Grand Space Opera 2D Entry: Daryl Mandryk

[Tranchefeux]

Hi, the development of painting advances well, cool, the bottom
on this level is very good and balances with the action, good courage.

[Blackarts]

Hey Steve, thanks for your comments man,

I'm happy you're liking what you're seeing so far.

A lot of what you touched on are things I just haven't got around to yet, and have been thinking about also, so we're on the same page. The ships, most of the bottom half, this is all stuff that will all be polished up, and probably end up very different from what it looks like now.

I don't work in layers, mainly because Painter 7 has a bad habit of crashing when using them. Sometimes I'll work on a new layer to try something out, and then quickly flatten the image, but for the most part I work on a flat canvas just pushing and pulling paint around. I'll probably try a few subtle things with the rings to push the perspective more. They still need some more polish. I don't think the orientation will change though, I'm happy with the flow it brings to the picture.

adonihs; interesting idea, thanks. Might be a little too much though.

RLyons; thanks!...I think this has the basis for a good final image.

Tranchefeux; thanks, your image is looking pretty cool too.

Anyways, it's starting to get there.

[Blackarts]

Steve, the more I think about it, the more I realize the rings suck. You made a really good suggestion there, I think I'll do something along those lines. thanks!

[dougbot]

So what are you going to do with your prize ;) . It's looking great, but these new rings aren't my favorite. Glad to hear they're not yours either. I really like your characters, also you have a great looseness to your piece that feels very traditional (a look I've always wanted to do, but have never been able to achieve).

I look forward to every update in this thread. To be totally honest i like this piece even more than your machineflesh entry.

[SteveNewport]

ha, the rings hardly 'suck,' the color flow is very nice. It just might be a matter of going into photoshop, illustrator or program of choice and applying a perspective mold to a ring and placing it over your piece as a referance.
Huge props for being able to create such a grand piece on a single layer. Granted, it might be a pain sometimes having painter crash using layers... but I think it has made you a better painter in the end, it's good practice and builds a more controled technique.
What's your background and what do you do (if you don't mind me asking)

[Blackarts]

I'll probably just repaint them from scratch (shouldn't take too long), or if I'm having perpective troubles mock it up in 3D quickly and use that as a sort of template. I'm pretty used to working in Painter using only 1 layer, I've been doing it pretty much every day for the past 2.5 years..so you get used to the limitations. In a way it's good though, it forces you to make big decisions about your painting, and sort of puts you 'out there' more. It's fun.

There is some background info on me at my website if you're interested:

http://members.shaw.ca/dmandryk/index.htm

long story short though, I'm a concept artist working currently at Electronic Arts, doing mainly character work.

[newcenturydsn]

Wicked awesome pic Blackarts! not too much to say about it, but the guy underneath is really hard to see, (god said let there be light, or a little more of it anyway)
and the girls front right foot doesn't look right, is the toe of her boot pushed up against an invisible rock?
the grand scheme of things is rockin though kid!
keep it up, i'll be watching:beer:

[CodeNothing]

My only advice now would be to increase the chroma on the blood coming out of that guys head at the bottom to activate the space better. Sence its still wet it should be reflecting some of the fire light?

amazing work! :thumbsup:

[Blackarts]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/4023/4023_1102966491_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/4023/4023_1102966491_large.jpg)

this weekend's effort...

Probably my last coloring WIP before I move onto final coloring. I basically re-did the BG, most notably the rings,and I'll be adding back in some other stuff as I move forward and finish this. comments are welcome.

[dougbot]

Awesome. Truly awesome. I hope you keep heading down this road. It's friggin' great. These rings are perfect. I like the flow a lot more now too. Truly excellent.

[Hecartha]

beautiful rings! really beautiful! And beautiful lighting! Great work

[Arctis]

Hi Blackarts,
It's a really nice pict you have ! I especially like the light and colors resulting of it...
However I regret the explosions that we could see in previous entries : it added some action and drama, like in a large battlefield ; now the scene seems more confidential to me, but you said you would add some stuff...
Beautiful planet too!:thumbsup:
Good luck.

[giocele]

Congratulations!
the background is much better now.
Very good.

good luck!

[MoonVisionStudio]

WOW! Just keeps getting better. I'm sure you'll add some explosions and ships. Awesome.

[ecura]

It's amazing to see this progress. The background you have is very dynamic but simple enough to get the eyes focus onto the character. Very nice indeed.

[SteveNewport]

Daryl, the rings are beautiful. However, something dynamic was lost in the overall image

Here's what my quick viewing before class suggests. I think the top area, including the rings, could be a little more vibrant and pronounced of warmer colors, so in turn you could make a smooth gradient of warmer colors into the forground without overpowering the cool colors you've added. The forground is too bland for me. I think a sharp contrast between a warm colored top [of the earth] and the cool colored cracks facing away from the sky/planet could give a lot of interest and focus down the image and in the forground.

It appears as though there is an army of aliens behind the first few, but it is very confusing because the background suggests there is no ground behind them for them to be on. It looks like it would be a shear drop-off, not a further extentions of the landscape. This is obviousy because of the right side of the image that shows it's a canyon drop off there. I can;t make a solid decision whether I think the canyon is appropraite or not. I know that those explosions and near forgrounds gave it a little more tension as though they were surrounded, by all sides, forced onto this last resort podiem to get a good aim at all the surrounding enemies. Right now his guns are pointing in both directions, but the one point our direction appears as though it's aiming at nothing, it's aiming out into the nothingness that the drop-off suggests. I can't comprehend enemies on this side of the gun, and I can't comprehend enough enemies to be a huge threat that your numbers are suggesting because of the surrounding landscape. It's almost Mona Lisa-esque, two completely different landscapes and horizon-lines on either side of the main character/s

I think you could also experiment with one more top layer of clouds to suggest the atmosphere is a little bigger and that it itself is a little threatening. Maybe just one more pummeling cumulus cloud to give a little more height to it.
Anyway, gotta crit, so I gotta go. Hope I made sense and it helps in what ever way it can.

[draco_1967]

Wow, this has moved a longe quite niceley since I first saw it.

one thing that bugs me a little is the position of the woman. It appears as though her legs should be reversed--Her left leg on the upper rock and her right leg extended down and back. It looks to me like she is crossing her right leg over her left to climb that rock...something that would make it hard for to fight and climb at the same time

other than that, you have a beautiful peice and a dynamic composition. As Steve said, a little atmosphere and those explosions from previous comps would help.

[Blackarts]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Steve Newport; thanks for the always detailed crit. I disagree that it's less dynamic, in fact even without the explosions I feel this is stronger. Quieter maybe, more intimate, but also a bit grander and better composed. In terms of them aiming at nothing, the idea is to build tension. I'm going to add some subtle god rays to make it look like they are being illuminated or targeted by something. It doesn't matter that the viewer can't see what they're aiming at, the only thing that matters is getting the viewer to invest in the image, ask some questions, and get the imagination working. It's a little risky, but spelling everything out for people is boring. The BG still needs work, in terms of number of figures and landscape, and you bring up some good points about them feeling surrounded, that I think will be solved once I finish the BG. I haven't decided if I'll add back eplosions or ships or anything like that, it might be something totally different. Anyways, thanks a lot, I value your opinion.

draco_1967; you're totally right, and I've been meaning to fix those legs. I think it'll be in the next update.

[Isurus]

hey i havent gone thru the whole thread, but i really think you need some sort of effex coming outta the guns, and an spaceship up in the atmosphere like you had earlier. but a ship so high that you lose the details, and the atmosphere fogs it.

it is awesome so far but the figures just feel like they are posing. i feel having some laser/gun effex and perhaps impact wounds that stand out would be nice, but perhaps would draw the eye too much to those spots.

i think youre one of the best!

[MDN67]

Great, great; i love your work, the movement is excellent, good work, the choice of colour is like,... frazzeta, i love very much

My challenge page (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=193486)

[element5]

Your image has come together nicely, really like the BG change. Those rings look great. in a nutshell WOW!! :)

[NinjaA55N]

hehehe.. waw! I like all about this piece. really.. It has great composition, supergreat character design with awesome expressions that tell the actual happening, story behind it and marvelous coloring. really dont have anything to crit or add.. im just not on the right level to do that :) But I'll much appreciate if u could stop at my thread for minute or two and tell what u think, maybe give me some suggestion, how to bring my piece to a higher level.
Keep inspiring me with ur work! :thumbsup:

[Tommy Lee]

I have absolutly nothing to crit. Awesome work:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

[W-I-L]

I agree with the off screen attacker that the heroes are looking at.. good idea. and it works. The added effects to the comp are better in my opinion.

[Aethyrprime]

This work is simpy fantastic. It reminds me of Boris or Frazetta. Which is a huge compliment from where I come from. Keep at it Daryl and perhaps one day you will have the recognition level they do!

[Blackarts]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/4023/4023_1103666453_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/4023/4023_1103666453_large.jpg)

I took a random idea and blocked in a new BG - it was late, I was tired, and before I knew it I had some big rock heads. For some reason I kept developing it, and in a weird fun way I think it worked. I knew I needed something bigger in the BG, something a bit grander, and I also knew I absolutely didn't want a big spaceship. I found myself liking the sense of mystery and time it added.

There's a lot of areas of the BG I still need to break up a bit with various custom brushes, and some refinement here and there, but for the most part I'm finally pretty pleased with it.

*edit* ; I also changed the postion of the girl for 2 reasons: 1 it made sense to me should be closer to the wounded dude trying to help/protect him, and 2nd because i felt compostionally it was a bit unbalanced the way it was.

I'm going to give this another layer of polish,chaos, fx, and so forth, and then I'll probably call it done. Anyways, this'll be my last update for this year.

- happy holidays everyone!

[cgkrusty]

I like this composition a lot better, especially in regards to the female medic. I always thought that her pose (in the old composition) felt forced, this way it seems more natural and motivated.

I do think that this new composition feels a little monochromatic. I was really loving the palette of your previous update, especially the blues in the bottom right-hand corner. Just a gorgeous blend...

I'm sure that when you get into this new direction a bit more you great colour sense will come through again.

Great new direction and inspiring work as always!

:thumbsup:

[ecura]

Really nice. I don't mind neither of the uploads posted. They both look fantastic. Probably this is the better one since that composition does make a little more sense and tells more of a mysterious story with the rock head in the background. Looking back to the previous one it seem as though the characters were falling off the cliff but I do like the colour scheme use with the water and clouds it shows a lot of space when compare to the recent upload. The new background seem to be more confine and intense and does well to convey the message. Great work, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year if I don't see any new updates for the meantime.

[Arctis]

Hi Blackarts,
It's a beautiful painting, but I was personnaly more convinced by your previous composition, for 4 reasons :
- The "grand" dimension was already given by the planet, that stood beautifuly in the BG : your planet's texture was elaborated and sober at the same time, so that the foreground remained easy to read. It was the perfect balance for me. The rocks you added - though they are well painted in themselves - are disturbing shapes that litter the scene.
- The position of the girl before was better, I think, because it strengthened the focus point on the main character : she is a nice coloured character that deserves to be detached from the rest of the action.
- The previous colors seems to be softened now by a red smog of dust, that is probably more realistic. But personnaly, I prefer the previous iridescent colors, the nice harmony of gold, red and black/blue that were more striking before.
- one last remark : the movement of the man's red clothe has disappeared now : it seems solid.
Here's my feeling, and I've tried to be precise... ;)

Good luck and merry christmas !

[walrus]

Daryl -

I really hate to say it because I love your stuff, but this composition is not working for me as well as the others. With each revision, there ends up being more and more space around the main characters: Originally they were bunched together, now they're no longer in a clump. (Especially the medic, who is now much furhter from the Celt gunman than she's been) In earlier shots, they were surrounded or trapped on a narrow outcropping of rock, and now they're in an open arena. This larger layout has given the characters a lot more breathing room, both compositionally as well as emotionally. It feels to me like they do not feel as threatened, the consequences don't seem as dire, with so much space.

While I like this palette that you're using, I feel like the more vivid palette from the last post and others conveyed more drama and tension.

Sorry! Anyhow, just my opinion... Good luck with it and have a great New Year!

-mike

[Blackarts]

interesting! wow- What varied opinions.

cgkrusty; thanks - I'll probably bring back some of the color when I finish it off - I thought it needed to be toned down a bit though. Everything was too yellow...and almost a bit too happy.

ecura; thanks, interesting that you read it as confined and intense, while walrus feels its more open....maybe I can find some sort of middle ground. I am planning on adding more *stuff* around them - bodies, attackers, fx - maybe that'll help.

Arctis; damn I kind of liked the heads lol. You could be right though - maybe it's too much head, not enough planet. One of the main reason I like them is that they add a bit more of a narrative element, while the planet was really just a big circle placed there for composion. As for the girl, that was the problem - she was detached from the action doing nothing. I guess it didn't work for me.

walrus; thanks for the honest opnion, I appreciate it! - don't worry about hurting my ego, I have thick skin. I think I addressed most of your concerns above.

thanks guys. Any more opnions? let's hear 'em. This is almost done, so speak now or hold your peace...

[NathanielWest]

I really liket the heads--they really do add a nice touch. The color harmony, composition, everything is working really well, and you've done a tremendous job!

[Blackarts]

thanks Nathaniel - I'll probably change them somehow...repaint them, or change the scale or design....make them look a little more ancient and menacing - that type of thing. They're a little flat right now.

[dougbot]

Man, I wish I could give you more constructive comments, but I'm just in awe of your skill. The piece just keeps getting better and better! My only small crit would be the kilt on the main guy. It feels a bit straight, I like it flowing out, but maybe if it curved down more (on his right). If it started right by that red sqaure by his knee. Maybe a bit more "swoop". Does that make sense?

I could be way off. The stone heads are awesome. They are very subdued, and don't overpower the piece. I also like some of the looseness in the bottom corner too. Really amazing work.

[Fahrija]

Hi Blackarts,

The current composition reminds me of a classic painting of Théodore Géricault. I know just the german title but the translation could be "float of medusa". Castaways are struggling for surviving in open water and in the horizont you can see an indication of rescue in form of lightning shapes.

I was one of those people who liked the spaceship topic very much but the current idea is a excellent alternative I have to confess. The arrangement in a row might be a bit boring but that´s just not a big matter.

Greetings
Fahrija

[francis001]

Daryl, great painting once again. Sorry I have not really contributed much in the way of comments or suggestions. At this late stage I don't have anything major to add, but I thought it might be good to make the giant background head a little more obvious? Maybe more definite planar forms or something. It took me a second or two to notice that they were head sculptures and not just interesting rock formations.

Great work!

[oldhobo]

This is a really exceptional image. To tell the truth, as you kept changing backgrounds so often and so completely, I was wondering, 'what the heck is it with this guy?' However, the stone faces in ruins adds something extra to the painting that all the planets and color swirls etc couldn't contribute. Proof of vaild process. Nice job.

[techart]

you're a rel master with the colors mate...allways loved that at you...cheers

[Riddick]

So this is the final coloring...
Are you sure of that?

Where are the space ship? You should do few of them.
I know that you have made a lot of changes on this picture but..For me it need spaceships.

[Blackarts]

well back from holidays - time to finish this thing.

dougbot; thanks for the support man....it's nearly done...woohoo!

Fahrija; thanks...I'll have to see if I can find that painting.

oldhobo; haha - yeah, what a skitzo painting. They give you so much time for this contest though, I just wanted to experiment and have fun. Every weekend when I sat down with this I found something to change, or had a new idea to try out...it was definatly an interesting experiment in free-form painting.

francis001; good advice on the head - I'll be making it a little more obvious what it is. Even though there isn't much time left, any comments are always useful - thanks.

techart; thanks!

Riddick; final coloring...yep - not final image though. I'm still undecided about ships....maybe some small fighters in the distance?...I'll see what pops up.

[Falcorr]

Theres some major conflict in my mind with the upper portion and the lower portion of the picture.

Everything below the main hero looks good. Great colors and they seem to be packing some depth and volume. :thumbsup:

But when it comes to the upper portion of the pic. That planet really looks like to be too close of the planet surface. Look like huge buzzsaw. Stonehead and the planet with rings should be separated slightly. Give more depth to it also do something with the colors so the planet wont be appearing as dead.

One time you had these superb colors on the planet rings wish you could bring them back somehow.

So hows the pretty wacom handling the picture :D ?

[SteveNewport]

been out for a while, but glad to see I didn't miss out on too much progress, look forward to seeing what you come up with, you're definitely coming along very well. 17 days is plenty of time for you to polish up your piece, good luck and hope your holidays were enjoyable, take care

[tlggungor]

if the planet back was a little smaller ıt would be better.In my opinion.:thumbsup: :buttrock:

[Blackarts]

http://members.shaw.ca/blackarts/assets/final_coloring02.jpg
Almost finished. Thanks guys for all your constructive comments. Now I'll just be tweaking away, but this is defintatly nearing completion. Some spots are still too rough and will be refined more (like the alien adversaires)- and there might be a couple spaceships zipping around up there, as well as some additional aliens. The colors have been re-worked a bit, and I re-did the planet and gave it more room to breathe....also changed the orientation to something I felt worked better. I'm pretty satisfied with it at this point, I think it evolved into something pretty cool. I don't think I'll make any more large changes to the painting, I'll just concetrate on improving what is already there.

Thanks again for the feedback all, I really appreciate it, and feel free to post any comments you have.

cheers,
Daryl


*edit* - i uploaded a sharpened image, it came out a bit harsh reduing the image quality, so I linked a better one from my webpage.

- falcor; the cintiq is nice. I just got it the other day and have been having a lot of fun with it.

[Falcorr]

Upper portion looking lot nicer. Im glad you decided to use different hues for the planet and the rockhead. It made it previously so cluttered.

Planet rings are back with vibrant colors. And those energy blasts are working good even thought they are very bright.

Only thing i do miss is the view for the world. It is slightly getting over run with the below energy blast. I liked looking at the horizon with clouds and all kinda things.

Keep working still few days left :) If you have nothing to do why dont go and give critic to my piece :thumbsup:

[turbinea]

frankly, i didn't like it at first, when you presented new version (of enviroment). but i must admit, it turned out as much better than previous one. these impacts create a very strong feel of danger and i like it very much now. one thing bugs me now, and it is how hero holds and aims his gun (on the right), it seems to me like a bit off axis from his point of view and hand. anyway, very good job.

[andreasrocha]

The vibrant colors really spiced up your wonderful piece. I think you could exaggerate the blast glow behind the man a bit more. Like this you could play with some nice translucency effects on the man's "skirt" and define the falling alien with some rim-lighting.

Beautiful piece. Congratulations!

[Blackarts]

Falcor_; I was sort of wanting to go the saving private ryan desaturated look for a while there, but decided bolder colors might be more operatic, and almost more mythic - as if this were from a scene depicted in an ancient legend or something. Anyways, good call on the rings and planet orientation. It was a bitch to fix. =) I'll go take a look at your thread!

turbinea; thanks, it's a lot different...the gun is supposed to be in motion, almost like he's swinging it up and doesn't have much time to aim. I should probably tweak it a bit more.

andreasrocha; I agree the light from the explosion should be stronger. I don't think the skirt will be translucent though, that might seem a bit toooo girly, and he is after all, already wearing a skirt and has long hair. =) thanks!

Do you guys think it needs some ships flying around? Would that be overkill and unecessary clutter? I am thinking about having a few ships come swooping in from behind the big rock head. hmmmm.

[Fahrija]

Hi Blackarts,

In this current composition I would use ships only as indications in the far background to add something in term of the story. (Rescuer are coming or even more enemies) I would keep the focus of the established head-rocks.

I think the contrast and shades of your whole environment looks to nebulous. That gives a lot atmosphere. I just recognized that it got a bit harder to gather the scene in your thumbnail version.

Fahrija

[KevinJM]

Man i don`t know where you`re from but you are a real danger for the designer`s race. You are TOO GOOD. I admired your art since the fsirt time i saw your machine flesh thread. Keep up with the good work man.:applause:

[NinjaA55N]

Better better .. always better... I wish I was on the level to put some serious critics here.. but im not :) awesome stuff!

[JasonChan]

Awesome stuff, as always. I've been watching this piece progress since the beginning and you've sure made a lot of changes. I think you made some good choices in toning down some of the over the top dramatics of the original path this piece was taking. I wouldn't be surprised if you took the gold again :thumbsup:

[SteveNewport]

Daryl, you definitely found a winning combination in the composition, it's beautiful with the colors and everything. I feel a lot more in the action in this.

Right now I feel the right side is a little too heavy and makes the image unbalanced. Even with the big head leaning over to the left side I still feel uneasy when trying to stare at the picture... i didn't catch myself being lead through the picture. Maybe a little more focus to the left side specifically with values, a little more lighter values on the left. Maybe take the explosion coming from the right side and have the firey fall off out more to the left... more sparks that way or something, silhouetting the aliens on the far left.... i don't know... or maybe an alien on fire being propelled that direction?;) It just seems that the values in this image aren't yet balanced. The brights come from the core of the lasers, but nothing else in the image is anywhere near that high value.

Another thing is, and I'm sure you probably just havn't gotten to it yet, but the girl sticks out to much from her surroundings. I feel she's too bright all over, and her left leg doesn't match how the wounded soldier's body reacts to the environment. It's in the shadow, but it doesn't look like it is. Maybe some more yellow hues mized in as well as darkening certain parts of her body, specifically her left leg so it matches the lighting.

I can't exactly tell what it is below the largest laser on the right. Is it supposed to be ground level? If so, it seems like it's going a little to steep up to the right, but it could just be an illusion with the angle you've chosen to place the camera. Also, I might tone it down a bit to achieve some more depth, or give it a higher contrast within itself as I know the explosion would be illuminating it. So maybe stronger highlights and sharp shadows towards the viewer, but tone it down the further it goes back a little more maybe.

I can't tell if I think the clouds are perfect or need work!? :p I think they're perfect and my critical eye might just be questioning itself! I might give the highest altitude clouds more definition, but that's all I can get out of it in this viewing.

And the last thing I can see right now is something I've overlooked in past viewings. The wounded soldier is aiming his gun at an alien that seems to shot... but I don't see any blood coming from the alien or fire coming from the gun? It might just be the pose of the alien, but it seems like he was just knocked back by a bullet

this looks absolutely great on my monitor, very beautiful image that's coming along very well. Good luck!

[Tranchefeux]

Hi, Just my congratulation for your image final "or presques" you
arrived at a composition dynamic with a well maitrized treaty
painting, I like much the colors, and what I prefer it is the rock of
the bottom which is worthy of best "the Frazzz", :applause: :applause:

[Blackarts]

Fahrija; thanks, I like the nebolous look personally....for me it heightens the mood and feeling. I agree with you on the ships.

dean080580; thanks a lot! I'm from Canada. =)

NinjaASSN; thanks dude, I can't wait to finish this off.

Evil Gerbil; thanks man - I doubt I'll win with this much stiff competition, there's some stuff here that is crazy good. As long as I make a compelling exciting image that people remember, I'll be happy.


Steve Newport; great suggestions. That is supposed to be the ground on the right hand side...I wanted it sloping up to indicate that there might be something above them. The wounded dude will be firing his gun, I just havent got around to putting in the FX. I'll be doing a few more things to balance the values as you suggested. BTW I think you are gunning after that community interaction prize, you certainly have the majority of us beat when it comes to detailed crits. thanks!

Tranchefeux; thanks for the kind words- your image rocks as well, you better win something!

[Lovliebutterfly]

Awesome work! Nice colors and painting style! I really like the expression on the girl's face! Good luck! :thumbsup:

[dougbot]

Oh my God man, beautiful! I keep thinking it can't get any better, then you make it better!!! Seriously beautiful work. I'm curious how you get such rich and vibrant colors. Are you using the airbrush loosely with overlays? Just phenominal man. Nice work.

[foane]

I'm just stopping by to wish you good luck, I've got no comment on your image, it's stunning...
cheers, Francis

[6800AD]

cool work all the way through....love the richness and movement....Dynamic comp dynamic style!

[h2olt]

nice update as far as the shading's concerned, but i really liked the planet with the rings turned the other way

[Lunatique]

I think the guns you have might have some perspective problems. Flip your image and it might become more apparent.

[Blackarts]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/4023/4023_1105431096_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/4023/4023_1105431096_large.jpg)

almost done I think..the next update will be the final image. I could probably tweak this thing forever, so it's a good thing time is running out. What do you guys think? Any last minute life-saving advice?

[Belisarius]

An excellent piece.

For last minute advice I would consider checking the contrast depending on where you want the focus of the image to be. I feel that the planets horizon is competing with the main action of the hero character. Maybe it can be pushed a little into the background.

I like it very much, I already liked the early versions.

[Fahrija]

Hi Blackarts,

beautiful work. It has much more contrast now. I personally like that very much.

Fahrija

[Velinov]

GO Madryk, go...
Exelent work :thumbsup:

My grand space opera (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=183663)

WWW.VELINOV.COM (http://www.VELINOV.COM)

[Tommy Lee]

Hollydays are over, I come back and::eek:

Amazing Work! Nothing to crit at all...

[Speaky]

Hi Blackarts, I've been away and haven't seen your pic for about a month. And can I just say :eek:. There's so much I love about it... I just noticed the alien hunched over the dead soldier in the foreground, very creepy indeed. You certainly know how to compose a pic well, the eye is led to all the right places. As for last minute crits, well I said a while back that it could do with a wider GSO context and I loved the original ship you had, but you've chosen your path and made another damn fine pic here. One suggestion that could be worked in would be to have some very subtle warming of the colour of the immediate foreground elements, which would give the pic more depth since cool colours recede and your most distant elements are nice and cool. Well, it's a killer piece whatever you do now, so :thumbsup:

[magnethead]

These are all really nice. all of the variations in your color theme work well. they alll seem good enough to be the final cadidate.
Really tight work.

-magnethead

[cgkrusty]

Wahoo... hooray for hue/saturation mode!

:thumbsup:

I'll be doing something similiar (desaturating) to my entry once I get near the end.

Quite a radical departure from where you were but I think it helps pull this piece away from your Machine Flesh challenge entry palette, which is probably a good thing. Never want to be perceived as a one trick pony (which, no doubt, you aren't :) ).

Not to sure if you need the FG hand...

Gorgeous as always...

[hectic]

hello, great piece !!! I like your choice of calm colors - they help to portray the despar of their fight ...

keep up :thumbsup:

[CptObvious]

I liked previous versions much more. Now there are to many black elements, contrast it's bit to big for me (previous one was more colorful and that was a plus). Beside 1st, 2nd and 3rd plan were more visible, now I see 1st and 2nd plan looking quite same.
My opinion is quite subiective of course :) I don't have any other criiques, picture is beatutiful.

Cheers,

[Nomad]

Looks great :applause:

The red tones version is much better... If I have to make one critic, I will add some lights to the girl`s weapon.. looks too dark...


Awesome finish :thumbsup:

[walrus]

Daryl - looking good! I think it wouldn't hurt in this version to lighten up the background behind those two left-most aliens so that their sillhouettes read a bit better. And I agree with cgkrusty, I'm not sure you really need that hand in the far foreground. I have to confess that I found the colors in the previous post a lot more pleasing, but that's entirely subjective, I don't have a valid reason to back up why I like them better. I guess I just find the reds more of a dramatic color and the blue-greens more serene and calming, and 'calm' isn't what this piece is about. I especially miss how the cool colors of the main hero's armor contrasted with the warm backdrop whereas now he blends in a lot more.

anyhow, congrats for being almost done. Good luck on the finishes!

-mike

[praguer28]

very difficult to judge this challenge! your art is amazing, very strong and very dramatic too...

[Blackarts]

Thanks guys, that's some really good feedback. I really like the idea of warming up the foreground a bit, just to give it some more depth. I want to bring out the reds in the characters a bit more to help them pop more as well. Another thing I've been toying with is putting some color into the armor...but so far it hasn't been working out..the white metal armor will probably stay. The cools vs the warms in the BG is definatly a subjective thing...personally I like the contrast between the chaos and the serenity. I'll probably have some time tonight to put some more polish on this.

Anyways, thanks - i like getting as many opinions as I can...off to work!

cheers,

daryl

[tlggungor]

i loved the attraction here especially the medic.. but i guess colours were better in the last one..and i m sure that the final composition will be magnificent.:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[dougbot]

Man Blackarts, you friggin' nailed this piece. It's hard for me to say which one I like better, they're seriously both great, but for totally different reasons. Excellent work, as always.

[se7en-z3r0]

Damn dude - this is sick. Love the heads in th bg and the devil may cry style handgun work for the main character - thats just crazy cool. Love the new colors too. You rock man.

[KOryH]

very nice.
I think ther needs to be something in the upper third of the picture to balance everything out and fram the main guy a bit better.
may be another blast from the sky but very subtle and in the distance. to tie the foreground with the background.

looks great BTW

[yladmac]

I've only just checked your entry for the first time, but it really is brilliant.
I loved the progressions earlier in the thread, and learnt a whole lot from them too.
A couple of things I think the image is missing, though it's probably a bit late. .

1. A space battle. It's brilliant how your image is so epic with only humanoid characters in a ground battle in it, but I truly think it needs a space battle in the background to give it that undeniably huge space opera feel. I know many probably think that this would choke and clutter the image, but i'm sure if you could find a way given adequate time.

2. The femal medic's pose isn't nearly as classic or exciting as her old crouching pose in <a href="http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/4023/4023_1101108303_large.jpg">this image</a>, yet I can see the purpose of having her leaning over as though helping the wounded soldier. But the old one was just so awesome!

3. The wounded soldier's gun looks as though he is firing directly at the alien behind the one being shot by the hero character, and the pose of the alien almost encourages this idea. When you follow where the gun is shooting though, you can see little tracer effects on the very left border of the image that I figure to be the bullets just fired from the gun - going nowhere near that alien. This makes that portion of the image hard to read, and it's still ambiguous as to if he is aiming at that alien or one off-screen. My personal thought would be to either move the alien further to the right so that the wounded man's gun is just overlapping it, change the orientation of the gun a little and/or make the tracer effects more apparent.

4. the original versions of your image had more aliens! It really gave that classic sense of "good guys being practically overrun but fighting to the last man" kind of thing, and I think you lost that in later revisions.

done with crits now :D

as for the stuff i LIKE. . the lead character is absolutely spot on. I can't think of a superbadasscommanderkillerperson guy more suited to be standing on that rock reaping a path through alien hordes. And not just the design, the rendering is beautiful. definite classic.

Those stone heads are gorgeous, they give identity to the world instead of making it just a standard everythingisboringandplainbutwehavekilleralienhordes planet.

You got the planet rings in and they look great!

The design of the aliens, especially combined with the pose of the one in the foreground is so classic and space-opera-ish, yet they still retain originality. really awesome stuff.

wooh, if anyone read this far then have 10 points!
cheers

[Blackarts]

-tolga-; thanks...her pose is annoying me, her right leg is messed up. I think I'll have to tackle this.

dougbot; thanks Doug...I always mess around with the colors until the very end...they are getting close though.

x_se7en_x; Devil may Cry always looked cool - I never played it though....Thanks for the support!

KOryH; thanks for the suggestion...I'll keep it in mind!

The final image is coming along and should be here shortly...thanks for the feedback!

[Nuro]

Mandryk your Final Cg is Fantastic , good Job :thumbsup:

[Luter]

Hey !

Great job man !

Good luck for the final !
BTW, how is this tablett :) ?

I see you on the next one, I haven't said my last word :))

Luter (aka goli)

[JMay]

Inspiring as always Black, nice work. I really dig the look of the background, a very 'real media' look, alwost water colour like.

Great character in all the characters as well...these guys have a story! Well done!

jm

[SOuLjA`-]

amazing work :eek: :eek: :eek:
i like this very much :applause:
wish u good luck for the final image!

[Blackarts]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/4023/4023_1105860728_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/4023/4023_1105860728_large.jpg)

After endless tweaks, I think it's time to lay down the wacom and call it done. Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions along the way. I think I captured more or less what I was going for - energy...emotion...high impact. Hope you all enjoy it!

Cheers,

Daryl

ps; for those who care, this is at 23% original size.

[azazel]

Congrats on finishing it, came out really great.

[emrahelmasli]

Awesome peace mate! Good luck for the judging process...

[Fahrija]

Hi Blackarts,

beautiful image! The last modifications are stunning. Besides the great character I especially love the FX. The image also got much more mood than it had before. That might be due to darken up the left part of the head in the background.

my thumb up :thumbsup:

Fahrija

[sidchagan]

This REALLY came out awesome. Its a lot more colorful than the previous iterations, and feels just as dynamic. Less gritty perhaps, but it doesnt detract. This has been one of my favorites through the challenge; great work :)

[CodeNothing]

wow this is looking SO much better! :eek: I thought it looked cool before but now its just jaw droping! amazing piece dude!

[Squibbit]

grreat work again, daryl, thta' a reeally cool pic !!

[ecura]

Congrates, this is done done and done. It looks super fantastic and has been very enjoyable to watch this progress. To me its already a winner, best of luck.

[markovicd]

congratz mate!

[kengi]

thrylly amazing... the thing that i like most in your work was the way you was improving the idea of the first concept. not because it was bad, but because you where looking something better and better. that definies the gratests.
congratulations!

[Blackarts]

azazel; thank you!

Atmospheria; thanks a lot

Fahrija; thanks - the fx help, plus they're fun to paint

sidchagan; it was tough trying to balance between colorful and too colorful if you know what I mean....I didn't want it to appear 'happy'...I'm glad it's reading well to you

CodeNothing; thanks man

markovicd.; cheers

kengi; thanks...yeah usually I work with a more solid idea in mind, but because of the amount of time I decided to try a more freeform approach and see what happened. The results were unexpected, but that kept it interesting for me.

Just a note, I think CGtalk must put a slight sharpen filter on these things when they reduce it...it came out a little harsh. I'll post a link to better quality version sometime tonight, It'll give you guys a better idea of what the high-res one looks like. If you guys are interested I can post a couple close ups as well.

[ArtisticVisions]

Great illustration; this sucker totally nails the idea of a Grand Space Opera.
Definately a winner in my book.

[SteveNewport]

beautiful piece daryl, superb job. Best of luck, you've created a great piece

[VladPascanu]

you have my vote

[coryloftis]

It's been fun watching your progress along the way. I knew your piece was going to be awesome from the minute I saw the concept art. Love the way you kept it loose. Good luck.

[Blackarts]

ArtisticVisions; thanks!

Steve Newport; thanks Steve, and thanks for your crits!

bombeu; cheers

coryloftis; thanks - I hope you get to finish your peice I just checked it out and wow.

here's a slightly higher quality (and larger) version:

http://members.shaw.ca/blackarts/assets/Final_image.jpg

and this is a closeup (actual resolution) - you can see how loose things really are...

http://members.shaw.ca/blackarts/assets/closeup_01.jpg

[SideAche]

Great Job Daryl - best wishes :thumbsup:

[Cyanid]

nice job, I love it :applause:

[tlggungor]

:buttrock: Good luck.Be st wishes :thumbsup:

[Tommy Lee]

Awsome. Good luck Buddy!!!:bounce: :thumbsup:

[Amida]

Great image, it looks very detailed, good comp. and it's just fantastic! :D
I'm glad you tweaked the color back into the "warmer" zone, I personally didn't really like the dominating green in ur last one, but this is probably personal preference. I think you have a big chance to win something with this one :) GJ!

[walrus]

Yeah, I really agree with Amida about the warms. Thanks for posting the hi-res versions, it's nice to see it the ay you intended. Really beautiful work, Daryl, it was fun to be part of the process this time 'round. Congrats!

-mike

[JasonChan]

It looks awesome! Personally, I like this one a lot more than your MachineFlesh, and that's saying a lot :) I'll just give you an early congratulations :thumbsup:

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

[dougbot]

Wow man, it turned out great. Thanks for posting the actual size too. I was crious how big you painted. Truly an awesome peice. Good luck!

[MattDixon]

Superb work, Daryl. The piece has the same great energy and life as your speedpaints, and that's no easy task in an image with such a high level of polish and detail as this.

Excellent job!

[ArtisticVisions]

Now I remember why your illustrative style seemed so familar to me: you won the 2D Grand Prize for the Machineflesh Challenge (I was using you image as a desktop for 2 months).

[Blackarts]

hey thanks a lot guys, I'm happy you like it.

Evil Gerbil; thanks jason - I'm pretty happy with the way it finally turned out...There are parts I like better too...I think I've refined my technique a bit between now and machineflesh, so maybe that's starting to show.

doug; thanks - yeah I start out very small...500x700 is a usual starting res, and the final one was quite large...3150x4494...I uprezzed twice during the process.

MattDixon; thanks matt - my only question is where was your entry? Surely you would have kicked some major butt.

ArtisticVisions; glad you liked my machinefelsh pic! They were both fun to do.

[Rook]

This one is a front runner in my opinion. Really nice work.

[WillSweat]

This is an awesome peice and has my vote. Nice compostion and overall style

[NinjaA55N]

Ur final picture really covinced me.. it is again a true masterpiece, using right strokes to imitate lots of details. U r a true master and during ur process I learned a lot, so thank u once more time for ur participation :) It was a pleasure wathicng ur thread!

[adel3d]

Awesome Work. :applause:
You Had my Vote!:deal:

[Blackarts]

thanks for the support guys - I'm really happy that you got something out of this process.

[Maxter]

The best one of its class

Really awesome image.:eek:
Congratulations!:thumbsup:

[element5]

Congrates On your win Daryl :thumbsup: Nice one.

[Squibbit]

:p man u so lucky , hhaha j/k , good work dude , the pic looks great on the book cover :thumbsup:

[ebrowning]

Congratulations, I can't wait to see your tutorial. Awesome job, really top-notch. One more win and it's a Dynasty!

[cgkrusty]

Congrats Daryl... I think it was a foregone conclusion right from the start! Awesome work!

[SteveNewport]

Daryl, freakin congrats man! You deserve it! Winner twice out of thousands of artist, I wish you the best of luck (as if you need it now;-)
take care!

[MoonVisionStudio]

Wow! Congrats Daryl, if you keep this up you'll be able to open up a computer store! ; )

[Tranchefeux]

Hi,
All my compliment with gaining, congratulations. with the
pleasure, for a forthcoming challenge.
E.T

[Blackarts]

Wow - thanks a lot everyone for your kind words. I actually think there were several entries that could have easily taken top spot (tranchefeux, you were definatley one of them), so I'm suprised and honored. What an awesome challenge - the next one will be even bigger and better.

[Tonsen]

What an iconic image you've made - clean and powerful. Many congrats to you and much luck on your future projects! It was a definitely a pleasure participating with you in this challenge.

Great work! :)

- Patrick

[Tommy Lee]

Congrats buddy!!!:thumbsup:

Cheerz

Tom

[vampeta]

Hi,

Congratulations!! Nice to see your Image on a Book Cover :bounce:

Absolut great image with a great color scheme, and great sence of Action! AWESOME!!

Only good that you are on the 2D Site of this Challenge, if you are going to do 3D-Stuff so please tell me. (than i wll quit) ;)

See U

[Falcorr]

Woah! That cintiq does hold it magic it seems :thumbsup:

You won and you used few of my advices! So im very happy about it.
Really hope that the next challenge will be more mundane. It will be a pleasure for sure.

Seya then Blackarts!

Aahh... Next time im gonna get that honorable mention!
Got a few aces in my sleeve just waiting! :deal:

[Fahrija]

Congrats!

Your image had the strongest and most appealing look just by watching the thumbnails. Hypnotised by this this it led me and automatically into voting area. :)

Great work and well deserved.

fahrija

[NinjaA55N]

An awesome image... I allready said everything about the pic thru the challenge itself, now its time to congratulate u for that winning entry! Second in a row... u r truly one hell of an artist :thumbsup: It was my pleasure participating in the same challenge!
cya in next one!

[W-I-L]

very well done . . . next time i might finish the challege ... 2 in a row huh. GO FOR A HATRICK!

[Kragh]

Hi Daryl

Congrats on the 1´st place....I actually didn´t vote for the image...which I don´t understand now, it´s really cool. Guess the thumb didn´t appeal enough. But hey, you didn´t need my vote, so who cares.

I wish you some great outcome of this, you should be able to take this very far.

Sincerely

[ArtisticVisions]

An entry that totally deserved to win Grand Prize; great job as always, Blackarts. :)

[TeemuR]

Congratulations! So you did it again! You have one hell out of graphics station now! Cintiq and all! hehe! :D

[JasonChan]

Congratulations! Wow, two in a row :thumbsup: I've got to hand it to you - you never cease to amaze. You completely blew away your last contest entry this time around and I'm glad to see that that was recognized by the judges. Your image was personal, action-packed, grand, and inspiring. Great job :)

[SideAche]

Congrats again Daryl :thumbsup:

[walrus]

How big's your apartment or home, Daryl? Maybe you'll start running out of room and then let someone else win...! Just kidding, of course, it's good your here to raise the bar. Congratulations, great entry, way to go!

-mike

[RLyons]

Congrats Daryl, great image, keep up the arse kicking!

[clearvoyant]

your style and composition are very inspiring.

I especially like looking through your WIP's. It's really amazing to see how willing you were to trash parts of the artwork that weren't working. Many artists have a very hard time do that. Your willingness is something I like to see (mainly 'cus I have such a difficult time doing it). Keep up the good work!

~Bill

[geron]

Congrats Daryl ! I'm in 3d section but I was in this forum everyday . You're my favorite. Others are tranchefeux , evil gerbil , andreasrocha , starbuck . Congrats everyone. You did great jobs.

[ecura]

You did it again. Congrates on another win. A WOWing fantastic master piece.

[Nukturnuz]

Congrats Daryl ,hope you join again next time,your works are always rippin'!

[RandalGreen]

OH MY GOD!!! man I'm competely blown away. I cant say anything, this is a beautiful piece. Everything you said you were going for is here...emotion, action, etc. Excellent....I cant think of nothing else but excellent. Its people like you who I would want to be around and just soak up all the knowledge. What reference or direction can you tell me to go in order to try to produce work like this?

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.