CGTalk - Rifleman/AK74M

earl

12-28-2002, 01:52 AM

I had no intention of taking this drawing so far - I was just idly sketching while trying to get in the mood to work on a game modification. I decided to try painting it, and this is what I have after a few days of tinkering with it:

http://www.baconbomb.com/img/kretchet.jpg

It's a bit unbalanced, because I focused mainly on the rifle, and I still didn't expect to finish painting the soldier.

Here's the reference image I was working from:

Reference image (http://www.baconbomb.com/img/kretchet_ref.jpg)

The soldier's face is pretty good by my standards, but I'm not satisfied. I'd like to use the final painting for the header of my game mod webpage - so I'd like it to look better. Any suggestions?

One problem I intend to correct is the ear, I painted it as if the head were level, but his head is tilted forward to meet the buttstock and aim along the top of the rifle. Ear will have to be rotated slightly to match.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I painted the hat in a different colour pattern, because that's what I saw from the printout of the ref image I was working with. I'll change it to match the coat.

Here's a few goodies:
AK-74M (http://www.baconbomb.com/img/kretchet_ak74m.jpg)
AK-74M detail (http://www.baconbomb.com/img/kretchet_detail.jpg)

I went a bit overboard on the scratches and wear on the rifle, I'm just getting some practice for when I start texturing weapon models for the mod.

dmcgrath

12-28-2002, 09:24 PM

I haven't had much time until now to give you some pointers, but I do now.
It's actually starting pretty well. You can go a couple of directions from here if you want to.
On the face area, bring the ear down some or rotate it clockwise a little to make it look like his face is angled downward like you wanted. Also the eye isn't intent enough for someone shooting a gun. These are all detail problems that you can discard completely if you blur out the face. It could be just as dramatic with everything out of focus a little bit, except for the business end of the rifle. And some more focused lighting.
The gun looks great, you said you spent the most time on it so it stands to reason.
My other advice is to get you to think more in levels. Its hard to do at first, but here goes. Take the 5 main peices of camo on the guy (hat top, hat side, right arm, left arm, and torso). And make them different shades. The colors are all the same as soon as the hat and shirt are made, but you shouldn't paint it that way. Start pushing them in to different color levels, as well as brigtness levels.
Also make the cloth look as "dirty" as the gun. Go for the more realistic look.
Dont forget a background.
Then update.

:thumbsup:

Pancreas

12-29-2002, 08:58 AM

Woah, the gun is great, you´ve got a very realistic look, i´d only work on the head and the hat (as dmcgrath has pointed out), they´re good, but not so cool as the weapon. Perhaps add more contrast as in your reference image, darker shadows or brighter areas.
Very nice drawing, waiting for updates :thumbsup: bang bang!

earl

12-29-2002, 04:36 PM

Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate it.

I'll try to add some folds and seams in the coat and hat, and tighten up the badge detail.

I'd like to make the face more pale, as in the reference image.

After that I'll try to make a more definite light source, probably from behind as in the photo.

I'll definitely update once I've worked at it, thanks again.

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