[S4Sb]

Hey all. It's been a while since you saw me in the finished work section.

I made this for a warcraft III art contest over at a german warcraft site. The prize is the collector's edition =). I hope you like it.
Command & conquer appreciated =D. What do you think about the composition? It's actually the first time that I put some thoughts into the compo before I started painting =). The perspective and the proportions are a bit screwed tho.

Thanks for your time



Detail in original res:



thanks to the guys and girls over at digitaldecoy and to NovaCaptain.

[ July 08, 2002: Message edited by: S4Sb ]

[ July 19, 2002: Message edited by: S4Sb ]

[Molako_Plus]

i really love it.
the only problem i see is the orc. he looks great but hes too far away. just remembering past warcraft art the orc was always this huge beast that the humans had to fight. i guess that size/power was lost when you painted him from such a distance.

good luck with the contest

[S4Sb]

Hey, thanks.
Hmmm...damn, that's something I can't change anymore. But you are probably right. Well, thanks anyway =)

[Novacaptain]

Hey! that looks great! And you made him green like i suggested too!...I bet you hadn't thought of that one huh? Green orcs! j/k Maybe some more contrast on the human would be good (to separate the characters with atmospheric perspective especially with the smoke and all) and both characters look too brightly lit considering the way the smoke is blackening out the sky. I think you can tweak it a little more in photoshop using the adjustments.

Good work! cya

[Novacaptain]

maybe the human could have more wrinklles and leatherier skin...to go with the contracted expression and the grizzly beard.

[Novacaptain]

oh nevermind the comment on brightness and contrast...my brightness setting was 35 units above the normal (out of 100).

[akrute]

heya~~
me likes it !
my onli comment is that maybe the background could be more sharp and chaotic? jagged? i dunno`` and maybe reflections on the human so he stands out a bit more..
keep it up i like the perspective.

[Svanur]

Being a huge WarCraft fan myself I really like this picture. You could put some more dirt and grime on the human though and maybe some splashed blood on the orc and it's axe.

my 2 cents

[AndyT]

Stunning! I like that red light source and the way the orc stands out from the background. Maybe a small human in the bottom left corner (wounded of something like that) for more direct comparison could make the orc look bigger? Would have a huge impact on the picture, though!
More blood!!! Agreed

All those details...the more I look at it the more I like it!

[ July 09, 2002: Message edited by: AndyT ]

[Bg]

That looks really cool, you've improved a lot! The orc is just brilliant! Few crits: The contrast seems to be a bit too strong and scattered around and the materials should look more different, (clean) metal has much greater value range than skin and stronger edges, also there's something wierd in the composition, cannot point my finger on it.. enough writing, I just hate it so here's an overpaint, it should explain better what I'm trying to say (I had no idea how to fix the composition so I didn't change it):



Keep up the good work!

[edit]wrong url[edit]

[ July 09, 2002: Message edited by: Bg ]

[Solitaire]

Pow...hey that's an advance - I still remember your first images posted here; and hell it seems you have learned a lot.

N1 - I hope to see more in the future

[AndyT]

Looks very different! I really like the foreground-orc but the orcs in the background seem to burn. The human looks dirty IMHO and what about the lightsource that I loved so much

[Ian Jones]

I like it. Certainly some thought has been put into its creation. I would suggest that you should have raised the orcs up on a bit of a hill, so that they are bearing down on their enemy. They would then look a lot more intimidating.

[guarnere]

pretty great stuff, keep it up =]

[CyberArtist]

As far as the comments on composition, here's a couple of things I noticed.

The knight takes up almost exactly one half of the image. Basic rule of thirds may of helped, but there's more going on. Things like the size of the orc being so small may have also evened out the image while still retaining knight's hold on half the image.

The direction the knight is looking is off to the left, which as far as the viewer knows is completely empty. The way the orcs in the distance, and the one orc charging are placed gives the sense of the battle raging in the distance and to the right more. Note how the character outlines on the right are higher on the image than on the left, making the battle appear to be in the opposite direction from the way he's looking? Making the left side higher than the right, or better yet making that line curve to surround the viewer would add to the tension.

The positioning of the shoulders and legs of the knight also feel overly relaxed, he looks like he's about to fall backwards. Again, they're also posed looking away from the battle, like he's about to run away.

The Orc looks great, but here again is problem with direction. If the orc keeps going, he'll miss the knight and run straight in to the viewer. There's no sense of confict between the two main characters in the painting, the just look like two nice images that happen to be side by side.

Turn their heads towards eachother, maybe turn the orc's left leg more towards the knight to further the direction these two are facing. Move the knight's left knee to the viewer's right and turn it out some so his legs aren't so static.

Everything in this image makes your eye go left. The cape on the ground, the knight's pose and eye line, the orc's knee, the axe in his hand, even the sky grabs your eye and throws it off the left side of the image. Nothing grabs the eye again and pulls it back towards the knight. Two basic ways the eye likes to travel is from forground to background, and from top to bottom. The only thing that I see that brings my eye back up the image is the swirled clouds / fire in the background, but even that just leeds me back to the left when it curls at the end, or I hit the orc. Granted, the eyes of the orc are looking at the knight, but they're far too faint to notice and the viewer is far more likely to simply see a blank stare in the eyes than definate direction.

Two other things, the sky has too much of a pixelated feel. The blocks of color are too consistant in size and it draws away from the clean, smooth lines of the rest of the image. Secondly, the knight's leg is missing a shadow from his arm.


After all that, I have to say I love the way the orc looks, and some of the actions of the sillouettes. The knight looks great, but he's just not as fun to look at and lacks the passion of the orc. (Anyone else think he looks more like he's screaming in pain from putting all his weight on his left leg?)

[Cos]

Nice work! Love the composition and posing.

[cptoonz]

Hi S4Sb,

Well, first, there is some excellent C&C here, which is all right on (and of course, WE all learn from this)...and so thanks to all for that. However (comma) I love the work you did S4Sb, and I wouldn't change a thing! The fine tuning would make a great image even better, but as it is, I like it. Well, just my $.02, and worth every penny you paid for it

[Torstein Nordstrand]

I'd like to repeat one comment, namely that your extra effort and time shows. That's one thing many posters on the forum neglect. This picture could have been taken farther, there are things that could be better, but the time really, really shows. Good job!

[S4Sb]

Novacaptain: Hey, thanks for the reply. I made a couple of changes to the human and smoothed out some of the rough parts of the picture. But those changes aren't anything big, so it isn't really worth showing here.

akrute: Thanks. Added some chaos in the background =)

Svanur: hehe, thanks. Added some blood on the orc's axe =D

AndyT: Thanks. I added some blood here and there =), but I didn't add another human. The scale argument is pretty interesting tho. I didn't think about it before. I will try and consider it in my next paintings.

Bg: Hey there. Great paintover. Very moody. Thanks a lot. I droped you a mail. Your colours are stunning.

Solitaire: Hey, long time no see. How are you man? Thanks for the compliments =D

Ian Jones: I absolutely agree. But that would be such a huge change that I could start from scratch. Man, I never thought that you can put so much preliminary thoughts into a picture. I definetly have to learn a lot more about composition, scale and dramatic sceneries.

guarnere: Thanks =)

CyberArtist: Wow, thanks for the in depth critique! That is exactly what i was looking for. I made some changes to the pic. Trying to focus the eye of the viewer more and rotating the heads of the orc and the human more to each other. But I couldn't make too many changes to that picture, since time for the contest is running out and I simply had to repaint big parts of the image. But nonetheless I'm very thankful for your critique. And I'll definetly try and consider those things in future paintings. Really, your post opened up some doors.

Cos: Thanks! Means a lot coming from you =)

cptoonz: hehe, thanks! I made some minor tweaks to the image. Thanks to the great critiques =D, but I left the majority of this picture as it was, since I am running out of time.

Torstein Nordstrand: Hey, Thanks a lot! I totally agree with you that one could have done better, but hey, for me this picture was a leap forward =)

-------------------------------------------

Phew, thanks again for all the great commentary. And you know what? I'll need your help again =). The contest requires two pictures.

And here is my second contribution. A witchdoctor of the orcs is meditating on the ground with two healing wards next to him. With his l337-tr0llz0r *g* powers he is healing the guy flying.

Since my lens flare days back in the day I haven't dealt with any special effects anymore. And I really need your help to find out which version works best.

I know that the guy floating doesn't look as if he gains health. He moreover looks as if he is burning, but the effect in warcraft is looking like green glitter over the wounded units. So I couldn't use blue (the healing colour). I hope it works. Tell me what you think.
Here a ref:


And again, I really put some thought into composition. But this time chose a very calm and monumental compo. At least I tried.

Thanks for your time. =)

version without specialfx


fx1:


fx2:


Thanks to Bilbo =)

[ July 19, 2002: Message edited by: S4Sb ]

[faB]

I like the third one. Maybe have the effect also give a green light to the closeby scene.

[guarnere]

pretty damn cool =) amazing detail....I love the 3rd one everything is awesome...


except when those asses attack you at level 6+ and you cant move because your damn tree is SO slow at walking..*Sighs*

sorry

awesome pics

[Ian Jones]

Nice stuff. I like the 3rd special FX the most. Where's the area lighting on the Shaman though? He needs green light on his form, that is if the glowy stuff is emitting any light.

Really cool pose of the levitating dude. Nice composition too. The background is nice as well, although the waterfall needs more work, specifically needs to look more 'silky' and have some mist.

Hope that helps. Good luck with the compo.

[xmmx]

amazing work!
these pics make me feel very small.
i agree the 3rd one is the best

[n8]

nice work..a suggestion. how bout some red and orange hiroglyphs floating around in the air or written on the ground?