[balistic]

We needed a shot of some ships being lost in a storm for the animated TV series that I'm working on, and it was decided that we should just do a matte instead of trying to animate a really expensive sequence with fluid dynamics and whatnot.

So I started with this render, using an un-textured vessel made by our modeler Sgt. Squeaks:



And after about three hours this is what I ended up with:



This was the first time I'd ever tried doing choppy water . . . it took me a bit to figure it out. I had the best luck when I worked on two layers . . . one for the volume of the water, and one for the foam on top. I should've used reference, but I'm terrible about that.

There's stuff I'd like to fix, but we're on a pretty fast-paced production schedule, so I doubt I'll have much time to revisit it.

Oh, if you're curious about the show, there are some clips of it in the Eggington Productions online demo reel (click on "What We Have Done"). It's an educational series designed to teach kids algebra.
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brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[Godwin]

WOW

the water... amazing, great work, u might want to add more splashes, and water falling from the deck or masts(if raining)

EDIT:

and i would like to add a little comment
algebra may very well possibly be the devil
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Derelict Studios|Godwin's Space

[Intuos]

Gorgeously achieved, Brian. The water looks fantastic.

I can't really find anything wrong with it at all, except that there is one area in the clouds that I can't get comfortable with. I circled it below. What are those horizontal, blurry strokes doing there? They don't seem natural to me, are they supposed to be there? Anyway, that is the only thing (and very tiny thing, I might add) that is slightly bothering me. Otherwise, I love it.

[Agrajag]

Three hours? First time doing that sort of sea? Man, you are good.

Wonderful image! The sea is absolutely believable, as is the sky (good point made by intuos though). If I had to pick one thing out to criticize on (and it's rather a personal opinion than a critique), it would be the color of the farther ship. Considering the surroundings, I would expect it to be more of a muted color, not as warm as it appears. But the way it is, it's probably beneficial to the image in that it gives the eye something to catch on in a scene that (supposedly) is displayed only long enough to get a glimpse.

Is this scene going to be animated too? I was just wondering how you would do that, it being a single painting and all...

Great work, as always!
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"Look...!" protested Arthur.
"HhhhhhrrrrrraaaaaaHHHHHH!!!" explained Agrajag...

[Matthew]

Supernice.
I was wondering one thing.
Did you paint shadow on the ships or was that made in a 3d program?

have a nice day
Matthew

[balistic]

Godwin: much thanks.

Intuos: Those are just meant to be some horizontal clouds.

Agrajag: Yeah, in reality the far ship would be much more muted and fogged-out, but this piece is meant to be more illustrative than realistic. I wanted the ships to stand out from the ocean a bit, and I think the warm/cool contrast does that.

The animation will probably consist of a pan across the image, coupled with some lightning flashes painted on another layer. A written scroll describing the events will be superimposed over the image.

Matthew: the first image shows what come out of the 3D program. I adjusted the brightness of the ships, and added things like plank texture and secondary light sources (lanterns) in 2D. Everything after that first 3D render was done in Corel Photopaint 8.
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brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[NeoFun]

Three hours!? Impressive! Only crit I have is that the right side of the foreground boat has the wave showing through its side-- Yet the wave-line is much lower than that, so it shouldn't be seen. (did I make any sense?)
ps come Jan2nd, I'll also be out there in Utah.... BYU!
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i like rice.

[ZippZopp]

man, thats awesome. i wish i could just paint without using reference!! i seriously think that is a gift, to be able to draw or paint without reference, i sure as hell can't do it! it really does look good especially for your first attempt and 3 hours of work. Intuos brings up a good point about those clouds, they do look a bit out of place. but everything else is amazing!

[Malachi Maloney]

Damn, I thought I already commented on this puppy......

Nice work brotha. The water looks outstanding, especially since you painted the whole piece in 3 hours. It would've taken me 3 days just to paint the water..... I need to learn to loosen up.

Anyway, great work man. Looks fantastic.

~M~
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l i q u i d w e r x

[De Profundis]

very nice, i love the luminosity : looks very dramatic

[balistic]

Thanks for the input, guys.