The Sunken Valley of Arterolios

[JJASSO]

it's looking promising ! any concept yet? or are you straight to the final image?

[chrono1081]

This looks great so far! Matte painting is something I've always wanted to learn (and plan on learning once I graduate college :D).

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey guys, this piece was more for me to actually start and not just 'want to start' so there really wasn't much of a plan. I've been super busy working that I haven't done a whole lot of mattepainting lately so I simply 'started' something and see where it goes.

In addition I'm purchasing one of these bad boys over the weekend http://wacom.com/en/Products/Intuos/Intuos4Large.aspx so I'm pretty stoked about it. There will be more updates soon, as long as I get the Wacom and get going.

I haven't purchased it as yet but are there any recommendations of a tablet that I should keep in mind before spending the money ... thanks ...

[chrono1081]

I haven't purchased it as yet but are there any recommendations of a tablet that I should keep in mind before spending the money ... thanks ...

Honestly I find the larger tablets too large (I have dual 27 inch monitors). I've used a lot of wacoms and honestly if you aren't going with a Cintq I'd suggest giving the Intuos 4 Wireless a try. Its the perfect size in my opinion and you will have much less arm fatigue than with a larger tablet.

They are highly customizable too. I suggest if working with multiple screens to have it map to one screen and use the toggle to flip between screens. (You'll see what I mean if you get one).

The 6D art pen is awesome too if you do any work in Corel Painter.

[darvinkmanwah]

O great, thanks. So you're thinking that an Intuos 4 Medium might be the better purchase, cause of size?

[chrono1081]

O great, thanks. So you're thinking that an Intuos 4 Medium might be the better purchase, cause of size?

Yes, with the larger tablets arm fatigue begins to be a problem because you need much longer strokes to get the desired result. I've had a few friends who after using my medium sized tablets, downsized to medium and have liked it much better.

Wherever you get it though make sure its returnable just incase the size is not for you. I've used Wacoms for about 10 years and found that the medium size tends to work the best.

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey,

Thanks so much for the feedback .. medium Intuos 4 on its WAY ... I'll be rocking another preview hopefully by Sunday with you guys ...

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey guys,

so I purchased my new Wacom tablet wireless one as well ... It should be here in about 4-5 business days .. woot woot ... Regarding the wireless, did you have any problems with it regards to connectivity? Just wondering ....

Thanks guys ...

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey guys,

So I finally got my Wacom tablet and it ROCKS ... Medium wireless is definitely the tablet for me. So with that said, here`s an update of the mattepainting. I`m starting to dislike the piece a bit cause I`m not seeing alot of development with it. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated ... Thanks ...

Update-002
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6157/6206493069_e88deeed84_z.jpg

[Rockhoppermedia]

your mountains in the distance are rubbish !!

look at the devils tower in wyoming (close encounters of the third kind) put several of these in the painting, in background, foreground dig out the ground and have that as a physical contrast with it.

This is where I would go, think about aerial perspective! this could be awesome,

Rich

[everlite]

Hi Darvin,

Interesting base. Maybe consider adding an industrial structure spreading across the panorama. Ie; a military airbase, maybe with a experimental vehicle on a landing strip. Perhaps an alien city? Maybe go all out John Carter :)

Dave.

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey David,

Thanks for the ideas ... I've cleaned up what I have so far to work with what I like in the shot. I'll continue to concept the piece until I find something interesting to make progress on. Here's a look at what I've got so far. I worked a bit on the clouds for now ....

@Rockhoppermedia: I took your advise and tossed out the mountains ... Here's to a better start ....

Update-003
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6226/6219711538_f5613aea5f_z.jpg

[darvinkmanwah]

Here's a quick update to the mattepainting ... starting to see where I might want to take this piece ...

Update-004
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6055/6233813360_928d657e17_z.jpg

Update-005
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6059/6233813522_044f4740d1_z.jpg

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey guys, so here's another look at the progress ... There are many issues to address as you can see but seeing that I don't get alot of time to work on it at night, I'm spending the little time I do have on the over all look as compared to being extremely pic ... eventually when the major wrinkles are ironed out, I'll fine tune this piece as much as I can but for now, I'm working towards developing the concept.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated on the progress ... Thanks a bunch ...

Update-006
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6164/6240338090_d0f1350a23_z.jpg

Update-007
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6235/6243129940_92d6c21fd3_z.jpg

[darvinkmanwah]

P.S. I've been rocking out to Steve Jablonsky - Dark of the Moon ... Holy smokes I'm enjoying the score and very inspirational ...

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey guys,

Here are a couple more updates on this piece ...

Update-008
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6238/6252914638_248e839cba_z.jpg

Update-009
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6154/6252914684_fd512da4a5_z.jpg

[darvinkmanwah]

I've decided to stop on the painting for a bit and see what the shot development should look like. I've started spitting out layers to see where I'd like to take this shot and how much detail is required to make the shot work. I've done a simple camera move just to get a feel for the length and comp for the shot using Nuke.

I'm attaching a Video Preview (http://vimeo.com/darvinkmanwah/the-sunken-valley-of-arterolios-preview-001) as well for this update. You can find the latest image updates here on my Flickr Account (http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvVn38T)

Any feedback? Thanks ...

Update-010 - Larger Version (1024 x 562) (http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6114/6252383899_f473d3edfa_b.jpg)
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6114/6252383899_f473d3edfa_z.jpg

Update-011 - Larger Version (1024 x 562) (http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6164/6252914814_10eaef4a82_b.jpg)
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6164/6252914814_10eaef4a82_z.jpg

[Rockhoppermedia]

stop noodling and prevaricating, sit down with a sketch book and do a line drawing of what your minds eye is seeing, transfer that to your painting and do a montage board of reference, colours, shapes textures then get on with this plan and do your matte painting.

Being tough on you but this painting has been dragging on nowhere fast.


Not going to apologise, need to see some results, if you did this in a studio you would be fired.

proper planning and preparation prevents p*** poor performance

Rich

[darvinkmanwah]

And here is a look at the shot with an initial comp ... http://vimeo.com/30891796

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey guys,

So it's been a while since I last updated ... Working alot lately but I want to finish this piece off. So here's another update to the mattepainting ...

Image removed for inappropriate use of content ... Darvin K. Manwah

[CarlEd]

Hi darvinkmanwah,

Just a reminder, cgtalk is a professional forum with many talanted artists.
When creating your own artwork there is no shame of being inspired by others. But be aware, there is a difference between inspiration and to use others work straight off. Your foreground elements are pieces from Yanick Dusseault's Star Wars matte painting. Even thought it's just small details no one likes to see his or hers work chopped up into pieces and used by others.

Keep up your work!

[JJASSO]

well said Carl, those little strokes are totally recognizable , please undo that and make your own painting/details

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey guys,

Yes it is parts of Yanick Dusseault's Star Wars mattepaintings combined however my intent is to completely remove the painting as I progress. I was using it for reference for my direction and NOT to be part of my painting AT ALL.

My apologizes if I crossed the line guys, my intent is to not steal or take from others in any way. I respect the community and the hard work of the artist in general. My apologizes to the Yanick Dusseault as well ...

[Rockhoppermedia]

Sorry,

I am a professional film soundtrack composer, I use temp tracks, usually music from other composers provided by clients. The major unwritten rule in using temptracks is that the director, editor and composer only ever hear the temp track. Its used to quickly fill dead music space on the edit. The director and editor and composer will bin it when an agreement has been reached on the style and musical direction. This music will never ever be shared out to anyone. This is a major unwritten rule. If you listen to Star Wars pastiche of the temp track is heard, Wagner, Puccinni Beethoven Prokokief and some Chopin can be heard.

The rule is that it never leaves the studio or is heard by others, EVER!

What you have done is use a "Temp Track" on your matte painting. This is in my book completely inappropriate. A mood board with a matte painting on is fine, but chopped up into the build up of a piece that is off. In my book this makes me unhappy.

Sorry but through the hundreds of tutorials, videos and books that I read I have never heard mention of this technique mentioned. I knew something was wrong when I saw the piece you offered up.

I was happy to help you with this and give guidance, but now I am going to withdraw any help. If I was your TD you would have been fired on the spot.

Rich :banghead:

[darvinkmanwah]

Again my apologizes my friend ... my intentions were not deceitful in any way ...

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey guys,

So here's another look at the mattepainting valley cleaned up ... a starting point again ...

http://darvinkmanwah.com/digital-playground/artwork/images/the-sunken-valley-of-arterolios-concept-version-08-large.jpg

[darvinkmanwah]

Hey guys,

So I made changes to the mattepainting to reflect all of the images as my own. I've revised the painting to reflect my work and the progress. Here is an update to the piece.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/9616/wipthesunkenvalleyofart.jpg

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