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Forged Alliance Commanders
Nostregar
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Someone I know is a huge fan of the RTS game "Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance". As a present to him, I'm doing drawings of the commanders from the 4 factions in the game, then getting prints made of them. Before I proceed with any thoughts of prints, I wanted to get peoples' opinions on the work.
At this point I only have one of the four commanders done. I should be finishing up the second one (Cybran) tonight, and then the other two at some point in the next week or two, time permitting.
Anyway, here is the UEF Commander:
Please let me know what you think. I do tend to draw in a somewhat cartoony style, and I know he likes that style. I was trying to blend that with a somewhat more realistic look in this, so that's why it looks the way it does (sharp contrast with shadows, very simplified).
At this point I only have one of the four commanders done. I should be finishing up the second one (Cybran) tonight, and then the other two at some point in the next week or two, time permitting.
Anyway, here is the UEF Commander:
Please let me know what you think. I do tend to draw in a somewhat cartoony style, and I know he likes that style. I was trying to blend that with a somewhat more realistic look in this, so that's why it looks the way it does (sharp contrast with shadows, very simplified).
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Nakirush - Sparingly. I only use dodge for the very bright highlights (middle of the chest, around the "vents", the front of the left arm's gun, few other things like that). The majority of it is a paintbrush and heavily applied blur/smudge.
That's...nice, but my post still stands. I really suggest you change it, because it doesn't make it look any more metallic than it normally would.
I concur, had you said that it was intentional because he's watching an atomic blast out of the corner of his eyel....well that may have been acceptable. Using extremes in light like this makes images appear harsh and unpleasing to the eye. The bulk of your values in a pictograph like this should be spread across the range with your peak in the middle, not hanging at the extremes of light and dark. It neither looks shiny, nor exceptionally metallic, this is better achieved with reflections and highlights not just lighting the shit out of the subject.
Don't believe me, go and take a photograph of a subject in the mid-day sun, then go back and photograph the same subject in the setting sun and compare the results.
All that bullshit being said, your perspective is amazingly accurate and you have picked your areas to shade very well. You just need to work on the lighting.
I neglected to mention that at some point I was going to put in a background for this (as well as all of the rest in the set), and that it is going to be a desert (one of the more common terrains in the game). The lighting I used might still be too harsh, but maybe this will explain my thought process: desert -> bright sunlight -> harsh lighting.
I didn't mention this before because the background is probably not going to get done until after I have finished all 4 of these, so it's a ways off yet.
But, with that in mind, would you say the shading is still bad?
Also, thanks Mustang.
Also, waiting 'till the figures are done before throwing the background in is always a bad idea (unless you're doing something abstract I suppose).
In the future, you may want to pick a color that you feel will be strong in your background and paint-bucket the canvas that color before you begin. This helps you keep a more pleasing pallet.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Here's a good tutorial that explains the differences.
Right now, you've got direct light with hints of highlights in the coloring, and then you skip directly to complete cast shadow, with no reflected light, no subshadow, nothing. It turns all the black areas into total holes of flat, shapeless area, and it doesn't make it look metallic at all. The highlights you have on your metallic flat areas are too soft and don't really communicate anything but "this is supposed to be shiny I guess". You've got the right ideas, but you're not using them in a way that says you understand why to use them.
The foreshortening on the barrels of the guns are inconsistent and cause them to appear wobbly and not hard or dramatic. It's a good start, but it needs to be cleaned up a bit.
Keep working at it, and study a few more of the basics of rendering light, and you're well on your way.
Also, you might want to vary the line weight on there to give it some more dimension rather then relying solely on the shadow.
Not just the barrels, but all of the detail lines are shakey.
I'd suggest selecting the flat areas with your magic wand and just streaking across the borders with the airbrush.