StarCraft 2 Official Art Competition!

Fuzzy Modem

StarCraft 2 Propaganda Contest!

Battles are taking their toll on the war-torn planets of the StarCraft universe. The protoss, terrans, and zerg seek the help of talented artists to drum up support for their war efforts. Send your submissions now for a chance to win some amazing prizes, including:

Alienware M11x Laptop, an Alienware OptX 2310 3D 120Hz LCD monitor, an NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ Kit, and a Razer Mamba™ gaming mouse

This is my entry as it stand thus far...



...but I've decided to remove "Embrace the Void" and put a prominent Zealot in the front the army, with the text

"Lead the CHARGE!"

at the top and

"Unite with the DARK TEMPLAR."

at the bottom, and

"Our forces are gathering on the Planet Shakuras. Join us, and help reclaim Aiur!"

In small type just below that.

I'm open to ANY suggestions at this point, as I will soon be starting my renders over from scratch.

__________________________


As you look at the submissions that are already up on blizzard's site, you notice a good deal of plagiarism.
I'm assuming that these submissions will be disqualified before voting begins, as the contest rules specifically state that work must be 100% original.

It also stands to reason the the closer we get to the deadline the better the competition will become, as what will be the best pieces are still works in progress right now.

Good Luck and Have Fun! and please post your WiP material in this thread.

Fuzzy Modem

The Zealot takes shape:

Fuzzy Modem

[edit]
Bump map:

bwanie

looks cool! armor etc looks very good, face is not striking me as very zealottish though.

his expression is more one of dumbfoundness/meeknees instead of intimidating/determination.

Neurotika

Widening the gap between the eyes would help that I think.

Fuzzy Modem

Anyone else thinking of joining the competition?

PROX

When doing this kind of stuff first start with the main structure. it seems like you made the details the priority. You need to sculpt a smooth protoss head first, and also consider the skeletal structure. There's lots of art to look at so there's no excuse for inaccuracy.

Fuzzy Modem

Playing with text:



I've been staring at it too long and I can't tell, is it clearly legible?

Is it visually interesting? Does it look Protossy?

NakedZergling

Maybe it's me, but it seems very much like the Halo Wars cover art. Might be a bad idea to make a starcraft entry look like art from an inferior RTS.

Fuzzy Modem

NakedZergling wrote: »

Maybe it's me, but it seems very much like the Halo Wars cover art. Might be a bad idea to make a starcraft entry look like art from an inferior RTS.

I don't think it's too similar:



The composition is fairly classic:






After all, there are only so many ways to attractively showcase an army moving toward the viewer's perspective.

Fuzzy Modem

Texture is getting pretty close now:





[edit]
New skin:



[edit]
First pose and new shoes:

Fuzzy Modem

Howabout I shorten it to:

LEAD THE CHARGE!

UNITE WITH THE DARK TEMPLAR

Thats all caps, with emphesised words and the letters that start sentences larger.

No punctuation at all except the exclamation point. Does that work?

Do I need a period on the second part because I used an exclamation point on the first?

[edit] I guess I made the "C" in "Charge" larger too, it just looked correct I guess, but is it wrong?

Fuzzy Modem

Two last test renders:

Without fog:


With fog:


I'll be starting the big render in 2 hours, so if you have any last suggestions, now is the time.

Fuzzy Modem

Okay:



Foreground is done composition-wise. Still needs post processing. Background still very much in flux. Suggestions?

Heartlash

I'd actually consider trimming down the vertical length. The foreground composition is good, but it gets lost in all that size. You'll notice that most propaganda posters have a single point/character of emphasis. This guides the eye to a single overt message. I know you've made all that great stuff up top, but some of it just may have to go or be compressed. I don't really know where to look as it stands.

Fuzzy Modem

Playing around with a more square layout:

F87

I do not like the placement of "the". I feel it was better in the last version.

Fuzzy Modem

F87 wrote: »

I do not like the placement of "the". I feel it was better in the last version.

Fixed an re-uploaded. Better?

How do you feel about the bow of the "Void Seeker" breaking the line that backs the text? It isn't technically accurate, as several of the void ray beams should also be in front...

Mustang

Your foreground elements are getting lost in the background.
This is a quick and nasty passover to desaturate the background a little, but you get what I mean.


Starcraft is filled with gaudy glowiness, so you need to be really careful to not over do it.

Fuzzy Modem

I'm attempting one final pass on the background elements with the clouds receiving and casting accurate shadows for each light source. I may have to abandon it due to time constraints though...

Playing with the text in the meantime:


Edit: Adding detail to the foreground. Image updated.

Brolo

I played around with your image a bit, just wanted to see if I could add a bit of post processing to it to make it seem a little more propaganda-y:

Fuzzy Modem

That^ looks really cool! Photoshop? What filters?

Brolo

A texture set to overlay, a colour gradient (set to colour mode), and I used a lighting effect to darken the scene, and the masked the bright areas and glowy bits back up to their original values, which added a bit of contrast.

Brolo

Rolo wrote: »

A texture set to overlay, a colour gradient (set to colour mode), and I used a lighting effect to darken the scene, and the masked the bright areas and glowy bits back up to their original values, which added a bit of contrast.

Man, okay I tried to explain this in a useful fashion but couldn't, so instead here's a link to the .PSD file:

http://www.japong.net/sc2prop.psd

you can poke around and see for yourself!

Fuzzy Modem

My last render failed I'm going to have to abandon it and move on to post-production.

How is this text for legibility?:


[edit]
I think I might bump out the Zealot a bit, make the gold of his armor more like the gold of "Lead the Charge"...

Fuzzy Modem

I'm studying how light looks through a fog in preparation for the next round of photo-shopping:



My "To Do" list right now reads:

• Bring the Zealot forward, more gold shine, thicken the end of his "hair" strands.
  
• Reduce contrast on Void Seeker bow on overlap layer.
  
• Narrow the glowing eyes of the Dark Templar to make them seem angrier.
  
• Work with cloud opacity, paint in light/fog volumetric effects.
  
• Increase foreground contrast related to background contrast for emphasis.
  
• Paint out/reduce fog grain.
  
• Add swirly/sparkly effects to Stage 2 Void Ray beams.
• Paint in "Jacob's Ladder" effect along the prongs of the Void Seeker, and electric glow/swirl along middle/edges.
• Reduce thickness of blue bars behind text in conjunction with reduced text height.
• Verify text angle consistency (affected by horizontal scaling)

Anything to add?

Fuzzy Modem

Significant progress. I see a light at the end of the tunnel



Minor changes. Image above updated. I'm getting tempted to submit it, but I'm going to sleep on it at least one night.

It's not too late for other people to submit an entry. There are 10? 11 winners? I'd love to see some other artists take a whack it it. You have until the 8th of July. Lots of prizes. Yadda yaddaa...

Fuzzy Modem

Image above updated again. Any last suggestions?

Heartlash

I like the way you've made the lead zealot stand out more.

I'm not quite sure what I'd do about this, but I'm still not really feeling the text. The bevel is really heavy and the different colors for the glow and stroke all feel a bit more distracting than anything else.

The image is getting quite good, though. I like it a lot more than the initial one you posted.

Fuzzy Modem

The text is one of the things that's still easy to work with by virtue of being on it's own layer. I'm not sure what to do differently though...

[edit] Added some detail to the Zealot's face and updated.

1ddqd

"Unite with the Dark Templar" feels a little weird for a catchphrase. Being a fan of copy/slogans/phrases, I'll try to come up with some ideas for you - it just doesn't sound like a Protoss way of saying it.

Fuzzy Modem

"Join the Dark Templar" is out because it's implies that they should become Dark Templar, which is a hell of a thing to ask given that it requires religious conversion, not to mention self mutilation.

I also considered "Trust the Dark Templar" but I don't know that that's any better than "Unite with"

Mustang

I really don't like the bevel on the font, it's too 'standard photoshop filters' for my tastes.
I honestly think you'd be better just overlaying a light texture on them and lose the bevel.

Never having played starcraft I can't really help you with your slogan, but I wouldn't really say "Join the Dark Templar" implies the joiner will become a dark templer.

Fuzzy Modem

I'm toying with the idea of changing "Unite with the Dark Templar" to "Join forces with the Dark Templar" but I don't know how I would arrange the layout...

This text style is my favorite thus far, but, like, can you recommend something, or show me some examples of what you're thinking?

Fuzzy Modem

I painted in some stalker detail and refined "Lead the Charge" a bit. It's subtle. I don't know if you'll notice...

Mustang

Actually on second thought after looking at the whole starcraft dealy and with 3d art, you should probably stick with the concept you have. I don't mind "Lead the charge", it's a little too clean (could use some dust and scratches) but I don't mind it. But "Unite with the Dark Templar" needs something more (or less), at the moment it looks like you've thrown everything at you could just because you can. Stroke, glow and bevel. Even the texture feels too uniform.

I'd spend some more time getting the texture right, thin the stroke right out, maybe remove the glow. I'd even try removing the bevel all together, at the very least lowering it.

EDIT: Lead the Charge looks better now.

Fuzzy Modem

I've edited myself into a corner here, as to get the current title effect I had to flatten everything twice. Unless I'm willing to go backwards, this is my final draft.

Time to sleep on it.

1ddqd

Given the final draft and the way the image looks with the overall blur and glow, I think you're pretty solid. The phrase sounds good enough, and based on what you're telling me and how you've designed, works. It's not something a Protoss would say in their native language but it's something they'd say if they tried to make a propaganda image for Terrans.

The one nit pick I have is the texturing on the "Unite" phrase. It looks way sub par to the rest of the image.

sosolitaire

I'm digging this! As mentioned I think the lettering sticks out a bit. Specifically the texture of "Unite.."

As for the slogan, hmm You could possibly use quotes from the game/unit sounds for ideas. It's not bad per se as it is a propaganda ad, so you have some freedom to be "out of character"(for a protoss) a la ww2 ish slogans.

CountBlackula

I liked the sepia a lot.

Fuzzy Modem

I just submitted. This is what I gave them:


Whew!

Thank you all for your help

Wish me luck! And perhaps more importantly, if you are Facebook members, vote for me! I'll post a link on the 9th.

Tonight I'm off to Talkeetna for the 4th of July weekend. No electricity, no plumbing, no running water, no internet. I can't wait It will be good to unplug for a few days.