[samdragon]

Ok, here is my "attempt" at trying to loosen up. I have spent all day working on this idea. I have literally done more than 15 different versions of this, they were all to tight looking. They looked neat, but I FORCED myself to delete them and kept on pressing it out until I either got too pissed to continue or ended up with something loose.
I did this image by making two layers, one dark(bg) one lighter tone(FG) and started from there.(erasing and painting as needed) "Craig Mullins tip"

I'm trying new techniques and trying my hardest to loosen up. I have put everything aside, perspective shading, everything, I'm just concerned with getting something down fast and loose...Is it normal to get so furious that you want to give up when trying to learn new techniques? anyway, here is the image. If you read the previous thread on this forum, you'll know what's going on. If not, read it




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SAMDRAGON

[Plop]

Now it has much more of a character than the first one.

[Mozeman]

This is infinately better than your previous attempt.

I'm not sure if you're going for this, but the guy seems to have a Bride of Frankenstein motif happening.

Kudos. Much improved.

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Mozeman
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[email protected]
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"I like it rough..."

[samdragon]

LOL! ahaha bride of frankenstine! ahahah Yeah I noticed that, but after 15 atempts, I didn't give a flip. I had a much better representatin, but I deleted it. They are supposed to be floating disks, kinda magnetic thingys that swirl around the head, thats how the upgrade is done(in my version anyway)
Wow, that jpg comrpession really put some grain into it.
I'm looking at some of those reference Craig mentioned before..I'm in awe..I'm currently looking at Drew Struzan's stuff. WOW! http://www.drewstruzan.com/ check it out if you haven't seen it before.

thanks for the kind words, but I'm still frustrated with it, I'm going to step back for an hour or two and rework it some more, come up with some more ideas.



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SAMDRAGON

[freddy flicks stones]

sweet. Going in a much more interesting direction. I think the forground, i.e. the outer casing closest to us of his tube he sits in, is too distracting. Keep the shapes, just tone down the intensity. By doing this, more attention is given to the character. Lasso them and use the levels or curves and drop their value down to a darker one...

[AliasMoze]

Samdragon,
Looking much, much better than the previous. Good work!
I agree with the Bride of Frankenstein comment. Ha, ha.

Fred is right about the focus. The character should always be the center of attention. Have you tried blocking in the picture darker, with more light hitting JUST the face. I think that would be cool.

Anyway, lookin' good...

[samdragon]

ah crap, I knew I shouldn't have come back in here. I'll be up all night now 2:30am
yeah, I guess this is the part when I slap myself in the head and go "duh! why didn't I see that before"
I got some neat Ideas from Syd Mead's site, so I'm going to try and work those into it, or another image.


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SAMDRAGON

[spooge demon]

Sam,

Too much scribbling, too much texture everywhere. Think simple at first. Take these flat shapes, sample color from them, bump the value one way or another and then be loose. I hope I am not confusing you. Be loose, be flat, blah blah.



Maybe I should say it this way.

REmember your basic design class? There was probably a lot of excercises that taught about contrasts. There are MANY type of contrasts, value, color, line weight, the list is very long. The point is the eye likes to be entertained by contrasts. Short attention span, the eye. Contrast also can work in really weird ways that you would least expect it. The pic I did before had a lot of "looseness" to it. BUT it also had some very precise aspects to it, some very soft edges, some razor sharp edges. Contrast. The contrast between flat and texture. Draw a rectangular marquee on a blank PS file. Take a texture brush and paint all around it, going right under the edges. Why is this cool looking? The precision of the square contrasts with the randomness of the brush stroke. I think your work needs more of these contrasts. REnder some areas, leave others alone. Some bright colors, some flat.

man, I am really not being clear here, sorry. It is tought stuff to try an explain. Took me years to figure it out for myself.

[freddy flicks stones]

And swap the greens, that is,the green in the pod behind him is the brightest green on the block. Switch it with the somewhat dimmer green in his pod, the tone the background one down a bit more. Why am I here again...

[samdragon]

I was so concerned with loosening up, that I totally forgot about the basics. I hope everyone understands that these are not meant to be final images? I wouldn't dare show these to the client saying they are final images
I like the approach you have taken with this Craig. Sometimes I make things way too complicated in the beginning. all this information is really helping, I am listening and to all of the great suggestions you folks are putting in on this and experimenting with them also.
Thanks guys, stay tuned for another update


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SAMDRAGON

[samdragon]

Ok, I stopped working on this to show what I'm doing before i get too mixed up in it.
Am I doing what was suggested by spooge?



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SAMDRAGON

[Muzman]

I'd say so
very dramatic

[samdragon]

I have decided to do this in just green and black and work more with what Craig was talking about. Sometimes it's easier to work with a limited pallet

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SAMDRAGON

[Frost]

samdragon - Not that I'm any good reference, but I also found that drawing an intensity based sketch (not lines) gave me a quick and excellent idea of the lighting and final look of my images from the onset. That way you don't spend time hacking your pic until you're more or less satisfied with the contrast and lighting at mid-to-end of the image. (bad example).


[This message has been edited by Frost (edited May 14, 2000).]

[invisyblninja]

MATRIX... I like it!!!

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"You must die... I alone am best!!!"

[samdragon]

Not a bad suggestion frost. I'll have to give that a try with the next illo. I'm always open to new ideas.
thanks

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SAMDRAGON

[Affected]

Frost's right there.

[Kyri]

I missed this one. Looking great Samdragon.
Can't wait to see it finished.

[samdragon]

I started working on the final version. I used the image spooge posted for color reference. I'm no where near being finished yet. Thanks again for everyones help on this one. I'll post the final image when it's done.
I did hear from the author of the story, and he likes both ideas (the original and the current) for his story. I was worried it was getting out of hand and wouldn't fit the story.


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SAMDRAGON

[IKhelix]

Excellent, looks fricking sweet... can't wait to see the end result.

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"I don't suffer insanity, I enjoy every moment of it..."