Steampunk Myths and Legends Entry: Michael Wilson

#61

I agree maybe after some lighting tests the composition might look a lot better.
I didnt notice that but it might seem bad in the final shot.
Excellent work on the characters and pose though
Keep updating

#62

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Here I’ve started to work out lighting. Trying to set up some good key lights. This is most definitely NOT final.

Also, I think I’ve finally worked out his arm position.

#63

Wow, you work fast. I love the heroic feeling about this image. It might be fun to see a bit of the glow from the Minotaur’s burners reflecting off Theseus’s shirt, to enhance the sense of how close and dangerous that big dude is. I love that Minotaur, by the way

Wonderful stuff :thumbsup:

#64

Yeah, some really nice updates here - I like the comp now and the mirrored poses for the characters gives a good hint of how huge the minotaur is in comparision. Maybe try and move the camera a bit futher down would make it even stronger.
Splendid stuff!

#65

I think that already with the new arm position, it’s a lot clearer that it’s a screwdriver! Also I know the lighthing is far from done, but I like Mark’s idea of the glowing red on Theseus’s back. Real nice work so far! Keep us updated!

#66

Lighting fixed it! Good work. What does he have in his right hand?

#67

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Theseus is hold a special compass (Ball of String in the original story) given to him by the Princess Ariadne to find his way into the Labyrinth.

#68

A bit more work on the lighting. Tweeking, always tweeking.

#69

Looking good.

I have a couple of possible suggestions, maybe you could turn over his right wrist so that we could see the face of the compass a little bit more. When he twists to look back his wrist is liable to relax and turn over anyways. In any case it might be worth checking to see if it could work. Also, a bit of specular and or reflection on the screwdriver blade might be good just to give it a bit more pop?

#70

Excellent update! This has really come a long way with the new lighting effects. Great work!

#71

Well, I’ve been thinking that my image needs something a bit more. So I’ve been kicking around this idea to add a few little steam bots running away near the feet of the minotaur. I don’t know if I’ll actually include this in my final image but I thought I’d try it out and see what I think.

#72

I can see your dilemma - you’ll need to be careful in how you put those little guys in so they work well with the comp and the mood, but they sure are cute too. Those sketches are really nice

#73

Great sketches for the little robots, i think the idea is good if they are modeled in a way that reflects your main character ‘the spawn of Minator’ type thing.

#74

thanks for the feedback on my post. the more i look at it, the less i like his robot arm. good call!

i like where yours is going. it’s a neat idea. have you seen Hellboy 2? story wise it’s pretty lame, but there’s tons of great visuals! your minotaur reminds me a bit of the golden army. you might find some great inspiration from that movie. i took a bunch of screen shots of it and if you want some, i can post them somewhere and send you a link?

overall this is looking good, but there’s a few areas in this piece that i think could use some more lovin’.

his feet seem much less thought out than the rest of him. now i know that you don’t want to draw too much attention to his feet, but they seem out of place, compared to his nice shoulder pads and hands and such. it almost feels like when you got to his feet you ran out of steam. get it? steam? eh? eh? ok… I’m a dumb ass… I’ll stop that…

i also think that his legs could use some more mechanical bits to explain how he functions better. similar to what you’ve got going with his arms. in the earlier shot you had of him, you could see that piston on the side of his leg, now i can’t really tell what it is. maybe if you rotated his leg a bit, so that we could see that again? or maybe if you put one running down the top of his leg, similar to a backhoe?

i think the background could be a little less vague too. it’s hard to tell what’s going on back there. i understand that you want to showcase the characters, and i totally agree with that school of thought, but i think you’ve gone too far in that direction.

thanks again for looking at my stuff! keep up the good work!

#75

Thanks for the comments and very useful crits everyone.

I don’t think I’ll be using the little steam bots. After thinking more about it I really don’t think they would fit in the image very well. I might add some spare parts or something laying around on the ground.

A common crit I get is the legs of the minotaur need a bit more work. I’ll concentrate on hopefully improving them a bit. Thanks

#76

[left]Really good stuff miketche, there’s something appealling about a robot minotaur, maybe it’s all Ray Harryhausen’s fault. Just a couple of thoughts, not in any way crits at all, but I reckon the hoof shape might be the thing to look at - a more curved form or even like a cow-catcher shape from the front of a steam locomotive could work.

Again, just an idea some industrial factory/pipe shapes amongst that red smoke might suggest the Minotaur’s Labyrinth? It might clutter things up though I suppose.

(Cheers for taking the time to have alook at my sketch!)
[/left]

#77

Thanks everyone for the input and critique, I think it really helped improve the image.

I’m sure it is a far cry from the winners in this challenge, but I really like how it turned out.

So coming up next, the Final image.

Again, Thanks

#78

In some far distant time King Minos ruled the Aegean. He demanded in tribute every year a group of Athenian youths and maidens. These were delivered to the Labyrinth, in the middle of which lived the Steam Minotaur, a terrifying creature that was built to look half human and half bull. Once anyone entered the Labyrinth, they could never find their way out again; the Minotaur devoured the youths and maidens as they tried to escape. After many years of this, a courageous youth called Theseus volunteered to be one of the group. When Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, saw Theseus, she took a liking to him, and helped him by giving him a special compass that lead the way into and out of the Labyrinth. When Theseus encountered the Minotaur, they fought, and Theseus killed and dismantled the beast. After escaping by using the compass, he took Ariadne with him as he left Crete.

#79

The steampunk style is spot on. Great colors and compositions. Keep up the good work

#80

Hey Michael, congratulations! Your final image looks brilliant. I love it. It looks fun and dynamic and steampunk and interesting and a whole lot of other really good things. Good luck with the judging, and I hope you reward yourself with a well-earned break