold colors. And of course great textures.

A+

Phil

[Joachim]

ouch, many replies....ok, here goes
[edit] I didn't post a new pic for the changes, so I just updated the pic instead.

solar c, thank you. No, no reference.

basse_ex,thx. Agree with your point, I added a bit of what you said. Maybe not enough though. . . but somehow I felt it was a bit unatural to add a stronger highlight. sketch is with ballpoint, I hate sketching on pshop.

pixelsoldier, thank you for kind words.

lunatique, thank you. Yes agree, probably my monito was a bit too dark when I painted this. I increased the contrast...enough ? THat's what I hate with digital work, that the gamme setting is important for the outcome.

fuel, thanks! the torch, [666]flat is right, that is the perspective. Notice that you see the bottom bridge almost from straight above. detail level,I don't really see what you mean, but you probably have a point. But, personally it doesn't bother me that much. dropshadows, I don't nescessarily agree, the light from top in this scene as I painted it is very dim/low, so it would look a bit strange with sharp drop shadows from such distances. Just my opinion, but thanks for good suggestions anyway

[666]flat, thank you!

blind, thank you !

arkenoid, well, I'm sorry that you like it too, hehe. Thx !

hippie, thank you ! Brushes, well, You need to fiddle around to find out. But, on my pshop 7 there's a brush "customizer" top right on the screen. draw or find a brush, black and with, mask it and add it as a brush. THen, go into that customizer and select that brush and do the proper settings you want to get it to behave as you want. Then, you add that as a new brush, and delete the old. Rather complicated/stupid system if you ask me, but you get used to it.

sparth, thank you. Yes, I agree with you about the light. I added a bit lighter in the middle, don't know if it's enough ? Actually, since it's for the game, those flames will be animated sprites, so I just painted to flames quickly so the picture wouldn't look stupid witouth the sprites.

jayceel, thank you ! Artplant, our company, is going very well, thanks for asking.

donk, thank you !

magic pen, happy you like it.

rinaldo, thanks a bunch rinaldo. No, I didn't use anything else than the sketch for this one. Found out that making a 3d scene of this would take more than a couple of mins, therefor not worth it. So, all painted

-hoodz-, thanks !

phil, thank you !-glad you like it.

[ June 20, 2002: Message edited by: Joachim ]

[Basse_Ex]

I'll pretend I see the changes even though I'm not finished with my morning coffee, and have a fever.... Very Nice! Makes the picture much better!



Actually... I think I do see the changes... and yes, very nice, does make the picture better...