Eon (Illustration) Entry: Alexandra Ciolac

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1162312347_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1162312347_large.jpg)

It's a concept for the scene, where Patricia and other guests of the Axes City passing the gate to the Frant world. Patricia is moved by the beauty she sees, and she cryed. Here Lanier is catching her teardrops with the archaic handcherchief he got from Olmy.

[Ivy00]

I liked that part of the book also

[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.Some artists appear in more than one category because of their art is

multiclassed..

: 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.Characters may wear detailed armor.

Very Detailed Vehicle showed prominently together with characters.The Focus is Character.

Alexandra Ciolac

Samuel Burton

Mathieu Didier

Juan Díez

Kari Salmi

Andrey Akulov

Lei Jin

Albert Feliu

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.Archictectural elements include buildings,pylons,aqueducts,railways station,arches and airports as well as roads.The Focus is Architecture.Huge Explosions may be present.

danny Silverstonecis

Kazimierz Fit

Lowell Aromin

Mike Moir

Ernest Burden

Lamair Nash

Marty Jones

Raul Heib

Elena Fitts

Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe(Inspirational Art)

Claire O'Brien

Sean J

Tibor Beďatš

Michael Merrill

Michael Krenzin

Kerem

James Nelms

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.Rivers curve and bend and disappear in the distance.Organic and Crystalline Inorganic natural forms.Terrain

and Environment is the Focus and site of adventure.Open Pit Mines abound.Mining Machinery act as props.

Michal Matczak

Kerti Alev

sean counley

Mark Cripps

Jeff Zugale

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

Social Parties gathered at gate opening or onboard a ship or library viewing.

Radu Bogdan Boeru

nekomouse

Phillip Buchanan

christian paterson

Alex Kelly

Martin Dolejs

: 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

Karel Fourie





: 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 Pilots dressed for flight.



Ricky Cox

Viktor Nering

Bazzaro

John Cahoon

Kirt Stanke

Mona Eriksson

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

Fabio Oscar Corica

: detailed explanatory tutorials

sacha angel

matt benya

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1165786582_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1165786582_large.jpg)

Finally I got a little time for this :)
This is my 3d concept. Things look a little flat at the moment because there are no lights or textures or depth of field. Characters are just a couple of dummies I am using to work on my poses and composition. Because I am short on time I am not going to use my time to model full characters, instead I am going to model only parts that's visible and later replace the dummies. So for this entry I am mostly concerned with the poses.

[Terro]

Hi Musi,

Are you doing the part where they are inside Olmys ship? I like the weightlessnes in your scence as they are overlooking the horizon. As you said , there are no textures in yet, so it does look flat, but I'm sure you'll do a great job at bringing them to life.

Whos the bold character? Will that be Patricia?


PS: Thank you for helping me with the name translation :) I took russian for 1 year when I used to live in Poland, but I completely forgot it by now. Thanks again and I will be checking in on you soon, so get us some updates. Best of luck to you.

[musi]

Hi Terro,

Yes, it's that part, just before they pass to the frant world. And the bold character is Patricia :) . But all of the things you see now are going to be replaced. Charecters are free models I got from 3D World mag, rigged and skinned very quickly (I have a rigging script I made for another project).

I am just out of the crunch time at work, very limited on time, so I have to use it properly.

And you are welcom:)

Sasha

[webwings]

This POV is interesting...draws you into the picture and story.

[musi]

Thanks webwings,

That's something I intended - to tell a story, to show an emotional moment, a snapshot of life, a human connection between two people.
So here are two "ordinary" (as they think) people on the background of the future they are about to create, on the doorstep of the alien world.
After all, it is a story of individuals developing on the background of all human-universe history.

That's the idea, let's see if I will have enougth skill (and time) to realise it :) .

Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1166053703_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1166053703_large.jpg)

Description of Garry from the book:
"Tall, with close-cut dense black hair, Lanier resembled a pale-skinned Amerindian, though he had no indian blood. ...eyes reassuering - gently scrutinizing, the eyes of a man used to seeng across great distances. " (page 1)
"...dark eyes, underscored by fatigue lines...) (page 30)
That's all I could find. So I see him like this. This is only the model - shading, texturing and hair on the way.
Any comments are very welcome.

[Terro]

Very nice modeling job Alexandra, he looks very convincing from the front view , even without hair and textures. The side/profile view also looks great but not as powerfull. Can;t wait to see him lit up with all the textures , bumps and hair :)

Keep up the great work!

[bandro]

seems very detailed, the muscles, the skin, but don`t forget he is also handsome, every girl in his crew have liked him (at least Farley and Patricia did), maybe he could be more vigorous or fat because he`s about his 40`s, good luck!!

[VietEmotion]

nice facemodel, it looks very like lanier, keep work:D

[musi]

Thanks for comments, good people!

Terro, you are right about his profile, I will work on it more.

bandro, don't you think he is handsome :)? (that's a joke). I made him skinny because he is "stoned" and very tired, I guess he lost some weight because of that. But you are right, may be he looks a little too young, I will work on getting him closer to 40`s look.

bandro, thanks for "looks very like lanier", I will try keeping that feeling.

Sasha

[Marie Louise]

Hi Sasha

Thanks for your email. You wanted sone comments.
I like the face, but the top of the head is to small. You can see if i front view. The center of the face goes through the eyes.
There is one more comment to the side view: he looks a bit angry. You might want to move the mouth a bit back and round it. The same goes for the eyes.
The ear looks very big. There is a invensible line from the top of the ear that goes to the corner af the eye. And it seems that the ear is crossing that.

Love the neck. I can see you put in the edges Steeven Staalberg told us. From the jaw and down.

Keep coing Sasha, I will be watching

Marie Louise

[musi]

Hi Marie Louise,

Thanks for passing by, I appreciate your comments!
Yep, I can see now what you mean, specially with the ear and center of the head. That's your drawing classes that talking now - one more prove of importace of life drawing :).

He is not engry, but very tired and trying to keep himself together. Because he is not for animation, I am not building him with default face but putting in emotion from the very start. There going to be more emotion going on, when he will be in the scene and properly posed.

And yes, that's Steven Stahlberg lessons I am using here - all credits to him!

Sasha

[shattered-fx]

Hi Alexandra,

Except for the close-cut dense black hair, I think the rest of the facial features (your Gary model) are very faithful to what the book described him. ..good luck!:thumbsup:

-raffy


my EON entry

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1166364692_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1166364692_large.jpg)

Here is reworked Garry, and how he will be posed in the scene. Now it's texturing and shading time.
Next week I am giong to get Patricia to the same level where Garry is now, finalize their poses and start adding detail.

[musi]

Thanks Raffy,

I hope you will like my reworking of Garry's face :).

Sasha

[Demitsuri]

Your concept is good, but point of view is just FANTASTIChttp://forums.cgsociety.org/images/icons/icon13.gif. Goodluck!

[Marie Louise]

Hi Sasha

Love the opdate.
I didn`t know that you model an expression at once. So it makes sense why i thought he look angry.
I'm looking forward to see the shading and texture.

Nice work.


Marie Louise

[musi]

Thanks Marie Louise,

I think I will keep him unchanged for this iteration.

Sasha

[daWinky]

Hey Sasha!

Seeing your unusual concept I just read the part of the book describing the Frant's world again and can only agree that this is an interesting scene to visualize. A very emotional appealing approach and I like your choice for the viewpoint:thumbsup: .
Lanier looks fine so far and I'm curious to see him textured now:) .
Hope you find some time to work on your scene soon!

Cheers,

-sabrina

[musi]

Hi Sabrina,

Thanks for looking into my thread and for supporting words!
I started texturing Lanier, and modeling Patricia, hope to post an update this weekend.
And tomorrow my last day at work before vacations, and than me and my computer will celebrate Christmas together :scream:!

Sasha

[OKMER]

Didn' have the time to read this part of the book yet and dont know much about 3D, but indeed it's a nice angle you did there, nice dynamic.
Good luck mate!!!
:beer:

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1166914912_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1166914912_large.jpg)

First iteration of Garry's face shading and texturing. Here is only the colour map and SSS, bump and speculars to come soon.
I am heaving some problems with pluging bump map into misss_fast_skin_maya...

[musi]

Hej everybody,

I just got a second screen, and I can see how different things are looking on them. And suddenly I am in doubt that when I post something you see the same colours as I see!:sad:

Can anybody help me to adjust my screens properly? I will appreciate it a lot!

Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1166981438_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1166981438_large.jpg)

And here is Garry, textured and shaded, and with hair.

[nwiz25]

hey dude! wishing u and ur family a very merry christmas! :bounce: :love:
http://nwiz25.cgsociety.org/gallery/444492/

cheers! :beer:



> very nice texturing i must say! :love: the 3d model concept is really amazing too! keep em comin mate! :thumbsup:

[musi]

Thanks for the beautiful Christmas card, Neville :applause:!

And for kind words about my work too.
Yesterday my machine finally died as a hero on the battle field:cry:. I mean died permanently and completely...
But thanks to my friend I can continue working - he kindly offered his own computer for my next victim, and went with me through all troubles of data recovery. So I am planing next update later today.

Marry Christmas to you too!
And thanks God (who ether or what ether he/she/it is) for good friends:bowdown:!

Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167178803_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167178803_large.jpg)

First colour test for terminal and Garry. Still looks flat, but atmospheric effects, ships and lights are to come.
Terminal: "The surface of the building was coated by a material resembling opalescent milk glass, eith bands of brassy orange metal spaced at seemingly random intervals on the horisontal planes."
I tryed to get that, but... What do you think, people?

[RaresH]

Hey Sasha,

Nice skin shading on Lanier. I think hes quite faithful to the description in the book. I hope some of the subtleties on the previous head posts will show through in the final image. If not, consider making them more prominent so we can observe the full glory of the detail. I'm guessing the orange and white background isn't the final you're going for? I wonder because it seems a little distracting. And you're probably working on this but some wrinkles in his cloths would be a nice detail. Happy Hollidays! :applause:

[musi]

Hej Rares,

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate it a lot.
I am working today on detailing Garry, and later today I will post an update on him with wrinkles in his jumpsuit, handkerchief in his right hand, and more visible details on his head (as you suggested).
And I can see now the terminal white and orange colours don't work. I was trying to stay close to the description of it in the book, but it obviously has to be reconsidered.

Any ideas about possible colouring for the background?

Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167272031_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167272031_large.jpg)

Here is Garry with some closeup details. I consider him being about 70-80% ready. This is a low quality render, so he will get better shadows. There some small details to be added, and composit to be done. Hands will need some more texturing too.
I used some time on that "archaic handkerchief", but will realy appreciate a second opinion.

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167429912_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167429912_large.jpg)

Here is the first Patricia skin and hair test. It looks a bit too cleen now, but details are to come.

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167604172_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167604172_large.jpg)

The last update this year - Patricia and Garry finally together in the same scene.
Still a lot to do: add fine detail, get a good render, composit... And backgrounds...
Happy New Year, good people!

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167674390_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1167674390_large.jpg)

Another background test.

Hope somebody will give me some coments on this, because I am about to give up. I have posted a couple of updates (and I thought I did a good job on them: I got started with mental ray and skin shading, and this is my first ever participation in a chalange and forum like this). But it looks like my work doesn't worth being commented. How I can know it's bad or good - I don't get any feed back?

[Thaldir]

Hallo!

It would be a real pity to give up on this, Musi.
Keep in mind, please, that I don't work in 3d, so I don't know how useful my feedback can be to you, a couple of things come to mind tough.

The first is Patricia's tears, right now one has to look really hard to see them ( I don't know if this is because of the stage of the work you are in, though). I would like to see them more, so that the purpose of the 'old-fashioned handkerchief ' is clear.

I would also like to see some detail (compatible with ship's height) of the Frant world, continental landmasses, for instance...how is the world described (I didn't get to that part of the book yet)? Mostly dry land? Mostly water? Is it said wich color their 'sun' is?All those elements will influence your scene...

[mladenr]

Why would you give up? It's a cool concept, you have a decent skill and a cool idea for the scene. You will feel better if U finish.

I think that you should make Laniers eyebrows less like a Vulcan eyebrows, ie outer edges should be lowered. Also, I think this face would look better if he had lighter hair and if he hada bit of a hair receding problem (move hair line, make it less dense), i think he would look more real, cool whatever. Also, spend some more time on his face textures and details, if you make it.

Oh, and happy new year!

[musi]

Thanks for encouragement, Tiziano and Mladen, it meant a lot to me!:)

Tiziano, I understand it's difficult to comment 3D if you are not familiar with the media - I have the same concerns when I am looking at 2D. But at the end nobody cares if it 3D or 2D, what matters is the quality of work and how it expresses what it intended to express, because people are looking at the image, not at the technique that was used to make it.

Your suggestions about the Frant world gave me some thoughts... I can see now that the background is too busy (I wanted to add some ships too). I was so fascinated by the description of the terminal building and wanted to show it so much, that I forgot about the purpose of the image. What's important here is the emotion shown - and here the tears that now are not really visible. So I am thinking to bring ship and characters closer to the gate, so that it will fill almost the whole background, and work some more on the Frant world detail then on terminal. It will help me to keep background simpler and more consistent, and bring attention to characters instead.

Mladen, you are right about Laniers face - I was looking at it for so long that I failed to see those things! It needs more work, and I am going to do it today after work (brows, hair and textures).

Thanks for comments! It's a great help to me. And sorry for my little fell down yesterday...:blush: I just felt so tired and out of ideas...

Happy New Year to you too!

[LightSovereign]

Hey Musi.

I understand the feeling well, i hit about 3 well constructed brick walls with my piece and nearly gave up. and am gratefull that i have got a piece to show for all the blood sweat and tears that went into it!..

biggest issue was loosing site of what it was meaning to convey..(i was extremely lucky that i had a great dream one night which brought me back on track).

I think you''l be pleasantly satisfied when you are finished...Your piece is original!, most evrybody else has decided to pick a vast landscape, yours' is one the most character driven in the collection, i'd say, (one of two people i can recall off hand anyway).

good luck with finishing

marley

[musi]

Thanks Marley for support!

Yeh, dreams like that are rare and one is lucky to have a couple of them in the life time! Your image looks like a very beautiful dream, so sleeping have most definitely helped you :).

And I am polishing Garry (posts by Mladen and Tiziano where extremely useful), planing to the end of the week post update on him, hopefully final.

Thanks again for stopping on my thread, good people!
Sasha

[Thaldir]

Glad I could be of some help. :)
Looking forward to seeing your progress!

[Ivy00]

I am not going to give any crits or suggestions, I think Thaldir and mladenr gave excellent suggestions.

As the others said, your scene is original and when I read that part of the book I was hoping someone would render it. So I offer encouragement to you and some cheers :)

[icedeyes]

Hi Alexandra... Happy new year...

Here is my advice but it may be too much for this stage of deveporment... Gary looks nice but seems angry... lower the outer part of his eyebrows to make him seem more emotional...

The uniforms look great... I have to agree with Thaldir on the tears... Also, maybe make Patricia reaching for the gate... Might give more emotion to the scene...

Finally, don't give up... Remember you are doing this for you more than anyone else... Keep on it and its gonna pay off...

Have fun,
George

[daWinky]

Hey Sasha,

oh, I see I've missed some great updates here during the holidays, you've made some really impressive progress with your scene:thumbsup: ! My suggestions would mainly be the same you've already heard from Tiziano and Mladen, so I'm just here for some cheering and encouragement...Keep up the good work and I'm curious to discover your next updates:) !

Cheers,

-sabrina

[Marie Louise]

Hi
Happy New Year...
Wow somebody been busy during the hollydaies. It`s looking good Sasha.

There is something with the light on the back of his right leg or maybee is the modeling! There is a funny curve of light. At the back of the knee on the same leg it looks lige at tight ribben is going on round?

But very nice worke looking forward to seeing more.

Marie Lousie

[musi]

Hey good people! Thanks for support, it's amazing how much just an encouraging word can mean sometimes!

Ivy, there is so many levels in that part of the book, so much feelings and blended emotions, that I am surprised not many decided to illustrate it. It's my favorite too.

Sabrina, thanks! I hope you had nice holiday vacations and got some well deserved rest :).

George, I will most definitely work with Garry's face more and use your advice - ones Marie Louise noticed too that he looks angry. Unfortunately, I have finalized Patricia's pose (it's a frozen geometry already), and time is running out, but if I will get some extra hours I will try it.

Marie Louise, nice to see you here again! Your last suggestion was most useful. I am working some more on suit, and will do corrections on Garry's legs. Thanks for pointing it out.

Good luck to you all!
Sasha

[HFix]

nice work so far...i agree that the tears are very hard to see...and the eyebrows need a change cause he is very mad that he has to listen to all the crying... :) good luck with your final...



-Eon Link-
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?postid=4109615

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168044506_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168044506_large.jpg)

Here is Garry, reworked according to crits I got. He is almost ready (there some minor corrections in compositing to come), unless somebody will have a really good suggestion.

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168113892_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168113892_large.jpg)

Another background test. I am struggling to show that Patricia and Garry are in the VIP ship. Bacause the ship is so big that we can't see the edges of it, and it has no mechanical interiors, and it's lower part is transparent, it's difficult to separate it's surface from the rest of the background. And it looks for me now that the frant world is not clear enough. If it's sharper than it is now - there is no sence of distance and it looks flat...
Any suggestions? Will appreciate it!

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168160976_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168160976_large.jpg)

Here is my last night... I looked at my previous update and realy didn't like it. I couldn't sleep on this dislike, so I started experimenting with elements I have to get a more readible composition.
Which works better, previous one or this one?

[LightSovereign]

the last one you have posted is tremendous!!!..The little tid bits of work you have done has made a big difference imho. i quite like the image flipped aswell. im not seeing too much needed for improvement, well nothing is glaring out at me..

Congratz, its simple clean and beautiful!!

excellent work!

Marley

[fgdf]

i agree!! ^^

especially good shader work in here
keep it up and don't forget abouteyelashes !!

-cheers

[Thaldir]

LOVE the last one! Go with it, really, really good work!

[musi]

Thanks guys! And the last one I am going with.

It still a long way to go and lot's of detail to add (brows, eyelashes, Patricia's tear to come, here hair to remake, better renders to do), but I can see the end :)!

Thanks again for support!
Sasha

[nwiz25]

hey dude! :bounce: very cool indeed! :scream: everything has been modeled so well! even the handkerchief! :eek: gotta love that one! :love: u took care of everything! the way he holds it .. how patricia looks on with her hand touching her face ... how both of em are holding hands! .. amazing! :D:D


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

[musi]

Thanks Neville!

I glad you like it, because I killed my computer on this, and when challange is over I have to get a new one :).

Good luck to you too!
Sasha

[Ivy00]

I like the second one you posted, it makes me feel like they are looking out of a ship more than the previous one

[musi]

Thanks Ivy.
I have lots of problems actually showing that they are in the ship. The ship itself has no interior features, it's a disk about 30m in diameter, and the bottom part of it transparent. And characters are in the middle of it, so I can't show the edge of it...

Sasha

[Terro]

Hi Musi, sorry I havent been able to check on you, but RL had me busy bus.... :)

I'm very much like the character interaction in your piece, this image depicts Patricia geting soothed in a way. This is probably the only entry that has a emotional twist to it, very cool. I also really like the texture on their uniforms, it's simple but it work out very well.

The one thing that does throw me off is that purple beam that they are holding onto, because the Plasma beam was outside the ship and not on the inside. But thats my only crit.

Beautiful work Musi, best of luck.

[musi]

Hej Terro,
Thank you for finding time to help me!

I am happy to see that you like some of it :).

That purple beam actually suppose to be the traction line inside the ship, described like this:
"...tenuous purple traction line...", and later when they are inside the ship "...Patricia floated with arms and legs spread, one hand grasping the same traction line as Lanier." But obviously, it needs more work and adjustment if it jumps into the eye. Thanks for pointing it out!

Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168297402_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168297402_large.jpg)

Here is final - I hope - Garry composit.
Any suggestions, corrections, anything looks wrong or out of place? There is still some time :)

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168297965_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168297965_large.jpg)

Almost there!!!
Three big things are missing: detailing on Patricia's hair, update on hands textures and rework of the purple traction line.
I concerned a bit about Patricia's tears - too much? And not sure if should keep those lines of ships going towards the planet...
Will greatly appreciate any suggestions.

[daWinky]

Hey Sasha,

I've nothing to add to your to-do-list...if you can fix the things you've already mentioned yourself everything should be fine:thumbsup: ! Patricia's tears are coming along good now, not too much in my opinion and I also like the lines of the ships:) ! Let's see your adjustments soon!

-sabrina

[icedeyes]

Much much better than the last time i looked at your thread... Great work... just keep on it.. the clock is ticking for all of us...

[OKMER]

Hi Musi!
i wish you all the luck,love, health and inspiration for 2007!!!
Really coming along very nice your pic,lovely close emotions in it!
And I really like your texturing!
MAybe just I say that Garry should maybe be more watching Patricia and that the distance between Garry's shoulders seems a bit not enough to me.Which gives a tiny little feeling that Garry's head seems a tiny little bit too big.Just my feelings ofcourse.
Anyway, it's really great and we feel like we wanna be there with them to watch the spectacle!
good luck on the last run mate
:beer:

[musi]

Hey Sabrina and George,

I am trying to do my best :), and I am in hurry, as everybody...
And today is a Patricia hair day (after work). And my computer (my friend's actually) is rendering back home...

Best of luck to you too, guys!
Sasha

[musi]

Hey OKMER,

Thanks, a good productive new year to you too :)!
Appreciate a lot your comments and opinion. I guess there is some distortion in Garry and in the way he is percepted, and it's happening because of the camera's focal length... But at this point it will be too much work to try fixing it, and not necessary enough benefit from it... Unfortunately, there is no time for experimentation now, and I will have to live with it :shrug:.

Good luck to you too!
Sasha

[Marie Louise]

Hej Sasha.

It´s really looking good. Love the detalins in the closeup fx. the tears in his eyes, the lips, the lines in his forhead etc.

Best of luck with the rest.

Marie Louise

[musi]

Thanks Marie Louise, your support means much to me!

I got some comments from my other class mates via e-mail, gona work on them. But now - Patricia's hair time.
Thanks guys!

Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168416101_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168416101_large.jpg)

Patricia closeup with new hair.

[bandro]

everything looks beautiful i think the number of tears its ok I think the light beams and lens flares are giving the painting some unnecesary noise and distraction and one of them (in brown) seems non-compatible (ha ha what a bad english) with the general tone of the painting, maybe that is what its annoying you

best luck partner!!

[musi]

Hey Alex,

You are the second person who have mistaken the rows of ships with lens flare (another is one of my friends) - an indication for me that it should be changed. Thanks for conferming the tears - so they are to be like they are for now.

And after a sleepless night I found out that the deadline is moved! I kan get some sleep today after work :)....

Sasha

[musi]

O.k., here is a little background story of the image for some of my friends, that prefer communicate their ideas via e-mail, but still checking on my progress inhere, and for them who haven't read the book.

Patricia and Garry are scientists that found themselves in the human society of the future. They are in the middle of vehicle, disc shaped, about 20-30 m in diameter and about half of it high (there where no precise numbers in the book, I guessed the size from various descriptions and comparisons). It has no mechanical parts, has completely transparent lower half - in fact it's kind of energy field, and has no interior detailing except purple traction lines going from top to bottom. There are no gravity in it.
They are about to pass through the Gate to the alien world for the first time. The gate is a perfectly round opening 5km in diameter, and when they are at certain distance from it they can see the planet with eclipsing sun through the blue field covering the Gate, with continents and oceans and mountains. The Frant world looks like it's viewed through the magnifying glass. There are rows of other ships and vehicles surrounded by leading energy fields that passing through the gate, mostly disk, egg or sphere shaped.
Patricia is moved by the beauty she sees and the future that was created because of her scientific discoveries (complicated and long story behind it), she cries for the lost Earth (there have been a nuclear war and Earth was almost destroyed) and all the lost lives... Olmy (a person from that future) explains that in their society is not common to express their feelings like this, and gives to Garry an "ancient handkerchief". Here is the moment when Garry is trying to catch Patricia's tears from the air.
There are much more blended emotions in there - I am not attempting to retell the book, it's impossible :)!

So, my friends, if you have any ideas about how to improve my image to show this moment better I will be very happy to try them out. And very thankful too! :scream:

Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168469960_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168469960_large.jpg)

And since we got some more time I can try improving some things that I am not entirely satisfied with.
After critique from a friend I found it difficult to decide on a good pose for Garry's left hand. Help!
Don't mind the bad quality and geometry going through each other - it is just a research, I will improve the one I am going to choose with your guys help.

[OKMER]

Hi Musi, personaly I'll say Number A and F.For me they feel the most natural,easy.just like an hand that doesn't have to think,ha,ha.
May ze forzzz b wizz you!:beer:

[Thaldir]

Definitely A for me .

[icedeyes]

f seems to have more motion in it... i'd go with that...

[Marie Louise]

Hey


I like E that it seems like the hand i moving towards the girl.
Good luck with the new deadline.

Marie Louise

[Ivy00]

I like both C and E, they each look good for 0 gravity and catching floating tears

[JeffZugale]

Heh, we're both doing scenes from the same sequence, musi... though mine is from a little before yours. This looks really nice! I like that you are capturing an emotional moment.

[TheFirstAngel]

hand a looks natural and fine :) great work here - can't believe i missed all this (omg)! dont worry bout the finishing touches you got much time to work on finetunes, time got extended :)
best of luck and looking forward to your next update :) - rock on!
cheers

[daWinky]

Hey there Sasha:wavey: ,

I see you use the extra time for some fine tuning...I like Patrica's new hair:) , looking great now, perhaps just in the neck area the hair can have a few segments more, it's not really smooth there...
The hands are great and I would take something like pose A or F, very natural look:thumbsup: !

-sabrina

[nwiz25]

hey dude! cool details with da hand! i personally go with A! looks really very nice!

good luck dude! :thumbsup:


me waits for u!


cheers!:beer:

[musi]

Hey good people!

So far we got:
A - 6 (including my friend via e-mail)
F - 3
E - 2
C -1

So I will go with version A of the hand :).

TheFirstAngel. the extra time came as an welcome surprise - now I have time to sleep at nights and still get some fine stuff done :scream:!

Sabrina, I think Patricia is going to get another hair treatment because of that neck area you notised, may be I will work a bit more with the lighting of hair too... And it sometimes a smallest detail can make all the difference: last 5% of the work takes 50% of the time and effort :).

Neville, me does her best:D!

Linda, Marie Louise, George, Tiziano and Remko, I appreciate your help, my friends!

Jeff, hey there, I was looking through the forums and couldn't really see anybody doing something from this part of the book! How did I miss you?!:D

Thanks a lot for helping me with this, guys!

Sasha

[JeffZugale]

It was easy to miss me because I was so busy for most of the end of '06 that I hardly posted anything! :)

I'm REALLY glad for the deadline extension... heh!

[ginoshu]

Nice concept...multa bafta!

[musi]

Hey Jeff, I also looked through your thread and could see you where developing two different concepts - easy to miss :) ! I am very happy for the new deadline too - got some time to do some fine tweaking and render things in higher resolution.

Hey Stratulat, thanks :D !

Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168900866_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168900866_large.jpg)

Hey everybody,

I got some feedback from one of my teachers via email, who's meaning I respect a lot, and whom I asked to take a look at my work in progress. He thinks that characters are fine, but there are problems with the background. My question to him was:

"Generally, I am heaving problems clearly separating the characters,
ship they are in and the background. I am ready to sacrifice some
background elements in favor of characters, because it's a character
driven image."

Some of his advices are:

"- the rim of the portal is more obvious.
- the other ships are more numerous and not in a straight line that makes
them look like a lens flare....and they travel behind the edge of the
portal...
- the power lines could look more like isoparms on a nurbs sphere to show
they're inside it."

So I tryed a different composition for the background and followed some of his advice in this background study.
If anybody has anything to add to my teachers advices - I will appreciate it.

Sasha

[Marie Louise]

Hej Sasha

It's a really nice with the new spaceships. I'm looking forward to see how it's comming out.

Marie louise

[musi]

Thanks Marie Louise :) , I think I will go with new shape for ships, just will reposition them better.

Looking now at these two versions, I start thinking that the newer one has an open right bottom corner...

[icedeyes]

I love the general feel and mood of the image but i don't really like the new ships... they seem somewhat out of place... maybe its because they are too sketchy or something but i am not really sure... Also, i would bring back the light in Laniers face back up... IMHO it was better that way...

[musi]

Hey George,

Those ships are just not getting better! One more try - and it looks like I am going to get writ of them.

In the old version Garry was test composited, in the new one he is just a clean render out of Maya. I most definitely will get his face lightened and refined, thanks!
Over weekend I managed to get all the layers rendered in 4000 x 3000 resolution. How high in resolution you people go?

This week I am going to get into compositing - and then things are going to get more interesting :) .

Sasha

[mmoir]

Alexandra,

Wow, very nice chatacter work . :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Patricia is very well done . Great job and good luck.

[musi]

Thanks Mike,

It's still a long way to go :)

Good luck to you too!
Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168986916_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1168986916_large.jpg)

Until now I have been working mostly on my intuition when we are talking about composition. But my problem with backgrounds made me think about it. And I tryed to understand why my intuition tells me that this is the best way of placing my background elements.

1. Characters poses are forming a kind of circle. They are almost facing each other, Garry is trying to comfort Patricia by touching her hand that holds on the traction line (not present here), his attention at this exact moment is on her tears - may be because he trys to hold his own tears and do not show it to her. Patricia's attention is on the planet - how beautiful it is and how it hurts to think about the one she lost!

2. The arch formed by the edge of the gate helps to bring them even closer, connecting their shoulders and getting circle smaller.

3. The curve of the planet tightens the emotional space even more drawing attention to Garry's action of collecting shiny tears (sorry, not present here).

So it looks like everything keeps squeezing into the center, into the emotion, like the heart does when we are in pain (not physical) and about to cry.

[shattered-fx]

Hi Sasha,

I really like the directions and movements of your characters..You also did good job on the hands' anatomy..However, I really cant comment on the background right now as I know you will be adding up more elements on that (ships, haze, etc..)..but dont worry,I can tell you its all shaping up really nice!:thumbsup:

Raffy

my EON entry

The Mercenary

[Demitsuri]

Hi Sasha

Greate progress. I like that Your work full of emotions. Hope You'll be more successful with background than I.

Dimitri.

[musi]

Hey Raffy and Dimitri, thanks for visiting my thread guys :) !

Raffy, I have been concentrating on character so much, that my backgrounds are a bit left behind...

For the hands: not long ago I was taking drawing class that took place in Thorvaldsen's Museum in Copenhagen. I didn't really learn to draw properly, but I did a lot of looking and admiring of Thorvaldsen's incredible sculptures, specially the graceful poses and details, like hands, folds on cloth, hair and facial expressions. Hes work is one of my biggest inspirations.

Dima, backgrounds are problematic for both of us , ha :scream: ?

I will get some time today after work and hope to post the first compositing version.

Sasha

[nwiz25]

very good composition work and analysis!:bounce::applause: the way everything is laid out and explained really opens eyes! :eek:

keep em comin ma friend! :scream:

good luck as always! :thumbsup:

[bandro]

Hi Sasha, the composition it`s cool, I think you have problems with the ships and the trails but maybe the image its better without them, it looks more clean. Maybe you could add some transparent strange signs in the cristal, like a control panel for the ship, only a few, to preserve the main focus on the earth and the characters.

Just suggestions you know. Keep the good work!!

[musi]

Hey Neville, hey smilie man :), thanks for cheering!

Hey Alex,
I will make one more try with ships - and if it doesn't work I will drop them at all...
Transparent signs are a good idea, I will try that! Thanks!

Good luck to you too, guys!
Sasha

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169244795_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169244795_large.jpg)

Another background rework. I added some ships, but they are pretty discreet. And the traction line, and attempted again to show that they are in the ship.

[nwiz25]

cool update! :applause: elements are nicely appearing! tear drops .. earth details .. ships .. lens flare ... very cool indeed!

me now waits for the final piece! :drool:


good luck my friend! :thumbsup:

god bless ya!

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169397210_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169397210_large.jpg)

I did compositing on my characters here.
Now I am interested if anything looks out of place, or out of balance, or if you people think something should be added or removed - please let me know.
I am particularly concerned with: closeup tear, traction line and VIP ship (Is there a feeling that they are in the ship?), ships descending towards the planet...
This is almost final... So I will appreciate any comments on how to improve it more.
Alex, I am thinking to add the signs you where talking about around traction line...
And thanks again, Neville!
Sasha

[Ivy00]

hey Musi, this is looking great :) love the hanky and the tears. Only one thing looks a little off to me and I will warn you in advance I am not the best with people and portrait things, but Laniers (left if you are facing him) eye looks to almost wrap around his head to me.

[musi]

Hey Linda,
Laniers (left if you are facing him) eye looks to almost wrap around his head to me.
Can you explain to me what you mean with different words, because I didn't really get it (stupid me :banghead: ). And is this the feeling you got on this update or it was before like this too? I want to find out if it's happened because of my last compositing on him.

Thanks Linda :) !
Sasha

[Aura]

Dude, one week left now! We are almost there!

I like your models by the way, very nice job!

[Ivy00]

Here Musi I attached a little image with some arrows, like I said before though I am not the best with portrait things and tried to find a similar face position for reference but could not.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-11/1230395/Musi.jpg

[musi]

Oh, now I see what you mean, Linda... I will look for similar reference to see how it looks on real person. Thanks!

Aura, thanks! Yes, we are almost there, and I hope to post my final this weekend.

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169577625_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169577625_large.jpg)

I found some references of the faces viewed from approximately the same angle as Garry's face. What I could see is that Garry's eye socket is not too big or stretched too far back. I also could see that on references the corner of the eye is pretty dark, while on my image it was light and had a bright outline inside the eye that made it look bigger. So I tryed to correct it...
Does it look better?
Thanks a lot, Linda, for pointing it out!

[Thaldir]

Hi, Sasha!

Hope you don't mind a quick paintover, to me showing is easier than explaining.
As I see it (and that's just my opinion, mind you), the eye looks a bit flat, especially in the outside corner, what I did is to add shadows (in Photoshop), and a bit of reflection of the skin color, I also reduced the highlight above the bottom eyelid.

It's just my opinion of course (and after Linda pointed it out, I hadn't noticed before). feel free to accept or not, as it works best for you.:)
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o277/Thaldir/LanierEyeMod.jpg

[musi]

Oh, this is fantastic, Tiziano! If I could only repeat what you did!
I am a 3D person and incredibly lousy in Photoshop, in fact, I can't paint at all, so that was the best I could do :sad:... But I will MOST DEFINITELY try it!

If it's not of too much trouble... Just a hint of how did you paint it... what kind of brush... Oh, I even don't know the right questions to ask when it comes to painting :banghead:... Or may be point me in the direction of a good tutorial?

Thank you so much!

[Thaldir]

Sorry, Sasha! I'm definitely a 2D person, dunno the first thing about modeling :sad: .

I used a soft brush set at high transparency (about 25-35%) for the shading (the colors I used for shading I picked from his iris, the high transparency makes it look like reflection or shade). Then I used a round, harder brush (25-30% hardness) with transparency set at 60-65 for the edges and the details, hope this helps some. :)

Also, Linda Bergkvist has a tutorial on eye-painting on her site, worth giving a look IMO: http://www.furiae.com/index.php?view=gallery

[Ivy00]

not to spam , but thanks for posting that tutorial Thaldir , just a little pointer for Musi, make sure you do your painting on a new layer, that way if you are not happy with it you just delete the layer and does not touch the original image. I usually practice on a copy of my original image also when trying something new.

[Thaldir]

You're welcome. The lady has all sort of helpful tuts on her site, definitely worth a long browse.:)

[musi]

Hey Tiziano, big thanks for help and tutorial!
Thanks for a tip with layers, Linda!

I will give it a hard try today after work :D .

I appreciate a lot your help, guys!

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169756990_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169756990_large.jpg)

Here I reworked Garry's eyes following Linda's and Tiziano's advices. It's not perfect, but I am pretty happy with it - it's my first attempt of painting :)
Thanks again, guys!

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169757750_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169757750_large.jpg)

This is ALMOST final.
Added some details on characters, got rid of those ships (they just didn't work!), repainted the VIP vehicle. I hope that now it's easier to see that characters are in the ship.
Comments? Things to change? To add?

[Thaldir]

Good work on that eye, Sasha! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Keep on like this and we'll make a 2d artist out of you ;)

[didzis]

Good job, this is realy turning out well!!

[Suirebit]

It turns out very nice :) Hurry up tho :D You need a little bit more work on the guy's expression...he looks a bit artificial right now. Make him more natural :)

[musi]

Didzis: Thanks, I do my best :)!

Tiberius: Thank you for encouragement! You need a little bit more work on the guy's expression...he looks a bit artificial right now. Make him more natural Can you specify this a bit? Or suggest what would help him to appear more natural?
I was actually afraid to overdo his expression, because of the way his character was described in the book, and specially in this scene.
He is a leader type, not easy to express his feelings, and all scientists on the Stone where under his supervision. He knew secrets of the stone for a long time, and may be one of the first people to know about nuclear war, and not being able to do anything about it. He is VERY tired, heaving all this on his shoulders, he is "stoned", as they used to say... And here, is this scene:
"...Involuntarily, Lanier felt his own eyes moistening. 'We can't forget them, are we?' he asked..."
And that's pretty much it about him expressing his emotions.
I will appreciate any help on this subject!

Tiziano: I was actually surprised that I enjoyed painting as much as I enjoy doing 3d, thanks to your help :scream:. And Tiberius's note on Lanier's expression may be one more candidate for painting - too late for changing it in 3D. If I will be able to pull it out:shrug:!

[Suirebit]

I guess you need more details/texture/shading on the skin then, and make the eyes a little bit smaller. He looks too much of a well....how to say it...since you are romanian --> "manechin"; Arata de plastic/ceara, ca intr-un muzeu :D

[LostPen]

I really dig your work mate

there is to much realism which leaves no space for fantasy
everything is sharp and the eye usually can not focus on all points
with other words you have no depth in your composition

i would recommend you blur some parts which are further away..

yours Lostpen

hope my advise was of help

[musi]

Hey guys,

And I thought to post my final today :rolleyes:.

Tiberius, I am not Romanian, but I understand enough Romanian to get what you mean :). It's too late to remake things in 3D at this point, and I am just getting started in 2d painting, but I will try doing some paint over on Garry's face.

Paul-Nikos, I see what you mean... Actually, there are a lot of blurring going on on backgrounds, but it doesn't help much in this case... I guess it's because I am missing the middle ground elements... There is very far things like planet, then the gate (very blurred), then the ship they are in, and on the foreground characters themselves. And extreme foreground - the tear drop that blurred too. But there is nothing on the middle ground that can the used as a scale comparison...
I will try working more with blurs, and may be add some more passengers in the ship. Thanks, it was a good point!

[Suirebit]

Oh, sorry then, judging from your name I thought you are romanian :D

[Ivy00]

looks great, ha ha yeah we might have to turn you into a 2d type person :)

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169944674_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169944674_large.jpg)

Some more detail came in.
I got ships again, in attempt to create some middle ground elements and that way to get some depth into the image. Got some more blur elements on characters and backgrounds...
Is it getting better?

Linda, I am only glad to learn more, and if at this point I would be able, I would paint a middle ground character inside the VIP ship :) May be for the next challenge I will learn how to do that!

[MartinNielsen]

Hi musi :wavey:

I like your motif a lot. It's very emotional and has good characters from the book. One thing, that comes to my mind though, is the overall style in your graphics. It looks very "3d'ish" and artificial. I think in your future works, your should consider using solely 2d brushes. Somehow many artists manage to add more feeling into they work this way, and I really believe you could create fantastic images this way as well. :thumbsup:

[musi]

Hey Martin,

Thanks for visiting my thread :)!
It is actually 3d, with very little Photoshop corrections. The thing is, as I mentioned before, that I can't really paint - I just never learned it. I tryed to avoid the "3d'ish" and artificial" look, but, well... Not enough skill yet.
Well, anyways, I am pretty satisfied with the end result - the amount of things I have learned through this challenge, it's actually the first time I participate in the challenge like this and in a forum like this, this is the first time I tryed to model and render close to real characters... I can say that I did my best for now.
I am not going for the prise - I never did. There are so many wonderful 2d artists that participated in this challenge, so many professionals... For me it's a matter of getting experience and learning, getting some feed back, improving myself :).

[MartinNielsen]

I know it's 3d. And don't get me wrong here. I still think it's a good image, and you're definitely on the right track. But I think you should try espanding your horizon some time, because I believe you could become a very good artist in 2d as well. I started as a traditional 2d artist, but moved on to 3d for several years. Now I guess I'm somewhere between.

I don't go for any prize myself. That would be the wrong reason for being here, I think.

[musi]

Oh, no, Martin, I am not offended or anything, and understand your point and totally agree with you! I am very glad that people here, on this challenge, are so willing to help each other - I got my first lesson on painting here :scream:.
I am relatively new comer in digital art, and even don't have any traditional art background. I started with 3d, and I guess eventually will get my hands deeper into 2d - it's probably the best combination!

[musi]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169994590_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/14/12361/12361_1169994590_large.jpg)

"It's beautiful," Farley said. Patricia agreed and then felt her eyes grow warm and moist; she couldn't be sure why. Her throat clutched and she wiped her cheeks as drops broke free.
"What's wrong?" Lanier said, edging closer to her.
"It is beautiful," she said, stifling a sob. Involuntarily, Lanier felt his own eyes moistening.
"We can't forget them, can we?" he asked. "Wherever we go, whatever we see - they're with us. All four billion of them."
She nodded rapidly. Olmy came up behind them and held an archaic and unexpected handkerchief over her shoulder. She took ti, surprised, and thanked him.
"If you keep this up," he warned in a whisper, "you might be surrounded in a few minutes. We are not used to seeing people cry."
...
Lanier took the handkerchief and finished wiping her face for her, then waved the cloth through the air to catch a few stray drops.


My big apology to Greg Bear: as you can see, I took some creative license here, and moved the emotional moment half a page forward. I felt that it would have more visual impact on the background of the alien world, that looks a lot like Earth. Patricia cry for the lost home and lifes, on the doorstep of the alien planet... Cry for the past, look into the future, and as all of us - scared of it... It's a snapshot of the very important moment in lifes of two "ordinary" extraordinary people...

I tryed to keep things as close as possible to the descriptions in the book, specially characters. I don't know if I succeeded in showing their personalities, their interaction and true feelings, the importance of the moment, but that what I wanted to show.

[JeffZugale]

Hi Sasha, just wanted to pop in and say that you've done a great job! :)

Regarding the crits above, I agree with Martin that next time you'll want to try for less "artificiality" in the look of the characters, but you know that and I'm sure that this project has been great learning for you. I also agree with him that you should go ahead and learn to paint 2D, as that will help you a lot doing 3D. You can do it! Heh... if I can do it, you sure can. :)

There's one thing you might want to try that may help a lot with how the characters look in this image; the lighting on them seems to me to be too even, with "white" lights hitting them from multiple angles. You might try first reducing the intensity of all lights except the ones lighting them from the bright source of the planet/sunrise - cut them back by 60-70% to throw the left sides of the characters into a moodier shadow. I've done this in my image, exaggerated the contrast a lot. This will give them more contrast and should bring them out front even more, while downplaying Lanier's facial features somewhat. Also, you might want to try changing the color of those lights, maybe to match the violet of the traction field lines. I'll be adding those last in my image, it will give my characters a saturated second light source.

But no matter what, you've done a wonderful job! :)

[Demitsuri]

Hey Sasha.

Nice work You did. Congratulation with final image. http://forums.cgsociety.org/images/icons/icon13.gif

Demitsuri

[daWinky]

Hey Sasha,

congratulations for your finished scene!:applause:

You've made a really beautiful and emotional illustration here, well done!

Good luck and I hope to see more from you here around!:)


-sabrina

[icedeyes]

great work Sasha... congrats on warpping this up...

[musi]

Thanks a lot, Sabrina, Dima and George! Your support means a great deal to me!

Jef, after being on this challenge and watching people work I can really see how much I am missing in my own work! I guess I am going to do much more painting in my future work, and I will have to find time for learning 2d!

I will try your advice with lights Tuesday evening, but I am not sure that will be able to improve it: there is no time for rerendering, so it's going to be my fight with Photoshop :) .
Thanks for help and advice!

[wcraig]

I am sure this has been an educating experience for you. I have just a small comment that is not too constructive, but is just a little side note. I would have liked to seen Tiny Forest Girl in space on Eon. Congradulations on finishing. Thanks for the comments.

[Ivy00]

Yay! you finished :) It is always neat to see the threads you have watched closely finish. Beautiful job, you put a lot of time and thought into your scene and it shows in the final result. congratulations


.... about the 2d painting thing, you should give the dialy sketch area a try, ( I am addicted)

[artvandeley]

Hey, congratulations ! I love the light and the characters but most of all i like that you picked such an emotional,almost private scene for your image. This really reflects the mood in the book. Very, very good choice.

[nwiz25]

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! congratulations sasha! :buttrock::applause::eek: u made it!

yup yup i agree with artvandeley! very colourful emotional piece! :love: :scream:


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

cheers! :beer:

[musi]

Hey Linda, thanks!
I will follow your advice and look into the sketch area - your advices led me only to good things :) !

Thank you, Torsten! I believe emotional, feelingfull things are the ones we all can relate and connect to. With whole the world(s) around us we still live in our own inside universes, and feelings are the easiest ways to get there... :D

Hey Neville, life is definitely less ordinary with you around :scream: . Thanks a lot!

Oh yes, Will, it was a great learning experience for me! I enjoyed it very much... May be Tiny Forest Girl one day will get her own show :) . Thank you for visiting my thread!

And I wanted to share something with you, guys: I got my first full time cg job! I am going to work as a junior rigger in one danish company! :applause: :bounce:

[Thaldir]

Hooray!

Congratulations, Sasha!:thumbsup:

[musi]

He-he, thank you, Tiziano!:)

I am looking forward to it, and getting a bit nerves if I can match to the level of professionalism I can see in that company.

And I hope to meet you again on the next challenge. You have been of great help and support to me here, thank you again!

[Eggman]

Very nice work, love the style of characters!

Nice lighitng and composition too!

[nwiz25]

Hey Linda, thanks!
I will follow your advice and look into the sketch area - your advices led me only to good things !

Thank you, Torsten! I believe emotional, feelingfull things are the ones we all can relate and connect to. With whole the world(s) around us we still live in our own inside universes, and feelings are the easiest ways to get there...

Hey Neville, life is definitely less ordinary with you around . Thanks a lot!

Oh yes, Will, it was a great learning experience for me! I enjoyed it very much... May be Tiny Forest Girl one day will get her own show . Thank you for visiting my thread!

And I wanted to share something with you, guys: I got my first full time cg job! I am going to work as a junior rigger in one danish company!







thanx a million Sasha! :love: :p its great fun getting to kno u and everyone else! :love:

n a big big congratulations on ur first new job! :bounce: :scream: :applause: may god bless u with all the best things in life! n may he always help u in whatever u do! cheers to u my friend! :beer:
rock on! :buttrock:

[Ivy00]

And I wanted to share something with you, guys: I got my first full time cg job! I am going to work as a junior rigger in one danish company! :applause: :bounce:

wow, that is excellent big big congratulations to you on the job :thumbsup:

[musi]

Thank you, Linda :scream:!

Edward, thanks for visiting my thread, I am very glad you like it :)!

Jeff, my painting skills are very limited (and I am transferring it to the left hand now, because I am left handed for computer, but right handed for analog pen and pencil), so I just couldn't get your advice implemented good enough to post :sad:... But one day in the future :D...

[JeffZugale]

No worries Sasha, you did great and you'll only keep getting better! :) Hooray for finishing!!

[OKMER]

HI SAsha!!!Congratz on finishing mate!!!Loce the emotions you've put in the pic,very cool!!!Hope to see you next time around and may zee forzz be wizz you mate!!!:beer:

[MartinNielsen]

Congrats musi :)

What company are you joining, if I may?

[TheFirstAngel]

i am not sure if i told you before. loved your work since i found it - its been great to watch you develop this i enjoyed following your work and i am just so happy you brougt it to such a wonderful final. congrats and best of luck on the jugdements, and wowies - thats some great news, congratulations on your new job the :) have a great start on it! :beer::buttrock::beer:

[musi]

O.k., it's time to look back, take a little distance and try seeing the whole picture...:wise:

And doing that, I can see what a great experience it was being a part of this challenge and this community. How different we all are, how different we saw the world of EON, how different we express our visions and use our tools to do that, and at the same time how much the same we all have the passion and necessity to express our visions!
If it wasn't for all you, good people, I would probably drop out of the challenge - I was so close to that... And wouldn't be here now, writing this... Thank you all so much!

Linda (Ivy00), you where the first to post on my thread, and you followed with me all the way through, your sharp eye and advices where of a great help to me! Thank you again, my friend!

Sacha (TheFirstAngel), thank you very much! It was my pleasure to meet you here and see your artwork and the way you work! Well, you made me very nervous to the end, and I am very happy you got your final submitted! And from Monday I am going to dive into the world of rigging :bounce:!

Sabrina (daWinky), big thanks for following my progress and being there with your support, when I needed it most! And with a cat like this one you don't have to be afraid of monsters - I am talking from my experience, I have two cats, and they are my biggest help, protection and support in everything :scream:

Neville (nwiz25), I guess you are the most positive person on this challenge! That rain of smileys and positive energy that was flowing from your posts - I just felt light and happy every time I saw your post! God bless you too, my friend!:love:

Tiziano (Thaldir), if one day I will change my job and become a 2D artist - that's will be your fault! :) Thank you so much for help and advice!

Marley (LightSovereign), very special thanks for sharing your dream experience with me and supporting when I was so close to give up! It was a big inspiration for me...

Remko (OKMER), your support and honest opinions where of the great help to me, thank you! And may ze forzzz b wizz you too!:)

Jeff (JeffZugale), I loved visiting your thread - it was like reading a good tutorial, all that decision making process and workflow you described where a great learning experience to me :applause:! Thank you for good advices and support!

Marie Louise, my dear friend and soon to be colleague, I am looking forward to working with you, and thank you for supporting me here!:)

My classmates and friends (specially Mikkel, my former teacher) that gave their comments via e-mail, thank you, my friends!

George (icedeyes)
Torsten (artvandeley)
Martin (MartinNielsen)
Dimitri (Demitsuri)
Greg (Terro)
Jennifer (webwings)
Alex (bandro)
Tuan (VietEmotion)
Raffy (idyeaah)
Rares (RaresHalmagean)
Mladen (mladenr)
Bartosz (fgdf)
Stratulat (ginoshu)
Mike (mmoir)
Lei (Aura)
Didzis (didzis)
Tiberius (Suirebit)
Paul-Nikos (LostPen)
Will (wcraig)
Edward (Eggman)

I just wanted to name every single one of you, guys (I hope I didn't miss anybody), and thank you all personally for help and support! It was my first participation in a community like this, and your words and visits meant a great deal to me!:buttrock:

Good luck to you all, my friends, and hope to see you next time on the next challenge!:wavey:

[Terro]

Hehe, thank you for listing us, it's very kind of you and once again big time congratulations on the finished piece.

[Demitsuri]

Hi Sasha.

Congrats You with new job. You did an exceptional good work.http://forums.cgsociety.org/images/icons/icon13.gif
And thank You for supporting and advices on my thread.http://forums.cgsociety.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
I hope to see your new works before next challenge.

Best wishes, Dimitri.

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