Eon (Illustration) Entry: James Nelms

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1160445596_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1160445596_large.jpg)

It's just a real loose sketch of some architectual ideas I had for Thistledown. No perspective or compositions yet.

[Istmo]

Hi there!looks interesting :) let´s see the progress. Good luck!:thumbsup:

[rahulmehta]

nice Struthers...waiting for the color treatment .............BEST OF LUCK
cheers

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1160542286_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1160542286_large.jpg)

This is my first rough pencil concept after some architectual studies of individual structures.

I envision Thistledown to be the most 'Alien' of the chambers with a complex latice work of 'spun' steel trusses and monumental towers.

If Frank Gehry designed an oil refinery, this is what it would look like.

[BinaryHylo]

The image's angle is great. It looks like the final will have a lot of motion to it. Look forward to seeing how it progresses. Good luck in the challenge!

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1160704982_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1160704982_large.jpg)

This is my interpretation of the mega structures in the Alexandria chamber. Just an initial concept.

[piccolabella]

i love all the angles in your sketch... very interesting to look at. i'm excited!

[mark123]

Pretty awesome mate... will you model these in 3D or paint them up?

[PBCastle]

lookin' pretty cool james.

NOW GET TO WORK!

( it's ok, i know the guy, )

- you still owe me lunch by the way.

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1160743324_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1160743324_large.jpg)

This is my first completed painting for the EON project. It's pretty true to my original pencil sketch.

The architecture is still 'Frank Gehry on Acid'. The platform in the foreground is how I envisioned the giant 'golf tee' that Greg Bear mentions in the book.

[mv]

interesting structures, I like the idea of iridescent metal too, but, in my opinion:

-all the foreground structures feel a bit randomly stuck one next to another and are quite flat (no distinct perspective )

-the dutch angle feels quite artificial and uncalled for... that kind of angle is great to follow a dynamic in the piece (would work with, say a jumping character in the foreground, or a turning aircraft or spaceship) , or to follow a focus line in the composition (like if, possible foreground characters would be looking towards something in top-right corner of the pic), but here, a standard wide establishing shot would be more logical and work better .

[chirpy16]

Hey, I like the lines in your achitecture, very nice. Good luck!

[Conkrys]

this is totaly awesome... good luck

[Istmo]

I agree with mv argument. Totally right:wise: :thumbsup:

[nikkons]

Nice composition lines & colors in the picture..!
though the view you choose i dont think it fits. : )

[flatline01]

the outworldish architechture is really nice here. but i'm not sure about the angle. in this case, i feels a bit too forced. it also seems to flatten the piece alittle, and we lose the (assumed) height. i also feel that the figures are either too big, or the buildings too small. i like that they are there, as it gives some interest and some sense of scale. but either be smaller, or the buidlings bigger. the one directly across would fit maybe 2 of those people inside.

the depth of the piece is really nice. we get a good feeling of the quasi-infinite space beyond. the scene really pushes a futuristic feel. colors are good, and the LOD used in the background spaces is well done.

[jdnelms]

i love all the angles in your sketch... very interesting to look at. i'm excited!

Thank you. A lot of people didn't like the angle. I'm glad to know someone does.

[johantri]

i totaly awed with your concept. yes, its abit too dynamic from the angle you choose, but i really like how you combine decorative shape into an elegant look and feel...

love it :thumbsup:

[warpy]

quite original keep it up!

[OKMER]

Indeed the angle seems not to fit for 100%, but it's a sketch ofcourse.Great shapes and great start!!keep on rocking mate

[paladin6303]

I'm not so much hung up on the angle, since this doesn't appear to be set in stone as much as the designs of the stuctures themselves. Nice designs and feeling to the concept, though if the platform with the figures on it were closer to the foreground it might help the piece.

gook luck,
Al

[ramy badie]

I really like the idea you are going with behind this, I agree with some of the previous comments made about the overall structure/composition, but I think you are definitely taking this in the right direction. Good luck in the challenge :)

[bearfoot]

hey james

i love your architecture and lines ! really nice.

[Staszek]

idea is super! design looks fatastic - very nice shapes

good luck!

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1161240432_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1161240432_large.jpg)

This is the first of two drawings I'm doing for the 2nd Chamber city of Alexandria. I wanted to create a line of shops and structures that looked like any on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, with the gigantic mega structure looming in the background.

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1161252084_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1161252084_large.jpg)

The 2nd chamber. Los Angeles, but more organized. Frankly, LA is a fairly run down city, but there are parts that are clean and modern. Primarily, Century City where the original 'Die Hard' movie was filmed.

I chose to depict Alexandria as a series of 'Century Citys' surrounded by lush parkland.

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1161465954_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1161465954_large.jpg)

The 2nd chamber. Los Angeles, but more organized. Frankly, LA is a fairly run down city, but there are parts that are clean and modern. Primarily, Century City where the original 'Die Hard' movie was filmed.

I saw Alexandria as a series of 'Century Citys' surrounded by lush parkland.

I realize the scale is not exactly the same as the book's. To be true to the book, the skyscrapers would be much smaller in relation to the cavern itself. I chose to 'humanize' the scale a bit. I tried to imagine what the drum of a clothes dryer would appear from an ant's perspective.

To achieve this perspective I created some circles in Photoshop and imported them into AfterEffects. Using the basic 3D tool in AfterEffects, I could work out the extreme perspective needed for my drawing. The base drawing itself was a combination of pencil and photoshop.

The final painting was all photoshop. The landscape along the sides came from some aerial photos I took over Burbank during a commercial flight. Digital cameras are easy to hide from overzealous flight attendants. The rest was a combination of photoshop brushes and personal photos I've taken over the years.

[Manzieri]

This is a very cool concept art...with a skillful sense of space...!
Great step ahead in the production and one among the best internal representations of the Stone interiors seen so far...:applause:

MM

[OKMER]

Yap ,nice sketches there mate!!!
Did you do those outlines in illustrator or directly in toshop?like them!
Loved the huge feeling in the wilshire blvd pic there!

Your last sketch, maybe something's missing in the foreground to give it even more depth and to show the huge scale of those white structures.
Keep m coming!:thumbsup: :beer:

[PBCastle]

NICE jimbo, looks killer

i agree, kinda feel like it needs something in foreground.
just my thoughts. can't wait to see your psd at work.

[beelow]

I like it! good luck with it!:thumbsup:

[Anatomista]

Amazing. I like the surreal touch in it. (consider as "surreal" something more surreal than a fictional thing) :P

[nwiz25]

this is huge! :eek: man! u rock! love the intricate details buddy! :bounce:

wanna c more :eek: :p

cheers! :beer: n good luck to u! :thumbsup:

[Falcorr]

I'll never be this good.

Just make sure at the end all structures gravities are taken to account.

Good luck with it!

[PMD]

Stunning, James. You've really captured it. Can't wait to see how this develops!

[Ernest Burden]

So many of the pieces in the illustration category so far are spirals. So too, your current work. But you have a bunch of visual elements that defy the spiral, but don't exactly oppose it, either. Blur your eyes and look at the major forces running through your piece. Try sketching the picture at a size of about 1". If it doesn't work at that size, it probably wont at full size.

I don't mean to say you are not doing good work, you are. But the lines of force need unifying.

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1162893401_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1162893401_large.jpg)

I was never quite happy with the original version I did of this illustration a month ago. I decided to take advantage of the 'action' angle by simply putting action into it. The Osprey on the pad in the midground now re-establishes scale.

[Nomad]

I like alot your city, it looks really awesome :scream:


I`m not sure about the plane, I know it`s not from the future but it looks really "old".
IMHO a version with a more modern propulsion system like the British Harriers will work better here.


Anyway great work so far :thumbsup:

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1163413668_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1163413668_large.jpg)

The Book describes the Mega structures of Alexandria as gigantic chandeliers of steel and glass over 4 kilometers tall, with facets larger than the buildings in between.
My Mega is based on a modern glass chandelier I had hanging in the dining room of my old house. The individual facets are modeled after the Prayer Tower at the Crystal Catherdral in Orange Co, California.

[walrus]

Really nice work so far... on ALL of your concepts. I wish you'd show a little more of the process on your amazing 2nd chamber piece. You showed a pencil skech, and then a finished work,and it would be really nice to see what happened in-between.

As for this one, the giant structure is really amazing looking. However, it feels like it was just dropped into the backgorund without fitting together with the foreground. I know parts of Alexandria are described as "quaint," but perhaps more to tie the technology of the foreground in with the background. It might especially help in the further-back buildings, which don't necessarily have to be quaint and thus could tie in together architectureally with the giant building more.

Also, right now the vehicle and person look like they belong with the foreground buildings, same palette and similar looking level of technology. What about making the person/truck look like they don't belong there by changing the colors up some - more of a military drab color for the vehicle and a colored jumpsuit for the person? It might also help them stand out as the personal focus of the piece too.

Anyhow, good luck with it. Great looking stuff so far!

-mike

[naetronic]

hey james good concepts so far. I really like the way Thistledown is looking, (crystal cathedral, whoda thunk it), though do agree with walrus critique on the vehicle and figure in the bot right and the unity of the architecture needs a little work but I know youre working on it! youve still got plenty of time, so have fun and keep it up:thumbsup:

[DWquiff]

Your design for the mega structures is great, I really like it. I also like the horizon on the image too, great way of giving your image some depth. Keep it up.

[aurora]

Great Mega structure. I hope you throw more buidlings like that into the scene its beautiful!

[Kerem]

Mesmerizing work of art :eek: with stunning concept and realization and also very nice choose of colors. I think you can win this at 1st place. Awesome work :thumbsup:

[icedeyes]

The last concept is spectacular to say the least... i had an image in ming about megas but this looks way better than what i thought...

[nwiz25]

i really like the depth in ur imagery :love: its futuristic n having the present scene the same time! very cool indeed!


u can do one thing tho .. add more people .. more like an entire city crowd watching in astonishment ........... shock ...... .. c wat works out dude... :p

surely this is one helluva piece! :p

love it!

[brrrhmmm]

Side by Side comparisons So that you know who is doing

what in the illustration category of the eon challenge only.

Classifier followed by artists.

: Strong/Beautiful Foreground Potraits with EON elements in the background.

Movie Posters theme.

Characters in dramatic poses.

Characters have detailed skin,muscle and skeletal structures.

Very Detailed Vehicle showed prominently together with characters.

Damir G. Martin

Niels-Ullé Walther

Mathias Verhasselt(Forum Leader)

Tan Guang Yu

Simon Bull

Michael See(Based on Sacha Word Of Mouth)

Justin Kellis

Da Feng

Giuliano Brocani

Roderic Rodriguez

Marek Okon

Edward Cicka

Tuan Nguyen

Linda Luksic(Based on Sacha Word Of Mouth)

Linda Smith

William Leafe

Raffy Encarnacion Dermawan

Marco Alejandro Castelan Morales

John Streider

Radu Bogdan Boeru

Tiberius Viris

Sacha angel diener

Niklas Frostgard

Michael van den bosch

sandra bott

michael dashow

nabil hamadi

alwyn talbot

timur kiryashov

damir g martin

Nathan L Bachelder

Daniel lu visi

Maurizio Manzieri

dale thomas

ego lataire

rune rask

guo jian

hugo araujo

: massive architectures,detailed cityscapes,plasma tubes,huge eon elements viewed in the distance in the style of grand space opera with miniscule,faceless,diminutive men ,women and all terrain machines reacting and responding to the environment.

James Nelms

Adrian Fekete

mihai liviu

nabil hamadi

Bjorn Norberg

Tian Yanbing

David Wolstenholme

Ales Marcik

Renee Bailey

Krystian Polak

Jean-Sébastien Guillemette

Tuan Nguyen

Jesse Speak

Timur Kiryashov

Mark Goldsworthy

Roman Bernhard Eppstein

Raffy Encarnacion Dermawan

Tiberius Virius

remko troost

tolgahan gungor

torsten wolber

nathaniel west

ramy badie

bryce smith

martin nielsen

emrah elmasli

mauricio alvarado kladt

prabath wijayantha

maciej frolow

nilesh ambekar

constantinos krystallis

greg kaperski

adrian fekete

reinaldoromero

marcin j. nikiforuk

james nelms

maurizio manzieri

jarek sznytzer

Derek wilson

Nazirull Safry Paijo

Daniel justin bird

dale thomas

erik linden

rune rask

david freeman

ori arad

markus graf

ali jalali

raffy encarnacion

alex kelly

jennifer Kathleen Phillips

: air ,sea atmosperics featuring natural elements of islands,skies blend into a grand sense of scale.Includes Tree elements.Gaia oriented.Mountain views and Spectacular chamber vistas. Sky atmospherics

Thomas Ingham

Tan Guang Yu

Ric Brehm

lei huang

adrian baluta

gonzalo golpe

gunilla elam

jonathan colvin

guo jian

oscar jostedt

brian Slayton

yann tisseron

yaroslav kravchenko

dusten s. sonnon

: party scene with the character interacting and gossiping

Parties gathered at gate opening

Radu Bogdan Boeru

nekomouse

Phillip Buchanan

: wonderful sense of humor even black humor and caricature

Torsten Wolber

per trystad

mark david

: action packed conflict with eon elements in the backdrop and lots of machines,ships,cities and soldiers.battlefield atmospherics

Andrzej Rudz

thierry schiel

paul hume

: entire cities,planetary bodies,asteroids,weather systems,gates,singularities,flawships and space vehicles in awe inspiring perspectives with large scale explosions.Ships have beautiful designs.Space/Aerospace Atmospherics.The Focus is on Flight.Very Detailed Flight Vehicle showed prominently with characters dressed for flight.

Emil Petrinic

Bjorn Norberg

Will Brown

Michael Burburan

Phillip Buchanan

Dmitri G Michniouk

Mark Alford

sacha angel

neville de souza

prabath wijayantha

greg kaperski

mona eriksson

attilla kurt

vladimir davidenko

paul b castillo

juha kamarainen

mauricio alvarado kladt

joel carlo

shawn andrews

matt benya

Derek Wilson

blaz porenta

oscar jostedt

pavel elagin

yann tisseron

blaz porenta

: detailed explanatory tutorials

sacha angel

matt benya

[NinjaA55N]

hehe.. yea, show us more of ur work between the sketch and finished piece :) And its awesome! U still call this a concept art? Huh.. I'm affraid that something will pop out of my screen when this will be finished. I must say that I love the whole structure, looks a bit icey and all that white gives it a nice inocent and clean touch. Keep up the good work!

[CodeNothing]

WOW! thats an awsome concept! the perspective seems a little uncomfortable though, like were making a jump to light speed. :)


would love to see this one finished!

[musi]

Beautiful concepts! love the last one - those pointy structures from above just wondertfull!

Good luck!

Sasha
EON (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=423648)

[didzis]

good job on capturing the ginormous scale of these structures.

[OZ]

...:thumbsup: ...:eek: :applause:

[JeffZugale]

Hey, this is looking great! Actually, I liked the previous image, mostly because of the color palette which is quite interesting, but this is excellent as well.

My only crit is to watch your perspective - some of the receding lines on the various buildings, most noticeably the one marked "NLXE L" on the right, don't seem to be pointing at the central vanishing point. The same is true of some of the other buildings.

Of course it's good to have buildings rotated from the central VP, but if you do that you really have to sell it so it's clear.

The perspective on the vehicle also seems a bit off, but isn't so obvious.

I actually have pre-made perspective grids that I pop into photoshop on a layer - after seeing Mark Goerner at the Gnomon Live event, I made them up similar to the ones he showed us. They're very helpful! Often if I need a very specific perspective layout I'll take my rough into Illustrator and lay out a detailed set of perspective lines, then paste that back into Photoshop as pixels. If you use Painter, you can use the straight line tool (hit V) on a separate layer to set up perspective lines.

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170178535_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170178535_large.jpg)

The 2nd chamber. Los Angeles, but more organized. Frankly, LA is a fairly run down city, but there are parts that are clean and modern. Primarily, Century City where the original 'Die Hard' movie was filmed.

I chose to depict Alexandria as a series of 'Century Citys' surrounded by lush parkland.

I realize the scale is not exactly the same as the book's. To be true to the book, the skyscrapers would be much smaller in relation to the cavern itself. I chose to 'humanize' the scale a bit. I tried to imagine what the drum of a clothes dryer would appear from an ant's perspective.

To achieve this perspective I created some circles in Photoshop and imported them into AfterEffects. Using the basic 3D tool in AfterEffects, I could work out the extreme perspective needed for my drawing. The base drawing itself was a combination of pencil and photoshop.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/images/statusicon/user_online.gif

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170194439_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170194439_large.jpg)

Using my line art as a guide, I started to block in the initial color. The 'floor' of the drum is aerial photography I shot of Burbank California while on a commercial airline flight. It provided the topographical details I wanted without having to paint everything from scratch.

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170196423_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170196423_large.jpg)

The final painting is all Photoshop. Final details to the mega towers were painted in, and cloud photography was distorted to give the illusion of atmospheric depth.
The line art I created for the 'drum' is now visible, creating a vast network of canals and roads.

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170199165_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170199165_large.jpg)

The final painting is all Photoshop. Final details to the mega towers were painted in, and cloud photography was distorted to give the illusion of atmospheric depth.
The line art I created for the 'drum' is now visible, creating a vast network of canals and roads.

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170199208_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170199208_large.jpg)

The final painting is all Photoshop. Final details to the mega towers were painted in, and cloud photography was distorted to give the illusion of atmospheric depth.
The line art I created for the 'drum' is now visible, creating a vast network of canals and roads.

[jdnelms]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170199200_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12088/12088_1170199200_large.jpg)

The final painting is all Photoshop. Final details to the mega towers were painted in, and cloud photography was distorted to give the illusion of atmospheric depth.
The line art I created for the 'drum' is now visible, creating a vast network of canals and roads.

[nwiz25]

congratulations mate! :bounce::scream::applause:

very informative progress dude! i like the depth in ur final image! :eek: in fact .. everything rocks! :buttrock:

wishing u the very best of luck dude! :thumbsup:

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