Feeling really inspired by the first Schoolism lesson we're working on over in the Schoolism thread. Really encourage everyone to come participate! Here's my fourth orc painting of the week.
In general, I would say there is too wide a range of values in the light and shadow areas. The darkest area in the light should not be darker than the lights area in the shadow. I also bumped up the saturation some, added a slight overlay to warm up the area in light, and then did a small levels layer yo pop the highlights some more!
Lamp- Camels are weird! I like that your camel captures camel weirdness.
Here's a sketch of Aegon and Balerion. What am I saying. It's a guy on a beach with a dragon.
Working on some invented signage concepts. Trying to come up with sets that feel like they all "live" in a certain kind of town. Going to take 2-3 of these and develop a lineup of variations. Love to work those graphic design muscles.
[edit] last one added! I noticed that the more I did these, the more clean they became....whoops! Going to return briefly to the first set for a quick clean-up, and then they'll all match.
Trying to get back into a habit of sketchbook doodling. I feel like for the past year or so I've had this mindset of only really seriously drawing when I'm either at figure drawing, or creating the under drawing for a new painting. Makes me feel like I'm not stretching my creative muscles enough. So I wanna dig out of that rut by squeezing in a few minutes of low commitment, stream of consciousness doodling each day.
@Enc: Looking over your thread and such, I have to wonder if you've looked into exporting your sketchup work into another renderer/program (Blender being the obvious choice because it's free, or you might even consider working in the Unreal engine (also free)), since you seem to be hitting a point where having access to some more advanced lighting options and/or more organic modeling capabilities would probably add a lot to these from a visual standpoint.
Obviously this would add some time to the proceedings (learning new UI/modeling paradigms, figuring out how UV unwrapping works probably, setting up lights, figuring out all the rendering options and what they do, etc.)- so maybe going the route is going to be more of a time investment than you really want to put in- I assume part of what you need for this project is producing a lot of work very quickly, so I get it if really spending the time on that kind of polish work doesn't make sense with your goals- but hey, if you've got some spare time to look into it, you might find these options worth a look.
So that original thing just didn't work out. Guy didn't contact me, only recently did he mention his company decided to not even pursue the venture via UpWork at all. Could have been a rough thing for me. However a friend and fellow forum goer @s1ppycup got me in touch with the company he works for. Thanks to him I feel like I could actually make a livable wage working with tools that I enjoy. Now it's not glamorous work, I do graphic design for advertisements. But it has seemed to so far be stable and reliable.
If it weren't for having a good long talk with @kaliyama I wouldn't have pursued this field. This isn't the exact thing I had my eye on at first, but it still put me on that path. Without getting to discuss it with him, I'm not sure where I'd be right now in my life.
@Enc: Looking over your thread and such, I have to wonder if you've looked into exporting your sketchup work into another renderer/program (Blender being the obvious choice because it's free, or you might even consider working in the Unreal engine (also free)), since you seem to be hitting a point where having access to some more advanced lighting options and/or more organic modeling capabilities would probably add a lot to these from a visual standpoint.
Obviously this would add some time to the proceedings (learning new UI/modeling paradigms, figuring out how UV unwrapping works probably, setting up lights, figuring out all the rendering options and what they do, etc.)- so maybe going the route is going to be more of a time investment than you really want to put in- I assume part of what you need for this project is producing a lot of work very quickly, so I get it if really spending the time on that kind of polish work doesn't make sense with your goals- but hey, if you've got some spare time to look into it, you might find these options worth a look.
Thanks @Angel_of_Bacon ! Blender seems really cool but I don't really know where to begin. I'm going to track down some guides and learn the software over this next week. From playing around with it this morning I'm pretty sure it can do the things that frustrate me in Sketchup far, far better. The issue will be learning how to use it.
While getting new maps up weekly is important to me, it's not as important as learning to do this 3d modeling better. I want to grow more than I care about volume of material.
Blender seems really cool but I don't really know where to begin. I'm going to track down some guides and learn the software over this next week. From playing around with it this morning I'm pretty sure it can do the things that frustrate me in Sketchup far, far better. The issue will be learning how to use it.
I suppose I should give you fair warning that even among 3d programs- which are all pretty complex owing to needing to have a lot of features packed into them- Blender's interface is a bit notorious for being confusing. The problem with a free, open source program is that while it may attract a lot of programmer contributors, getting skilled UI/UX people to contribute their time to the effort it a lot more rare.
I bring this up just to urge you to be patient when learning how to use it, because while my understanding is that it's pretty fully featured, it may a good few weeks or months before you're totally acclimated. (I'm more of a Maya guy myself so even I don't know the ins and outs of Blender that well. @ChicoBlue, I know you use Blender- do you have any recommendations on sites that have good learning resources for it?)
You can also export files from Sketchup and import them in Blender, but it can be a little messy. Weird triangles and whatnot all over the meshes, which could make UV mapping and applying fancy textures and whatnot in Blender a hassle.
Sometimes you can export the Sketchup file as a .dae and it will import fine.
Other times it is a gosh darn mess.
A quick fix I use:
Step One: In Sketch Up File > Export > 3D Mode l> (Export your .dae)
Step Two: In MeshLab File > Import Mesh >( select the .dae) then File > Export Mesh > (export it as an .obj file)
Step Three: In Blender File > Import > Wavefront (.obj)
There are a bunch of good resources on Youtube available if you type in "Blender (insert problem area here)."
There are a couple of advanced architecture tutorials here and here that you might want to try following along with once you've gotten a bit more comfortable with the interface and whatnot.
Hope that helps a bit!
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Oooooo! We have Blender people here?! I've been trying to figure out the Cycles render engine and it really is a game changer. Blender is far more useful now.
I feel as though I should not totally neglect my ancestral home- the doodle thread- in favor of my boring thread. So much energy and variety here!
Cersei Lannister in casein from my little watercolor sketchbook.
life drawing! I found out the local art school moved their main location to a place that's literally two minutes from my house, and since I am now freelancing full-time I need excuses to get out of the house sometimes.
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In general, I would say there is too wide a range of values in the light and shadow areas. The darkest area in the light should not be darker than the lights area in the shadow. I also bumped up the saturation some, added a slight overlay to warm up the area in light, and then did a small levels layer yo pop the highlights some more!
Hope that helps!
Here's another thing I'm working on
Here's a sketch of Aegon and Balerion. What am I saying. It's a guy on a beach with a dragon.
instagram.com/stevenzapata_art
My design for the pax east team green pub crawl swag magnets I'm making.
[edit] last one added! I noticed that the more I did these, the more clean they became....whoops! Going to return briefly to the first set for a quick clean-up, and then they'll all match.
I'm digging myself out of a rut, did some doodling last night.
i have two monitors and they are both way different, are the colors in this okay?
Pretty intense, but very cheerful! I like the colors.
Obviously this would add some time to the proceedings (learning new UI/modeling paradigms, figuring out how UV unwrapping works probably, setting up lights, figuring out all the rendering options and what they do, etc.)- so maybe going the route is going to be more of a time investment than you really want to put in- I assume part of what you need for this project is producing a lot of work very quickly, so I get it if really spending the time on that kind of polish work doesn't make sense with your goals- but hey, if you've got some spare time to look into it, you might find these options worth a look.
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So that original thing just didn't work out. Guy didn't contact me, only recently did he mention his company decided to not even pursue the venture via UpWork at all. Could have been a rough thing for me. However a friend and fellow forum goer @s1ppycup got me in touch with the company he works for. Thanks to him I feel like I could actually make a livable wage working with tools that I enjoy. Now it's not glamorous work, I do graphic design for advertisements. But it has seemed to so far be stable and reliable.
If it weren't for having a good long talk with @kaliyama I wouldn't have pursued this field. This isn't the exact thing I had my eye on at first, but it still put me on that path. Without getting to discuss it with him, I'm not sure where I'd be right now in my life.
Thanks @Angel_of_Bacon ! Blender seems really cool but I don't really know where to begin. I'm going to track down some guides and learn the software over this next week. From playing around with it this morning I'm pretty sure it can do the things that frustrate me in Sketchup far, far better. The issue will be learning how to use it.
While getting new maps up weekly is important to me, it's not as important as learning to do this 3d modeling better. I want to grow more than I care about volume of material.
I suppose I should give you fair warning that even among 3d programs- which are all pretty complex owing to needing to have a lot of features packed into them- Blender's interface is a bit notorious for being confusing. The problem with a free, open source program is that while it may attract a lot of programmer contributors, getting skilled UI/UX people to contribute their time to the effort it a lot more rare.
I bring this up just to urge you to be patient when learning how to use it, because while my understanding is that it's pretty fully featured, it may a good few weeks or months before you're totally acclimated. (I'm more of a Maya guy myself so even I don't know the ins and outs of Blender that well. @ChicoBlue, I know you use Blender- do you have any recommendations on sites that have good learning resources for it?)
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This video has a quick overview of how to use and place lights.
You can also export files from Sketchup and import them in Blender, but it can be a little messy. Weird triangles and whatnot all over the meshes, which could make UV mapping and applying fancy textures and whatnot in Blender a hassle.
Here's a tutorial for one method that goes into more detail about what is happening and how to move textures from Sketchup over.
Sometimes you can export the Sketchup file as a .dae and it will import fine.
Other times it is a gosh darn mess.
A quick fix I use:
Step One: In Sketch Up File > Export > 3D Mode l> (Export your .dae)
Step Two: In MeshLab File > Import Mesh >( select the .dae) then File > Export Mesh > (export it as an .obj file)
Step Three: In Blender File > Import > Wavefront (.obj)
There are a bunch of good resources on Youtube available if you type in "Blender (insert problem area here)."
There are a couple of advanced architecture tutorials here and here that you might want to try following along with once you've gotten a bit more comfortable with the interface and whatnot.
Hope that helps a bit!
Cersei Lannister in casein from my little watercolor sketchbook.
instagram.com/stevenzapata_art
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt