Machineflesh 2D Challenge Entry: jonny duddle

#121

So will you be using Painter or photoshop?

#122

Freever:

I’m gonna do some initial colour stuff in photoshop, because i’m confident and pretty experienced with it. But, i’d love to get into Painter, so i’m planning to use this challenge as an incentive to learn it.

Obviously, if i can’t get what i want or struggle too much with Painter then i’ll revert back to Photoshop. Or juggle between the two. Although, i haven’t really had chance to play with their compatability…

#123

Originally posted by duddlebug
[B. Or juggle between the two. Although, i haven’t really had chance to play with their compatability… [/B]

they work fine together, and this is more or less they way I work myself.

#124

FlyingP…Thanks…What versions of each do you use? Would there be issues with using a slightly older version of Painter (6 for instance) with a more recent photoshop (7)?
Or vice-versa?

#125

Actually I’m using version 6 for both, I can save and open photoshop files in Painter 6 without any real problem. Worth noting Painter 6 does not support “all” the layer functions from photoshop (ie you get just the bitmap layers) and it handles alpha’s um… differently, which is to say I have always found masking in Painter to be a real P in the A.
I’d assume newer versions would have even better compatibility

#126

Wow… your designs and illustration style ROCK!:buttrock: Can’t wait to see some colourful painterly goodness (or photoshop goodness… whichever you use). Keep up the awesome work! Cheers :beer:

#127

FlyingP…Thanks for that!!

I’ll bear in mind what you said about the layers. I do use layer masks a lot in Photoshop (i’m a bit of a layer obsessive) so i’ll try and commit them before moving between packages.

I’m more interested in Painter for its brush effects and the texture it can add to an image. Photoshop’s come a long way in the last couple of versions with it’s brush controls and flexibility with custom brushes…but painter can always provide those happy accidents you get with real world media.

I’ll probably try and switch between the two as i develop the image.

Should get around to some experimenting at the weekend.

#128

Actually layermasks may we be compatible haven’t tried that, Painter 6 has them just not sure if they work the same (have to try that one myself :shrug:), it’s selections that are a pain, and layers for colour correction, tone values etc, won’t get imported

#129

Hi Jonny.
Those latest gorilla sketches are very nice, me like.

To make it a tad more cheerful you will have to take it a step further than a circus I think. I have a hard time finding something more depressing when you involve animals.
How about twisting it another revolution? Make the circus manager a mechanic human and the half machine half ape creatures finally triumphing over him? Or go the full way of those horrible circuses…

As mentioned earlier, some colour tests would be interesting to see.

cheers,
Mikael

#130

But the image on 04-29-2004 09:14 AM is the strongest to me.

Feels more animated and dynamic… would love to see you mask that as a multiply layer in photoshop and paint under the image…
holding on to the line drawing style… Very nice work.

As for photoshop… I like 7.0 a lot and cs has some great new brush controls… but painter is a whole other world.

I’m looking forward to your coloring… I think you have the most interesting concept so far…

#131

Beautiful drawings - very sensitive observation. looking forward to seeing how you tackle the artwork. Photoshop is great for masking, while Painter ( version 8) is catching up, but is not quite as intuitive as Photoshop. Switching between the two should be fun (in a nerve wracking sort of way). Happy experimenting.:thumbsup:

#132

Well…Blimey…that’s a pain in the behind, innit??

There was a few waffly ideas i’d typed on here that i haven’t written down anywhere else.

I’ll get the drawings i’d posted back online soon…

Where do hackers get their kicks doing this kinda thing??? It really gets my goat!!!?

#133

I’ve been trying to remember everything i’d typed up in the week we’ve lost.

I know i said a few things about the ‘circus’ idea (see my post on the 30th April) and what my plans were for the next couple of weeks whilst i nail my final composition and do some colour tests.

The circus idea came about because i wanted the machine elements of the monkeys to have more ‘purpose’. I wanted most of their mechanical enhancements to do a job. And a circus is the next best thing to a zoo.

And i wanted to inject a bit of humour. Everything was getting a bit too dark. It’ll stay fairly dark… there’s still going to be the dead monkey… but i wanted the monkeys to look like they belonged to Miki’s Magical Mechanical Monkey Circus. I think we’ve lost the post where i gave her a name!! She’s called Miki… partly because it’s kinda ethnically ambiguous…

She’s got a monkey circus. But she’s escaped from another monkey circus called ‘Cirque Bezerk’ run by a very nasty, funnily dressed Ringmaster(i’ll re-post the image). And she took a lot of the ‘nicer’ monkeys with her.

And now they are rivals. And he wants his monkeys back.

So i want the image to hint at the story.

These are very rough and quick layouts based on my original ‘dead monkey’ image with the girl and the orangutan (03-26-2004) but with the Cirque Bezerk peeps included. I wanted the image to have more depth so i’m looking at something along the lines of the image on the far right with the dead monkey and the girl in the foreground, the orangutan towering over her but looking back, and the baboons and ringmaster of Cirque Bezerk in the background. The baboons are responsible for killing the small monkey and the orangutan will have a baboon in his fist.

I’m taking some liberties with scale… but then they’re all half machine and it’s a fantasy, eh?

I’ll get a bunch more drawings uploaded today… and maybe some more tomorrow if i get chance to scan them…

And then i’m gonna browse and add comments to other threads that have lost my replies…

#134

BAh!! I just typed up a long explanation of these then it didn’t upload!? Are cgtalk still having hacker problems?

Anyway…

Here’s some very rough monkey musician sketches from Miki’s circus. There’s a mostly-tin clockwork drummer monkey, a organ grinder monkey with integrated sheet music and winder and a big tuba monkey with a tuba growing out of his back and buttons on his tummy to play it. I want Miki’s Monkeys to all look like they have specific machine elements that she’s added for the circus performances…

I’m going to work up a few ideas for the different monkeys from Miki’s circus. They’re going to be brightly coloured and silly-lookin… in stark contrast to the dark baboons of ‘Cirque Bezerk’.

When i’m happy with each monkey design i’ll decide if i can fit it in to the composition around Miki, the orangutan and the dead monkey…

#135

This is an exact replica of an earlier post that went missing in ‘the lost week’…just thought it’d be worth posting again as it was:

I think i’m gonna go with the face off between the two circus troupes.

So i thought i’d start designing up some circus specific monkeys. This was an issue i had with my concept. None of the characters seemed to have any reason for their mechanical bits, so with the circus they can have mechanical enhancements that serve a circus purpose. Like the monkey cannon ball duo. One has a cannon. One has a big steel unbreakable skull. Perfect.

And i’ve been thinking about my story.

Miki (the girl) used to ‘work’ for Cirque Bezerk and the evil monkey mechanic circus owner. They performed to the grey and desperate people of the post climatic disaster world. But he wasn’t a nice boss. He had a nasty temper. And fed her stale bread. So she escaped. With the friendlier monkeys. Like the orangutan. And the MonkeyCannonDuo. Who weren’t happy either.

But the Evil Circus Owner wasn’t going to accept their escape. So now he’s after her. And he’s reeeal mad. And they’re both performing circus acts along the way.

So the image will be a confrontation… i think…

#136

And here’s another replica post… i’ll get some new images uploaded today too:

Here’s another quickie…more story development really.

I’m still keen on the circus idea so this fella is the girl’s nemesis and owner of a rival mechanical monkey circus!!

I’m thinking of doing a final image showing a big face off between the two rival circuses (spelling?)… with loads of monkeys!! There’ll be the happy, colourful Magical Mechanical Monkey Circus run by the little eskimo-esque girl… against the mean and nasty Cirque Bezerk run by this vagabond and his evil half mechanical baboons and apes.

I’ve got some days off next week so i’m gonna promise a colour image… and hopefully a final concept…

#137

he he quite like the organ monkey…good and the cannon is a killer too :smiley:

#138

Cheers FlyingP… Looked at your thread earlier to see if you’d got your lost images back online, and the final image looks great!! The close ups are fab too!! I’m gonna add comments and go through my favourite threads later when i’m not as pushed for time!!

As i already said… these are rough designs for Miki’s circus monkeys and will be worked up and most will be added into the final composition.

Here’s another sketch of a flying Gorilla who can hold up a trapeze. I was gonna do a drawing of Miki being lifted on a trapeze. He’s probably too big to add into the current composition… so will remain very much a concept.

There’s some new Miki concepts to come when i get time to scan them…

#139

Thought i’d mention…

I realised that we’ve lost the pages but that our uploaded images and text are still on the ‘view entries’ part of the forum… so i realise i’ve repeated myself a bit by re-posting the mising images with the same missing text… but hey… it’s nice to have everything on the actual thread!!

#140

Really nice the concept of using apes ,the design of the ape is kool