CGTalk - character: Natalie

BASSit

08-19-2002, 06:52 AM

The model has already great style ! I would just define the shape of the hips a little bit more... it´s to smooth imo.

The only thing that really suckz is the background. Sorry to sound harsh, but it doesn´t fit your character. At the moment it looks like some huge blocks of Lego (TM) :wip: Maybe you just need to texture it !? Or damage the buildings ! Some ruins & bricks on the ground, some smoke (& maybe fire) and cracks on the buildings would add some nice details. (And please remove the shiny ground-plane)

Have you tried to move the camera a bit higher ? I would like to see her pointing on the viewer !

Hope that helps.

wedge

08-19-2002, 07:07 AM

i completely disagree with BASSit

this image has style and its very consistent. I think the background is great, and the character is great. I wouldn't change a thing. And, well... it's finished, so you shouldn't change a thing!

zappazorn

08-19-2002, 07:36 AM

yeah i think the background look fine

Anton Andriesh

08-19-2002, 07:49 AM

Viewing her from the bottom creates an impression that she is taller/dangerously. I think this is very good. Maybe you should strengthen this effect by moving the camera a bit below.

The composition is too boringly. Try to make it more interesting. Play with empty spaces... so, for example if she is pointing upwards - leave some empty space in the top, sky for example.
Also I think that the strict front view is no the best.

The color gamma is boring too by its decolorated look.

Maybe to emphasixe her cartoonish thin look you should try to make the weapon bigger.

You created a nice character, Sherban! ;) I really like it!

Success!

Rye

08-19-2002, 08:02 AM

Beautiful! I love the simplistic style of the background with the extremely stylized character. I think that with the height and skinniness of the girl, having more space at the top might add to it, but it still looks great just the way it is. Have you done an animation of her in this scene?

E.T

08-19-2002, 12:12 PM

Love it too!

like wgeddes said: this image has style and its very consistent

I always think that too much 3d tends to look very 3d-ish.
Theres too many people doing things because theyre hard to achieve not because they serve a purpose. i love your character. Would be nice to see a nice story to go with it

E.T:bounce:

visionmaster

08-19-2002, 12:41 PM

i like it to.
design, pose,color, one more time great job.:applause: :applause:

wedge

08-19-2002, 03:07 PM

Originally posted by E.T
I always think that too much 3d tends to look very 3d-ish.

i agree. this, on the other hand, reminds me somewhat of the old comics and cartoons from back in the day (like 50's)... reminds me of the original Superman cartoon and its vision of Metropolis.

sherban

08-19-2002, 03:07 PM

To celebrate this I thought I'd make this small time-lapse to show my progress. I made it out of my test renders.
Unfortunately I only thought about this after I had done most of the city's setup and modeling so you only get the end bit.
Next time I'm saving all my tests - good or bad.

http://www.geocities.com/sherbane/images/hangar_time_lapse.gif (copy/paste adress or 'save target as'... Geocities - no outside links).

hope you like it :)

dvornik

08-19-2002, 03:15 PM

I like this style. The only problem with this image is you can't see her face and head well. I mean you don't want this image to be the only picture of your mode that people see.

sherban

08-19-2002, 03:26 PM

Bassit:
NO crit is too harsh my man :) If you can't take it - don't post.
When working on it I had all my tests at 50% resolution and I was afraid the BG would be too busy.
I lilke the stylized miniature look its got but I'll cconsider adding some texture to the nearer objects.

The shiny ground-plate is actually an inverted fresnel effect. Will be gone by my next render.

Anton:
actually I was considering making a render from RIGHT below her looking UP. I found it to be a very powerful pose when setting up the lights.

I was afraid that sky is a little busy :hmm: I might have to move that arch out of the way. DAmn :annoyed: I thought I'd get away with it
thnx tho, these are the exact crits I was looking for.

Rye:
thnx, will open space above her.

ET:
This is the 3d style for people who hate 3d styles :p - like me.
Actually this whole thing started cause I hate modeling the details - don't have the patience.

Visionmaster:
thnx, you MAD comics fan :D

WGeddes:
I was aiming for that 50's 'Golden Age/Empire State' look

dvornik:
cheers. I intend to animate her as well and maybe pose her around a bit.

I keep missing people, hope this is my last edit

coCoKNIght

08-19-2002, 05:54 PM

Now this is some REAL 3d ART
good job!

Dimitrius

08-19-2002, 08:14 PM

Try removing the red construction arches. They distract from the rest of the composition. Alternately, desaturate them to gray, move them into the far distance (behind the buildings), and add a distance fog effect. But definitely alter the color, the red pulls away focus from the character.

The character's pose is strong but the camera angle is weak. Her arm blocking her face isn't satisfying. You mentioned a right-side shot, maybe try that again.

The character's style was mirrored in the background, overall it has the potential to be a strong, stylized piece.

sherban

08-19-2002, 11:11 PM

Dimitrius:
thx, all good points - well taken. This is the kind of crits that get me moving. If something's not working - I'd like to know what.
Actually I had already done some of it - like moving and fading the arches. I was ready to post my new FINAL till I read your post...
:annoyed: back to the drawing board *hrumph*

;)

BTW what's the policy on posting my progress in the gallery?
I only have test shots. can I post them here?
guess I'll go look how its done in other threads.

sherban

08-20-2002, 03:10 AM

been at it all night :wip:
here's a small preview. new render tomorrow
tired now... must get... some sleep...

JFrench

08-20-2002, 02:02 PM

The overall composition on this one is really good.

sherban

08-20-2002, 10:42 PM

ok,
this is the final final version :)
I'm quite happy with how it came out. I feel I've learned a lot from it. Don't think I'll chang it again. It has served its purpose.

thanx everyone who critiqued (and those who didn't). I find that terse crits really help to keep me focused.

lastly, I want to see stars. Don't care how many - just make sure they're there :p

eirenicon

08-20-2002, 10:46 PM

Now that's a beautiful image. You've said you're not going to change it, but if you ever come back to it, here are a couple things. I would tilt her head so that she's sighting down the gun somewhat, not just staring straight. Right now it's hard to see her eyes, too. Also, I'd use sharper raytraced shadows to fit with the semi-cartoonish feel.

5 stars :thumbsup:

psumo

08-21-2002, 05:56 PM

If you want to keep the background
simple yet more appealing than a flat
shader try to add some ramping in the
lighting

I like the overall syle of this piece
kinda looks like kory H's retroactive

Timothy

08-21-2002, 07:44 PM

Love the final look and feel..... If you did decide to refine it a bit more, I would say the pose on the upper body is less strong and dynamic. It does not really communicate the strength and energy of the legs.

But again... I just love the style.

sherban

08-21-2002, 10:12 PM

timothy et Timothy:
good points both. At one point in time she was staring down the sights but that got lost along the way.
About the pose. I hadn't seen it but now that I look I have to say you're absolutely right. I'd love to fix those things but those little fixes usually become day-long endevors [sp]

Psumo:
ramping = gradient? I'm not sure I get what you mean.
about KOry's retro-active I have to say you're right :blush: I realized this too about halfway thru. Thought no one would pick up on it tho ;) silly me.

Kirt

08-22-2002, 05:22 AM

Wow! Nice 50's sci-fi fealing to this piece. I like it alot. The only thing that bugs me about the final is the way you positioned her arm holding the gun. I like it off to the side so we can see her face better, but I liked it pointing upwards better. The upward pointing added to the height of the image. She's very tall and slender and the background elements draw your attention up/down the page. The pointing of the gun to the side seems to break that continuity. I like the preview render you made much better than the final.

Other than that ... excellent work! I'd give you 5 stars, but the option isn't available to me for some reason.

Frinsklen

08-22-2002, 11:20 AM

hey, that's great, I like it a lot. Looks... original.

My only crit here is that the sky seems empty, or boring, maybe.
And her legs a bit large, but that's just an opinion.

Really nice design, keep it up. :thumbsup:

sherban

08-25-2002, 01:15 PM

ok, so maybe I will fix this image again.
I must agree the pose isn't very satisfying. I was trying to solve the arm covering her face but made her less dynamic in the process. I'm not quite sure how to tackle this tho... ideas anyone?

3 stars ehh? :hmm: I guess I asked for that one... although I have my suspicions

pabbloz

08-25-2002, 02:18 PM

Hee! keep working on that! it's really cool and I love this style!
I want learn it!
what will you work on now? an enemy? :rolleyes:

I give you 5 starts! :p so work work ! :wip:

Klytus

08-25-2002, 04:41 PM

I love it. From the pose to the design and the background choice it's a perfect nod to those old pulp science fiction magazine covers from the 40's and 50's. It's a favorite genre of mine, I've been working on a personal project for years now set in a cheesy 50's future world :-)

I think your first image was strongest, in pose, colour and background. My own opinion that the second image is somewhat weaker.

The strong red metal arches, the pale yellow sky and the stylised buildings are classic features of scifi artwork from back then, I felt that you nailed it on the first try.

In my opinion go back to the first pose (maybe make her gun more chrome and raygun-like, have her point it towards us? I like what you said about having the camera point up at her too) and background, make the colours a bit more dynamic, throw some more rimlighting on the character, especially on the face to make her stand out more. If you move her a lot closer to camera you can get away with a busyier background, right now she's competing with the BG make her dominate frame a bit more. Oh, and maybe put a chrome 50's rocketship blasting off into space, for no other reason than I like 50's chrome spaceships :-)

I did some photoshopping on your image to show the kind of thing I'm talking about:

http://www.sectorcity.net/posts/hangara08copy.jpg

bentllama

08-25-2002, 09:00 PM

Sherban...

Congrats for straying from the norm...

Kudos.

Jhonus

08-26-2002, 12:15 AM

yeah, that colour corrected version looks better.

what are you plans for this Sherban? (oh great unfinisher ;))

sherban

08-26-2002, 02:02 AM

Pabbloz:
Actually I have an animation intended for her but that'll probably take a while. I don't feel like my animating skills are quite there yet.

Klytus:
that's really beautiful. Much appreciated. I'll try to solve that arm-face thing somehow tho but still keep the original. I can't feel like everything I've done was for nothing ;)

I want to keep her arched legs in the image so I'm not sure how to bring her forward more :hmm: something's gotta give.
here's a small preview of the bottom light/camera angle. Its a bit over the top, I know.

Your image also makes me wanna add more details in the way of textures. I was sorta liking the flat Lego look - but its going bye-bye :wavey:

bentllama:
:blush:

Krugar:
that's rich...
wanna have a contest?
:D

Jhonus

08-26-2002, 08:32 AM

Originally posted by sherban
Krugar:
that's rich...
wanna have a contest?
:D [/B]
Yes it is a bit rich considering the amount of unfinished work i have lying around.... what would this contest involve?

you've got some cool camera angles in those pics... almost the beginnings of a story board.

sherban

08-26-2002, 06:21 PM

Whomever can actually present a finished project (any past unfinished work or even something totally new) first, wins.

Winner gets to pick the loser's title for a month ;)

lmc

09-24-2002, 02:37 AM

I like it....good stuff:thumbsup:

piajartist

09-24-2002, 03:02 AM

I think it is good, but Im not sure quite what the concept was, as far as your goals. I think she is too thin, and looks more stickly than anything.:D

facial

09-25-2002, 01:07 AM

Nice style, Keep post up.
:wip: :wip:

PureFire

09-25-2002, 03:23 AM

i love it...excellent work.....i wouldnt worry about the suggested form of her body...its just perfect as it is

piajartist

10-02-2002, 06:45 AM

put a circle around her and you have the mercedes emblem

god that was lame....:shame:

sherban

11-09-2002, 01:05 PM

hi,
been away for a while.
This is indeed my final FINAL version.
I worked it a couple of more nights and I'm fairly happy with the outcome.
Thanks to everone who contributed. The input was indispensable.

Jhonus

11-09-2002, 01:29 PM

Hey Sherban, the bright red in the corner is a little distracting, but other than that it looks real good.

Where you been?

sherban

11-09-2002, 04:09 PM

hi Krugar,
long time no see.
I've sorta migrated over to eatpoo. It's a traditional art forum but the irreverence that goes on there appeals to me more than Is poser a good app?http://eatpoo.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/grin.gif

Drop by, and check out the general innate banter forum. I think you'll like.

Frinsklen

11-09-2002, 07:56 PM

great, once again.

I have to say that I liked that semi-bottom view, and that the flare you've added doesn't fit in much with the image... but as I told you when you started this (quite a while ago, by the way) I love this style.

Keep it up!
:thumbsup: