Grand Space Opera 2D Entry: Mike McGregor

[JARhead]

Welcome to the challenge, good luck

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105067347_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105067347_large.jpg)

A little bit on the late side but have just managed to free up some quality time to crank some work out for this.........looking forward to the ride.................hold on!!!!!!!!!!!!

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105068405_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105068405_large.jpg)

Quick sketch just to get some form and perspective on one of the fighter designs.......and a little bit of graphics too.....things are going full throttle now..........

[cgkrusty]

purdy!

What's the overall concept?

[6800AD]

THE CONCEPT.....Definitely set in an alternative Universe where alas a Planet/Planets are being blown to hell...and our little fighters are retreating through either a gateway/wormhole or a tear in space brought on by the forces who are wreaking havoc on said planets....definitely a lot more to come....rapid fire so to speak........now time for bed!!! cheers

[6800AD]

Just working on some planets...should post them later today....

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105106806_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105106806_large.jpg)

One of the planets of many to come.....you can see from basic to added details......a cropped adjusted one to follow shortly

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105107404_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105107404_large.jpg)

Planet one cropped.......more planets to finish then will start working them into a composition

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105113388_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105113388_large.jpg)

More of a blue and cool type planet.....thought I'd set it alight for contrast and drama....added a few ship trails to show flight off and away from the planet

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105113511_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105113511_large.jpg)

just cropped it for a bit of a cinematic feel.....

[AirbORn]

Great concepts! The colouring on the planet looks very nice. I like the mood lighting, colours, and sense of "grand" you are conveying in this piece. Good luck :)

[BlueEyeLizard]

Love the planet. Where are the ships going?

[daadaa]

amazing stuff, how u manage to do fire like that.. is it a photoshop trick or did you paint it? ive never been able to do that!!

come to think about it, ive never tried... emm thats an idea! :P

[ered dium]

It looks great. I really like the planet, the color and fire are nice. Also your spaceship sketch.
No critics.



Grand Space Opera (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=180121) - Leo Calv

[6800AD]

Flames and Fire Using Photoshop
1. Pick a brush and in the Brush dialog box check texture box...pick an organic texture
2. Switch painting mode to Linear dodge and about 20% opacity
3. Pick whatever colour you want the flame to be....probably red/orange
4. Paint on a seperate layer and then set it also to Linear dodge
5. Adjust the scaling of the texture for finer flames.....blur to soften if needed
6. Add seperate layers to build up the jumping flames and flares etc.....
Just play around....adjust hue and saturation to get different colours etc.....

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105145332_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105145332_large.jpg)

Just putting the 2 Planets together trying to see which format works best.....very basic no stars or dust yet....soon to add some ships in the mix....portrait or landscape?

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105146403_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105146403_large.jpg)

Just added a moon in front of the big Planet to play with scaling and foregound......probably will add some more explosive details to it...

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105192042_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105192042_large.jpg)

Just a more refined sketch of the one fighter....side view and a slight front perspective

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105199909_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105199909_large.jpg)

FIGHTER side view rendering....basic details etc....feeling out the forms and character of the ship before I start on the 3/4 view version

[MDN67]

The conception of your planet and the blast of the planet is very, very good, i like too the désign of your ships. I hope you can finished before the end, good work

[walrus]

6800 - Like your fighter designs a lot! How are they going to fit into the whole composition?

As for the planets, i like your rendering of them, it's working well. However, the depth isn't yet quite reading how I suspect you'd like it to. The small moon - which is the closest to the camera - is the least saturated, while the furthest-back planet is the most saturated (which causes it to pop inot the foreground.) I think you might find it helpful to experiment with saturation and use more saturation to make certain bodies appear more forward and less saturation for the things further back.

godd luck with everything in this late stage!

-mike

[se7en-z3r0]

That planet looks bad ass! Cant wait to see the final battle!

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105208927_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105208927_large.jpg)

Starting to compose the scene....adding the ships in etc......playing around mostly...desaturated the rear planet a bit to knock it back.....stars and nebula stuff are just thrown in...they wil be reworked once I get further along

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105215051_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105215051_large.jpg)

Another scene composition using the other fighter ship as the focus.....Again the concept is of massive planetary destruction with ships fleeing en masse...nebula and stars are still basic....will be built up later to help enhance the drama and mood....

[se7en-z3r0]

I would like to see the ship flying towards the viewer - it would help sell the "escape" fact much better. IMO

btw - thanks for the tips on painting fire... its so much easier that way : )

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105397607_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105397607_large.jpg)

Just a final line drawing with my perspective overlay...will add smaller ships later...next step getting the main ship blocked in etc....on the comp I changed the ships so they are racing away from the destruction and toward the viewer....as suggested (thanx x_se7en_x)

[walrus]

Nice...Your strongest composition yet! Good luck with it!

-mike

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105423674_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105423674_large.jpg)

Just roughly blocked in the main ship as well as additional smaller ships....Will now develop a nebula look on the upper right....tick tock tick tock......

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105490934_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105490934_large.jpg)

Another Fighter design that will be the main focus....a bit late to change gears but I wasn't really happy with the previous one.....

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105602023_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105602023_large.jpg)

Finally have a comp and fighter I like....just have the main fighter blocked in with a few details....have to start the other fighters and hit the planet for some enhancements.....The ships are doing a hard bank turn to get away from the torched planet.....so lots of swishy turbo trails to add too!

[marcnail]

the planet looks gorgeous. very dramatic flame effect. I love the
vibrant colors. the perspective however, is not so interesting as the
previous sketch you posted.

Looking forward to the final image.

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105607043_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105607043_large.jpg)

Just widened out the composition to bring back the far left flame...

[walrus]

I think this composition is really strong, nice work! I also like the new ship design, and this cockpit color works a lot better than the magenta. Don't forget to add some warm hilights from the fire to the back of the ships to help tie them into the scene more. It's looking good, almost there!

-mike

[se7en-z3r0]

I love the new fighter design and the perspective is very tight. Nice work so far man.

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105657427_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105657427_large.jpg)

Again another composition but now am starting to pull the whole image together.....much detail still to do on main fighter ...smaller ships trails and nebula.....

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105779929_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105779929_large.jpg)

A bit hacked up for the moment....redid my ship so it's a bit rough there...added some bounced light and added some more details to the secondary ships....

[cabertevon]

Mike...Very impressive work. I am grabbing this image for inspriration.:)

Just like they used to say: Looking forward for the final piece.

[6800AD]

thanks for the comment I need a bit of kick to get this thing done and dusted!

[6800AD]

Simple Glow Effect
1. Create a layer and using selection tool create a circle
2. Fill with Black
3. Keeping it selected and apply a Lens flare...105mm prime (others work too..experiment)
4. In Hue/Saturation....pick colourize and adjust to whatever desired colour
5. In Brightness/Contrast adjust contrast so the edges are completely black
6. Change layer to Screen...Color Dodge...or Linear Dodge depending on effect desired and the Area you are overlaying.....

[daadaa]

increadiable i really love the design of the ships... thought i am rather disapointed in the rocket it has... in the far back there are ships with really cool long rocket trails... while the one closest has a tiny puff of flame... :P nonethe less its still amazing

[Lovliebutterfly]

Really nice effects with those flames! Looking good so far! Nice effects overall!

[renton]

I like the flames and the subject, keep going!

[6800AD]

Fear not all the ships will have thrusters set on max.....I hope

[CptObvious]

I'm not sure if I feel the dynamics of tyhis picture. Fastly flying ships doesn't fly so fast on the picture imho, Maybe more of them with more dynamic engine fire?
I would also give some more breath to the picture.more space around the planet and ships.
anyway,keep it up!

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105974355_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105974355_large.jpg)

Just about finished the main ship.....the other ships will be added....just working on them....and plenty of thruster trails etc....to spice things up

[6800AD]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105999414_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/6/5117/5117_1105999414_large.jpg)

Well here it is finally....not sure I am totally happy with it but next time will jump in this a little earlier...thanks to all for the comments and best of all to see such great work out there....keep cool

[elmasfeo]

Great image! good luck! I really liked how you explained tutorial-like how you made your effects, thanks for sharing it!!! the fire is really impressive!

[element5]

fantastic image, great colouring :thumbsup: good luck.

[MDN67]

Very good pic, the blaster' of the blaster is a very good work, very realistic, the design af the ship is originaly and the paint is nice. Good luck

[conundrum]

great final image, you really managed to bring out the ships with more detail. the planet's colour and contrast is really wonderful, congratulations and good luck

[6800AD]

6800AD Uploaded my final image zip file on Monday but after checking it the image is grey and corrupted looking...I again uploaded it twice this morning but how will I know that you have received the proper file...the name of the file is 121100_65117.zip...Any help is greatly appreciated

[conundrum]

i think try either posting in the faq section or if it gets really tight pm a moderator

[6800AD]

The problem was that there were layers in the Tiff file...so now all is sorted I resent the zip file and it checks out on the preview....cheers

[KennyM]

hey Mike, congrats on this fine entry. great sense of motion and lovely contrast! sweet job :thumbsup:
good luck:buttrock:
Nice to see another person from Belgium btw:bounce:

[kaparo]

Hi Mike

I haven't seen it unltil now. You have an excellent image. Nice composition and brush work.

Congratulations!

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