Hello,
Thanks for making this challenge possible. 
I kind of joined in at the last minute but hope to get decent bit done before the deadline…
before I start, am trying to wrap my head about the whole perspective to some degree- though I realize it’s not easy or readily visible or in this particular photo as overall structure is … random- or organic to say the least.
I appreciate any advice or comment regards my first post.
Best,
Allo Sue,
Generally, the perspective is looking good. It’ll help you when you block in your other shapes or extend to support the Kreola story line. Have you gotten to blocking out in the next stage yet?
Hi David,
Thanks for your input.
Since my last post, I have started to block out shapes in 3D. Did not share the update yet since it was still at a very rough stage…
but hope to work on some more this weekend and update the thread!
Best,
very very rough. but the general idea is that I want to create claustrophobic canyon of buildingscape… not originally a matte painter so am rather slow at it and is rather rough looking. but hope to get it to a decent spot before the competition’s over.
thanks and any comments/crits welcome.
best,
Hello Sue,
This works for me. The hard edged sci-fi aspect gives it an interesting feel.
Just keep going and see where it takes you. The important thing is not to get stuck.
Good luck.
Milan
Thanks for your encouraging words, Milan. :wavey:
Yep. that’s basically what i’m doing… keep going at it and see what happens 
Here’s a little update. looks more like a collage at this stage.
it’s getting pretty late and I think I am losing my focus which means it’s time to take a break from the computer monitor.
am currently working on painting the shadows. will keep the light direction from the original plate for the most part.
added water pipe like thingy in 3D. (my steam punk element(?)
good luck to all you hard working participators and cheers!
Since I won’t be able to work on this piece tomorrow, here I share my finished version.
I must say I was intrigued and impressed by other contestants on this challenge on how they were able to come up with different creative possibilities with the given plate. Since the amount of time I could spend on the project was limited, sharing numerous concept designs on the forum was something I couldn’t to do.
I decided to focus on set extension and keeping the original plate as much as possible while trying to add some steam punk element. Really wished that I had more time to explore on this! Nonetheless, I definitely learned a lot by working on my piece as well as following how other artists tackle their project.
Thanks to all the judges for making this fun challenge possible.
Good luck to all the awesome artists from all over the world and cheers!
Googled back alley and was able to find many photos with the type of lighting reference.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8201/8283089748_66cfe63220_o.jpg
This one I liked it for its mood…
http://coolvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/future_back_alley.jpg
and the majority of textures gathered from cgtextures.com
http://www.cgtextures.com/
Hi Sue,
Congratulation on making it into the top 11. Well done, and good luck.
Best
James
Hi Sue,
Congratulation on making it into the top 11. Well done, and good luck.
Best
James
Hi James,
Thank you and Congratulations to you too. (though yours was less of a surprise!)
Couldn’t wake up in the morning, had to wait in long line at the post office, trains delayed… but this def. made my day! Honestly didn’t expect to come this far with my entry and Thanks to all the judges…!
Best,
Cool! Great steampipes. I really like a lot of the lighting.
Strong piece.
The perspective on the element in the distant background is bugging me a lot… might be something you could be interested in building some simplistic 3D geometry for.
Either that or it’s something in the foreground that’s throwing it out of wack a bit. Something to do with its over-all angle maybe.
Yay!! Nicely done, Sue Great steam pipes
Thanks Seema!
Cool! Great steampipes. I really like a lot of the lighting.
Strong piece.The perspective on the element in the distant background is bugging me a lot… might be something you could be interested in building some simplistic 3D geometry for.
Either that or it’s something in the foreground that’s throwing it out of wack a bit. Something to do with its over-all angle maybe.
Hi Ken,
Thanks for your kind comment.
I suppose you are right about the perspective difference on the background element as the foreground set is based on lens distortion from 3D camera lens. Either building 3d element like you said or introducing some type of lens distortion to the background element could help.
Thanks for pointing that out!
EDIT*
Made some adjustment to the background element. and tiny bit of color grading…
it’s subtle but here it is…
Dear Sue,
Congratulations on a very different take for your entry! It has a very nice flair and you have done a great job majorly self-directing it!
Thank you for keeping yourself motivated and being a fun competitor. We’ll make sure to scramble up some feedback for you asap and hope to see you more frequently on the forum from now on.
All the Best to you.
Milan
