Title: Launch Day
Name: Stanley Von Medvey
Country: USA
Software: Photoshop
Hello everyone! I just finished this piece, took me about a month. I wanted to do a crowd scene, and something where I could nerd out a bit -
Great job! Love classic feeling and lightning lot. Atmosphere is this image is fantastic, wanna be there watching this parade 
Ambitious illustration with this number of characters in it, I like the way the light interact with the orange suit of the 3 main guys and girls , this is really efficient to attract the focus point on them. The light value on the rocket + the circle in the composition around is perfect to read it in a second time.
Good job to control the viewer’s eyes with that numbers of elements.
rawwad: Thank you! I made this because I’d love to be there too 
victorior: Thanks kindly! That means a lot to me coming from a light/value master like you.
Felideus: Glad you like it, thank you very much! I love your work!
DeeVad: Thank you, it certainly got a bit overwhelming at times, muscled through it.
Tawhid: Thanks! I’m glad it elicits that kind of reaction! Whew!
I like this painting but I also find it a bit uncomfortable to look at. There is something a bit imposing about the buildings on the left hand side. I guess it’s due to the shadowing but I do feel that the building is perhaps a little too visually dominant. However, that aside, overall I think you’ve done a really good job. I like your graphic illustrative style, with your strong use of outlining and bold colouring. I also really like the way you chose such a bright orange for your astronauts, and put that against a far more muted context, with just the red ribbons matching the tones in intensity. I really like that balance of colour.
But what I like best about the image is the way I see interesting details in the image which appear to contradict your story about it being a secular society, because I see what look like a number of religious figures in the image. This is rather cleverly done, because I only noticed this on closer inspection. At a glance, it appears to be a random crowd, and yet when you look closely, you see that each figure is individually done, many of them wearing different traditional costumes from different cultures. I think you did a really great job with that.
Sir, forgive me as I do not post here much, in fact I think the last time was 2 years ago. But your work…it reminded me…please let me share this. It is from Neil Young.
Well, I dreamed I saw the silver
Space ships flying
In the yellow haze of the sun,
There were children crying
And colors flying
All around the chosen ones.
All in a dream, all in a dream
The loading had begun.
They were flying Mother Nature’s
Silver seed to a new home in the sun.
Flying Mother Nature’s
Silver seed to a new home.
I think another reason for your feeling of unease is because as a dominating shape in the composition, it really doesn’t serve any purpose. it doesn’t aid the narrative, lead the eyes, or offer an interesting compositional balance–it’s just a large dark shape to anchor the entire image against, but unnecessarily. I think a great way to make use of it is to actually have it aid the narrative–for example, have celebratory posters of the heroes and other festive propaganda cheering the heroes on. It could also be a live broadcast on a large screen of the event, with scrolling crawl about the significance of the event via news-speak–maybe even reporters with mics and cameras on a balcony taping live. Now the wall is not just a useless large shape but part of the narrative, adding information we might not have known otherwise.
Great painting, the colors and lighting are wonderful. It would have been nice to have a bit of fog over the background buildings and starship.
Congrats!
