[Capt. Fred]

Hi guys, if you could suggest any narrative tweaks to make here or there before I put a sock in it, that would be great. I'm not a fan of the red-lazers by the way so I'm not going to bother with beams or dots. thanks for looking

[The Insane Lemur]

thats bangin mofo-very good use of values-it is interesting to my eye, aswell the idea of badass commandos from a shadowy organization doing what they do. sry i have nothing to suggest critwise

[Joe84]

that looks great

only crit is maybe the guy on the ground his left arm looks as though its penetrating the guards arm

[Tzan]

I thought of something very silly immediatly.

Put pink fairy wings on all the troopers

[neff]

Yeah nice! But wheres the White Unicorn?
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[ax--hv]

Great one, love the idea.
Crits: Some details are so realistic they immediately make surrounding look kinda fragmental. Also light on the right and on the wall doesn't feel right - looks foggy. Should be darker and more contrasting in my opinion.
Cheers

[Capt. Fred]

Lima, Joe, Tzan, Neff, thank you
joe, true, I have tweaked it slightly but I am okay with that, thanks though.
axhv, I completely agree, thanks for the observation.

[RyanWalsh]

Its an amazing painting, im taking by it so bad. Its so Great. I love Sci-fi soldiers, and this is the painting i have been waiting for that hit the spot.

I have only one critique, i just dont like the proportions of the soldier in the middle. His upper body looks wrong, and his gun should be perhaps on his left shoulder side. But aside from that everything else is spectacular, what an amzing picture.

[Max]

wow. awesome work Capt.!!
Cool mood and great details.
The right area seems very dark to me. Composition wise it needs some light areas. Depands on what you want tho. Maybe it's better to force the viewer to look at the poor man immediatly.
Anyways. Makes me want to see more of your recent stuff!

[Tinusch]

Narrative tweaks... The first thing that comes to mind is some sort of suggestion as to why theyre beating the shit out of this unarmed guy... Maybe something on the ground next to him, or something hidden in his back pocket? Or one of the troops holding some seized object? Maybe some political identifications on the troops or the victim to create a division between them? It's an incredible painting, but it isn't telling a story yet.

[Cicinimo]

Love this fred! I remember a while back you did a really helpful paintover on one of my pieces. Trying to return the favor here, although I dont know that my version is much of an improvement.

The main thing that was bugging me was the texture and variation in the wall behind the main figures seemed to be coming forward in space. It didnt look like one consistent surface to me. I tried to push it back and flatten it out a bit. I also played with the lighting on the main figures just a tad, tried to follow their forms a little more closely. Don't know that I had much success, but I hope you find it helpful.
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[Mikko K]

I was going to mention the skin values, but Cicinimo fixed them already
The old one looked too emissive (self illuminating).

Some of the reflections in those SWAT helmets look a bit forced. The guy staring at the camera with those yellow reflections looks a bit flat. Maybe you could add more three dimensionality by not using the same reflection on both sides? Like a stronger key light and a more subtle fill.

Very good work nevertheless!

[Popeye]

hey capt! cool painting, i especially like the sole of the sneaker.

[udal]

yep. Truthfully narrative seems pretty clear to me - only thing i can't work out is the black lines on the floor - is it just tiling? i would just agree with ryan up there and say the body of the second soldier on the left looks awkward, too short or something. Perhaps it's the foreshortening on the arms - don't know if there's a way you could get it to read better..i had to look at it for a while to work out what he was doing. The poses of the other characters are great though. Agree with mikko about the balance of key/fill. You could add secondary to help with the forms of the soldiers, too.

...if you like

[ax--hv]

Forgive me my overpaint (or rather tuning). I just was curious

[Tomasis]

whoaa pretty cool painting, capt fred! all kudos for you!

ax-hv's overpaint is very good describing what i was exactly thought for some improvements. I think that the bright arm is very important for the composition which is unfortunately not noticed by cicinimo. Frankly I could not come even near to such fantastic painting of Capt fred.

[Capt. Fred]

fantastic, thank you all.

Ryan: I know, I have never liked his proportions. But I figure there has to be a limit to how much you're willing to revise an image otherwise you will be perfecting the same image your whole life. I'll leave anatomical improvements to future pictures. Regarding the gun: It IS on his life side!

Max: Agreed, I have lightened that area up a bit now.

Tinusch: That's all true, and is what I asked for. However it's done for some guys' mod and the context is well known to them. I am contradicting myself.

Cicinimo: Great, I love what you've done with the LHS, especially the way you have re-computed the light. The anatomical and rendering improvements are very nice aswell - great the t-shirt, I will try and incorporate these. My anatomy is pretty basic, and I really came up against it this time. Thanks

Mikko: Emissive.. it's kind of a trick I like with flesh, (like the exaggerated subsurface scattering in the incredibles). I see now that it looks better when done naturally. Regarding the visors: that greenish light at the edges is supposed be visor illumination rather than reflection. It looks better without it anyway, as in ax-hvs paint.

Udal: those are wires. i went off them, and then forgot about them

ax-hv: I like it, good suggestion.

I have made some of the earlier alterations - Will update you next week after deadlines.

[RyanWalsh]

Its bugging me. Loosen him up. Im sorry

[RyanWalsh]

Im thinking... if you just got rid of that soldier.. it would maybe look better :\

[Sampster]

Just a thought...yes the arm does look a little weird, but is it so bad that it outweighs the good features of the soldier (the boots in particular are very nice)?

It probably doesn't apply here, but just think...sometimes there are things in real life where you look at them...then you do a double take and in your head you say, "That doesn't make sense to my eyes, it looks messed up". (of course we have to accept it if its in real life anyway, our eyes don't see things that aren't there in most cases)

You have to look at it from other angles for it to make sense but in a picture you only get once angle, you can't "explain" to your viewers why certain things look a little out of place.

So thinking about that can make you more anal about poses the first time you paint stuff, but it also makes me want to be a little more forgiving. Am I talking nonsense or does this make sense?... the idea that sometimes stuff will look a little odd from an angle even if it's not too far off how things would appear in real life.

[Misc]

wow, this is a great picture! sorry just had to play with the composition and pose a bit, hope that's ok...

[Nag]

That�s excactly what I was thinking with the pose of that soldier Misc.

[RyanWalsh]

Sampster= I know exactly what you mean.

[RyanWalsh]

No hard feelings, this is amazing painting.. I wish i understood how to paint so well like this.

[Capt. Fred]

Sorry to bump this back up again,
Thank you for you help

[B0b]

that guy standing face on in the pick still feels wrong - should turn him to the right so he has a stronger stance with the gun..

but a gr8 painting all the same

oh and i much prefer the UK style of handcuff

[octavian]

[Capt. Fred]

Bob, I can't easily draw somebody holding a gun in profile, let alone from the front! What are American handcuffs? Those plastic ties?

octavian, I know what you mean.it just sort of happened, I never really planned the whole picture as one happening. I just put in all the things that I wanted at the same time.

Now I see it now more like a shot from a stage play or a movie poster. You know, it's a scene that has been condensed into a posed picture, a bit melodramatic.

Thanks

[notic]

Hey there Capt Fred, looks like a really nice piece, but i was just thinking about that overpaint Misc did, and it became obvious:

the right leg is missing on the soldier who's beating up the other guy.

[Max]

Yeah, you nailed it! Can't await the next pice. You always have such a special mood in your images,..I dunno what it s tho - only to be described as "capt. fred mood" : )