EOW 166 :: Treehouse

[Vulgar`]

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/EOW2.jpg

EOW 166 :: Treehouse
suggested by ~Twig


Brief:

House(s) in the trees...




- Please specify which image is final in this thread!


DEADLINE: Thursday, June 16th (Extra time due to topic going up a little bit early)

[Blackball21]

this one sounds like fun, im so in

[ForScience]

This is one of my favorite things, I am in.

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Thought this topic was awesome, so here's a WIP. :)

Crits welcomed.


1244911

[Syle]

I am in on this as well. I've got some thumbnails going already. I'll post them when I get home.

I like the initial sketch up Flame. Good balance across the image. One thing that kind of jumped out at me first (and I may be TOTALLY wrong about this considering I am a noob myself) was the side plane of that floating pod seems to have the same treatment as the side plane of the distant floor in the background; but each seem to be on different eye levels, so I think they may be conflicting with one another? Again, I may be wrong, but I figured I'd ask anyways because I am sure there is a good lesson at hand either way.

Good start!

[Syle]

Some thumbnail sketch ideas. I am either going to go with #2 or #4.

[Syle]

So, this is my WIP. I decided to try out #2 first. I may give #4 a try too because I really need the practice...I may go for a night time vibe with that one...though, I have no idea how to do that exactly :)

Please, toss any critiques my way, I need the help. Those little red/burgundy blobs on the foremost tree are going to end up being little houses to establish the "tree house" theme.

[Syle]

Here is a WIP of the night time version of #4. I think I am choosing my colors with too much saturation :( I only put about 45 min into this one getting it set up and colors/values laid in. I need to gather some reference for this one because I have no idea how to paint night time values and hues. The little orange dots are the lights of the "tree house(s)".

[MagicPrincess]

I am not an environment artist but this topic sounded interesting and I thought I might lurk and add some critique. Please take everything I say with a grain of salt, I only wish to help better everyone on their process.

Flame Unquenchable -I like the initial concept very unique outlook on the topic. My critique would be to maybe add in more of a foreground element even if it's in silhouette or show us some vague distance to give us a sense of the world it's in. I'm very excited to see where you take this!

Syle -I like your first pic better than the second but, I think you might consider combining the two a bit by making the first into a nighttime scene. If you make the "houses" a little more prevalent on the trees and make them glow I think this could be really great. I agree with your assessment of too much saturation on the second one. My advice would be to maybe try an overlay layer on the first in a muted/dark blue and see how it turns out. You can play with the color of it and that might help set the mood a little more realistically. Good luck, i'll be keeping an eye on these!

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Syle - Thanks for the crits, I intended initially for the stairs and 'bridge' to be on the same plane but it got pushed backwards so I'm in the process of fixing it.

Princess - Thanks for the kind words and the suggestion. I intend to add more of the forest in the background, and try to build up a scene for this tree house to sit in. :)

Another sketchy drawing of some 'pendant houses' that I may try to incorporate into the previous drawing.
1245797

[+oas+]

@Flame: I personally am not diggin the current drawing you posted, it looks way too flat, but I do think if you were to have these houses dangling off off the tree a bit more, and enlarge them, you could have them sort of like lights, and have them illuminate the scene like chinese lanters.

[Flame_Unquenchable]

@Flame: I personally am not diggin the current drawing you posted, it looks way too flat, but I do think if you were to have these houses dangling off off the tree a bit more, and enlarge them, you could have them sort of like lights, and have them illuminate the scene like chinese lanters.

You're not liking the pendant houses, or my first post? Just for clarification the pendant houses I want to do as a backdrop to my previous thumb to try and add some background. But you're right they're looking flat, I will change that when I add them to the main drawing.

I'm glad we're on the same page about drop lighting and lanterns though, I was thinking that exactly! :D

[Dayle]

Hi. Really cool topic, I wanted to post a wip by now but still sorting out basic forms and getting references. So for now here is a quick concept sketch to show my thoughts. Its an early warning station designed to be fixed to tall trees and blend into their canopies. Will spend the weekend modelling to figure out the composition and perspective.

[Blackball21]

@ Dayle, do you watch king of the hill, cause that seems like something dale would come up with, just wonderin?

[Flame_Unquenchable]

I don't know why I'm really diggin' this EOW but I thought I'd share some inspiration, and some things that people have already built to get the creative juices flowing.
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[LA-Fairy]

I need a smilie that rubs it's eyes in amazement!
Nice sketches and ideas y'all!

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Having to go on the road again this weekend, so I had to get some drawing in tonight. Made a little progress.
1246379

[+oas+]

You're not liking the pendant houses, or my first post? Just for clarification the pendant houses I want to do as a backdrop to my previous thumb to try and add some background. But you're right they're looking flat, I will change that when I add them to the main drawing.

I'm glad we're on the same page about drop lighting and lanterns though, I was thinking that exactly! :D

Hi Ohhhh!!!

[Ferroh]

Hey guys--this'll be my first real try ever at an environment. Or rather at a of the week. Or anything like that.

Wip

[Syle]

Two updates on my WIPs'. Any help/critique would be great! I think what is hurting me the most is the way I am laying down the paint...I feel like I am being very "gentle" with it...? Anyways, I'd love to know what is working and what's not.

Flame_Unquenchable: I'm digging the new mock up. The eye-level/perspective issue I pointed out earlier isn't catching my eye as much now, so perhaps it was a non issue...? Are you going to toss some color on that now? Also, thank you for the tree house photo refs!

Ferroh: That's looking solid! I wish I could lay paint down like that!

Dayle: Awesome start, lets see you flesh out a composition!

[+oas+]

Here's my entry so far. I was inspired by some of the Guild Wars 2 artwork and Daryl Mandryk, which is where the figure is based from.
I still need to work on the tree obviously, but I like where it's headed. CnC welcomed.

http://i56.tinypic.com/296gdc1.jpg

[snatti]

some very cool designs, i look forward to see everyones final image

[Urötskidoji]

Here´s my WIP:

[Dayle]

Blackball21 No I don't watch king of the hill but I know the character.

Flame Unquenchable Thanks for sharing those pics, really great, especially the built ones!

Urotskidoji (push push) keep going cos thats gonna be awesome.

Syle I like the compositions you've come up with but the brown / biege colour doesn't sit well with me (for the elevated image I mean). The blue and purple from the earlier wip is much more atmospheric. Also (it may be a pain at this stage) but why don't you change the second image to a low perspective of the first? You'll be able to acheive the same result but the viewer will know its the same place they're looking at.

I am going for a sleek space odyssey 2001 crossed with the base on Endor from Starwars, if it works... image below (insert copyrights, yadda yadda!?!)

[+oas+]

@Blankstate: I like the idea, but I think it would have a cooler effect on the image if the tree itself was all technological, not just the structures. I think it would mesh better, and make more sense. Also, I think if you extended the canvas down alot more, it would make for a more dramatic feel. If you added in some roots, but they were electrical wires, it might add to the feel, that those power the tree.

[Blankstate]

+oas+ Those are really excellent suggestions. Thank you. I like your image as well. You may be just in the early stages and plan on rendering the entire image but I like the more simplified graphic style and look to it as it stands. All it really needs is some more clarity and refinement on the concept of the tree dwelling imo. Reminds me a bit of this conceptual piece from Portal 2. Which is sweet.
1246757

[+oas+]

update: added in some more color, foliage.

I didn't see this til now, but the image quality looks pretty bad. Does anyone know how to not make it suck. My dimensions in PS are 1500x2500 @ 300 dpi. When I uploaded it to get the image code, I lowered the dimensions to 800x 1250. Any suggestions?

http://i53.tinypic.com/iwsnyr.jpg

[Dayle]

Here's a wip. Got the references, composition and concept figured out. Next step, detailing.

[JSpayde]

update: added in some more color, foliage.

I didn't see this til now, but the image quality looks pretty bad. Does anyone know how to not make it suck. My dimensions in PS are 1500x2500 @ 300 dpi. When I uploaded it to get the image code, I lowered the dimensions to 800x 1250. Any suggestions?

http://i53.tinypic.com/iwsnyr.jpg

Hm... are you "saving for web and devices"? It's under the File drop-down menu. Usually that works well for me.

[+oas+]

http://i52.tinypic.com/9liyis.jpg

[Verehin]

lets start

[RXMT]

First time I'm trying to paint an environment in Photoshop.

Some advices would be very welcomed. :-) I'm still trying to figure out how to paint nice leaves :-O

Thanks

[+oas+]

@RXMT: the leaves you started look pretty good actually. to be honest, when I first started out, I found a leaves brush and used that to paint with. Once I was comfortable, I made my own brush and now use that. a good place to find some basic brushes is brusheezy.com.

[Syle]

lets start

Awesome! Your line work is to die for :)

[Nocebo]

Done a few sketches. Not sure which one ill go with.

Nr 1 is a big teardrop shaped treehouse city that can open up its sides to let in the air. It hangs down between 4 trees.

Nr 2 is a festival concept placed op in the trees with differend stages and bridges between them.

Nr 3 is again a teardrop shaped treehouse with a big tree growing in the middle in which there is going to be a treehouse. Also hanging from 3-4 trees.

Nr 4 is a qurky treehouse that can be lowered down insted of a ladder and again with the hanging from trees concept.

[Verehin]

bring some love :sungod:

still lot of work

[Heliocide]

Lovely colours, mood and shapes Verehin!
The composition at the moment is flicking my eye between the moody sky and the blue/green around the character. I realise it's a WIP but I'm looking forward to there being more detailing around the character :)

[neilpa77]

Hey, great entries so far! looking forward to seeing final pieces from everyone!

Thought i would upload my initial thumbnails for feedback on peoples preferred choice. I am mainly concentrating on composition at this point, but any feedback would be great.

1249285

[Incinerated]

I found my tablet pen so I thought I'd join in :P. Nice start people...
Verehin bumskee inspired?
neilpa77 those are nice, I like 5 and 6 the most :)
Nocebo good Ideas, now bring them to life !
RXMT start by getting the shapes right, doing it in black and white will help you alot I bet.
+oas+ nice, cant wait for it to be finished.
Dayle good idea.
Blankstate I think your idea is good, but the buildings should be clearly shaped, defining a fore, middel and background will make a huge difference for your piece.
Urötskidoji one or two vanishing points will probably make your life a lot easier, looks interesting.
Syle When the sun is low which color is the sky? what happens to objects when they get farther away in terms of color? ;)
Ferroh first timer ey? I need to see more before I'll say anything :P
Flame_Unquenchable looks good so far, perhaps another viewing angle would make it look more expansive, slightly from the top or bottom :)?

My entry looks like this currently
1249375

[+oas+]

finished: added in some housing esque structures, and fixed the lighting a bit.

http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa441/49ers31301111/tree.jpg

[+oas+]

@ verehin: your piece has a veronique meignard feel to it, that's a compliment, yay.
@neilpa: all of your sketches are very nice and a surreal feel to them, good for you. i personally like #'s 1, 4, and 5.
@incinerated: i like the colors and the mood, i do think think this looks a bit flat at the moment. try pushing the lights and the darks abit more.
@me: good job.

[Trapiki]

This is all I have so far, It's been a While since I even started anything for EOW!
I think the base of the tree might take some cues from an incomplete drawing (http://trapiki.tumblr.com/post/3231133877) from the beginning of the year.

Warning! Content by Lazy Incompetent Self Taught Artist! :D

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5362/treehouse02.jpg

[Incinerated]

Im thinking a shaman witch hut feel, I'm planing on putting something in the near foreground, a spike with skulls or something.

1249909

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Thanks for the feedback all. Finally back from being on the road.

Incinerated - My original intention was to view the large structure from a lower elevation looking at about a 45 degree angle upward, but I didn't get the main 'house' looking right so I shifted it to near head on. I will try to work up another angle since I've got the idea of what type of forest, and structure elements I want. Hopefully I'll have time to do that tonight. :)

Edit: Wanted to attach a "Lunchtime" sketch trying to flesh out a different perspective. The middle structure needs to be reworked with perspective, and style, or just removed entirely...not sure which. It was intended to be a city hall type structure.

1250146

[Corrick]

No idea where this is going, but hey, why not...

http://williamwerk.com/art/treehouse.jpg

[Blackball21]

paris hilton you must find your way out or you will surely die.

[Corrick]

Flame_Unquenchablee, have you tried drawing out perspective lines for your 45 degree angle? It helps sometimes if you lay down some guides and paint over them.

[Trapiki]

Started working on the visible house. It's wonky and covered in dead leaves like a Treehouse should.
I'm kinda getting the hang of this whole digital painting business. Kinda. :D

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/5242/treehouse03a.jpg

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Flame_Unquenchablee, have you tried drawing out perspective lines for your 45 degree angle? It helps sometimes if you lay down some guides and paint over them.

I have issues getting 3 point perspective right. I try to use perspective lines, but I mess up sometimes with the viewing angle. That's kind of like what happened above. I put that drawing into photoshop and started with my perspective lines to clean up some of the issues there, so tonight I'll start painting over it and fixing those issues.

[Dayle]

Here is my 3d model design for the treehouse. The idea would be to have a series of interchangable modules, the early warning system, gun emplacement, supply landing pad and other military variants...

Now I need to use the model as a basis for the Environment and render the landscape.

[+oas+]

@dayle: while the model itself looks interesting, you might have some trouble getting fine detail in there considering how detailed your model is.

[Incinerated]

:)

Corrick perhaps you could hang a house from one of those weird seedy things you have diagonally cutting across your piece.
Trapiski Define your shapes, establish a fore, middel and background.
Blackball21 ???
+oas+ man in the foreground seems to have weird proportions, you have an enormous value range in there, be careful.
Dayle I like the design.

1251381

[Blackball21]

working on it , not far enough into it to show yet but soonsoon

[xinranliu]

1251506

Here's my wip...

[+oas+]

@incinerated: I guess I could tone down the green in the background a bit. the figure is wearing a coat, so his feet are hidden in the grass.

[jrbarker]

tree town:
I find environments to be challenging.

[RXMT]

Still pretty bad, but improving i guess ... :-p

[JeiWo]

Here's where I'm at. I was inspired by pictures I saw of Lima, Peru (the blog post was about the most colorful cities in the world, Lima being one of them), so I decided to make a whole Lima-esque city up in the trees. Still got awhile to go on the detail, though.

[Blankstate]

wip

1252059

[xinranliu]

another wip with colors

1252142

[peterhurman]

work in progress

[nete]

I guess I have to try, sounds inspiring :)

Just a quick question since it's my first time participating in these: So you post both final and wips in this same thread? And do you have to post wips or will just final do?

[Corrick]

Final

Progress comp (http://williamwerk.com/art/166progress.jpg)

http://williamwerk.com/art/eow166-corrick.jpg

[Corrick]

nete, WIPs are always appreciated but not necessarily required. And for now, the final you post here will go to poll when the moderator sets it up. Vulgar' could speak more clearly to it though...

[Vulgar`]

I guess I have to try, sounds inspiring :)

Just a quick question since it's my first time participating in these: So you post both final and wips in this same thread? And do you have to post wips or will just final do?

Hey, welcome! WIP's aren't required but as Corrick said, they're appreciated and you can get feedback on your work as you go, but if it's just a final, that's fine.

[Greggers]

I've been working and reworking this one on and off for the past few days, and I think I've finally got something worth polishing. So here's my first WIP-
:D

[nete]

Oh, alright, thanks to you! :)
Maybe I show a first sketch and some progress then...
I used own brush for sketching.

But I still think there is a problem with the houses. They are not visible enough. Maybe too much wood :D

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd36/uruviele/EOW166_treehouse.png

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd36/uruviele/EOW166_treehouse_c.png

[+oas+]

considering I finished somewhat early, i think ill take a second stab at this, maybe go the less serious route.

@corrick: regardless if your piece has anything to do with the EOW, its pretty sweet. nice colors, and depth.

@peterhurman: yours has a cool feel to it, even though it's in grayscale, with a color overlay and some tightening up, this could also be pretty nice. although the house does kind of make a somewhat realistic image feel cartoony, to me atleast.

@xin: this be cool, i do think the size of the image is too small, if you extended it out a bit in height, it might make your image more epic. do you plan on adding any roots.

@blankstate: yours has an avatar feel to it, which is nice, alot of blues and greens obviously, which has a nice cool tone to it all. if you made some of the branches metallic, that might be a nice alternative from all the highlights on the branches. its a little overwhelming.

[siryder]

Hey, really cool works everyone! here's my start ---
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss75/siryder/EOW/SiRyder_TreeHouses_WIP_001.jpg

[Blankstate]

Getting close. Taking my time with it. A little here, a little there.

1252737

[merl1n]

cool entries guys, lots of interesting ideas.

I stick with classic this time. It's still in progres of course.

[Bishop Six]

Sweet stuff, everybody!

I've always loved the idea of HUGE ass trees that people could live in.

1253024

[Nocebo]

Havent done much environmental so its alot of trial and failuer things going on. I just hope i can get it done in time.

Wip of the festival treehouse concept

[Urötskidoji]

My Final; got a bit bored but here it is :)

[JSpayde]

A few thumbnails for this one.

Update: Blew the thumbnail up and started detailing. Hooey.

[ErikStorstein]

1253751

[Bishop Six]

Nice so far, Zilrion!

Update:
1253793

[Dayle]

Here's an update on mine. I hope to get the detail done tomorrow.

[Blankstate]

Final.

1255345

"Plenty of ways to get around in MSFTC (Miniaturized Sci-Fi Tree City). 'Course you can always walk provided your wearing the proper grip boots. The fastest and most popular way by firefly cab, then there's always the public transpod system. Should warn you about the lower east branch though, kind of a rough neighborhood. Anyways, enjoy your stay and try not to fall off". - Firefly Cabbie.

[iwantjelly]

WIP
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5025/5829094786_e2ffbc9bbb.jpg

[kloakatriposa]

Hi, it´s been a long time since I posted here, and this is my first EOW :P This one was an interesting one and the previous submissions ans wips are very inspiring, here are my first two wips

[Varguy]

Here's my WIP. Still thinking about how I can make it more interesting, it looks kinda boring right now.

[peterhurman]

here is mine, i flipped it and changed the house

[neilpa77]

Final image
1255226

[dragon4lunch]

Cool topic. I'm going for a darker, spooky tree. Lonely on a hill. Who lives inside?
http://trickstertoys.com/additional/dragon4lunch_EOW166_01.jpg

[Dayle]

Final
Tactical Reconnaisance & Earlywarning Emplacement

[PokketMowse]

Wanted to do a sort of tropical theme. Environments still make me rip my hair out. A lot left to do.
http://i.imgur.com/roXR7.jpg

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Wow, this thread is rockin' hard. So many great enviros.

[merl1n]

EDIT: FINAL

[gunsbins]

Hi everyone, this is my first time doing an Eow contest, so exited, so many talents here. And this is my sketch for the tree house

[kloakatriposa]

the next two wips, hope I can start doing the treehouse this afternoon :P

[Varguy]

and done.

[kloakatriposa]

Another wip, trying to add some mood to the scene

[gunsbins]

some more details :mod:

[JzeiJzei]

Hi everybody!

Haven't done that many environments before, but now I had some freetime to spare.

So here's my final work:

[Blackball21]

today i shall finish mine and get it posted , been waiting for a day off to work on it, wish me luck

[JSpayde]

Started coloring mine yesterday, onto the details. Seeing some great concepts so far!

[carakhan]

I've been playing around with this one in my head for a little bit, but all I could come up with felt too "done". Then today I magically see this on reddit, thought I'd post for some unique inspiration!


http://i.imgur.com/rKqgO.jpg

[dragon4lunch]

http://trickstertoys.com/additional/dragon4lunch_EOW166_02.jpg

Probably done.

[Migsta]

Still not finished, but thought I'd show what i have so far...

[gunsbins]

A bit more details, gotta be hurry, the deadline is so close :mod:

[kloakatriposa]

I think this is gonna be the last wip, I hope I can finish it today :P

[gunsbins]

My final entry, having a lot of fun :mod:

[Trapiki]

I'd say this is my final, I lost a lot of time on the weekend and didn't get to gar far on this one. But I learned some new things and that's all that matters! :D

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/166/c/4/1308150953_the_treehouse_by_trapiki-d3iz1j5.jpg

[siryder]

Here's my Final -
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss75/siryder/EOW/EOW-166-siryder.jpg

[kloakatriposa]

Here is my final one :steph:

[ErikStorstein]

I think I'm done, some balance issues here in the image :S wrah.
1255966

[Nocebo]

Scrapped the last tree house and made this one insted. Dont think ill have it done by tomorrow if i have to do that sleeping thing too.

Though i learned ALOT from this so thanks for the EOW :)

[Vulgar`]

Wow great round, woodsmen! Long live the tree people - :medusachow:

[Migsta]

Great round!

[PokketMowse]

1256275

I've got to move on to another project so this will have to be left as unpolished as it is. I always learn a lot from doing these, as frustrating as they can get sometimes! Here is my tropical treehouse.

[insane lemur]

heres my little treehouse, it'd be fun the live in a swamp. Treehouse was a tough one for me, its so easy to be cliche, but alot of you had really inventive ideas.
1256361

[Blackball21]

Here is a wip and my final. I feel that i concentrated to much time on just the tree and not enough on everything around the tree.

[JSpayde]

Some of you guys are just out of this world! Great work everybody :)

[xinranliu]

Final for me :)

1256551

[JeiWo]

Here's my final, I definitely learned a lot working on this project, both what to do and what not to do. This was definitely good practice for figuring out how to paint forests/foliage as well as painting cities with only a few brush strokes, which is what I'd like to get good at.

[smuli]

Great thread, such a range of completely different interpretations. Here's mine, though it could've used some more polish.

[Bishop Six]

Great work everyone!

Final:

1257069

[Ros1]

It's still not exactly finished, but time is up, so i'm posting it. (i hope it's not to late)

[Blankstate]

Awesome round. So many great works from everyone. :rendered:

[Dile_]

Awesome stuff everyone! I wish I had time to enter this one as well :(.. fun stuff! Anyways Ros1, Gunsbins & Insane Lemur, really tight work! Especially like your take (not too found of the angle, but still makes for some good elemental placements ) on the subject insane_lemur! haha! And ros1, your entry is holding together really well, I hope you finish it!