My new sketchbook page

[kbarts]

Nice website. But i did not find any sketch there:(

[RiKToR]

Yeah its there under the sketch book section but the hyper links are grey on the them I have for word press so you can over look them easily. So.... Im just gonna use this thread as my cgtalk sketch book. I calibrate my monitor and its set for 2.2 Gamma so things may look a little bit washed if you not viewing at 2.2 gamma.

http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/carrier.jpg


http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/stormy_city.jpg

[RiKToR]

Next work for my book.

http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/courtyard.jpg

[RiKToR]

A new sketch... took less than an hour.
http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/fantasy_valley.jpg

[RQuack]

Really cool stuff, Cliff. What's the sponginess in the third one? Texture, brush? Good luck with it all!

[RiKToR]

Yeah its just a big textured brush that I just multiplied over the sketch.

[mordecaidesign]

These sketches still have that classic Riktor/BlurredPixels dynamic lighting but have a very professional quality to them. These look like finished concept pieces and not sketches. They're crisp and have very cool perspectives. Awesome job.

[eyecon]

amazing sketches riktor! I simply love the one with the sky ship! :applause:

[everlite]

Hi Cliff,

Nice concepts, i think the one with the buses is clearly the winner for me ;) You should develop this into a photorealisitic matte, be a great portfolio piece, also tells a story which i like. Second to that the ship is a cool concept, you could probably develop that into a projected matte.

Dave.

[RiKToR]

Thanks Dave, Im going to be developing the bus one in conjuction with two other shots and the infamous oil rig shot from fxphd, to try create a short story leading up to that footage. I have never considered using the carrier shot for anything but a sketch but I began running some ideas in my head when you mentioned it. The other one that Im taking further is the one with columns at the end. I have some DV greenscreen footage from college that will fit nicely into that scene.

[RiKToR]

This is the WIP for sketch 2

Sketch
http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/stormy_city.jpg

WIP 1
http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/shot_01_wip01.jpg

WIP 2
http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/shot_01_wip02.jpg

[RiKToR]

A test with lighting on the architecture.

http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/shot_01_wip03.jpg

[mordecaidesign]

TOO MUCH GLOW.

Everything else looks great. This is definitely reel worthy.

[TomasWarren]

I agree about the glow, i woud also say it would also be nice to replicate the feeling of depth in the centre of the image on the left and right a bit more. The right suffers from a drop off in the far buildings which would add depth, and the completely black sky on the left seems a bit unnatural (as a general rule, i've found that the sky will always be lighter than buildings).

I would also say in general that the shadows are too overwhelmed in black, particularly in the foreground, which is slightly unrealistic as you will usually get some bounce light, even in a fairly ill lit environment such as this one. Of course this could just be my monitor but it does seem like the shadows are being flooded a little bit. For the caravans, i would take it back a notch to where it was on the sketch where the shadows were lighter, and even then make them lighter still.

Overall looks really great though, well done.

[RiKToR]

ok I'm going to dial the glow back a bit. The darkness is photoshop being a punk on a calibrated monitor. It's adding gamma because trying to read the profile twice before saving out. I'm working on getting it back up to the sketch levels. As for text depth of the bg lI've got some photos to add to help bring them together. How about the artificial lighting for the buildings it's bit heavy but should I add a small amount of architecture lights?

[TomasWarren]

I would agree that in general the piece needs to be lit up more, i don't think you neccessarily need lots of artificial architectural lighting as just lifting the back of the buildings a little and putting in a little detail can maintain the atmosphere but give it that extra realism

There's a really nice image by Dusso
http://www.dusso.com/images/pa01/pa29.jpg

which shows how to do good shadow lighting- most of that image is in shadow and you still get that atmosphere from the image but the detail in the shadow gives it very strong lighting.

I think you need to decide exactly what mood and lighting you want. The strong warm light on the side of some of the buildings suggests a really stong sun/sunset coming from the right, but the artificial lighting on the buildings & the dark sky on the right suggests more of a night time feel. This contrast is also reflected in the sky as that slides from warmth to darkness. To me it kinda feels like you're a little confused whether to go for a really dark moody scene with lots of artificial lighting from street lamps and architectural lamps or whether to go for more of a warm sunset feel, and maybe you're stuck between the two. Both would look cool, and the matte as it is still looks nice but i don't think they will work together.

i don't know if any of that makes sense but hopefully some of it is useful.

[RiKToR]

What Im trying to do is have it be basically like a stormy day but when the sunset begins its starts peaking randomly underneath the clouds. Since its before night I was thinking that the occasional light will be on for the architecture and office or something like that.

[RiKToR]

http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/shot_01_wip04.jpgUpdate with some of the suggestions added... I think Im getting close to ending this one.

http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/shot_01_wip04.jpg%5B

[RiKToR]

Getting ready to stick the fork in and call it done. Tried flipping canvas.

http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/shot_01_wip05.jpg

[TomasWarren]

well done riktor that looks fantastic, i love the idea of the school buses. I have to ask- where did you get the reference for the buses from? Was it all one photo? Would be interesting to see the original photos you worked from

great job

[RiKToR]

http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/original_stormy_city.jpg


This is the original... as for how I got it. Well I loaned a friend who is a pro wedding photographer my Nikon D50. She is a pro but she had still been shooting 35mm and Medium format and hadn't jumped on the bandwagon. So I loaned her my Nikon for her family vacation so she could play with it and see if she wanted to go digital. She was grateful and eventually bought a Nikon D1. The bonus was that she knows what I do with mattes so she gave me the images she shot on my camera and then 2 gigs worth of NYC photos from her D1. Ultimately I owe Dianna lunch for this plate.

[RiKToR]

This is my last update I believe... Im moving on till I get more CCs on this one.

http://www.blurred-pixels.com/sketchbook_low/dylan_cole_study.jpg

[mordecaidesign]

Yep. That's the one to go with I know you tend to lean toward the dark side and STRONG dynamic lighting. This feels very professional and looks like it belongs in a feature. Put a fork in it.

[Inlakechh]

Hey RiKToR this is looking good.

Beside minor perspective issues what really gets my attention are the strong blackvalues in the midground of the image.
The contrast of the bus-roofs especially in the right foreground is a little strong for my taste.
Compared to that the ones in the back look a little flat even if they are in shadow.
You are achieving a really nice athmosphere in this image. keep it up :)

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