Loading Dock

[svahaaa]

enclosed is yer basic loading dock...where a battalion can be seen boarding it's next trip to the edge of nowhere.

crits more than welcome...

http://www.davidczweig.com/conart/LOADING-DOCK-BIG.jpg

[gallon]

really cool spaceship. Maybe u should seperate the men walking in the background a bit from the walkway in front of the (with the mech). Right now u might confuse the men with some walkway detailing... Hope u get my english here :)

[LEN]

It reminds me of one of the opening scenes in the matrix reloaded (out oct 14th on DVD ) I would like to see this concept in more of a perspective (there hard I know) a profile just doesn't give this concept its fair due.

[jezelf]

Nice picture. it feels half-finished, though.

The red is pretty striking against the green, it doesnt feel part of the same picture to me. perhaps work into it a bit more you could have local light scources refecting off it to bind the foreground with the backgorund better.

you have another craft in the background taking off/landing - I would lile to see more detail where you have lots of ships docked - other craft doing things, and at different perspectives on them to give more sense of space and 3D. it can be in danger of looking a bit flat if everyting is in profile view.

you have created quicte a nice sense of depth, so it'll be interesting to use that to describe the environment a lot more. you would then also give more sense of scale to the surrounding architecture. is it busy? or is it mean to be empty? am I right in thinking that's architecture in the background? or is are they gigantic supports?

Is this a military space port? then perhaps insignia on the craft, and most mlilitary craft are the same colours and markings, to create a feeling of unity and belonging of the same force. the red ship feels more of a civilian or ambassador to me. the mechs feel more navy because of the grey - but it doesnt mean that you have to stick with traditional greens and greys for millitary.

At first I thought the Mechs were meant to be the ones boading it . Ive only just noticed the troops. the walkway the far mech is on looks like its above the one where the troops are on and I just didnt see the troops I thought they were some detail under the mech's walkway - the far mech was too dominent in the image.

A simple way to round this problem is to highlight the troops more with the same light scource that the platform they are on (which I cant work out where its from- is it from the underside of the craft? - if so bung a white light under there to let us know), then drop the far mech down into the background some.

another note on the mechs - but this is purely a personal preference - Ive never really understood the sense in having a mech that then has a massive gun that you need a hand on the mech to fire it. Seems like a waste of engineering mechanics. I guess it's supposed to be trying to integrate the pilot a lot more so they are holding a gun, but surrounded by a protective shell. anyway - certainly doesnt mean you should change it, just found it odd personally.

Overall, I reckon you the makings of a great piece of work if you spend some more time on it to descibe to us in more more information on the sort of place it is then it has the potential to be a very stunning piece of work.

thanks for sharing. apologies for any spelling mistakes.
best wishes
jez.

[D.O.Jones]

Very cool, I like it.
one crit I have is that the composition could use a better focus point. At the moment it seems split between the mech on the right and the front of the ship.

[svahaaa]

I hear ya on the contrast and the detail, however, I tend to not like to to into too much detail, as I’ve found that all that stuff can be interesting to the eye, but it usually just ends up being noise, that makes the comp far too cluttered…

The bg elements are indicated in a way to not give you all of the info…rather, to make you want to know more about the environment. This is not meant to be a diagram of the space, but rather, a kind of a mood piece for scale, color, and value. Whether they are buildings or supports is up to the viewer…

Good call on the insignia. I’ll do some work on the ship to make it look abit more official…but I may find myself turning it into the ceremonial arrival of a diplomat, or something similar, as the ship does lend itself to something more ceremonial, less military…

I don’t mind the troops being unnoticable at first…but I hear ya on the far mech…I’ll work some contrast on that part. But I don’t want to hilight the troops any more as that makes them more prominent in the piece…and not something I want to emphasize…

Generally, I tend to leave a bit of the light-sourcing to mystery, suggesting that the place is so muddled and lit up due to so many sources that it’s a bit hard to tell what’s coming from where. I’ve often found that too much detail in a piece takes away its emotional impact, and that makes things look more plastic, less real. I prefer indication, as opposed to literal description.

Lastly, I’m with ya on the mech design…never made much sense to me either, so I don’t quite know why I did that…must’ve been on autopilot.

In closing, good comments…look for an update in a bit.

Thanks all!