[General Confusion]

I see that a lot of forum goers like to see the progression of someones work, so I put together an "in process" of a new project that I'm working on.

The images are posted at 400 W X 300 H and there are eight in total, that is why I didn't post them here but provided a link for viewing if interested.


progression link:
http://www.geocities.com/genconfusion/index11.html

What you see now is basically step 1 (rough) and step 8 (final)

step 1:


step 8:


later!!!


------------------
www.geocities.com/genconfusion/

[micke]

Whooa!That's really neat! Love the colours of it.
What is it for?

-Micke

------------------
-Mikael Noguchi-

http://www.katode.org/noguchi/

[AliasMoze]

GC, nice. But I really like the wet look you had toward to the beginning. It looks very Tarzan-inspired (which is a good thing).

Good work.

------------------
AliasMoze
:) :) :) :)
"That activates my hilarity unit."

[Gimbal]

Great work. The foreground being in shadow and the light pouring into the middle really helps give depth to the lush forest.

It might be cool to add the sunbeams back into the picture. It might add that feeling of wetness in the way sunlight reflects off of the moisture in the air.

[HumanClay]

Holy crap, that's amazing. This forum never fails to astound me with it's plethora of talent.

Again, incredible work General Confusion, you're very talented!

HumanClay

[Fred Flick Stone]

I like the first one best. It has a better cohessive color pallette. It also has a more robust feeling in the foliage and shrubbery.

No offense to the second one, but the impression I feel when I see it is a bunch of plasticy feeling plants just covered in a thin layer of ash. The ferns are really the only plasticy looking plants in the image. But the other plants have a certain stiffness in them, that nature tends not to do with plants. The only reason I would even know this, is the environmental stuff I am designing for our video game is all organic. I.E. plant life of every kind. I would also readdress the first color pallette, as it had a great sense of light, and atmosphere. The last thing that bothers me in teh second image, is the cut out feel of all the tree trunks, and some of the leaves. Go look at nature for a moment, see how light and shadow blends edges and values together, hardens some edges, softens others, looses entire objects into dark, then finds the details really only in the light. That is the way a brilliant painting should be addressed. Go look at Spooges site for a while, ans try to pick up on these suggestions. You'll be surprised at what you learn just looking at his stuff. I would really like to see if you take this a little further to fix some of the things in the image. It is a great effort, just lacking in some vital info to make it even more stupendous. Good luck...

[Spiritwolf]

Fred: Where is spooge's website?

General Confusion: Yeah...what fred said, but your painting is still very good and I hope to see more. A couple things I observed:

The moss looks like grass, or is it grass? I have been in a rain forest before and there wasn't much in the way of grass. There was moss, but only in scattered patches mostly growing on trees. The lighting in the first one is probably more interesting, as it more drastically portrays a break in the canopy. Rain forests are very dark, so emphasizing that light would probably make for a more appealing image. One last thing..some plants have very thin leaves allowing some light to pass through giving it a kind of 'glow'. I don't see any close enough (in the light anyway) to take advantage of that effect, but it is something yo keep in mind

Still, better then I could do right now!

-Spiritwolf

[General Confusion]

I really appreciate the comments!

micke- It will be used for a 3-d animation I'm working on, which has a semi-realistic look to it. First intentions were to consider this as a concept, but lately it seems that I don't have the time to breathe, so I may use it in conjunction with 3-d elements, as a composite, matte, setup.

aliasmoze & gimbal- didn't realize till now that I left out the original light beams and mist indications, will fix it!!!

fred- thank you for the critique, I need to hear exactly what you said, cause I currently work for a packaging design company and all of my renderings have to have that plasticy feel to it. That's how the clients like to see their stuff represented. It's tough to release yourself from that mindset. However, don't kill me for this image, cause I sort of want it to look semi real, to achieve the style I'm after. But nonetheless, it's enlightening to hear the honesty, cause I rarely get the privilege to render realistic subjects, so I will absolutely keep your comments in mind for when I do.

keep the critiques coming!!

------------------
www.geocities.com/genconfusion/

[samdragon]

spirit wolf:
spooge's site is www.goodbrush.com
It's best viewed with with a pillow under your jaw, as your jaw will have a tendency to drop to the floor.



------------------
VISIT SAMDRAGON'S HOME

[Spiritwolf]

Oh, hey...wait..I've been here before, even before I found this place. Small world

-Spiritwolf

[psi burn]

confusion, i really like the "plastic" style you used in the 2nd image, it has a great tone and depth to it... it reminds me a bit of japanese anime, in terms of how it is colored --- take a look at the movie Akira, and scenes involving smoke, or the motorbike fight scene. they use some extremely vivid and beautiful colors. also, you gave the environment a varied texture to it, a great difference to the simple landscapes many artists go for. to make the painting really come alive, try to achieve a 3D look (if your client allows that..) by bringing out more shadows behind the leaves, because while the image is beautiful, it looks somewhat flat.

either way, excellent job

[iska]

I like your picture. I'd like to see more contrast and stronger color use, but as I read what the picture is for, I understand why it is like that

Tech questions, Did you paint it to 640x480 from the starters? And did you use any layers? I guess almost everyone do draw with only one layer, and I know I should, but I'm so used to use them, it's hard to stick on just one

Good work anyhows.

--
I just had to play with the colors abit, it was so good looking picture hehe
iska went to jungle (70kb)

--iska

[This message has been edited by iska (edited June 08, 2000).]

[General Confusion]

iska- The original painting is about 300 pixels wide and I used layers. Don't worry about having to stick with just a background, the way I look at it is do whatever it takes to finish. And under deadlines, why not use the layer function, it's there!!!

------------------
www.geocities.com/genconfusion/

[ZakatH]

looks great dewd :P

[Joachim]

Looks great general conf !

I agree a to AlizMoze's comments though, the colors in the beginning, more green and warm, had more appeal to it.

Great stuff !

------------------
Joachim
web: http://home.sol.no/~jbarrum/

[General Confusion]

Zapman expressed interest, and asked for my contribution, so I'm going to put up an extended tutorial onto his site (www.digitizedesign.com/artcamp) by June 30th. The explanation would of course be much more in depth than the one currently on my temp site.

I don't consider myself a teacher, so I find it hard to suggest how things should be done, but I do work professionally, so all i could offer is a look into how I work. I certainly won't produce a how-to description, cause YOUR art should come from YOUR experiences. If you mimic someone else, you'll become someone else, then you could call yourself Julie Bell, or is it Boris Vallejo, I always get those two confused!!!!!

Would you guys be interested in seeing this, and if you are, what type of information would you like me to include?????


BTW, I have to make a correction to a reply I made to iska, I made a typo, the original size of the image is:

3413 W
2560 H

I am also in the process of getting a complete site up to show my more current work, I just seem to have no time for my personal stuff. Does anyone know how I could get through life without paying bills, I can't seem to figure that out??? When I do, I welcome everyone's comments and critiques, not to stroke my ego, as some have been accused of here before, but I am looking towards a change of careers, so it's good to hear other points of view, before I once again subject myself to those dreaded "hire me, I need a job" reviews.


later

------------------
www.geocities.com/genconfusion/

[iska]

Hey General, I kind of knew that you did a typo on the resolution Hey, would it be possible for you to post a small crop of the original image of some detail on the picture.. I'm really wondering what kind of paintwork does an huge original like yours look like in the "1:1" view..?

As for the career thing, I'd recommend you get hooked up with some ritch old lady, and paint the nature in her big big big country house all days long

--iska

[General Confusion]

Iska-I'll post something tomorrow, cause I'm currently at work, and the image is at home, so I'll do it tomorrow.

------------------
www.geocities.com/genconfusion/

[General Confusion]

here is a section of the image larger

http://www.geocities.com/genconfusion/lgjung.JPG

------------------
www.geocities.com/genconfusion/