Quick go at a cityscape

crazyfingers

Got my hand painted fantasy environment going and totally been neglecting a city scene due tuesday. Could use feedback/suggestions:



Not planned too well, just doing what's possible to slam it out given the time restraints (I stole the clouds from my other scene). I'm going for art deco (requirement) meets sim city meets gotham city i guess. Any suggestions are appreciated! Especially need ideas for simple props for the foreground to give it scale (the more art deco the better), currently thinking of bus stop benches, payphones, trashcans, maybe some cones. Also if anyone knows tricks to make textures look good from a distance that would help. All the normal details and coolness of the up close shots of the building gets lost at this distance. Going to work on decals over the weekend to break 'em up a bit.

Feel like a zombie right now, hit this pretty hard the past couple days, going to take a break and tap into it again over the weekend. Thanks in advance for any ideas/crits!

pliang

For the foreground, maybe some stylish signage would really help and bring the city to life, take a look at Rapture.

Perhaps bring in some cars from that particular ear would give the viewer a better idea what the scene set up's like. Right it feel like any other urban city.

crazyfingers

Didn't want too much time on cars, but the more i think about it the more they make sense. Some 50's style inspired cars would really sell the foreground, especially considering how much real estate the road takes up. Might have to churn out an early ford model. On the bright side there weren't many car types back then so just one model can really fill up this scene. Some signs/ billboards also make sense, can give the city a certain "vibe" and not take a ton of modeling or texturing time. Thanks for the suggestions!

If anyone has some ideas for some signs to bring this city to live I'm all ears.

crazyfingers

Got the cars in, threw 'em together super fast, they're not even UV mapped yet and there are some pretty obvious mesh issues. Surprised how good they look so early on though. Not focusing on them, but they added a nice touch and sense of scale, thanks again for the suggestion pliang.

Moving forward, just gotta get a couple signs made, some street reflectors, maybe some bits of trash. Probably going to take the big rectangular builings out on the right side and go for more of a 50's era feel. Got the pieces ready to make a new building, just been lazy. Hopin' to have an update later today. Really want to finish this up so i can polish up my hand painted scene tommorow, slam out school and hop on the plane to GDC!

Whew, the stress is killin' me right now

verybad

THat just looks so stylish, love it. Where's Batman?

crazyfingers

Just about done with it, would like to get some more signs going on, make the city look a bit more lived in. The Alibi was a bar in walking distance to my house before i went to school, back when I had pocket change on Friday nights. Always liked the name, sounded a little seedy, so i figured i'd put it in my scene.

Took a buddy of mine's advice and took the technology back a bit. Simplified the street and traffic lights to be more reminiscent of the 50's era.



Verybad: glad you like it ! Batmans been writing you a message,


Edit: still taking suggestions, got 1 more solid day to churn some art out before project turn in and GDC!

crazyfingers

Got some more feedback, decided to take the streetlight out alltogether, calm down the city cloud and focus the composition to showcase the 3 main buildings, watcha guys think?

slipsius

the building on the right... the cloudish part that is going infront of the building until about mid way up. i think thats too white. either make the whole building covered in cloud, that much, or drop that cloud bback behind it.

crazyfingers

Slipsius: actually went out of my way to get that white in there, thought it added some depth, but obviously a bit too artificially. Thanks for the feedback.

Someone suggested a water tower on the left side, so i threw that in there too.

New revision:

crazyfingers

Haha, buddy recomended the batman symbol and something clicked in my had, thought you guys might get a kick out of this:


The figures are just alpha planes, to make it seem lived in and give it scale. Not tryin' to be a character artist here

felipefrango

Honestly the scene looks a bit empty without the street lights. Maybe try adding other things such as parking meters or trash cans?