From Vague Light/Dark to Detail Help

#1

Hey all,

I’m looking for some guidance on how to get past the shading stage. When I work on a piece (be it CG or traditional - I do this with charcoal too), I get stuck at a crudely drawn light/dark image. I don’t know how to make the jump to a detailed image with overlays (I’m not looking to paint the whole image - image overlay/manipulation with a base painting is the look I’m going for). Once I have something down or if I start from an existing image, I can finish pieces fairly well - it’s just the initial jump that’s hard. Does anyone have any tips or know of tutorials I can follow to fix this problem?

Here’s an example of what I’m working on.

#2

Hi Archvilel, if i understood your right, you dont know how to bring your sketch to life.
I think there are many ways to start.
One would be, rebuild the the sketch in a 3d app.
Making rough models and place them as needed.
Then play with the camera and the lights to get the right mood.
With that method, there are no problems getting the right perspective.

If this part is done, you can start making an Overpaint.

If youre new in 3d, make yourself a few Building with paper or use toys.
Place them in a scene and make some Pictures.

Another way to start would be, search the internet for pictures you need for your scene.
That´ll be, Cracked Concrete, distroyed Buildings, Sky´s, Cars like the Hummer and Soldiers in different poses.
Make a quick composite and start Overpainting.

Hope this helps you a little, greets rasher73

#3

Those are good ideas. I’ve done the 3d scene-to-image thing before, but I just didn’t think to try it on this image. That would definitely solve my main problem with it (the street appearing too narrow for the humvee to turn around in). I’ll give that a shot a post some newer photos in a few days.

Ben

#4

HI,

I definitelly agree with rasher73.

In production, what we do usually is rough out the concept using images, like a badlly made photomontage jst to get a few key elements right down in the beginning. You can look for images on the net, the resolution is negligible , just pick an image that has sort of has the right perspective and lighting you want. Don’t spend more than 3 hours just looking for iamges 2 hours is already mithan enough.

Second is use a 3D app. that is the faster meathod, here is a freeware that will help you a lot, so easy to use and very intuitive, try it and it might just help you:

http://sketchup.google.com/
http://sketchup.google.com/download/

#5

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