German Mounted Lancer from WWI

[ejwize]

http://tdemelle.home.mindspring.com/Cavalry_wip_3.jpg

Months ago, I came across a cool old black and white photo of a german cavalry lancer wearing a gasmask. I thought it would make an interesting subject for a painting.

I started working on this this afternoon in the hopes that maybe when it's done I'll have something worthy of Spectrum.

I feel like I've worked out most of the big problems but still need to spend time working out the details a little better and getting things to sit a little more comfortably in the space.

Lemme know what you think!

[Mad_Lobster]

Damn good,

I wish I knew how do to that sort of stuff on the computer..

[Romulus]

thats fuggin sweet! I love the german military =D

[Johannes]

Very cool :)
I wonder, Is that WWII, did they have lancers then too? I know the polish army had them, but I knew not of the germans. :)

Environment looks sweet, horse looks fantastic. :)

Some little more details needed to turn it into top-notch piece, in the ground, the horse and I would like the esky to be a bit darker at the top. I say its a masterpiece in the making :D

[foster]

hey todd, i played around a little. you have already made a very nice painting, i just wanted the main focus to have more weight and not let the eye get lost in the sky.

hope you are well, i know you are busy. be good.

jon

[Matt Elder]

Wow you've got some great thing happening here. I thought the composition was much better in the first piece. With the use of the extreme foreground side elements, you've really boxed the image in and taken away a sense of expanse space and contemplation. Otherwise it is coming along nicely and just need to work on the detailing.

[foster]

ha, there you go todd, boxed in! well you decide. to me it seemed too empty, got lost in there.

jon

[ejwize]

Thanks for the positive comments!

Jon! Thanks a lot for your visual response. I haven't had a chance to really look closely at it, but I fully intend to learn everything I can from how you responded to the problems in this image.

I notice right away that you are breaking up some of those hard edges... a little edge variation... mm-hm, mm-hm...

I do like your foreground elements... it makes it feel as if you are peeking out at these guys from a hiding place.

In a way that makes sense with one of the secret subtexts I had in mind with this image.

I was thinking that Tolkien is generally thought to have been inspired by his experiences as a soldier in WWI. This is in a small way a nod to that... the 9 black riders... the wastelands... the hiding feel hearkens to the famous scene of the hobbits hiding from the nazgul.

Anyway, thanks again. I know you're busy too. :P

I will digest your insights and you'll see what comes out the other end when I get the time to sit down with this thing again.

[endregan]

great piece. i think fosters paint over works well as well. creates a more defined focal point!

show us when you are done

[R_M]

Wow... both of them.

the idea is sooo worthy of spectrum it is scary...the deadline is getting closer and closer.

[shadow]

i love em both, but i liked the first one more:)

[chukw]

Lookin' good, but it looks like WWII. Hit Google and ref up some WWI German stuff. Their early helmets, particularly cavalry, were leather, spike-topped types. What, I ask you, could be cooler than THAT? the rifle would be clunkier and more primitive, as well. Color-wise, you could up the contrast, especially in the shadows, in the foreground. Great mood and color choices- hup!

[Grimlohk]

Looks great. One criticism I have is the reflection on his goggles. From the angle we are looking at the goggle surfaces and with the sun directly behind him, we would not be seeing that bright of a reflection in his goggles.
I do like the dramatic effect it has though.

[Ra Havok]

I'm really fond of Foster's overpaint. It adds a lot, in my opinion.

Nice painting, ejwize!

[ejwize]

http://tdemelle.home.mindspring.com/Cavalry_wip_4.jpg

I didn't find as much time as I'd hoped to work on this this weekend, but here's what I managed...

Incorporated some of JF's ideas re: the foreground. I wasn't liking how going darker in the sky was working, but it did need to get broken up... so I tried going lighter... a different kind of effect... a bit more open. I tried to carry that through the foreground by working with more open shapes... barbed wire. More subtle, but I think they add some dimension. I scaled the main horseman down a bit to give him a bit more breathing room.


Still a lot of details to work out. Hopefully I'll find more time next weekend!

[ejwize]

Tightening up. Playing with color. Might just get this done before Spectrum submission deadline!
http://tdemelle.home.mindspring.com/Cavalry_wip_5.jpg

[Marcus]

Man I love it thus far. It's really looking good, especially like the skies, and the shadows off the barbed wire in the background, and the removal of the 2 pillars near the other lancers riding up was a nice move to give the image a more of a 'open' feeling. Overall, great job ej:D

[dindon]

very nice. i've seen the photo before... in fact i just went there today to find the same photo and the site isn't there anymore...

[remedial]

This is really cool , i love it. Can't wait to see the finished product!

[ejwize]

Thanks for the replies. I put a "finished" version up in the finally finished forum. There are still some things that could be ironed out, but I mailed it off to Spectrum today... so it's done! :P

Din, I d/led the image while the site was still up. Here it is.

http://tdemelle.home.mindspring.com/imag0472.jpg

[samson5]

I like your style, if your interested, i am the founder of a hl2 mod called pax germania, and by the way you draw, it would be right up your alley.

just give me an email at sissy_j55@hotmail.com

Nice work.

Sam/Pax Germania

[Marcus]

hl2 already? not even gonna wait for it? my god man your on the ball with that one! haha

anyways still loving this lancer