wip environment: something different(?)

iflingpoo

an early early shot of the next scene im working on in the blocking stage.. i've gone thru about 9 dffernt versions of this scene trying to get a unique art style, from super realistic gritty to mario DS style. to now this.. to me this kinda looks cool? haha, im imagining the scene being in a comic book art style, im not sure whether to leave it b/w or color it, i have a couple color versions but they just looked too happy go lucky for my liking..

there's not much going on just yet, yes its a boat (not textured) in the middle of the cliffs, im planning to add a huge statue on the front of the boat, tarps and other props to show its been there for ages and used as a shelter now ... yah im trying to go for something bizzare and fantastical, im planning to add a guardrail to the foreground along with a pully type bridge/elevator

anyways. i'd love to hear some feedback more on the art style, if this is crap , or its cool or whatever, im sure there'll be alot of mixed reactions, just wanted to do something different than all the gritty dirty overbloomed gears of war style stuff out there and get my painting skills up to speed

ElysiumGX

it looks too early to be clear what your goal will be visually, but I like what I see so far. keep progressing. you're style looks good at the moment, but be sure to use a very colorful palette later instead of a greyscale based paintover. and i applaud your effort in trying something different. post more as you go, so we can provide more advice.

Matroskin

Imo this loks cool, it attracts attention right away due to its graphical look. I like the contrast and impact that a gallion makes with white spot on the sky. I also find ur texture work on trees and rocks pretty good.

I would just say that sometimes it is too low-poly and blocky, especially on cliff edges. Also Grass/plain ground texture looks too simple comparing to well ellaborated rock texture (upper right corner on top of highest hill and under she ship the ground pattern is too evident).

Good idea anyways!

iflingpoo

hey guys, glad its somewhat interesting to some people.. lol

so just been playing with the part of terrain . i think im close to getting the look i want.. a bit of okami style in there .. trying to keep a desaturated look, i'll post up some earlier shots later, with vibrant colors.. uckk.. me no likey

yes. i never use enough pollies.. danm me and my handheld experience ;p

WipEout

So far either art style looks rad to me, but I think it'd be cool of you did the black & white but with sharp contrasting reds and blues in areas a la Sin City. I'm not saying a red sky or anything like that, but I can imagine something like a B/W character standing in the environment with a blazing red scarf flapping in the wind. See what I mean? Make the focal point a stark contrast of color against the b/w background. Just a thought. Keep it up I'd love to see it finished

Joao Sapiro

this might be a weird reqeust, but maybe a somesort of pinkish, redish sky ? would break the monotony if you could give it a some sort of degradee . Looking cool so far !

pliang

I think the sky could use a slight tone of orange red while the rocks can use a little blue in there to pop it up even though I guess for the most part its supposed to be monotonous.

Matroskin

nice stuff.

I think that color is a choice of taste. Everyone would have different prefereces

However, what concerns black outlines, I find them sometimes too thick, especially those on the foreground dividing steps of the terrain and the one of the cliff, just where bridge starts. Imo outlines take too much attention.

Keep it on!

iflingpoo

slowly but surely, blocking in the dragon and some colors to the sky, lots lots left to do and starting to get lazy ;p

oh just curious is there a viewport shader out there that can do the black outlining? im just hacking it right now using duped pollies

Matroskin

ah, the ship is really shaping up! Trees` outlines and the dragon look inpressive indeed.
As far as I kow there is no toon/sketch viewport shader for max, but having duped polys is more flexible, more controlled and less heavy on render, so as for me u have made a good choise.

iflingpoo

mmm... i've decided to go back to a realistic version after playing assassins

still super WIP



blocking in colors and rough shapes.... wanna get a bit more depth before i start detailing things in ..

rooster

I kinda prefer the other style, but its shaping up nice

Wells

previous style was much more successful. shame to see it go to same-old same-old

Mark Dygert

shit on a stick, now its just normal awesome.

Sage

Looks great but I like the toon style better.

Alex

pliang

Honestly the toon style had more character and colors.

Matroskin

I like a lot the toon style version, but eventually in this case re-worked realistic one seems more attravctive to me.

The reason is that this one seems being better exectuded. Toon version needed a lot of corrections in order to look really good.

Jeremy Lindstrom

since it's a work in progress I won't comment too much just watch your stretching.. that rock in the foreground looks terrible.

Ged

I like the atmosphere and lighting on this new realistic take. Is it not possible to get that sort of lighting and atmosphere into the toon version cause it was kinda cool? Either way it looks good now.

Mark Dygert

It might be worth it to finish both versions. It would be cool to see your take on the scene both ways. It would also make nice contrasting pieces in your portfolio, and give a good sense of the range your capable of. Like Ged mentioned the fog, background mountains and slightly more dramatic lighting would be a nice touch to the toon-ish version while still keeping in the unique style.

iflingpoo

wow i wasnt aware that people liked the toon version so much, kinda feel bad for going the realistic route ;p but i must finish this piece off sooner or later , i think i had alot of trouble with the toon one because i just didnt have it thought out completely and when i mixed in dramatic lighting and fog , it just didnt look right?? anyways i spent way too much time with it, however i wont ditch it for sure i have another scene in mind with that particular style

so i just threw in some grass n the bigass tree on the side.. dont mind the bad uvw's havnt been done yet..and i concepted out some lighting.. a yellowish/purple lighting

so peoeple have asked me why the hel is there a boat on land.. well story is. its an old wise travelers boat, and he just couldnt part with it when he stopped travelin so he decided to make it his home .. its like. in those rpg games when u travel to some wise dude to ask bout maps n the world. so the boat itself is all worn down with lots of repairs from being around the world.. and the guy uses this area as his home.. so you wil see his clothes hanging. a few chairs outside..the dragons head is the chimney so u will see smoke particles comin out.. anyway thought i'd have a good story to go with it instead of just chucking a boat in there for the helluvit

heres a really quick quick concept of what i plan to do with it..



hopefully in the end it'll have a light hearted feeling to it.. i was considering turning it into a mid forest boat-pub drinking hole ;p

vahl

with such smooth trees, it looks weird that the main piece looks so lowpoly and angular, I'd at least add a few polies/details on the rounder part of the dragon's neck...

iflingpoo

u bet i gotta up the pollies on that danm boat lol

Matroskin

hey, the atmosphere now became just awesome, I love that sunset light rig! Nice vegetation as well
No significant suggestions from my side though. Just watching for now lol.

BlackulaDZ

I liked the cartoon version and the lighting kicks ass cant wait to see it with those additions