Strange Behavior (Illustration) Entry: Till Nowak

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1190838452_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1190838452_large.jpg)

My "strange behaviour" is a shaved bumblebee. A bumblebee found an electric shaver in a bathroom and experimented with it. But when it finally watched in the mirror the result was not as great as it expected...

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This is my zbrush model of the naked bumblebe

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On the left side you see the modified zbrush model to become one of the laughing hairy bumblebees of the scene. On the right side you see the shaved bumblebee.

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This is a material test of the shaved bumblebee. Rendered in zbrush and composed in Photoshop.

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1190839765_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1190839765_large.jpg)

Here is my first scene layout. There is still a lot of details, materials and the fur missing.

[Peter-Eriksson]

Very funny! :-)
Good idea and good luck!
/peter

[r1-381]

yeah, that is good. i like the bare butt....just a funny touch.

[norzaful]

ahahahahah very nice strange looking.. i never thought of it.. maybe next time i try shave it.. huhuuu

[authentic]

Your idea is really great and funny. NIce work for the moment. Nothing to crit.

[camel3d]

great thing! I love those elephant-flies:)

[SideAche]

Great idea! Execution so far is excellent - Bravo!

[Jakyll]

Lol. First time i see your Contest Tread here.
Have time this week to look what the other artist do.
And your tread is one of my favorites. The idea is very funny. And the bumblebees are great.

Love them. 5 Stars from me, when you can finish the picture.
:thumbsup:

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1190927359_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1190927359_large.jpg)

Testing the fur with 3ds max standard fur tool.

[frameboX]

thanks for your comments so far! :D

[ashiataka]

Hi Till! Concept is hilarious and the characters are all crazy. The progress will be cheerful I guess. Good luck! Cheers!

[Ferx]

Hey Till, woooow, awesome work!! I love it !! and the concept is cool and really funny!! and the charcter design for the bumblebees is superb!!:thumbsup: Good luck ! and i cant wait for more updates

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1191971027_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1191971027_large.jpg)

Here I tried to use a glass board, but I think I will switch to white ceramic. The fur is still missing. I am also tweaking the perspective and tried different angles, but this diagonal composition was the best so far.

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I added the tiles, the teeth and the fur, but there is much more work needed with the quality of normal maps and texture maps, lighting and overall composition, the insects eyes and the bathroom background. The reflected fur in the mirror is also still missing.

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Here are some viewport screenshots to demonstrate the structure and size relations of the scene.

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1191973433_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1191973433_large.jpg)

Here I added myself entering the bathroom still half sleeping in the morning - only visible in the mirror and only one second away from recognizing the shaved bumblebee with its mean friends. In this version the fur is missing again, it has to be rendered seperately. What do you think, is it better with the human in the mirror or is it distracting from the intimate little story in focus?

[Korendo]

Greetings,

Very cool. The fur really sets the context

[SideAche]

Great image - I like the one with the hair on the two BB's the best. I think that adding the human element in this particular image detracts from the overall composition. I would vote to leave the figure out. Excellent work overall

[Peter-Eriksson]

Very nice and I to think that you will do just fine with out the human, takes the focus away from the action.
/peter

[Hideyoshi]

rofl, this is so absolutely funny, most hilarious entry I have seen so far! :D
--
Hm, dunno about the mirror background. Both versions are appealing in a way. Maybe you could further play with how the character in the mirror looks like. And although it really does take away from the main action slightly, a person in general could basically add a nice touch, but it should look fitting (outfit, pose etc.)
At least, I'd definitely stay with the enclosed look in the 2nd last version of yours. The photo you placed lastly has an open area (a window?) on the very left which destroys some of the bathroom atmosphere...

Hau rein! :)

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192018121_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192018121_large.jpg)

Now I started to render layers and work on the final high resolution image. Most challeing part is to set up an atmospheric lighting. I will still try another version without the human and different bathroom background, and I will continue to tweak details, also on the bumblebees skin.

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192018483_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192018483_large.jpg)

Lighting and composition are almost final now. To rework or erase the human in the background will propably be the last major change to be done, plus a few detail enhancements. I did excessive photoshop layering and painting and will post some making-of-info about that soon. Looking forward to your comments and critique.

[mtompkins]

Hey, I like the image but I do too think that you ,'the human' detracts from the focus too much. I prefer without :-)

[Korendo]

Great! Wonderful to see it really come to life! Suggest just a touch of stubble, or a few stray hairs left.

[Dekartdek]

This one is overwhelming superior!

I love it most. Just one compositional critic: Its concerning the reflection of the guy in the background. It confused me very much, because I tried to connect it with those bumblebees. I didn't find a connection. Or are the bumblebees this reflected guy's pets? I don't think so. But if they are, it would weaken the strange behaviour, i.e. the foxiness of the bumblebees.
Maybe you con find a better compositional element, to make it better readable and comprehensible!

Wish you all the best!

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192732120_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192732120_large.jpg)

These are my main layers...

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http://www.framebox.de/creations/3d/bumblebees/photoshop_layers.jpg


:rolleyes: Every photoshop and compositing artist has his own way of arranging and working with layers. I think it's fun to compare how artists use layers, that's why I post this here. :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Speaking for myself I can say that I would have a lot of fun watching the revealed layers of all of the other entries... Maybe it's interesting for somebody, or maybe not...

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192732868_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192732868_large.jpg)

A summary of the the most important detail enhancements.

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Part 2 of the summary of detail enhancements.

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This is the little story of the bumblebee Bernard who wanted to impress his friends with a funny experiment. It was one of these boring days, when they were as usual looking for some nonsense to get involved in, when the three bumblebees managed to switch on an electric shaver. And Bernard, for the first time in his life, completely freed himself from his beautiful yellow and black fur, under the shouting and cheering of his mischievous friends. But then he watched in the mirror and had to recognize that the result didn`t please him as much as he expected. But hey, so what, it will grow again.... THE END.

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Thanks for the comments and for helping on the decision to take the "human" out of the image. Now this is my final image, unless you have good suggestions what else could be tweaked... :bounce: Good luck to all entries! :bounce:

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192735633_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1192735633_large.jpg)

This is the little story of the bumblebee Bernard who wanted to impress his friends with a funny experiment. It was one of these boring days, when they were as usual looking for some nonsense to get involved in, when the three bumblebees managed to switch on an electric shaver. And Bernard, for the first time in his life, completely freed himself from his beautiful yellow and black fur, under the shouting and cheering of his mischievous friends. But then he watched in the mirror and had to recognize that the result didn`t please him as much as he expected. But hey, so what, it will grow again.... THE END.

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Sorry, this was posted twice, I don't know why, maybe because I hit the F5 key and reloaded the "submit" page... this is the second time this happened (the "fur test" is also doubled in my challenge history). Is there a way to delete accidentially double posts?

[Ferx]

Hey Till, wooooooww awesome image!!! I love it!! Really cool concept on a wonderful funny way!! amazing!! ( poor Bernard... hahahahahaha :D ) The execution of the idea its superb! And really thanks to take time to share with us your nice workflow in that detailed form (for sure a great tutorial !!). :thumbsup: Again, superb art work !! Bravo :applause: and best of luck mate!! .... and surely time for a well deserved cold beers accompanied with a lot of tequila !!! Cheers my friend !! :beer:

[Korendo]

Hi Till,



Your work looks great. And thanks for posting your informative images and text on the behind the scenes glimpse of the Photoshop and 3D image enhancements.

[SideAche]

Excellent work - Bravo!

[Peter-Eriksson]

Nice work man! Much better with out the human!
Good Luck!
/peter

[DanielCseuz]

Hahaha! Very good job! I like it.

[Goro]

this is so awesome!
Great design, great composition, great rendering, awesome idea!

Good luck man!

[NinjaA55N]

hahaha, great idea :D so funny!

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http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1193142866_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/19/13771/13771_1193142866_large.jpg)

This is the little story of the bumblebee Bernard who wanted to impress his friends with a funny experiment. It was one of these boring days and they were as usual looking for some nonsense to get involved in, when the three bumblebees succeeded in switching on an electric shaver. And Bernard, for the first time in his life, completely freed himself from his beautiful yellow and black fur. But then, under the shouting and cheering of his mischievous friends, he watched in the mirror and had to recognize that the result didn`t please him as much as he expected. But hey, so what, it will grow again....

[frameboX]

It's the usual thing with "final images" - they are never "final". So this is a reworked version of my final image, I mainly enhanced the contrast, gave it a more defined light composition and tweaked many little details which you can only see in the high res version.

[Chrysale]

I didn't see this image during the contest so I just discoverd it... It is too funny !
Excellent idea... poor beast ! ah ah ah ! Good luck !!

[anklebiter]

I agree. Excellent models and the bare bee bum is a good touch.

[Terminal]

hahaha, wonderful characters and overall image.
:thumbsup:

[Maxter]

Great composition work... this image is very funny and creative
Congrats!:thumbsup:

[gpepper]

Great job Till ! Modeling, texturing, render and of course post ! A great lesson of 3D and 2D illustration ! Thanks !

[Nomad]

Hahahah hilarous :thumbsup: Exellent idea and great image so far, bravo :thumbsup:


Good luck in the final voting :bounce:

[Lc]

hey, very nice render. You made funny character, very well done :)
The only thing I can say is that you could try to make a version of your final image with blurry wings. Because they are flying, and i think it should be better if we feel the movement of the wings... at this time it's too clear.

Good luck !

[frameboX]

Thank you for your feedback! :beer:

@LC: About the blurred wings: I thought the same and tried it out, but it made the whole image very nervous and uneasy, so I decided to leave the wings clear...

[Hiun]

Great work! Congratulations!! I wish you the best:thumbsup:

[chipstick]

hi, just wanted to say i love your work. really made me chuckle.
nice concept and execution. well done.

[SideAche]

Excellent Work Till! Best of luck.

[Korendo]

And I have had a few upsetting haircuts as a child, though none this traumatic. Looks great, congratulations and best of luck,

[OKMER]

HAHA, ronflll, love it!!REally made me laugh!Congratz on finishing a great peice man!!!Good luck to you!Cheers!

[newmain]

really great job
good work

[GonzaloGolpe]

Excellent haha:thumbsup: good luck!

[relief7]

Hey Tim !

Excellent work ! Your image has such an amazing photographic quality which makes it really stand out. You seem to have a very very VERY good eye for details. :-) And I love the characters ! They are soooo funny ! Big respect ! :thumbsup:

Oh and also... thank you very much for your "breakdown". It helps a lot to learn about your process and workflow ! Not everybody reveals their "secrets" so thanks alot for giving this insight ! I think it is amazing how you really use 2D and 3D to its uttermost degree to realize your creative vision...

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