Secret Agent Entry: Michael Dashow

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1245822074_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1245822074_medium.jpg)

Well, I'm in... at least if I can figure out what to do with this mess. Here you have the female secret agent giving the boot-to-the-head to one enemy as a whole barrage of other enemies barrel down the stairs after her. I plan on having some wacky character designs here - a guy with a giant metal fist, a female spy with a hook for a hand, midget ninjas, skull-faced goons, the works. And a boss up on the balcony in front of a world domination map. And windows looking out at the sharks in the lagoon. I plan on putting a James-Bond-like tuxedoed good guy in peril, strapped to some torture-y-device-like-thing in the back right.

No, I know it's not as overlty funny as my typical entry... I plan on having a lot of fun bad guys, but if anyone has any ideas how to spice this up, I'm all ears!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1245822126_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1245822126_medium.jpg)

Here are some really rough costume sketches...

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1245822205_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1245822205_medium.jpg)

...and a whole bunch of rough enemy sketches.

[paperclip]

Glad to see you gave in to peer pressure.:D

Composition is looking great, love the sharks in the background (Can they be sharks with fricken' laser beams attached to their foreheads?!)

Concepts-- for the costume, I like G, you could make the shoulder pads a tad more peaked? Oh! It would be cool if you could set this in a Jetsons sort of environment- ray gun gothic style? Well, you did ask for suggestions to spice things up!

http://themes.common-space.net/images/2008/0722_raygungothic2.jpg

Villains- I love the ones with the spiky knuckles and the underwater scuba diver fellow. :love:

To summarize- welcome back into the fray and good luck, although I don't think you'll need it....:twisted:

[MartinNielsen]

Hey walrus :) Good to see you back in. The gatling gun man is very good.

[michael-olszak]

awesome sketches man. looking forward for more :D

[wick3dsono]

fortunately youre not the jury anymore. (if im not missread) hahaha. i really like your cartoonish style.

[mdavid]

Hey Michael, I'm really glad to see you entered because it's always great watching you work. I like your idea a lot too and think it's already a good funny idea - that stream of all kinds of bad dudes pouring in is excellent and will surely mean the viewer will notice something new each time they look. One possible idea is to have one of the bad dudes really small and really cute-looking, like an adorable fluffy kitten, but with an obvious angry look about it. You've got to watch out for those cute ones. As always, feel free to ignore this idea because I know you always come up with plenty of cool stuff on your own!

[walrus]

Thanks, folks! Good to see you all again, too!
Kittens... that's definitely an idea. Would you put one with the charging mass of henchmen, or would it be in the hands of the main bad guy up above? (And which James Bond villain used to sit and stroke his cat? Was that Blofeld? I forget...)

Wick3dsono - yes, that's right, I'm not a judge this time around. You're not allowed to win twice in a row so I was ineligible to win last challenge, so they made me a judge. SalmonMoose did me a favor by not making me a judge this time, as he knew I'd just be doing a full painting anyhow!

Theresa - Thanks for the reference! I might like to go slightly retro, I'm not sure yet. Of course, then the costumes would have to match. I can't put the female secret agent in a mini-skirt due to her pose, but I was thinking about a very short trenchcoat (with leather-clad legs underneath.)

[Irawan]

hi michael, nice to see you in this challange.great sketch! those are fit into the setting.


http://www.heriirawan.com/CG_Forum/walrus_sketches.jpg

[wick3dsono]

but it's sounds like a cheat to me, cause it'll very hard to do this challenge with you in it. lol.
good luck anyway. i'll watch this thread.

[Nickillus]

Can't wait to see this develop Michel, and know it will be amazingly done by the time you present your finish. Great characters and fun already.

[tyleen]

I like costumes B and C. they look thought out and i feel more nice to the eye. I like D too. They all look the best kept together and agent/spy like.
This is looking really cool. There is so much to look at but not overwelming. Im most excited to see all the characters on the stairs, but remember not to let all that character detail outweigh your agent and her attacker.

[KOryH]

Hey Mike fun designs as always.
One thing I would love to see from you is to see you push your style a bit.
You have great shapes and ideas, but I want to see some stronger structure.
I think this will really take your chracters to the next level. Try thinking in 3D.
Hell, try to sculpt one of them. It really helps with form.
It is a challange after all.

best of luck to you!

[Karthogen]

Can't wait to see where it goes. good luck

[WhiteGuardian]

Nice to see you don't stop the painting engine after DomWar, dude. :)
I will keep watching this thread

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246079534_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246079534_medium.jpg)

More rough sketches of enemies.

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

Irawan - Thanks for the circles on my earlier post. I've been doing this long enough, I should know by know to include numbers or letters on every post to make it easier for people to indicate what they like. I've done better with this latest image! :)

Kory, I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'stronger structure.' Do you mean more realized, solid forms? I've been modeling 3D elements in the last several challenges - my entire character in Dominance War and a good portion of the Steampunk entry was crafted in 3D before I painted over it. Is that what you're talking about? I suspect you mean something more, but I'm not quite clear on what.

[sadrack]

Hi Walrus



Really hard work in the initial sketch, I like a lot the 6 is look more like a snake, is a privilege to see how you make grow your work, I like a lot the WIP system to learn.



Good Luck or break a leg!!! ;)



S

[NinjaA55N]

just signing in at the moment! I'll check ur thread closely tomorrow when I'll find some time. Soooooo glad seeing u participating :D good luck my friend!

[rawgon]

wow mate, nice characters.

brilliant sketching.

gonçalo

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246260290_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246260290_medium.jpg)

Hey, all! Just some rough sketches for poses for the female agent doing her high boot-to-the-head on some enemy thug. Still working out the poses and body shapes, nothing final here. I'm tending towards B right now - not to say I won't sketch more - because of the torsion in the body. But I know it all still needs a lot of work... See what you think!

[miycko]

I really like your characters. I also joined Dominance Wars IV and saw the stuff you did for it, awesome:thumbsup: , looking forward to seeing what you do for this contest.

[diissar]

nice characters,good luck :applause:

[Rivenis]

looking great so far, i'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with this time around

[Nickillus]

Yep, it's B for me too, Michael. Just has a more natural flow and the briefcase says more to me than the gun. Hmmm - talking briefcases - now there's an idea.

Great stuff as always.

[KOryH]

Structure and Anatomy.
Yes, anatomy, even in cartoons is very important.
All the great character designers I know have form and stucture in the characters.
Also really worked out shape relationships. like Curves vs. Straights and tention in the scale of forms.

Right now there is no real flow in the characters. While they have pleasing individual shapes and good ideas, they need to be brought together with the "structure" . sometimes that is the structure of plain old acedemic anatomy and sometimes it's the structure of thought and design.

I would also suggest working on the characters in context of the scene and with the other characters. Much like the peices of the characters that need relationships improved so does the whole composition. Try working in a way that alows you to build and image and each part flows and informs the other. play with angles and scale THEN refine.
I think that will really help bring out the action and your drawing abilities, which are great.

I hope I am clear. Feel free to contact me if it's not.

[Minnhagen]

All the good secret agent ideas in one single painting! Now this will be really cool.

[BadgerPirate]

nice characters

[musi]

Hi Michael,

I have been doing martial arts for some time now, also did some teaching, and from that perspective would pick pose B. It is more structurally sound than A. The way you twisted the upper body is perfect, but legs are not yet there... This image shows an extreme back kick - just for reference. See the way his hips are twisted and position of legs?
I know that the physically right pose is not always the most appealing one, but hope this can be of some help to you.

Good luck with the challenge!

http://www.kungfula.com/new-photos/EO-Back-Kick-Michael-large.jpg

[walrus]

Thanks for the comments, folks! Sorry I haven't updated in a bit. I've been doing more sketching for the general layout and the female pose - the latter being a bit of the cart before the horse, as Kory was pointing out, but at least it lets me work through some other issues and gets me used to the character. I'll post more later today...

Kory - Thanks for breaking down the brief earlier comment about "stronger structure" into a much more comprehensive crit! It's going to just sound like I'm making excuses if I say that most of those bad guys are all just brainstorming-on-paper, not intended to hang together until I start working them into the scene and interacting with each other. It's excellent advice, and I really do need to work out some other refinements for the whole scene before I start polishing individual characters. As for anatomy, I'm endeavoring to work on that as well - you wouldn't happen to have any sexy scantily-clad kick-boxing female models you could loan me for a weekend, would you? No? Darn, I might just have to build a 3D model after all! Thanks for the detailed advice! :thumbsup:

Musi - I'd dug up some roundhouse kick reference before, but that link you posted is just fantastic! It really shows the hip position much better than anything I'd found... Thanks! That's really going to help in getting the pose right when I redraw her.

[gpepper]

Michael...
Ok, I know this is a thread to follow !
Have fun guy !

[wick3dsono]

plan B! i mean pose B. more realistic. there's an action and reaction, physics science talking. lol. keep on going pal.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246477947_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246477947_medium.jpg)

Thanks, folks! Here are a couple of new layout thumbnails. They're all pretty small - maybe only 2 inches tall or so. It's still the same basic idea as the original, just trying some different things out with camera angle: In #2, a much lower camera but without the stairs, and in #3, more of a tilt but still a really low camera. (and you'll notice that her hips, albeit roughly drawn, are tilted correctly now... small, baby steps in the right direction, eh?)

Let me know what you think!

[tyleen]

i still like the idea of haveing stairs. I think it gives a nice flow to the overall movement of the picture

[KOryH]

that's looking like a lot of fun.
keep up the good work.

Oh and if I had one, I wouldn't loan her out!!

[linkov]

Michael, I don't remember when was the first time I saw your works, but since then I'm impressed so much with your style. There is so much life even in sketches! Will keep an eye on this one, good luck :)

[JRBRAZ]

Hey Michael, I just love your style!!!

For me the option 3 is the best one. Her move is more fluid .. is like she is kicking but still in hurry .. isn't like she stop and think, hey, there is a bad guy behind me .. I'll kick him .. hehe .. the 3 looks more like a reflex thing ...

Ggood luck.

I'm keeping an eye on it!!

[wick3dsono]

i like the 2nd action pose, but in 1st angle.

[authentic]

Hi michael. Great work on your concept. I think the tilt version could have been a good idea to give more dynamic, to make it more spectacular but I find in this version we lost all the exagerated pose of your girl and what was impressive in her action "disapear". So I prefer the non tilted version.

[Elendil_le_Grand]

Cool design.
And i like always your style ...
Good luck !

[diissar]

Hi michael, i like the second option on your last post(number 3) looks better for me.by the way i answered your questions in my thread:)
good luck

[NinjaA55N]

Excelent work! While I like the action poses of main characters in front from the 3rd image, I prefer all the rest from the second one. Better poses, better camera angle, and the character on the balcony (main bad guy?) has a better control over whats happening. I hope to see those two combined :) awesome stuff!

[irwit]

love the characters ! I think concept 3 is the best looking, much more dramatic camera angle

[xeni]

nice one. like it

Secret Agent Entry: AGENT (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=291&t=775590)

[MVDB]

lovely sketch michael. the male-figure getting hit has a nice (shape) line of action. very nice. like the concept so far.

[Nickillus]

Love the enrgy and action in both these Michael. combination blend of certain elemnts from each will make and absolute stonker of an image. I feel a prize hovering over you, even at this early stage, if you follow through on it as I know you can. Look forward to seeing the progress.

[mark-jenkins]

I have only just noticed that you are in the challenge! I am so pleased! A challenge wouldn't be the same without your participation. I love to watch your work develop. It's looking good so far. I wish I could get even as far as this, I'm struggling already, I just can't get my vision down on paper!!! Keep up the good work.

[DavidSmit]

Hey buddy!
Good to see you participating. Looking good so far, i'll be following your thread!
Cheers!

[figueroa]

Great stuff. It looks like a movie. I like the guy on enemies 01 second from the top left. Looks sinister and spyish, if thats a word. Keep it up!

[walrus]

Hi, folks, thanks for all of the comments! Sorry I haven't updated in a while - I've been out of town on vacation. Now I'm back and have been fooling around with 3D to try to get the perspective right on the room. It isn't working. My camera angles are so extreme and exaggerated in the last couple of comps that I just can't get my 3D renders to come close to replicating them. I don't know whether it's a failing in my 3D skills, or whether I've just drawn something so extreme that there's no way in the world they'd look like that in real life. So is the solution to go with what I can do in 3D? It could mean making the scene more realistic (+) but it also could mean making the camera angle more vanilla (-). I'll keep working on it 'til I have something to show 'n' share, but any thoughts on the issue would be appreciated. Cheers!

[irwit]

Hi, folks, thanks for all of the comments! Sorry I haven't updated in a while - I've been out of town on vacation. Now I'm back and have been fooling around with 3D to try to get the perspective right on the room. It isn't working. My camera angles are so extreme and exaggerated in the last couple of comps that I just can't get my 3D renders to come close to replicating them. I don't know whether it's a failing in my 3D skills, or whether I've just drawn something so extreme that there's no way in the world they'd look like that in real life. So is the solution to go with what I can do in 3D? It could mean making the scene more realistic (+) but it also could mean making the camera angle more vanilla (-). I'll keep working on it 'til I have something to show 'n' share, but any thoughts on the issue would be appreciated. Cheers!

Just an idea but have you tried distorting the geometry to help create the scene. eg, warping the floor instead of having a flat floor, curving objects that you at first may of modelled straight etc. I've got some really odd bends and such in my 3d scene that from other angles may not work but from my angle help fit the object into the concept.

[paperclip]

Does your 3d package come with the option of a wide-angle lens camera? If so and you've already tried that out, then, hmm...perhaps you could fake the perspective by having a much larger room than it actually is and lining up the characters further apart, but that they appear to meet in the camera's line of sight- that way you could give it a sort of warped feeling, but not too recognizably so. I guess I'm saying experiment a bit more before giving up on the 3d!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246910326_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246910326_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the replies folks - Irwit, that's really useful advice. Warping on'e geometry to fit sounds like cheating... but what does "cheating" mean anyhow? My characters will be distorted and not naturalistic, so why shouldn't me 3D background be the same? I'll give it a try and post more tonight!

In the meantime, some doodles of the main henchman who's getting a boot to the head. Nothing great, and still working out who the character really is, but at least it's an update. Forward momentum!

[W-I-L]

Only just seen your entry mate. great as always ... number 7 head does it for me. i would go with that. idea looks fun. cant wait to see how it shapes up.

[RogerNobs]

Michael, nice to see you here again.

Really fascinating reading through these WIPs. I really like the extreme perspective you have in the little drawings. Hope you can solve the problem. I have a hunch that you shouldn't worry about your feeling for space not matching with the physical reality. I think it is a great idea to try to model the space and let it fight against your own vision. I think it might curb any excesses and open up new possibilities because you are forced to deal with that 'reality'. It might give it a stronger structure. Does that make sense? Maybe I'm talking crap.

Anyway good luck and really looking forward to seeing this grow.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246949242_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246949242_medium.jpg)

Roger, I totally get what you're saying... except what is this "curb any excesses" you speak of? I'm unfamiliar with the concept... :D But seriously, I can see trying to nail the 3D realistically in order to ground the piece in solid reality, as you're talking about... But on the other hand, my characters are seldom realistic, and I want to have the background a bit exaggerated in order to match, stylistically. So I've done a little warping as irwit suggested. Nothing too extreme, maybe just enough to compensate for my lack of ability getting the camera angles and lenses quite the way I would ideally like them. (anyhow, thanks, as always, for the great feedback.)

Anyhow, see what you all think of a rough layout in 3D. I took out the camera tilt to make it easier to work with, though I'd like to add that back in eventually.These aren't anything like final colors, and there's no lighting in here yet, it's just basic shapes and scales for now.

[irwit]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246949242_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246949242_medium.jpg)

Roger, I totally get what you're saying... except what is this "curb any excesses" you speak of? I'm unfamiliar with the concept... :D But seriously, I can see trying to nail the 3D realistically in order to ground the piece in solid reality, as you're talking about... But on the other hand, my characters are seldom realistic, and I want to have the background a bit exaggerated in order to match, stylistically. So I've done a little warping as irwit suggested. Nothing too extreme, maybe just enough to compensate for my lack of ability getting the camera angles and lenses quite the way I would ideally like them. (anyhow, thanks, as always, for the great feedback.)

Anyhow, see what you all think of a rough layout in 3D. I took out the camera tilt to make it easier to work with, though I'd like to add that back in eventually.These aren't anything like final colors, and there's no lighting in here yet, it's just basic shapes and scales for now.


Hey man,

Looks like your 3d version is coming on, a big difference though is like I said above. You want to warp your floor to help it match the drawing. A big thing lots of people do and don't realise is do perfectly flat floors because "floors are flat and horizontal" which we know inst true but so many people still create perfectly flat floors. Your concept image floor is a really nice curve which I think would be a shame to lose.

Another trick to help keep the image true to concept but keep it realistic is change the scale of your characters to help fit the concept. So they aren't further back they are smaller.

Finally I think this is what Paperclip was referring to was wide angle lens. Mental rayhas some camera shaders that can give you camera distortion that can help get rid of those cg straight lines and may help here but personally I find them hard to work with but may be worth a try ?

[musi]

Warping on'e geometry to fit sounds like cheating...

Well there is a different way of looking at it: The Art of Chea Ting. It's the art of using any means available to get what you want so that viewer doesn't know you did it :)

I like the way guy 5 looks, but 7 and 11 have better action line - that twisted jaw flying away. But generally, all bad guys are looking like being kicked horizontally from the side, not from below - may be because they are out of context...

[diissar]

Hi Walrus,me too im still struggling with my comp:banghead:,yours is looking nice i think,maybe you can render the baground elements in separeted layers,and try to distort the parts you want using photoshop to get the visual effects you wanna achieve.
I hope you can pass this frustrating step soon.
Good luck!! :D

[walrus]

irwit and diissar - Thanks for the (continued) good advice. You're right, I never would have thought of actually curving the floor, what a cool idea!

The last time I tried to do a really wide angle lens shot for a CGChallenge (my Eon entry), I couldn't figure out how to do the lenses in Max at all. I ended up rendering things out hi-res and then using a sphere distort filter in Photoshop to get the effect I want ("The Art of Chea Ting," indeed!) But I would love to learn how to do that in 3DS Max itself. I'll fool around with Mental Ray, but if anyone has any practical advice on how to do that, I would love to hear it! :thumbsup: Thanks!

[irwit]

For camera distortion when using mental ray go to render dialogue box and then go to renderer.

Scroll down to Camera effects then camera shaders, click none and add the distortion shader, drag this shader into your material editor and change the "amount" to your desired level.

Hope this helps :o)

[saturniaus]

Wow it looks like it will be another great piece. I really enjoyed your UPLIFT piece, and I look forward to seeing how this will turn out. The BG layout is looking really cool so far, can't wait to see the finished result.

[RogerNobs]

Ha ha, I think we often overlook the Art of Chea Ting.

Michael, you have the demon in you on this one, so we'd all better watch out. Such focus and stop-at-nothing drive. Great stuff!! ;)

Good feedback as well from everyone. I find I can pick up just as much from other people's threads.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246999513_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1246999513_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the advice. I ended up downloading the ASDN Mental Ray lens library and using its Fisheye lens effect... and then Photoshop's Warp Transform tool on top of that! Lots more work and experimentation to go, but I'm off in the right direction!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247035523_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247035523_medium.jpg)

After a whole night of playing with fish-eye lenses, camera placements, warp transforms, and window placement, here's where I am. No more flat floor, a nice window placement that hilights the main character, a dramatic worm's eye view, and some rough characters. Even the bad guy shows up pretty well. I'm pretty happy with this... at least until I look at it with awake eyes tomorrow morning! :)

[Matellis]

Great stuff man! your composition is looking very solid. No crits this far from me. Just keep the updates flowing :)

[diissar]

hi Walrus,the last comp looks good,im glad you find out how to achieve the look you wanted:thumbsup:

[rawgon]

Walrus,

looking really good those cameras and comps, the environment being an aquarium i´m sure it will give the scene a very special mood, great idea!
that issue with cameras you came across, i think your conclusions are really near of being right, its really hard to setup something in 3d with realistic measures and so on.. and then only with lens tricks give it a really twisted(extreme) look like in a 2d sketch or something like that, i have those same problems, not that i´ve experimented that much, once i tried a extreme angle only with max cams and started to go for very low lenses and it got wierd, then i figured i could actually distort geometry it self for compensate, its not a solution. I really would like to get more information about that too;)

go for it man, looking good!

gonçalo

[miycko]

great update walrus. love the warped look of the background it really works for the composition

[walrus]

Thanks, folks. Looking at this after a night's sleep, I'm not sure this is working for me yet. On the color-side (which is okay because by no means was this intended to be a color-rough) I think the whole room's going to need to be lighter - from overhead lights and from the oceanic windows - so that the characters pop more against the background.

Layout-wise, I'm not certain that fish-eyeing everything upwards so that the horizon (or at least where the floor meets the wall) curves upwards at the sides is as dynamic as I'd like. I kind of think that layout A in the previous post, where the walls curve up on the sides but the horizon/floor curves down might feel more exciting. I'm also torn about the window placement: Something I like about 'A' (previously) is how the foot and the guy getting kicked break the line of the balcony. It feels very powerful. I've eliminated that in this latest pic in order to have my female high-kicking agent framed by the window, which is also strong compositionally. Hmmm.... maybe I can give him a little more hang time, break the plane more with his head and achieve all of the above... Thoughts?

gonçalo - While in my earlier shots, I'd distorted the walls a lot to get the effects I'd wanted, here I've actually undistorted them! All fof the warping effects are coming from a combination of the ASDN MentalRay Lens library Fisheye Lens, and then distorting it in "post" with Free Transform and Transform Warp. You can do it all in Photoshop if you need to, as long as it gets the way you want it to look!

[Renderspud]

Hey Walrus, I really like the deep environment and dynamic poses you have going on in this. The circular balconies really help frame and focus the action taking place in the foreground. I think that's why I really liked "C" in your compositional sketch panels. I guess the 'solid' frame created by the balconies really pop the action of the characters that chop through it.

Your newest comp is really nice too, but I agree that the way the floor line curving up at the edges where it meets the wall takes some of the depth away from the scene.

One other thing I notice on your latest post is that the camera tilting to the left sucks a lot of the energy away from the kick and collision of the characters... probably because the kicking gal is rotated so that her leg is almost straight up and has a more stable center of gravity.

Sorry for the diatribe here... I just really like the way this is heading and wanted to throw out a thought or two... knowing your painting style, this is gonna look incredible.:blush:

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247125151_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247125151_medium.jpg)

Here are some new layouts, hopefully improving the problems I had with the last two. Renderspud, thanks for your feedback. In both of these, I've tried to rotate her leg so, with either camera tilt, her leg isn't completely vertical. Anyhow, interested in hearing what you all think...! :)

[Renderspud]

This is looking excellent! "F" is my favorite. Having the background tilt to the left adds more energy to the kick and to the momentum of the male figure flying back. It also helps push the oncoming attackers away a bit. Breaking the plane of the background arcs was a great call. This is really going to be nice!

[Jassar]

Watching :) ...

[TobyArt]

Are those ninja monkeys under the briefcase? If not they really should be!

I agree F seems to be the strongest so far

[FranciscoAlvarezDelgado]

Hey Walrus... awesome job man. I agree with renderspud i think "F" is looking really good the angle helps put the overall flow and action.. I really like your style...
also great job on the Dominance war...the robot wolf guy a la ratchet and clank...
good luck man. looking forward to the final..

[walrus]

I'm surprised so many people liked 'F' - my wife did too. She said the female character was more prominent in it, by virtue of having a head higher in the scene. Funny, I thought G worked better, as all of the characters paraded from upper left (where our eye enters the scene) to lower right. I'd be curious to hear others' thoughts on why they like F or G.

Zyrinx - They were actually supposed to be Little People/Dwarf Ninjas, although monkeys could work too, I suppose.

Jassar - How 'bout some other verbs like "posting" and "offering feedback" too while you're at it! ;)

[paperclip]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247125151_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247125151_medium.jpg)



I'm quoting this so people don't have to keep flipping back to the previous page. :D I think the one you choose depends on what you want to focus on- in 'f', there's a little space in front of the girl which makes your eye lead to her first, up through the leg to the flying objects, then to the people running down the chairs and back to her. The titled camera angle also makes it feel as if the picture's taken at an angle (maybe the cameraman just got hit?!) and so gives it a bit more of a dynamic feeling. On the other hand, 'g' is more solid-feeling and your eye runs up the space on the left to the people, up to the head and down the leg to the briefcase, notices the little people under the briefcase and then resumes wandering around the picture.

The focus is different on each- in the first one, your last thought is of the people running towards her, whereas in the second, you're left hanging on the suitcase and wondering what's in there....so, storywise, I'd choose g, but visually I'd choose f.

Sorry for complicating things further. :D

[walrus]

Thanks, Theresa! Those are some good thoughts. It's interesting to hear you talk about F like it's tilted and G like it's not - G is tilted too, just in the opposite direction. (But the floor isn't even in either version.)

BTW, did you know that there's an option you can set in your CG account so that it permanently shows you 50 posts on each page instead of the much smaller default number? I find it makes threads much easier to go through: For me, I'm only on page 2, so there's far less flipping back and forth between pages the way you seem to have. Just sayin'! :)

[adrephil]

Hey Walrus! i'm really liking how your idea is coming along and just wanted to add my 2 cents! :D LOL
i'm really loving option F.:thumbsup: why?...well in comparison with option g, the upward tilt of F gives the impression that our agent is on higher ground and by extenstion she will come out of this sticky situation unharmed (we are hoping :D ). as well, her attackers on the lower side seems to be fighting an uphill battle! heh heh :D
i just love what your choice of tilt in F does for the scene. it has a lot of appeal :applause:!!
oh yes, the head honcho guy on top, he's just the thing! i can imagine him screeching "THE 272DF-X FILES!! ... STOP HER!!" ... (made that up... lol):scream:

anyways can't wait to see your next WIPs:wip: & Great Job Walrus!

Karisa;)

btw.... thanks for that tip about being able to select viewing 50 posts per page! never knew that!!! thanks :buttrock:

[daRoz]

Hah! very dynamic and interesting scene.
A lot of good sketches, I like these characters projects especially how you showed their expressions ;]
w8 for more
cheers

[aghill]

Hey! Looks cool so far! Love the dynamic and poses. Great stuff.

I automaticly look at the girl first, and then my eyes trail off to the oncomming mob of thugs. Its vey cool! Did you consider addig a little "empty space" to the left? This way the endpoint of the curved line, which the characters make, would end more "inside" the picture, and not so far out to the left. maybe adding more people running down the uppers steps of the stairs would "balance" it better too. Just some thoughts..

anyways.. keep it up!

-Thomas.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247293712_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247293712_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the notes. Here's the layout pretty close to final. As popularly requested, I've stuck with the tilt from F. I've added more 3D details to the background and done lots of little adjustments to the space, window sizes, architectural details, etcetera. I love how the buttress on the far right frames the female agent. I'm not as in love with how it forms a cross through the center of the image centering on the henchman's head... I may add a view screen or something on the balcony to make that vertical line not so strong. (And of course, I need viewscreens up there to show the Electronic Map of World Domination that the bad guy is using to plan his mischief.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247293770_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247293770_medium.jpg)

...oh, and here are some more sketches of various bad guys.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247293872_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247293872_medium.jpg)

Ooops, attached the wrong file. Let's try this again.

[miycko]

Of the new bad-guy sketces hes i like the one in the centre on the far right, he's got an evil beard and hair-cut to match. Not to mention a prominent nose which is a must for every evil genius.

[diissar]

Hi Walrus,its always a plesure to see your new posts,nice bad characters,it will be cool if you add a more evil character(a leader).good luck!!
:D

* its been a while i didn't post,i ll post new images soon i think,work work!!

[Sauliber]

I love the sense of action and the play of secret agent cliches in the scene. I especially like the character designs. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[Zeoyn]

HI! The image is looking really dynamic.
The round lower right corner together with the new curved structural elements balance the composition really well, making a full oval with the curve of the staircase. Nice!!:thumbsup:

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247426838_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247426838_medium.jpg)

Thanks folks! Here are even more bad guy sketches - focusing on the ones who will be rushing the protagonist, not the main leader or the guy getting a boot to the head.

[Katea]

i love you sektches - they are so hilarious :)

[Irawan]

good character with good facial expressions,i like all of them.cheers

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247646930_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247646930_medium.jpg)

So here's where I am now: i built a model and posed it, but the rigging was quite insufficient for the extreme pose: Oh well, lots of sketching-over I can do. The top row are three different doodle-overs - the first is just concentrating on the anatomy (and poorly, at that!) while the other 2 are closer to the actual outfit she might wear. The third is much more cartoony (but I should probably push it even more so.) Looking at these now that I've saved the file, they all look too short-waisted. I'll work on them more in the morning.

[ShogunWarrior]

Hey Michael,


Looks like you are working hard on this scene. I have seen you do so many things here. I hope things are going good with your 3d design. Can't wait to see more. I don't have any suggestions yet because its not completed yet, take care.

[JacqueChoi]

:D

Just here lendin support!

XD

Keep it up! I'm sure it'll be EPIC!

[Renderspud]

Man I love your sketches!!!:thumbsup:

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247726497_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247726497_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the comments, folks! I started over again from scratch with the female agent. After scanning in a new pencil drawing and reworking it in Photoshop for hours, here's where I am. (which is to say, vary tired and rather happy with it, at least until I get a good night's sleep and look at it again in the morning.

[paperclip]

Looking great! Only crit is that the hair is kind of static- if I did that, you could bet my hair wouldn't be as perfectly coiffured- maybe she uses a lot of hairspray?? I'd expect it to be flying in the air, following the arc of action. Well, just my 2 euro cent worth...

[Irawan]

the hair style is ok(cartoon hair)
but i think the dynamic movement of her hair isn't correct.
you should think about the movement her body plus her head and dont forget this was end of her movement...means the hair not stay overthere.i hope you can point out what i mean.

[walrus]

Thanks for the input! you're both right, the hair is too static. I may adjust the drawing a bit, but mostly I'll work on it more when I get to the painting stage: Too many other characters to work on now! :)

[digelz]

Wow the scene looks awesome, very good work, gratz :thumbsup: I love the design of the secret agent

[Katea]

Thanks for the input! you're both right, the hair is too static. I may adjust the drawing a bit, but mostly I'll work on it more when I get to the painting stage: Too many other characters to work on now! :)

I think the b picture above is the one that as the best hair movementwise :)

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247860704_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247860704_medium.jpg)

With the agent mostly done, time to work on the thug she's giving the beat-down (er, boot-down) to. Here are a few different sketches of different figures and details. Their legs are all mostly the same because I kept trying different things and ended up steering the pose back to what i thought worked best. (It's hard to see how much erasing I did on some of these, like #3, which had 7 other right leg poses which I didn't like as much.) I kept in all the hand sketches for #2, just trying to get that right hand losing the gun to work (and not succeeding!)

Hope you'll share which ones you like... or which parts of ones. Feel free to tell me you like specific hands or heads or whatever.

[Rupy]

Hey Micheal,

Love the sketches you got going, looking forward to seeing where you go with this, always amazing to see your progress work, cheers

Rupy
Secret Agent (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?threadid=784315)
Website (http://www.roopbhogal.com)

[diissar]

hi Michael, nice new sketchs,i see you are working really hard on this image.
ok for the head: number 3 seems the best
the hands:number 2 works best i think
the legs:number 2
the torso: number 2,3,4 are ok,im not very excited about the number 1,i think that was your first sketch.
hope it will help you,good luck mate!!

*i ll post new images soon,don't forget to give me your feedback if you have free time.;)

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247901352_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1247901352_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the note, Rupy, and thanks especially for the feedback, diissar. No, the first image on the page wasn't my first sketch, just one of several sketches where I tried to make the bad guy a little more heavy-set. I didn't like how they turned out. The ones I liked most were 2 and 4, so here I've combined them and painted over whatever didn't work. Also made a handful of subtle changes on the Agent too. This is closer to final, but as always, I'm happy to hear feedback. Thanks!

[Ramitxon]

Hi Mike, Great work, but you don't need me to tell you. Just wanted to drop by. I see you are having fun with the challenge as usual. I don't really have much to comment on your image, is looking really promising so far, only what I would say to myself, time is closing on.
Best of lucks my friend.

[walrus]

Thanks, Ramón, glad you like it! Now that I've had the chance to sleep on it, there are still some things I'd like to fix. For example, who wears bandoliers crossed over their sternum?! I need to move those up higher. But you're right about one ting: I had really better get cracking to make the deadline... Back to work! :)

[NJA3d]

OH MAN!!!
i just love your style of illustration, this is outstanding !!!
can't w8 to see the rest of the gang and in color :)

no sleep, WORK! :P

[walrus]

Oh, don't worry, my toddler son made absolutely sure that I got no sleep last night! :P
(Nothing like having a 2-year-old rolling over onto your face and kicking you at 4am. At least cats know to stay put when they sleep on your head.) But yeah, I'm going to keep burning the midnight oil to get this done!

[mic]

Love your sketches. Can't wait to see the final piece.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248072358_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248072358_medium.jpg)

Okay, I've spent all weekend (when I've had time to spend at all) working on the bad guys on the stairs. Several fun archetypes represented, and I hope you all like how they came out. Here's how they look in the greater layout...

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248072372_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248072372_medium.jpg)

...and here's a detail shot of just the henchmen on the stairs!

[nemotoad]

GREAT! I love the energy in your sketches. More please.

[arschgesicht]

i like the characters (especially the little ninja). will you paint the characters or make them flat like in the cartoons?

[NJA3d]

hehe great characters! :)

i think the guy with a sledge hammer could be bigger,
he won't cover anybody, and for agent he would be a much more scarier site to see :)

[diissar]

Hi michael,great characters,can't wait to see a shaded version!good luck my friend!:thumbsup:

[Irawan]

Hi michael,great characters,can't wait to see a shaded version!good luck my friend!:thumbsup:

no critic so far...
cheers.heri

[Rivenis]

man, i'm really loving this, can't wait for the painting stage. Excellent as always michael

[Ferx]

Hey Michael,

Really cool staging for your concept, and the character design is simply awesome. (love the different types of bad guys :D The villian in dive suit with a harpoon is a great touch! :D) I really enjoyed all your thread and WIP's for this challenge, like always incredible work!
The action looks great, very cool poses for the agent and the first bad guy. Maybe the overlap looks with some tangent lines, but think in the paintaing stage the separation of the two characteres be made absolutely clear :) Fantastic work!! and looking forward for more updates! Cheers!! :beer:

[MartinNielsen]

Great work as always, ace :) It looks like you have every villain in the book here, except the lawyer and the taxman :D

[bfedack]

I can't wait to see the finished illustration. Keep the updates coming!

[Imara]

Hey Walrus. This piece is no different from all the other ones you did in the past. Interesting and Different. I like how you utilized the feel of the cartoon world in your pieces. An i was just watching for a while to see how you would bring all these ideas together for this piece. Looking forward to it man.

[walrus]

Thanks for the comments, folks! Got lots more work on the details done last night but not worth updating at this point. anyhow...

Imara - Your comment could be taken as a compliment or a put-down but I'll assume it's the former and say Thanks!

Martin - Ooops, I missed some? Darn - no room left... oh, wait: I'm going to put sharks swimming outside the windows (it's an underwater base) so I'll have your lawyers covered! :D

Ferx - I've done a bit of adjusting to get rid of tangents since the last post, but let me know later if you see anything I missed!

NJA3d - Good idea! I enlarged him and he does look better, thanks for the suggestion!

Arne - This will be fully painted, not flat rendered. Check out my portfolio link if you want to get a better idea - as Imara put it, the finished piece should look "no different from all the other ones {I} did in the past"

[Imara]

Well sorry about the confusion Walrus. I just that does sound pretty off. Well anyways. I really do appreciate your work. Cause i like the style you use. I was using a similar style in the Steam Punk Challenge. The one with the "Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf". This piece looks really promising. And i really cant wait to see. Once again. Sorry about that man.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248243379_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248243379_medium.jpg)
No worries, Imara, I figured that was how you meant it.

Here's my final layout with costumes and details and guns all relatively accurate and all that stuff. Oh my god, I only have 17 days to color this. :eek: :cry:

[diissar]

Hi michael,your composition is really good,not much time left!!im struggling with my painting too,too much characters to paint,aaaaah.
good luck to you my friend!:cool:

[Irawan]

Hi michael,your composition is really good,not much time left!!im struggling with my painting too,too much characters to paint,aaaaah.
good luck to you my friend!:cool:


dont worry! michael will manage everything,
this is not the first contest/challenge for him.

his "troll crossing"image was 2 main figurs + 16 monsters,all together 18 figurs...
his"black watch2048"image was 3 main figur + 9 vissible character+detail of city.

i have to say the composition is really good,i also like their accecories.good luck my friends.

[germanager]

walrus, very cool expressive characters, reminds team fortress a bit:)

[fellah]

it's always fun to follow your progress in these challenges. all the details and thoughts you put into your pictures is remarkable.

maybe you can give the viewer a hint of why she's there and why they are after her, what she's trying to steal(if she is)

and 17 days to color, lucky man! i have 2 evenings to pose a 3d character, do hair, weapons, buildings, design 2 characters etc.. :arteest: ;)

[goofara]

that looks really good! I`d like to see more!

[walrus]

Heri - If you want to see a composition with a real lot of characters, check this one out:

http://www.blizzard.com/shared/blizz-com/images/diablo2/wallpapers/mummyattack/mummyattack-800x.jpg

FIFTY mummies! (and I hope I never have to do something like that again, ha ha!) But in all fairness, neither that nor the others that you mentioned were done on that tight of a deadline. 17 days is tough... but I also don't think the minor characters in this (and I still may add more, btw!) will be that hard to render as they're so small. It's the main characters that will take most of the time. But anyhow, thanks for the vote of confidence! :)

fellah - So you think she should be stealing something? There should be a hit of why they're after her? Why, whatever could that be in her left hand? :D (As for what's inside the case, there's a bit more hint in this version than the last, though it's hard to see when it's this small and uncolored.)

[rawgon]

I think you´re all set for another glorious painting man, looking really cool!

go for it!

[miycko]

awesome, :thumbsup: this is gonna be awesome :arteest:

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248406792_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248406792_medium.jpg)

Here's my final 3D render, which I will paint over to get the real look I want. So it won't look just like this. This is just a start.

[Ferx]

Hey Michael,

Really cool background, very appealing desing :D Like the idea of a submarine base. It´s really great to see your painting stages over a 3D reference, a very cool learning journey ...
That said, we want more updates!! (kidding :D) Cheers!! :beer:

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248417561_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248417561_medium.jpg)

What, you want MORE updates, Ferx? Oh, okay, here you go - redrawn line art for the characters, all set to start actually painting!

[diissar]

Hey michael,this is looking great!good luck my friend!
i posted a new version of my painting following your advice as well as Fellah's suggestions,please check it and give me your feedback
cheers

[Ferx]

Hey Michael,

Fast update :D

Seriously now, looks really cool, great action. Maybe the leg of the ultra sexy agent :D and the knife are in the same line and the viewer eye go to the top of the image, perhaps the knife pointing down.... mmmm ... or maybe droped by the left hand, I like the negative space on the top part of your image without the knife, only silly thoughts, don´t listen to me :) Cheers!! :beer:

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248593875_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248593875_medium.jpg)

Working on the values for all of the characters... here, it's the agent in her leather catsuit. I'll probably repaint the hair from scratch so I haven't spent much time on it, and there are a lot of details to add into this, but it's close enough to be semi-decent.

[snake08]

love those exaggerated curves man, thats a HOT kick lol looking awesome:cool:

[wick3dsono]

wow michael. its been a long time not coming to your thread. nice update. you got a beautiful detail. keep it on.

[RogerNobs]

Hi Michael. The drawing on these figures is excellent. You've really gone for the bravura performance with this one - an all-singing all-dancing extravaganza from someone at the top of his game.

Really looking forward to seeing how this develops. I'm still on holiday, but back in a week.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248666946_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248666946_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the comments, folks! Here's another character I've been fleshing out. It's the guy with the big moustache and bigger hammer (Sergeant Hammer.) On to the next...!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248677588_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248677588_medium.jpg)

Here are two more characters mostly done: Mr. Chin, the chain-gun guy, and the diver (as yet unnamed.)

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248764813_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248764813_medium.jpg)

4 More bad guys from the background: MisterMind (at top), Double Barrel (the femme fatale), unnamed knife-throwing-guy (suggestions anyone?) and Eno in the black trenchcoat (Neo and the One were already taken, so 'Eno' was the only combo of those letters that was still available.)

[Neubius]

Great work! I love the variation in the characters, excellent.
actually, it reminds of team fortress and Evil genius! - in a good way :)

[Rivenis]

wow michael, genius as usual, i'm loving the character designs, and they're looking even better rendered. This is gonna be insane once you add colour. Hoping for some more updates really soon

[Renderspud]

I LOVE THIS!!! ... sooooo jealous right now. :blush:

[dingwang6]

haha, nice drawings, like it a lot! especially all those characters:bounce:

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248847571_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248847571_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the notes, folks! Here are all of my bad guys in the background mostly done: I've finished rendering the Minja and The Australian... Plus I changed the face on Double Barrel because she was looking a bit more realistic in proportions compared to the rest of the characters and didn't quite fit.

Alwyn - Thanks for the comparison! I haven't played Evil Genius since it came out, but I've been thinking about it. Team Fortress, too: I really struggled to get a guy holding a chain-gun (which I really wanted) and making him hefty enough to hold the gun but NOT looking like a carbon-copy of the wonderful Heavy design. Actually, all of the character designs in that game are great!

Anyhow, all characters except for Agent Hunter - Mr. Boot-to-the-Head - are done, so guess who I work on next?

[paperclip]

I suggest 'Mr. Suds' for the diver guy. Looking great, no crits...at the moment, anyway!
Only 10 days to go! :argh: You'll be fine though, you always are...

[yakonusuke]

Neat characters!
I would suggest to review the shotgun guy. It's really awkward like he's holding the gun. Usually it should stuck between arm and body. :)

I hope you can fill the background with chaos and stuff to support the bustle about the stolen briefcase!

Good luck with the rest!

[diissar]

great progress Michael,really good,the only crit i have is the guy with sunglass and shootgun,the way he is holding the gun looks a little bit weird(as Yakonosuke said)other than that its great.
i posted my final colors if you can check my thread and give me your precious feedback before i submit the final image :cool:

[Marat-Ars]

Haha! Brutal action! Like it. GL man:thumbsup:

[wick3dsono]

oh god, i love the detail in every character. nice style.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248885537_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1248885537_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the feedback, folks! I did a quick paintover of Eno's arm holding the rifle what I think is slightly more properly. What do you think?

[Renderspud]

Hey walrus. I was looking at your latest shotgun holding tweak and think the arm looks a lot more natural.:thumbsup:

One thing that I noticed while looking closely at the shotgun in your detail is that it looks like the gun is warping. The end of the barrel and pump are turned heavily towards the veiwer... but the stock (where it fits in the crook of his arm) appears to be kind of flat towards the veiwer. This makes the shotgun have a noodle-like bend... but maybe that's what you are intending...

Regardless, even with the warping, it fits with your character style. Sweeet stuff!:drool:

[wick3dsono]

ig you talking about arm ,the right arm is already proper. also the left, but the left fingers are still not properly.

[walrus]

Thanks for the good observations, guys! I'll rework the "rubber" gun and the fingers and try to get them to all look better. And try to finish off the last character - the big guy - soon. Time is ticking (and quite loudly, at that!) :argh:

[angel]

Very cool! I think that the right hand of the boss on the platform might be exaggerated too much, looks kinda weird to me.

[chilombiano]

A sure winner always Walrus!. show more show more!
Good luck i this tight timeframe

[rawgon]

Walrus,

very cool action! that shading b&w method you got its pretty interesting.

go for it man

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249111164_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249111164_medium.jpg)

Here's just Eno, with an improved (non rubber) rifle and a hand more accurately portrayed, thanks to a friend who posed for me...

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249111251_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249111251_medium.jpg)

...And here's the full scene with most of the values in place. I still need to put shadows on the ground and some sense of floor tiles, but I think after that, I can start moving over to color!

[Zeoyn]

It's looking good! The shadows on the ground will add the connection that is missing.
Very nice set of characters! :applause:

[diissar]

hi Michael,nice to see your progress,i just came back home from a small trip.i have no critiques for now,good luck! :thumbsup:

i changed the slingshot in my image,i ll post an update soon :D

[Renderspud]

LOVE the shotgun!:applause: I want one. Looking great!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249246244_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249246244_medium.jpg)

Well, here we are: Final values on all characters, plus a few extra layers for stuff like fog and side lighting. I added the shadows on the floor (as well as floor tile demarcations) plus redid a few things that were bugging me like the sledgehammer shape. Now I'm all set to turn this into an actual color painting (ridiculously late in the contest to only just now be hitting this stage - eep!)

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249281541_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249281541_medium.jpg)

A first, but probably not final, pass at color.

[diissar]

hi Michael,your image is looking really good!keep it up!!
i finished my image and submited the final jpg,check it in my thread if you have time(you should be busy now)
good luck my friend!

[chilombiano]

looking awesome already ! . keep it up

[walrus]

oops, mispost.

THanks for the comments guys, more color tweaking to come!

[JacqueChoi]

Sweet!

The action and silhouette's all read really well!


The hammer dude is probably my favorite of the villains. SO obscure.

GJ! Can't wait to see the final!

[Rupy]

Hey Micheal,

The first pass turned out amazing, looks soo good, waiting to see the final, cheers

Rupy

Secret Agent (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=6019471#post6019471)
website (http://www.roopbhogal.com)

[Ferx]

Hey Michael,

Looking really great!! Like a lot the shades on your characters, cool. The blue and aqua marine tones for the background work really well, put a great atmosphere touch on the image. And the tiles for the floor add a lot of depth on the scene ( really clever :D), you achived a great perspective in your concept! Great work!! Cheers!! :beer:

[paperclip]

I haven't been around here in ages! You've come along so much since then- I'm loving this and I know the end result will please us all. :) At this stage, the only crit I have is that the main evil boss guy could be a bit larger- and maybe move him to the top of the stairs instead? He looks kind of impotent being so small and over to the side? Just a thought. Keep up the good work, I'm having fun watching the progress!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249370652_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249370652_medium.jpg)

Okay, after a few more hours of working out colors, I've got something I'm more happy with... not to mention several hours of tracing maps to make my own stylized European and world maps. And can I just say... Nunavut (WAY Northern Canada, West of Greenland) is a royal pain. I mean, whose idea was that much coastline? Seriously?

Okay, N/M, anyhoo... Some more intense colors this time around. I like the IDEA of the all-black catsuit for the female agent more, but I just really needed to drag the eye over there with a dab of contrasting color.

Theresa - Sorry, but the boss really can't be any larger than he is now and still work with the scale of the other characters. I'm happy with him and his placement, though. Compositionally, I think it's still clear who's in charge there (for all the good it'll do him.)

Anyhow, lots of work to go - got to put the railings that I covered with the map back in, add subtle colors (there's no red tinges in anyone's skin, for example) and of course I need to paint the ocean and the sharks out the underwater viewports. I haven't decided whether to put frickin' laser beams on their heads, though: SO many people have asked if I'm going to, it seems like I should... I just can't decide whether doing so would be TOO much of a Dr. Evil homage... or rip off. :/

[rawgon]

This is looking neat! the line tiles in the floor with subtle curvature gives the pic a sense of speed! nice complementary coloring too. You´re probably hitting your final soon so good luck with your final sessions.

[Zeoyn]

LOL, you're fast putting those colours in!!

It's looking super!!

[miycko]

Nice progress, l like the orange in her suit, it was a good decision to add it in IMO, cuz there seems to be quite a lot of black where she & the baddy she's kicking are. i can't help but laugh at the crotch guard he's wearing

[snake08]

Man she could kick me anytime lol seriously though, loving the colors, this will turn out awesome as all your other work. Hey that ninja didn't even use the stairs (badass):applause:

[walrus]

LOL, you're fast putting those colours in!!

Well, the deadline's in 4 and a half days - it's not like i have a choice! :D
Typically I'm a lot farther along at this point in the Challenge. I'm going to be working right up through Saturday night to finish this. But glad you all like how it's coming, and how the orange worked out so far. :thumbsup:

[L8n]

Love the character and set design. So much work has gone into this I hope you get the chance to finish it to your usual high standards. Looks almost there to me. Good luck.

[wick3dsono]

may i borrow your turbo. i;m needing it too. lol.

[Zapan]

Hey Micheal !

I really like your art and this one promises to be in your top row !
One thing IMHO is catching eye a bit too much is the orange glow on her left cheek. Seems it don't have call back in the other skin colors. Maybe you planned to fix it later.

Looking forward for the final sprint ! the speed your going on is insane :p
And thx again for your help in mine btw .

cheers ,

-Zapan

[chilombiano]

Walrus!. is looking great. some reflections in the ground and details here and there and you done! ( easy to say than do :) )
Keep it up!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249660513_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249660513_medium.jpg)

I haven't updated in a while so I thought I'd update to show where I'm going with the agent and her hair, and what I've already done on the background (ooo, bolts!) and briefcase. I have all today and part of tomorrow to paint, so it's time for the final and not insubstantial push... waaaaaaaaaaah!

[daRoz]

Go go! the girl looks so cool, I look forward to seeing more ;]

good luck!

[diissar]

hi michael,good luck!hope you will finish at time!!
:)

[Renderspud]

This is looking great! Keep the coffee brewing and keep it up. :thumbsup: I gave up the ghost last night and cashed in my chips and uploaded the final image. Feels good to be free. Now to sleep and then awake to see what you've done.:blush:

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249684938_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249684938_medium.jpg)

Thanks, guys! 6 and a half hours later (it took THAT long?!?) of solid painting and I'm now pretty much done with the main two characters. I won't be putting the same amount of detail into everyone in the back - they're in the background after all - and I still have a ton to do with the background. 30 hours to go...

[Nickillus]

Looking fantastic as always Walrus, and just jam packed with interesting detail and fun. Outstanding.

[MartinNielsen]

And I agree as always :) You have a certain way with lines and colors my friend :thumbsup:

[RicGuimm]

I really like your style and the contrast blue/green x orange works perfectly! Cheers!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249697297_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249697297_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the support, folks! Here are the background characters done along with the railings, so that no one falls off the balcony. (Not having them would be a violation of health and safety codes.) Time for a dinner break, and then it's off to work on the view out the underwater windows!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249710615_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249710615_medium.jpg)

Here's how the whole thing is looking, after almost 15 hours straight of painting today (minus meal-breaks and putting my son to bed). I just finished putting in the sharks and background panorama. I also redid the upper left video-screen map to be less intrusive.

I still need to add weathering and details to the ground, do something with the back left wall behind the video-maps, which needs more details, make the walls feel less 3D rendered and a little more integrated into the style of the characters, lower the hairline of the female agent, add details to the front right thing in the corner, and maybe add reflections to the floor. I'd originally planned on adding equipment and crates and such to the background, but I have neither time nor space - it's already crowded enough as is.

Anything else I'm missing?

[RandyToons]

Great work Michael...I worked up a sweat and got deadline anxiety just from reading your posts. Looks wonderful!
Randy

[TobyArt]

Awesome, looking great overall! Another excellent entry. The sharks look great and help to fill out the BG really well... Agree the far wall needs... something?... The only crit I may have is about how bright the gat gunners face is, it seems to be snapping my eye to him and not moving from there.. a bit darker may help let the eye lead up the stairs thru all the characters...

Awesome stuff, I'm excited to get another Walrus Wallpaper soon!

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249739707_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249739707_medium.jpg)

Here's the latest update: I've tried a number of passes to make the floor shiny and textured and a bit reflective. I'm not sure whether it works, so instead of dwelling on it, I'll post it here and see if anyone responds while I work on the back wall and the bulkheads. What do you think?

Toby - Thanks for the note about Mr. Chin's face and skintone. I see what you mean, although it doesn't bother me as much. (Although we could have really different monitor settings.) I'm so tight on deadline, I'll have to wait and see if I have time to circle back and touch that up before tonight.

[diissar]

hi Michael,looking great,you can still work on the ground i think,good luck
:wip:

[Rivenis]

wow, there's been a ton of updates since i last checked here. This is coming along superbly, and your speed is ridiculous, you're racing against time just like me. Do you eat or sleep, or even blink?

[authentic]

long time since my last look here. Great picture, I specially like the girl (cool, that 's the main character) she as this little thing that makes here really sympathic.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249756882_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249756882_medium.jpg)

Thanks, folks! I've spent the morning working on the upper level, including the back wall details and the glow for the video monitors. Now back to the main room and the floor... (Still would love any comments anyone has on that. Just telling me to "keep working on it" without saying what does or doesn't work about it is not a lot of help.)

[azazel]

About the floor: You could try adding bright, blurred (either uniformly, or vertically) reflections of the windows (don't have to be blue, white-ish would be even better). Or you can use few big blurry vertical strips, disregarding the windows. Now the reflections of the characters should be only 'reflective occlusion' - so mask that bright reflections from where the actual character reflections would be. And finally mask the bright stuff with a gradient (more reflection on the top, less in the bottom).

See the reflection here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30912555@N00/3063196346
it's just the floor that doesn't reflect the window, no reflection details

and here's even better one:
http://davidschroeder.net/images/normal/tate-wip.jpg

few more:
http://forums.luxology.com/discussion/topic.aspx?id=27584
http://www.arts.ri.gov/images/bell3.JPG

Floor or not, it's a sweet image :)

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249768388_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249768388_medium.jpg)

Azazel, thank you so much for taking the time to post your suggestions and some fantastic references! It really helped a LOT! Some of those things I was already doing a bit, like fading the reflection as it got closer to the bottom, bot toher things were a great take on what I needed to improve.

So here's the latest version - a floor I'm much happier with, more texture all over the place, some giant bolts on the buttresses, some color adjustment in the back, and of course the earlier details like the glows and back wall in context of the entire image.

I'm really close! I need to paint in those bulkheads in the lower right and upper left corners. I want to add a tattoo here and there and maybe some blur on her foot. And then I think I'm done... plenty of time (which I might then have to spend on the uploading process. On the FAQ, sounds like some people are finding it a mite frustrating.)

[Stormf]

Walrus its looking good, love your style ;)
Personally however I think that you could work some more on the depth of the image, maybe making it a bit darker in the background, DOF I don't know what would work best, right know it just strikes me as being a little to "equally" illuminated.

I think your reflections are really coming along nicely, maybe go a bit more for the look on the image that azazel linked to http://davidschroeder.net/images/normal/tate-wip.jpg

All I can say is good luck mate, it's getting late here in Denmark, but I'll be looking forward to seeing your final image tomorrow morning ;)

[DeadInTheAttic]

Just looked 'round here, too.

I like your comic-style. Light edges, extreme posings, even a contrast in colour of warmth and coldness, good and evil (I suspect, she's a good one).

Very dynamical and inspiring. Hell, I should draw some comic stuff the next time ;)

Though it's too late, I would think about a alarm sirene or something, some red light fingers walking over the walls or something like that.

Good luck!

[ChaseStone]

The background really came along fantastically, as did everything else of course. Great work man :)

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249780414_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249780414_medium.jpg)

Thanks for the notes, folks! I've just been sitting around adding small details and fixing little things before final submission. Some of you may have been wondering whose base this is that Agent Orange has been infiltrating (well, in actuality, I'm sure no one has, but humor me here...) The evil genius on the balcony goes by Mister Mind, and he and his cronies work for the dreaded international cartel known as the Crush Governments society (CGSociety for short.) Just in case you were wondering about the TRUE meaning of CGSociety... :)

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249781180_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249781180_medium.jpg)

Agent Orange's mission is to steal the briefcase from the underwater base of the evil Crush Governments (CG) Society, but when stealth and subterfuge fail, she's fully prepared to kick ass (and other assorted body parts.)

Acknowledgements:
Thank you to everyone here at on the forums for their useful feedback and input in the making of this piece. Thanks to Manny Marquez for help figuring out some of the subtleties of MentalRay and for posing for the shotgun guy's hands. Thanks, as always, to my wife Talia, who gives the best crits, and who came up with the Crush Governments Society joke. Thanks to Marcel and his most excellent site cgtextures.com - my favorite source of free texture maps - for the textures used on the floor and walls. And thanks to the CGSociety - the REAL one, this time - staff for hosting this contest, and for Anton in particular for letting me participate again!

I think I'm done here, but I'll wait a little while (but not too long) in case anyone sees anything glaring to fix or recommend.

Stormf - Thanks for the advice. I feel like I've done a pretty god job of matching that reference image, at least to the extent that I've taken what I can that still fits this piece. I've increased some of the atmospheric hazing to hopefully give this more of a sense of depth.

DeadInTheAttic - Glad you like it! (Yes, she is the "good guy.") I like the idea of a siren/flashing-red-light, but color-composition-wise, I want to keep the strongest warm colors centered on her to draw the eye and don't want to distract with any more reds. A flashing light would certainly be appropriate though!

That's all for now... whew!

[Slav]

great image michael, grats on finishing. cutting close too! good luck.

[walrus]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249784146_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18303/18303_1249784146_medium.jpg)

Software: 3ds max,mental ray,Photoshop

Agent Orange's mission is to steal the briefcase from the underwater base of the evil Crush Governments (CG) Society, but when stealth and subterfuge fail, she's fully prepared to kick ass (and other assorted body parts.)

[snake08]

Wow amazing piece mate:cool:, best of luck

Cheers

[diissar]

Hi Michael,glad you finished your image,the result is excellent,you will win again for sure :cool:
i wish you luck,thank you for all what you did for me,it was my first challenge here,it was a plesure
take care
hope to see you soon!

[wick3dsono]

michael, congratz for finishing. nice image also.

[Randis]

This is looking very good! Great job man!

[man-to]

High quality as usual walrus! There's so much emotion on the faces and in their bodies.

[Irawan]

hi michael,like always,another great job from you!

[Zapan]

Yay !

Awesome to watch the final image ! (to be honest , I was a bit scared you cannot finish in time).

Wonderful picture as always , tons of details to look at , and a really great style of yours which I'm a big fan!

Wish all the best for the judging !

Cheers ,

-Zapan

[MartinNielsen]

Excellent work again, my friend :thumbsup: You never fail :)

[Rivenis]

great final michael, excellent as always. Now hurry up and give us the hi-res version ;)

[prabath]

Ah!the unmistakable Mr.Walrus. Brilliant as ever Michael. Still remember the great help you gave me in my first ever CG Challenge back in Eon. All the best my friend.All the very best.

Cheers!

[walrus]

Thanks, everyone! I was a little worried I wouldn't make it myself... so that's why I worked 13 straight hours yesterday and 15 the day before (taking a vacation day from work to do this all day instead!) So a BIG thanks has to go to my wife who took care of our son all day and kept me clear from distractions so I could finish what I needed to get done. I've never been so tight on a CGChallenge deadline before... usually I try to finish a week before the deadline. But this time around I got a late start because of Dominance War... Oh well, all done now.

Here are some slightly larger images to share with you:

http://www.michaeldashow.com/art/agentorange_large.jpg


http://www.michaeldashow.com/art/agentorange_detail.jpg

Cheers and thanks for stopping by!

[Marat-Ars]

Hey, Walrus! Very nice work! Like you rendering style. GL! :)

[RogerNobs]

Michael, that's fantastic; one of your best I think.
What's also really nice is following your WIP - definitely one of the best in the competition - and one of the best final results.

Good luck with the judging, and thanks for sharing.

[Ferx]

Hey Michael,

Superb work like always! :D Love the "submarine base" environment on the image, really great! And the "in crescendo" pursuit with that all cool bad guys is simply fantastic. Really like the name of the evil society.. :D a little detail, but a great touch. Agent Orange ( nice word play :D) is beautiful and sexy but I dont like to deal with she :D, really letal.
Was a great pleasure and a great learning journey to follow the development of your work. Thanks for share! All the best and yes, time for a really well deserved cold beer and a lot of tequila shots! :D Cheers!! :beer:

[Ramitxon]

Congratulations Mike, Fantastic work as always, I specially like this one, all the characters are priceless, love the small ninja. Wish you best of lucks.

[ChaseStone]

This is one of those images you can stare at for a long time and just soak in all of the great details, each character has his own liveliness and honestly they're all interesting enough that any one of them could hold up an illustration by themselves. Great work!

[mic]

This is really wonderful work. Love all the characters in this piece (especially the ninja :) )

[daRoz]

great you finished it on time! fantastic piece ;]

good luck!

[NJA3d]

hey Michael,
i'm so glad you finished in time,
i followed your every step and in the end it turned out very cool!

good luck !!! :)

[walrus]

Thanks, everyone! Glad you like it... and glad I got in enough time in the end to finish it to my satisfaction. Unlike Roger, I don't feel it's my best work... (and sometimes what I like and what seems to strike a chord with others is not the same thing) but I am happy with it and glad I got it to this point!

[irwit]

Great job, characters are superb and came out fantastic. Its not as colourful as I thought it was going to be but I know there were serious time restrictions. I think the orange on the agent was a good call.

Personally I think it would be cool ( I know deadline has passed ) to see a version with some motion blur. I think it would add a lot of life the the image and the characters. Her leg, the guys arms and hands, the knife, the ninja. Would really add to the piece I think.

Anyway, great work and good luck with the competition :thumbsup:

[RicGuimm]

Hi Michael! It's really a joy to see your finished work. It's wonderful!! The girl sure looks very tough!! Great piece!

[walrus]

Thanks for the comments, folks!

Irwit, I actually did at one point put motion blur on her foot. It didn't add much, and looked out of place with nothing else blurring. Perhaps I'f I'd added those blurs to everyone, not just her foot, it would have felt more right... but as you say, not much time to play around with that kind of stuff and I wasn't necessarily sure adding all that would have been the right choice, merely a different one.

The lack of color was a conscious choice, though: When it got too bright, the eye didn't know where to go. I felt that it was important to keep things muted, especially the big hulking form of Agent Hunter getting a boot to the face and taking up the whole center of the piece. Keeping his and everyone else's colors subdued and making Agent Orange orange really helped guide the eye.

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by and posting, all! :)

[diissar]

Hi Michael,how are you doing?you should be more relax now, :cool:
you posted your final image in the CGtalk forum,are we allowed to do that?i mean the challenge isn't over.
take care

[walrus]

Of course we're allowed to do that - how else would the artwork show up in our portfolios otherwise? And the Challenge is over, at least as far as we on the image side are concerned!
Cheers! :thumbsup:

[diissar]

thanks for the infos,you still didn't give me your feedback about my final image(you were very busy finishing your image).
also since its not your first challenge,do you have any idea when we will know the winners?
cheers ^^

[madbot]

As a fan of your work I think this piece is just fantastic Michael. I love the environment, it reminds me of the waterworld base at the end of The Spy Who Loved Me. The characters are great, every single one has a purpose and Agent Orange is certainly one you'd like on your side. I love the flow of action throughout the piece, terrific composition. Congratulations & good luck!

[mdavid]

Hey you've done it again. I love the humour you bring to your illustrations and this one makes me grin as much as your other works. As always, there's a lot to like about this piece but one thing which I think works especially well is your use of colour - you get a real sense of underwater lighting coming through those glass walls. I'm glad you crossed the finish line in time - it's an excellent result. Good luck

[walrus]

Diissar - I did too give you feedback on your entry right before you posted your final image. I told you it was great, the details were lovely, etcetera, etcetera. Pretty much the only difference that I could see between the one I posted about and the final was the position of the slingshot. So congratulations on fixing your slingshot! :thumbsup:

Madbot - Thanks! I was going for every James Bond cliche I could fit in there. (I still wish I could have squeezed in a James Bond like character who she'd be rescuing - he'd be strapped to a table and about to be dissected by lasers and buzz saws and the like. Not enough room compositionally. :shrug: ) But thanks, glad you like it! :)

Mark - Good to see you here, we missed you this challenge! THanks, glad you like how it came out!

[RogerNobs]

Michael, I'm curious as to what you feel about this work compared to your others. It's interesting to hear what an artist is trying to strive for from his own lips. I suppose it isn't always easy to identify and you 'know it when you see it', but can you pin it down. I'm assuming really spot on drawing, full of life, and a composition that is intricate, but beautifully simple; but then what?
Looking closely again at other works, I see more flawless drawing in others and ideas that seem to find just the 'right' form almost by themselves. But this does seem to me to be one of the most complex and energetic.

Anyway, looks good in your portfolio.

[walrus]

That's a really interesting question, Roger. For me, it's not about the execution - I do feel quite happy with that - but instead with the content itself. It's a bunch of creatively designed bad-guys attacking and being attacked by a beautiful secret agent. And....? Nope, no more to it than that. No hidden visual gags, not a lot of emotional content, nothing overtly funny aside from the designs of the characters themselves. Interesting characters and setting really was the whole point of this piece, so I feel happy about what I achieved there. And I feel that people will (and are) look at this and say, "Oh, hey, cool." But I personally feel that my truly best work presents a bit more emotional connection with the viewer, and that there's a novel take on events that show some form of looking at the world in a slightly different and amusing way than one might normally view things, and that hopefully is a bit more refreshing.

Case in point, my last challenge entry for Steampunk had the cool factor - monocycles and walking steampunk robots - but what I feel worked best about the piece is the unexpected use of bananas to slip up a walking robot, and this odd assumption of the female protagonist that she was somehow obligated to eat each banana before discarding the peel. That's funny and unexpected and very human all in one. Or the Uplift Challenge entry before that, where the expressions of all the characters, even though most were aliens, were all very endearing and relatable and established a bond between the characters and the viewer. Farewell Kiss is sweet, And Wage Slave features a lot of unexpectedly funny juxtaposition of Lovecraftian horror and office horror all in one to make for a piece that's both "cool" but has a recognizeable emotional core. Agent Orange, by contrast, is beautiful but just features people beating each other up. :shrug:

But that being said, in my last 2 big paintings, this and the steampunk one, I've really been striving to add more motion and action in my paintings, make them feel a bit more active and alive, and in that sense, as you pointed out (thank you! :) ) they seem to be working.

[RogerNobs]

That's a great answer, Michael. I appreciate that. It has made me look more closely at your work. I see what you are saying and I think it's a fair assessment of what you are doing. 'Farewell Kiss' for one is a lovely picture where everything seems to fit and a particular (emotional) moment generated. 'Lupus Major' really impressive too, and does just what you say about design of the characters.

It would be nice to here this sort of thing from others, sometime. It has made me think about why I'm doing what I'm doing.

[gpepper]

Your unique style of painting still kicks in our face !
Great job, again, Michael !

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