Character:Xena

[Franz Steiner]

Here is my version of Xean. feel free to comment.

http://www.franzsteiner.de/pix/cgtalk/xena.jpg

[Aidan]

Wow... doesnt look like a warrior princess, though it looks very beautiful...

[Vince.vda³]

I take it she's Xena the elf instead of the Warrior Princess? :D
Beautiful!

[Franz Steiner]

...wait until you see her fighting!!!

[Carnifex]

although her eyes are a bit too big for the rest of the face,that's a wonderfully rendered piece.whyt mediums did you use?

[BluePencilArtist]

wow.. speechless.:chug:

[BurnComics]

Did you use Estella Warren as reference?

[Franz Steiner]

Yea you recognized her, good guess.

[mos667]

:bow:
Man that looks absolutely amazing! The skin is great, the clothes have an amazing feel to them, the hair is just cool, the arrow thingies in the back seem a bit misplaced though, since you _are_ basing her off of Xena. Don't touch this piece, it looks amazing!

What did you use to create it?
:bow:

Amazing.

mos.

[BurnComics]

Estella has a pretty unique look, especially her mouth. You did change the structure of her face a good bit. Nice drawing.

[Franz Steiner]

I painted in Photoshop, havent tried Painter yet but I will soon.

[Vince.vda³]

Still waiting to see her fighting though... :D

[Jaku]

very soft, it´s like a dream. I like it a lot

[Carnifex]

oh,found the reference pic
http://www.nikescream.com/ew/ewscans4102/ewmaximal4.jpg
still i say her eyes are a tiny bit too big and her nose a tiny bit too small.whatever.:)

[dyoung]

I saw the process work on this piece and i must say friggin awe inspiring. Unbelievable work you are truly amazing. keep that shit comin man i wanna see more more more!
dyoung
www.dmfy.com

[Franz Steiner]

here is the process work dyoung was propably refering to.

http://www.franzsteiner.de/pix/cgtalk/making_of_xena.jpg

[Loga4]

Wonderful!

[3bleadpencil]

your lighting is great......just work on the proportions a bit ....for example the lips are a bit on the small side which makes the eyes really huge.....other than that i think It's amazing!!!....
Regards
3B

[Franz Steiner]

well thanx 3blead I will work on that proportion thing.

[Maximillion]

I really like this image. Great work.


My lord people. The eyes are SUPPOSED to be big and the mouth is SUPPOSED to be small. If he was going to photocopy the image he could just do that. Cheers to you for trying to add a little style in there.

[softdrawer]

its cool... but im not a big fan of paint over and stuff like that.

i limit myself to fully inspired painting coming out of my mind... and i just love it.

alx

[Franz Steiner]

well soft, I thinkthat copying from photos is one good way to
develope a sense for light and what it takes to draw believable pictures. By the way you work I ve seen out of your mind is excellent.

[Goro]

That's simply amazing! Somehow I like your painting better than the photo reference!
Keep up the good work and maybe try to use colors
next time.

[Franz Steiner]

Thanx Goro, you know Ive been trying go more into colors lately but I think its quite difficult.
Hope you are feeling better. See ya.

[heiesuke]

i wish there was a lil more detail to the a arrows and what not. i'm all for using reference i just think it'd be a lil kooler if the features were more from ur head. when i use reference i feel i'm cheating. i know that's domb as reference can elevate ur art. but i really do like the effort here looks a bit unfinished tho. gj!

[strych9ine]

Beautiful piece... true to the ref and has a style of it's own.

[Phuzion]

I love it. And I love the style of the rendering. Very nicely done, and that soft light rocks ass! I think she looks like a warrior, but in a scout sense. She'd be stealthy and solitary and she'd snipe wicked things with her bow. Killaaaaah!

[davi]

So.... did you work directly over the original 'reference' on this piece? aka tracing? Some of the features(like the shirt) look way to exact to me, like you just added two streaks over it to make it look only 99% the same.

I know you've done digital matte painting before, so i know you are exerienced with photo manipulation, but there is a large different between tracing an image and altering the piece slightly and turning something into a matte styled alterination. I'd perfer if you didn't post this type of work on the forum.

[Franz Steiner]

Originally posted by davi
So.... did you work directly over the original 'reference' on this piece? aka tracing? Some of the features(like the shirt) look way to exact to me, like you just added two streaks over it to make it look only 99% the same.

I know you've done digital matte painting before, so i know you are exerienced with photo manipulation, but there is a large different between tracing an image and altering the piece slightly and turning something into a matte styled alterination. I'd perfer if you didn't post this type of work on the forum.

Well Davi I didnt mean to earn any more credits than I deserve. With work like "Xena" I try to get behind the
secrets of photorealistic looks. So this is pure technical
practice. I know that this isnt a creative masterpiece.
But I hope that this is a good way to archieve a high level of drawing. I will add more information to my works to avoid misunderstandings.
On Xena I didnt work on the original pic. What I did was to trace the main outlines which you can see in the process pics I have posted.
So I want to thank you for taking care of this great forum and its work posted and I hope that I can convince you of the value of my future works.
Sincerely, Franz Steiner

[MessFX]

On Xena I didnt work on the original pic.

Then why is there film grain from the original photograph in your image?

[Franz Steiner]

Originally posted by MessFX


Then why is there film grain from the original photograph in your image?

..open Photoshop version 6, choose a very large and soft brush, do a quick stroke and you will get the kind of structure
wich you consider film grain.

[Maximillion]

I've been following a number of these accusational "paint over" and "photorealism" threads and I'm quite shocked at the apparent insecurity in a number of otherwise great artists.

I myself am a commercial sculptor and have struggled with the legitimacy of my art over the years. At work I rarely get the pleasure of designing the work I sculpt. So what am I doing? Copying someone else’s “art” into a different medium? Does this negate the ability for me to define what I do as “art”? I have seen many portraits appear on the board and I don’t see people ripping down that person for “copying someone’s face”. When Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa, did people say, “Get that out of here, you just copied her face!”
What about artists who project images onto their canvasses sketch out some loose guidelines, shut it off and away they go. What about Norman Rockwell using lots of pictures put together to paint a piece? Is his work not art? I have also read articles saying that a number of master renaissance artists used these odd mirror glass boxes to project the scene in front of them onto their canvasses. Should we then negate them from the world of art?

The prejudice I see from some of you is very similar to those of traditional painters who get uptight when they look at a digital piece, yet you would defend that to the end.

Now I’m not saying painting over a picture is cool. Honestly, I don’t find it very interesting and you won’t see it on my wall or desktop. (Although I have to say if someone took their own photograph and worked it I might find it wonderful.) As a digital sculpture I am against rotoscoping as I can generally see the lack of real understanding of the form in the sculpture. But I’m not so insecure with my own art as to start questioning the legitimacy of it.

[MessFX]

Max, I really could care less about the ethics of photo-manipulation. I saw that the creator of this piece was being deceptive, so I commented.

Regardless of what franz says, this is painted over a photograph. In fact, he missed a few areas around the knees and calves.

Just thought some people would like to know what they are looking at.

-Steve

[Maximillion]

Fair enough... Although my last comment has nothing at all to do with photo manipulation as everything I was referring to did not include any of the original image in the final result.

I think I applied my irritation with comments on other threads to this one. I'll save that rant for a different time. ;)

I hear what you're saying about the deception here. Not cool.

[Franz Steiner]

Thanx Maximillion for your point of view. I think both of you are right in a way. I still think that copying is good for practice but I agree with MessFX it should be clearified how the image was created so that people can estimate the potential of that work. This will not be my last picture, so lets see what the future brings.

[bustabustu]

The trace over method is nothing new. Many artist have been doing it for centuries. Now that new technology has come around why is this so different. I think if any outside reference is used then their should credit posted. How ever do you find this if some one paints from a living still? In most cases the answer is no. At any rate credit should be given if a reference was used. It's only fare and should be practiced.

P.S. It's 9am and i've yet to go to sleep. Speaking of sleep.. nighty nighty

[Franz Steiner]

Thanks Bustabustu, I agree. Thats the way it should be handled.

[Juice5942]

I think the main issue here is that in the initial post, there was virtually no attempt made to establish that a reference was used, which has happened in the past on these forums as well and led to pretty much the same reaction.

You even signed the bottom of the image like it was an original creation as well as saying it was "your" take on Xena, when honestly all you added was a quiver and a necklace.

That said, I think your ability to copy the image digitally is impressive. The picture itself was beautifully taken, so you had a good base to begin from rather than trying to make something from nothing.

I do look forward to seeing your other works though.

[jilted_one]

Cool stuf dude i like the whole thing. :evilbat:

[Chewbacca]

dude everyone knows gabriella was the hotter one