Patrick Wong has entered the Grand Space Opera 2D.
Latest Update: Line Art: readjusting
just re-adjusting everything to check what the end layout will look like.
something like this anyway
[i think i’m starting to be relatively happy with what i’m doing here now]
startstart
i\'m hoping i\'ll work more and get more out of this than with my submission for machineflesh… prolly could\'ve done better with that… tho i did have some good feedback from some killer talent…
anyway… heres some line art… prolly play around with the composition… i think i\'ll want ot get started on the background first this time
just playing with colours… added a girl with swords… [every space opera needs a kickass princess]…
just a quicky…
Great sense of action with the bodyguard on the right. The one on the left looks like he just said, “Check, please.”
I like the idea of the last stand - fighting great numbers while standing back to back. Your color has given these characters plenty of volume. Good job.
grr. unhappy with certain compositional elements.
well.
on the whole, just the girl. i may do her from scratch and add her in later, i may just put something else in there that makes sense. but one thing for sure is i’m positive i want these guys to have some kind of elite force feel or special guard feel.
i believe i’ve already figured out how i’m going to do a treatment on the background as well… but that will happen later rather than sooner i think…
i’ll go through some more concept again… back and forth grah
Hi Patrick,
Thank you for your input on my work. Looks like youre off to a good start with your characters and Id like to see what you have in store for your scene. I know most people will agree that the most important thing is to get atleast a quick rough of what your entire illustration will look like but Ive been just as guilty of starting with character design first… personally I could spend hours tweaking details for characters… its a lot more fun for me:)
Hey man, good luck. We have 85 days left so theres plenty of time to get our works finished so take your time and have fun with it. All the best!
joel carlo/mechahatechimp: and tanks for your input. i have to admit i feel a hella lot more comfortable starting this project now than when i first did for machine flesh. it was a while ago i suppose but it feels so much better now. as for roughing and stuff… well i’m the first to admit to having a horrible workflow on all of it…
I mean especially after looking at the professional quality work online here, i know for a fact i haven’t got a candles chance in a snowstorm. but i’m glad that they instituted the “encouraged” feedback factor. i entered machine flesh last time to get feedback… and i did get some, but I have to admit at the time, feeling a little bit left out in the wind. still all the same, while i wasn’t exactly super happy with my finished image in the challenge i was pretty happy that as far as a finished work goes [and especially at my first foray into trying to do rendered images in photoshop], i felt my machine flesh piece came out somewhere in the middle of the pack, between uber professional and utter noob.
so i’m truly hoping to learn more from this process just by being here and of course trying to get more interest and feedback from the community
i gotta say tho, i really like the characters you did. i mean my main problem is in fact finishing anything. machine flesh forced me to. [bastards… just kidding].
but yes… all the best to everyone… i expect we’re all going to see some exCEPTIONAL work in this challenge…
[and a hella lotta people saying “so… my entry is about a conflict?.. between two worlds?”… all in a 5 year old’s voice… :D]
Dude, youre not kidding when you say the quality of professional work can leave any one feeling a little humbled… I just look at some of the sketches and Im just blown away… some sketches already look like finished works of art! But the way I see it, the only person you can accurately compare yourself to is YOU. Do your best, give it all you have, and most importantly enjoy yourself doing it. In the end its just a contest but as long as you enjoy doing what youre doing, youve already won in the long run. It may sound cheesy but youll grow so much quicker as an artist if you stay true to yourself and believe in your abilities. If you need motivation, let me know. I’ll hound you till you get your illustration completed:)
cool sketches … i like the line work of the first one… id like to see more of the lines showing tru the color in the last pic… in particular the right hand of the left guard 
The chest area of the right guard looks really good with some of the groundwork showing tru…it gives it a nice rough-texture.
This is no crit or advice im just telling u what i like 
hrm… well. here’s the line art/colour treatment/concept sketch i did for a third guard… i plan on placing him somewhere between the other two in the foreground… with [once again] the “princess” somewhere behind the three…
i am fairly solid on the idea of having these three dudes as the “royal escort/guard” of her… of course during a space war of sorts, escorting her to her ship…
when i get back later tonight, i plan on posting the updates to my colour treatment on the other two, in addition to some roughs for how i’ve decided to compose the entire scene.
well i think i’m starting to get a feel for the overall taste of this particular image…
the title says it all “Protect the Princess!”
of course since the larger image can get up to larger file sizes, i’ll work with what i have here and then add on to it by opening the canvas up abit…
but i think i’m starting to like the feel for where everyone is situated and what they’r doing
Hi Pat,
So you’re having another go at a challenge then? Kudos my friend. Hopefully like you said, some of the stuff you learnt from the last project and since then will help you this time round.
This challenge seems like it will suit your style a lot more after seeing your sketchbook. Not loads to comment on yet but all I would say about your most recent image is what kind of protection is going on for the princess? Is she meant to be in impending danger or is it a kind of usual formation these robot guards would assume just incase? If she is meant to be under threat the robots seem far too casual. Theyre just ‘there’ at the moment, they dont look like they are either fending off anyone or worried about anything.
Perhaps have a kind of ‘first line’ of defence comprising of the majority of robots and then have one sentinel which is right beside her as a kind of immediate bodyguard.
What kind of setting is it? Whats happening around her or have you not thought that far ahead?
Remember also that even though its a 2D challenge you could dust off your 3d robots, pose them and then use them as a guide to paintover. That might give you a lot more freedom because you could try out various compostions and ideas really quickly.
Good luck and i’ll check back soon to see how youre getting on.
haha… nice to see you online duder…
Flint had the same comments as far as defence
i would be leaning towards that opinion now too… i think i’m going to change a couple poses… we’ll see what happens
plenty o time
as for 3d… whats that?
jokes… mb…
bah… too bad. i realized only afterwards that in the end this bit i’m doing here isn’t really going to show up as much in detail on the larger version.
oh well.
here’s a closeup treatment of ms’princess… changed her expression and pose a bit at the suggestion of the elucid “davy flint”…
give her the regal feel…
grah.
should sleep… then go to work.
made a little bit of progress anyway in conjunction with ms.princess… kinda wish i had worked the other two guards more… intention to change the far left one’s pose to somehtin a bit more dynamic… we’ll see…
u could try moving the 2 outer guards closer together and putting the one in the front somewhere in the background behind the princess…this could add more to the protection ring effect…
the princess pose looks cool now 
but i think shes a bit too tall compared to the robots … this makes the guards loose fierceness somehow…
cya later
Hey Selvagem !
You seem to have improved alot !
I Followed your entry in MachineFlesh contest
your images seem way sharper and looks like you paint way
fasster than before , or am I mistaken ?
Vahn: Hrm. I think you may be right. you can sort of see in the original, just before the latest update that i had them two guards closer… and i think i was leaning towards what your suggesting. i’ll try it out again… after i clean them duders up.
As for the Princess… yeah she is tall.
but I figured since she was so thin by comparison to the others, it was okay. perhaps if i tone down that line on her far left it’ll change your view. 
but yeah… look at her shoulders compared to the size of those guys. if anything i was thinking of making her taller hee hee…
add to her regalness… “your HIGHNESS…”
Squibbit: wow coolio. i’m really happy someone noticed. yes i do paint faster now :D!! yayayayayay!
Very cool characters, indeed. But i would like to see much more ambience so i could feel the atmosphere of the pic. I would put those characters somewhere an a desert planet, where they r surrounded with another species. The girl in the middle is a nice example of someone, who is protected by those “robots”.
A high camera view, to see much space around and this pic could be fantastic!
Just my opinion
had an idea for the background/foreground etc… just roughing here… on top of the init sketch…