And Cheerfulbear, as for the hands, it wasn't my main concern. The poses are inherently boring, because I was sketching designs and rough, rough height plans, which is better served in a static pose than something interesting. They're in a default relaxed-ish position. I promise you I can draw them in other ways if I want to.
Okay, but what about the hand in the WIP?
I have to agree with Bear. The hand in the WIP as well as the hands on the design sketches ARE odd. I would dispute the that they are in a relaxed-ish position. Go to a mirror and hold your hands with the fingers straight like that... then relax your hands. The fingers will fall into a staggered curvature towards the palm like so:
Hands are one of the hardest things to get right because there are a large amount of subtle curvatures to the palm and the way the fingers sit.
Tam, a real quick way to add a bit of dimensionality to your figure is to just pull the limbs in a bit. Get some of foreshortening going on, even just a smidge.
And Cheerfulbear, as for the hands, it wasn't my main concern. The poses are inherently boring, because I was sketching designs and rough, rough height plans, which is better served in a static pose than something interesting. They're in a default relaxed-ish position. I promise you I can draw them in other ways if I want to.
Okay, but what about the hand in the WIP?
I have to agree with Bear. The hand in the WIP as well as the hands on the design sketches ARE odd. I would dispute the that they are in a relaxed-ish position. Go to a mirror and hold your hands with the fingers straight like that... then relax your hands. The fingers will fall into a staggered curvature towards the palm like so:
Hands are one of the hardest things to get right because there are a large amount of subtle curvatures to the palm and the way the fingers sit.
hey ive always assumed my hands curve like that due to too much fappage, or is it normal?
First night of working on this, painting over/revising my city scene... Have to update the lighting and also, make it more 'bladerunnery'. Just the lighting. This is the original: http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4402/city2.png
I'm just sort of touching shit up, making the tube glow more sensical, doing stuff I wanted to do but couldn't because of time/renderin. But I don't even know how to make it more bladerunnery with the lighting. So, any advice, suggestions? I've only seen that movie once, sooooo. Halp.
Honestly, I think it's pretty dang close. It's come a long way since you started it. :^:
What I would say at this point the thing to do it just to basically tighten up how the light is being spread across the scene- tighter circles of high-intensity, letting the darks get really dark, lights really light, high contrast. Also- and I know this is texture and not lighting so much- adding some light reflection to the road and sidewalk, getting that Blade Runner "it just recently rained" feel to it could help- a pool of water here and there would also help break up some of the monotony of the repeating textures.
Quick paintover, but most of what I did was just throwing a Curves adjustment layer on it and busting that contrast up, and playing with the colors a little bit. If you're finding it hard to get the ultimate results you want straight out of the renderer, doing a post-process pass through After Effects or PS to bump the contrast up could help a bit.
Also now that I think of it, some fog/steam in there, coming out of street grates and such could also help sell the Blade Runner-ness of it.
EDIT: Since I'm bored, I might as well go whole-hog with it, proper 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio and everything
EDIT2: also watch Blade Runner some more.
I think I'd want an emergency shower after coming out of a club called Spank.
Bacon does the best paint overs, you're like WOW THE ORIGINAL IS SO GOOD A+. And then Bacon is all 'Just one moment.' And then you're all WOW THE ORIGINAL IS COMPLETE SHIT HOW DID THEY GET IT SO WRONG?
And Cheerfulbear, as for the hands, it wasn't my main concern. The poses are inherently boring, because I was sketching designs and rough, rough height plans, which is better served in a static pose than something interesting. They're in a default relaxed-ish position. I promise you I can draw them in other ways if I want to.
Okay, but what about the hand in the WIP?
I have to agree with Bear. The hand in the WIP as well as the hands on the design sketches ARE odd. I would dispute the that they are in a relaxed-ish position. Go to a mirror and hold your hands with the fingers straight like that... then relax your hands. The fingers will fall into a staggered curvature towards the palm like so:
Hands are one of the hardest things to get right because there are a large amount of subtle curvatures to the palm and the way the fingers sit.
True enough for the WIP, I'll have to fix that. Thanks.
Bacon does the best paint overs, you're like WOW THE ORIGINAL IS SO GOOD A+. And then Bacon is all 'Just one moment.' And then you're all WOW THE ORIGINAL IS COMPLETE SHIT HOW DID THEY GET IT SO WRONG?
Some shoes I did. Not done yet, still need to think of stuff to do around the sides and back. Permanent marker on canvas. The octopus is really orange.. but it came out all red with the flash I guess.
Bacon does the best paint overs, you're like WOW THE ORIGINAL IS SO GOOD A+. And then Bacon is all 'Just one moment.' And then you're all WOW THE ORIGINAL IS COMPLETE SHIT HOW DID THEY GET IT SO WRONG?
Like that.
Well now I feel like an asshole.
What? No! I was exaggerating. They're really helpful, not just to the person you're doing them for.
FFF <3<3 I was hoping I could LURE you out into doing a paintover and was thrilled when I woke up and saw this omg. That steam from the grate is such a great idea. I was going to ask if it's really alright to like, up the contrast like that, because I was worried that it would eliminate most of the grey tones. Is it okay to have mostly like, lights and darks, and to obscure things like that? Shit, I need to watch Bladerunner again. :U Can I ask why you turned the lights red that you did? Just to break it up? Is it okay to have like, all of those brights everywhere rather than focusing them in one place? I was worried that having the glow so strong made it look unprofessional/unrealistic, but I like how it looks like that hurm *TAKES NOTES, ASKS TOO MANY QUESTIONS* That little building at the bottom of the arch looks so much better like that fff.
I think I'll do wo versions, one with awesome obscured fog and one without. I'm still sort of struggling with where the focus is gonna be. Man. Srsly. Thankyou so much <333 I LOVE WHEN YOU DO PAINTOVERS TOO. I am actually excited to do this paintover now. EXPECT AN UPDATE SOON
Edit: me and this paintover = a cat with a fluffy toy, rolling around on the floor clinging to it happily
@Kochikens
Well, Blade Runner is a very high-contrast film, so yeah it's cool- it might be a bit too much in the first version I did, but with the steam pulling back in some midtones it works.
What you should recall when trying to replcate physical cinematography is that film and video have much, much smaller ranges of light reproduction than the human eye does- so while you may be able to walk onto a semi-dark street like that, and be able to pick out a lot of details in the darks and lots of details in the lights, a film camera will not. The darks will get real dark, and the lights will be really light. That's why doing professional cinematography is such a pain in the ass, because in order to be read on film, every light needs to be placed and moderated to a level where it will show up properly in the narrow band of light the film allows for, other wise things will be too dark or things will get blown out, and the audience won't be able to make out stuff they would have no trouble seeing if they were there on the set.
But on the flip side, there is a significant difference between what is there on the set, and what is important for the audience to see. If you take great pains to illuminate every brick and nook and cranny, the audience doesn't care- if they're paying attention to that stuff, you've done your job wrong. If they can't see anything except what they need to get the story of the picture, that is a much more successful solution.
In doing CG to match the look of film, you have to take into account how film will see the scene, rather than your own eyes. Put a bunch of bright lights on a dark street, you're going to get this exaggerated high-contrast effect- much more contrasty than you would ever be able to see with your own eyes in that situation. The whole style of noir filmmaking is based around making use of film's lack of light fidelity to get dramatic, high-contrast lighting not really possible in real life.
Try watching Blade Runner again, and stop the film occasionally to try to pick apart the cinematography. What's being allowed to be blown out? What's being lost in shadow? Where are the lights placed, how are they colored and why?
As for making the lights red, to be honest I was just playing around with the curves adjustment and it turned out that way and it looked cool, so I went with it. But forcing myself to think about why it's cool, I'd say it just helps unify that whole area of that building front wtih the arch, and gives a more significant color contrast with the blue/greens of the rest of the scene. Now the side effect is that with that all being very bright and very red, is that that area now becomes the most dominant thing in the picture by far, esp. in the second version where the background is obscured/blurred/lowered in contrast by the stream/depth of field. Is that what you want from the scene, I'm not sure. If you want it to be more about the blue arch, I'd push the building front area back in contrast and keep it more subdued, and pump up the arch area more in intensity and contrast, possibly by detailing out the area more with additional glowing geometry bits and with some more significant blue/white lights.
I like the picture! You're going too dark though. Never go 100% black. It's a Dangerous habbit. Particularly for when you're trying to colourise a greyscale image.
thanks wck! i was about to argue that i wanted to go for a more dreamlike look with the black but now i realize that i did, in fact, use black too much and in the wrong places. will fix.
Hnnk, AoB, I can't even articulate how helpful that is. I had no idea about that lights thing in movies and yeah, those screenshots are so like, lights and darks and what you've done and this is so helpful. Saved your posts so I can check them while I work ffff. Will post again, I have till Thursday but would like to send it atleast on Wednesday/late Tuesday.
Iruka, I'm sorry I'm late on it. I've been trying to figure out a flying pose and the rest of the costume. I've come up with knee and elbow pads, clawed gauntlets, and a backpack containing and anchoring the wings and tail.
I just want to say, I love the take on the helmet. I need to figure out how to bribe more people into drawing my avatar.
I'm up for it, I need practice drawing from imagination. I won't be able to until the end of next week though - uni will be taking all my time 'till then.
alright guys.. im going to spam these here and in the chat thread..
Need some quick help.
Please tell me how old you think these two girls look and what you think I could do to make them look more pretty. The client is being a little vague and painting young girls doesn't come easily to me
Id appreicate if some one could quote me
Right now my instructions are basically to make the blonde look less scandinavian (I guess make her look more like an 8-16 year old jessica simpson) and make everyone softer, happier and prettier.
alright guys.. im going to spam these here and in the chat thread..
Need some quick help.
Please tell me how old you think these two girls look and what you think I could do to make them look more pretty. The client is being a little vague and painting young girls doesn't come easily to me
Id appreicate if some one could quote me
Right now my instructions are basically to make the blonde look less scandinavian (I guess make her look more like an 8-16 year old jessica simpson) and make everyone softer, happier and prettier.
Is it my rough application uglying things up?
You definitely need to clean up all of the sloppiness going on in these.
Oh wow, yeah that blonde does look very Scandinavian indeed- not that there's anything wrong with that. If she needs to look less Scandinavian, you could probably use a little more orange in her skin, and darken the eyebrows and eyelashes. I have a feeling that a less old-timey hairstyle might benefit too.
If they want just generally prettier, you probably want to shorten both their noses, bringing the lower portion of their faces up with it, and bring their chins out a bit more.
Here is a quick paintover of the first girl. The mouth and chin probably still need to come up after the paintover. Is she supposed to look happy? Because that would require other changes as well.
Posts
I have to agree with Bear. The hand in the WIP as well as the hands on the design sketches ARE odd. I would dispute the that they are in a relaxed-ish position. Go to a mirror and hold your hands with the fingers straight like that... then relax your hands. The fingers will fall into a staggered curvature towards the palm like so:
Hands are one of the hardest things to get right because there are a large amount of subtle curvatures to the palm and the way the fingers sit.
Tonight, more beaked creatures:
hey ive always assumed my hands curve like that due to too much fappage, or is it normal?
First night of working on this, painting over/revising my city scene... Have to update the lighting and also, make it more 'bladerunnery'. Just the lighting. This is the original: http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4402/city2.png
I'm just sort of touching shit up, making the tube glow more sensical, doing stuff I wanted to do but couldn't because of time/renderin. But I don't even know how to make it more bladerunnery with the lighting. So, any advice, suggestions? I've only seen that movie once, sooooo. Halp.
What I would say at this point the thing to do it just to basically tighten up how the light is being spread across the scene- tighter circles of high-intensity, letting the darks get really dark, lights really light, high contrast. Also- and I know this is texture and not lighting so much- adding some light reflection to the road and sidewalk, getting that Blade Runner "it just recently rained" feel to it could help- a pool of water here and there would also help break up some of the monotony of the repeating textures.
Quick paintover, but most of what I did was just throwing a Curves adjustment layer on it and busting that contrast up, and playing with the colors a little bit. If you're finding it hard to get the ultimate results you want straight out of the renderer, doing a post-process pass through After Effects or PS to bump the contrast up could help a bit.
Also now that I think of it, some fog/steam in there, coming out of street grates and such could also help sell the Blade Runner-ness of it.
EDIT: Since I'm bored, I might as well go whole-hog with it, proper 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio and everything
EDIT2: also watch Blade Runner some more.
Twitter
Bacon does the best paint overs, you're like WOW THE ORIGINAL IS SO GOOD A+. And then Bacon is all 'Just one moment.' And then you're all WOW THE ORIGINAL IS COMPLETE SHIT HOW DID THEY GET IT SO WRONG?
Like that.
True enough for the WIP, I'll have to fix that. Thanks.
Done while listening to Nap's music suggestions.
And these from the other day...
Steam handle: Buckwolfe
Well now I feel like an asshole.
Twitter
Steam handle: Buckwolfe
Some shoes I did. Not done yet, still need to think of stuff to do around the sides and back. Permanent marker on canvas. The octopus is really orange.. but it came out all red with the flash I guess.
What? No! I was exaggerating. They're really helpful, not just to the person you're doing them for.
I'll never be cool enough to wear those.
You might want to speed up your lines.
I think I'll do wo versions, one with awesome obscured fog and one without. I'm still sort of struggling with where the focus is gonna be. Man. Srsly. Thankyou so much <333 I LOVE WHEN YOU DO PAINTOVERS TOO. I am actually excited to do this paintover now. EXPECT AN UPDATE SOON
Edit: me and this paintover = a cat with a fluffy toy, rolling around on the floor clinging to it happily
Well, Blade Runner is a very high-contrast film, so yeah it's cool- it might be a bit too much in the first version I did, but with the steam pulling back in some midtones it works.
What you should recall when trying to replcate physical cinematography is that film and video have much, much smaller ranges of light reproduction than the human eye does- so while you may be able to walk onto a semi-dark street like that, and be able to pick out a lot of details in the darks and lots of details in the lights, a film camera will not. The darks will get real dark, and the lights will be really light. That's why doing professional cinematography is such a pain in the ass, because in order to be read on film, every light needs to be placed and moderated to a level where it will show up properly in the narrow band of light the film allows for, other wise things will be too dark or things will get blown out, and the audience won't be able to make out stuff they would have no trouble seeing if they were there on the set.
But on the flip side, there is a significant difference between what is there on the set, and what is important for the audience to see. If you take great pains to illuminate every brick and nook and cranny, the audience doesn't care- if they're paying attention to that stuff, you've done your job wrong. If they can't see anything except what they need to get the story of the picture, that is a much more successful solution.
In doing CG to match the look of film, you have to take into account how film will see the scene, rather than your own eyes. Put a bunch of bright lights on a dark street, you're going to get this exaggerated high-contrast effect- much more contrasty than you would ever be able to see with your own eyes in that situation. The whole style of noir filmmaking is based around making use of film's lack of light fidelity to get dramatic, high-contrast lighting not really possible in real life.
Try watching Blade Runner again, and stop the film occasionally to try to pick apart the cinematography. What's being allowed to be blown out? What's being lost in shadow? Where are the lights placed, how are they colored and why?
http://www.seanax.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bladerunner.jpg
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/blade_runner.jpg
http://phillyist.com/attachments/philly_jim/bladerunner12-07-07.jpg
As for making the lights red, to be honest I was just playing around with the curves adjustment and it turned out that way and it looked cool, so I went with it. But forcing myself to think about why it's cool, I'd say it just helps unify that whole area of that building front wtih the arch, and gives a more significant color contrast with the blue/greens of the rest of the scene. Now the side effect is that with that all being very bright and very red, is that that area now becomes the most dominant thing in the picture by far, esp. in the second version where the background is obscured/blurred/lowered in contrast by the stream/depth of field. Is that what you want from the scene, I'm not sure. If you want it to be more about the blue arch, I'd push the building front area back in contrast and keep it more subdued, and pump up the arch area more in intensity and contrast, possibly by detailing out the area more with additional glowing geometry bits and with some more significant blue/white lights.
Also, glad I could help.
Twitter
I like the picture! You're going too dark though. Never go 100% black. It's a Dangerous habbit. Particularly for when you're trying to colourise a greyscale image.
I just want to say, I love the take on the helmet. I need to figure out how to bribe more people into drawing my avatar.
I'm up for it, I need practice drawing from imagination. I won't be able to until the end of next week though - uni will be taking all my time 'till then.
Need some quick help.
Please tell me how old you think these two girls look and what you think I could do to make them look more pretty. The client is being a little vague and painting young girls doesn't come easily to me
Id appreicate if some one could quote me
Right now my instructions are basically to make the blonde look less scandinavian (I guess make her look more like an 8-16 year old jessica simpson) and make everyone softer, happier and prettier.
Is it my rough application uglying things up?
You definitely need to clean up all of the sloppiness going on in these.
If they want just generally prettier, you probably want to shorten both their noses, bringing the lower portion of their faces up with it, and bring their chins out a bit more.