[WIP] Beach Plane Crash - UE4

RustySpannerz · Feb 2017

I've been working on this piece for a few weeks now to take a bit of a breather from another environment I'm working on. It's loosely inspired by this piece of concept art by Luca Liu. I took the original idea and made parts of it my own. My version is set in the 60's on Douglas DC7. In it, its only been a few days since the crash and survivors have had to make camp while they wait for rescue.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/yf/j1kgz1x9cw0b.jpg

Because of the nature of 2D versus 3D mine is feeling a little empty and I'm hoping to get some help and ideas of how to populate the scene without it looking cluttered. And how to really push the scene to a point where I can really be proud of it.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/1a/mbei5own141e.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/jt/zgdv9o08ujp1.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/pv/mthe5tie6o3d.jpg

Prylos · Apr 2017

Looks nice, I can see some areas that can be improved, and I like warm against the cool colors. Your models look great but constantly check your reference. Airplane windows after the 50's have rounded corners, even on square ones from a Douglas DC-7.

I don't think you necessarily need a lot of clutter to bring the scene to life. A well designed scene with a great composition catches your attention more than a complex and cluttered one. I see you've done some great things already but in my opinion it can be improved. At the moment the propeller has the highest contrast at the moment so the viewer naturally wanders to that. Think about the composition and where you want your audience to look. When it comes to props think of items that push the narrative of the scene and give the audience something to think about.

RustySpannerz · Apr 2017

Thanks very much for the critique @Prylos . I've taken a bit of a break from this piece while I finish up an older one that I was working on, but your advice will be very helpful when I get back to it! It's easy for me to see what I think is wrong with it, but it's very helpful to see if other people see the same things, or if there's a glaring issue I never saw.

FreneticPonies · Apr 2017

That sand is great! I think the sun angle helps sell it. That being said it was hard to notice that there was supposed to be a fire in front of the plane, but when I did notice the light it was casting seemed way too bright for how nonexistent the flames look.

YannickStoot · Apr 2017

Damn. I love the sand! On the concept side. I think you should expand on the concept. You placed a fire so that gives me an idea that you want to make it seem like a few people survived. I would expect much more of a camp then. So place objects like luggage near the fire to act as a chair. Have some strung up dresses act as a roof. Make it seem like the survivor used supplies to survive on the island. The scene should tell a story

RustySpannerz · May 2017

Cool, thanks for the advice guys, I'll definitely try to incorporate more of a survivor setting. Thinking of building a makeshift shelter, getting a fish cooking over the fire (with more flames) and some more clothes lying around.

I've finally returned to this piece and decided to rework the lighting to be more realistic. It's a little dark right now, but I'm still working things out, and figuring out how base colours should look to be lit best, I think a few are still too dark.

Right now I'm trying to get good at making foliage, so trying to get all the nature done first. Bear in mind that it's all just been hastily laid out. I've created a bushy plant, palm tree and banana plant so far and I'm working on a leafy tree right now. And then the plan for the future is grass, a ground plant, rocks, pebbles, little sticks and dried leaves to really sell the beachside look.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/nv/5rfpl6be8tzs.jpg

nastobi123 · May 2017

this is looking really cool man, looking forward to it !

lotet · May 2017

really nice, love the colors!

Benvox2 · May 2017

Wow that is a huge improvement. Looking good, I would be tempted to add more debris and smaller airplane parts around the sand from the crash.

Sebvhe · May 2017

Looking great!

You should definitely break/bend the propellers

Rainy · Oct 2018

Personally I think composition wise you have those great diagonal lines but then in the reddish area, which is pretty central there is nothing going on and all the story relevant stuff is pushed together in the blue area. I guess you want to break up the red area with sticks and leaves etc. but somehow this spot feels rather important to me, like there should be something meaningful?
This is just an idea of mine, hopefully its of some use to you. Great work so far! I really like the improvement with the lighting and the plants.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/yt/n0vsd01cfab3.jpg

RustySpannerz · Oct 2018

Haha, so I finished this over a year ago and forgot to update the thread, this was the finished result. I was pretty happy with it, but now a year later I can definitely see where I could have improved it! More debris and mess would definitely have been my biggest one!

[WIP] Beach Plane Crash - UE4

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