I think this image screams Julius Verne.
The color and lighting really captures the eye.Dont have much to critic but its still a wip and
it looks superb so far.
Go on:thumbsup:
Steampunk Myths and Legends Entry: Alex Broeckel
Micro26
#81
RogerNobs
#83
This is looking really nice, Alex. How far are you going to take it? I love the Nemo’s office on your site. So you just keep refining the initial concept?
RayBender
#84
thanks again for the nice comments… i was just looking at linda bergkvists paintings (her master&servant entry especially) and when i look at my colors now they look dull, desultory or in short just bad… hahah… i have an idea of what colors i like to see in my image but i cant get them into the painting. :-/ and when i look at it i really dont like my edge work… currently all the parts i worked on do share the same edge quality… and this is something i completely dislike.
anyway.. of course i´ll finish this one...
roger: yeah, im going to refine it until i´m happy with it. maybe theres a better way to do it, but im a beginner in painting and i have no idea what the best workflow is. nemos office was the very first "finished painting" i ever did and when i look at it it feels like a bad attempt to show what i had in mind when i started. i really fear that i will make the same experience with this painting too.
hope you guys know what i mean… currently it looks like a concept. but i want it to look like a painting. 
maybe i should start over again with new colors and a new approach to edge quality ?!-- i don´t know, i just don´t know. feeling a bit lost at the moment :argh:
i mean…i´m participating to learn something, but currently it feels like i´m repeating my mistakes from previous paintings…
RogerNobs
#86
I don’t think there is any right way to paint, Alex. Your process seems as good as any to me. I find I have the same dilemma every time I paint. Each painting has its own economy, so to speak - it must work on the terms you set for it.
The piece does have a slight ‘cartoony’ feel with those flat clear shapes. Perhaps you could continue by disrupting the surface with a layer of texture and then paint back into that in a looser way. You’d get more unexpected effects of light. I love the colour as it is.
Is Linda Bergkvist’s work the sort of thing you are after? What about looking at someone like Craig Mullins. Seems to me his process of refining a concept might be closer to yours.
Hope there is something here that helps.
RayBender
#87
roger, tahnks again for the input.
well, im not sure what style im heading for… Linda Bergkvists colors are great, like they blend and make the image one whole thing. my pic looks like the parts are not belonging together (at least thats how i feel about it.)
funny you call it cartoony, because there was something i didnt like about it and as soon as you called it that way i had to agree.
i don´t have a style… i did way to little images to have something like a style and being confident about my process… still experimenting, trying to get colors and composition right. its something i have to develop. i think im struggling because this time i wanna do a polished image with high details, so im using masks and lasso a lot… but this makes me slow and in the process of painting becomes more restricted… think thats not good for the image so im trying to loosen things up today.
J-Knight
#88
I like how the piece is coming together. If I can propose a couple of suggestions they would only be to give the attacked cruiser a more steampunk feel. The octopus just needs something on the tentacles to take your mind of “futuristic robot” ideas, because the rest is great. It saddens me that you are not happy with it, since the piece looks great, maybe it’s what you have in your mind’s eye?
RayBender
#90
j-knight: yeah maybe i just have to go on… i´m always not happy with my paintings… i think its because of missing self confidence in my paint process… my good friend john wallin tells me then, that i just have to go on and ignore the bad feelings… and most of the time he is right
syrez-one
#91
hey ray!
i like the detailing done on the ship looks very used and the detail is coming definatly…
I just know exactly what you mean… I think in digital progress we have to much freedom, we can go back 30 steps, try this this and undo lots of stuff… in traditional stuff, your paint would just crack off your canvas 
or you build mountains with it …
it’s my personal second approach, so this is not going to get any better huh? 
keep it up…
J-Knight
#93
I like how you have mixed machinery and the ornate aspects of the era, most pieces are focused on one or the other. Keep it up! and as your friend John says: forget the negative feelings…he sounds like a regular Master Obi-Wan. The piece is great!
RayBender
#97
heres a closeup of the gun and the part on the bottom left… still have to work on the seat and the pipes on the right…
is the gun steampunkish enough ?
CLICK the Image for a bigger view.
RogerNobs
#98
Alex, I’m no expert on Steampunk, but that looks fantastic. Good to see the close-ups. Trust yourself: you seem to know a lot about painting instinctively. Love the surface qualities, and really like the clean aesthetic. You do have your own style; it’s inescapable. I often think exactly the same as you, but I guess I have a style too.
RayBender
#99
hey Roger,
thanks for the nice words… maybe its not instinct, maybe it´s because you could call me a seasoned 3D Lighting TD with more than 13 years experience so i should know some things about colors and Light already… that´s makes it more easy i think…
i started to teach myself painting around april this year and have to say that i owe my biggest thanks john wallin who did a great job telling me a lot about painting every day… see his portfolio here: www.johnwallin.net
and roger… your stuff is awesome ! cant believe you are not in the industry… or what exactly are you teaching ?
walrus
#100
I would say that it definitely looks steampunk. The scrollwork and decorative accents are a great touch. The textures are coming along nicely, too. good luck with the rest!