The Explorer (No Asteroids) - update below!

[S.C. Watson]

Part of a personal project I'm working on. You can see the holes from my sketchbook page on the left. I left them in because I thought they looked neeat :P

Orignal dimensions: 15x11, 300dpi. Done in Painter, except for post production text.

The sketch:
http://sketchforums.com/uploads/post-11-1135910406.jpg

The painting:
http://sketchforums.com/uploads/post-11-1135909907.jpg

Cheers,
~Oreg.

[Pixeldragoon]

Nice.

[Profil]

I like it.
You've come a long way.

[Elwell]

I don't like the way the ring leads directly to his head in the painted version. Compositional devices have to be handled with a wee bit more subtlety ;).

[Eric Branston]

if that's a figure under the ring, i would consider making the helmet more helmet looking, i thought it was a space ruby or something at first cause its so perfectly rounded. awesome painting tho, i really like it

[CRØW]

I really like your color selection. Great job! :)

[Big-Dave]

The sketchbook bits at the side almost make it look like an excerpt from a scrapbook someone's made of their trip (maybe the astronaught in the scene?) Real nice work, you've got a great eye for colour :)

[Fozzybar]

hi oregano,

why did you go for centered composition...it kills the atmosphere and tension...

also the diagonal horizon line separates the image in 2 parts with the same size, which again is compositonally not a good choice.

The color scheme is great and i like the lighting and textures on the different elements, so the viewer has a good impression of the materials.

if the grey area on the right is smoke or dust i would add some opacity, to create more depth and an interesting overlay effect...

[Crash]

Wow, this doesnt happen often. I looked at your pic and i got fasinated by the world you had created, im looking forward to see more of it.

poor bastard stuck on that planet.

[glikster]

See this here... this just kicks ass.

First I see the pic and think "Damn this is gorgeous and amazing!" Cuz it is.

Then I read the crits and I think, "damn these are informative and amazing!" Cuz they are.

This place rocks.:yayca:

[DSillustration]

sensational coloring!

i agree with elwell.
i also think you could play up his ship a little more.
i missed it the first few times around.

[nephilim]

Nice colors. This painting gives me a very 2001, sort of benevolent outer space feel.

my crits, his helmet mimics the glowey things on the ground too much. what are those things anyway? maybe clarify this a bit.

the ship is pretty dark for being so far away, and nothing else is this dark, seems odd.

it seems like there is very little atmosphere on the planetoid(due to the stars proximity to the horizon), so i think the smoke or dust from the landing would billow less.

the carven rock is killer. brings up lots of neat ideas.

mike

[dogfood]

Rich, lustrous work! I'm with Fozzy, though; the angle just doesn't jibe with the rest of the feeling of the work. I'd also say that the little spaceship-that-could is putting out a dust cloud that looks to be blowing to one side. This says "wind" to me and seems out of context (as it look to be really blowing, but we have no other indicators).

I'm also not too sure about what the arc is... The hard lines make it jump out a lot more than it seems like it should.

And it is probably just me, but I am really looking for something to break up the foreround a bit more.

Sweet stuff, though!

[S.C. Watson]

Thanks everyone for the great comments. I agree with some, and others I don't, (mostly because of what the piece is geared for) but I am taking and making some edits to the piece which I will post when I'm done.

Pixeldragoon - thanks :^^:

Profil - thanks, still trying to get "there" tho :dur: *looks over at DS* >__>

Elwell - But! But! But! dambit, yer right. The funny thing is that I was inpsired by some of Whelan's work. Obviously, he handled his compositions far better than I did with this, but some of them were a bit more direct. I agree, tho, as it was a little *too* much.

Eric Branston - yes, that's a figure under the ring. The helmet is based off of the old style 1930's/40's era bubble helmets. (I tried hunting down some online but all of my searches just turned up contemporary stuff). I'm thinking I might add a tube or something from the side...

CRØW - Thanks! :teeth: I used a very limited pallet for the picture; purple, orange and a crimson/deep red.

Big-Dave - yeah, that was why I lef them in :P

Fozzybar - hey Fozzy, I centered the composition because I wanted to bullseye the character. The piece is part of a larger project that I'm working on, and I wanted to create a picture that focused exclusively on the character in the one of the environments that she's often in, but also play up the fact that she's always looking towards the stars. The lower right section of the piece is intended to have copy block laid in, so I left that open. Good call on building up the opacity of the smoke - thanks! :teeth:

Crash - Nah, she's not stuck. There's a ship in the background idling...:tihi:

glikster - I agree! :yayca:

DSillustration - Hey Dan, thanks :teeth: Noted. Ships is being played up a tad.

nephilim - Thanks - yeah, I'm thinking of ways to better handle the helmet, tho I like the fact that it mirrors the little fungal thingies. Glad you like, tho :^^:

dogfood - Hey Tim, I've got a couple of ideas about the "wind" issue that you might like. You'll see 'em when I repost the pic (hopefully later today). The arc is a planetary ring seen from planetside - something that I often play around with doing, but don't often show. It's at times a trick to visualize correctly because we really don't have much in the line of reference for that (at least that I can find - lots from orbit, but none from below the ring). The foreground has been left clear for a text block. I'll include that on the next update so the composition makes more sense.

Cheers all, and thanks for comments. It *always* helps to have the feedback.

If I don't have this up before this evening, Happy New Year everyone!

~Shane

[poise]

I love thee colors oregano, very perty!

[S.C. Watson]

poise thanks! :^^:

Okay, here's the edits:

Changed the title to better fit the piece (the other was a reference to this weeks' CHOW and didn't really apply).

I moved the ring and corrected it's band some - it's no longer landing on her head.

added in some flying fungal thingies (hopefully this will imply more *wind* in order to satisfy Mr. D. Food :^^;: )

Played the ship up a tad.

Other little nits and picks too numerous to mention.

http://sketchforums.com/uploads/post-11-1136062667.jpg

Here's a detail
http://sketchforums.com/uploads/post-11-1136062697.jpg

Comments welcome.

Cheers,
~Oreg.

[JeffZNY]

i'd keep tweaking the ring...Did you try it to the right of the character rather than the left? To my eye, I follow the composition down to where the ring hits the horizon, and then am forced to take a less fluid gaze up to the explorer's head. Without trying it myself to know if this is even true or not, I feel like the ring would work work better if it disappeared beyond the horizon above and behind her as it would allow my gaze to continue in a general downward direction rather the jerking around somewhat. Hope that makes sense...

[ludwrathjd]

First it is looking great. I just have a few things you might consider.

1) Cast shadows, the sun is at an angle where there should be some.
2) The stars being visible while the sun is in the sky. This depends on the gasses in the atmoshpere I think, so think about the kind of planet she is exploring and decide whether to leave stars in or not.

Good luck:teeth:

[Bobby-X]

wow! is that ever sweet, great job dude!

[S.C. Watson]

JeffZNY - I didn't think to try the ring on the other side her head, but it was a good thought. After your suggestion, I went back in and played around with it, and while near the character it looked good and definately worked with the composition far better, it started cuasing problems with the sun and moons. Plus, the crew of planetary engineers I had working with me moving that ring around were starting to get cranking, this being the third time I moved the ring. They were starting to threaten a strike, so I told them to take the damn thing out :x

ludwrathjd Thanks - I added in the caste shadows. I was going to intentionally leave them out to help creat ambience, but the atmosphere is thick enough to diffuse the sunlite. In reality, the shadows would be far harsher than what I have given how thin it is, but I decided to fudge in favor of the mood of the painting. It's enough that they're there. Thanks for the comments!

Bobby-X :^^: Thanks!
____________

Okay, as I explained up there to Jeff, those planetary engineers were getting cranky moving that ring around, so I ditched it. I don't think it'll affect the tides much, and it looks okay without it, but it sure is a lot less hassel!

So, unless someone can give me a *real* good reason, I'm done futzing with this thing!

http://sketchforums.com/uploads/post-11-1136094533.jpg

Cheers,
~Oreg.

[Eric Branston]

awesome.

[JeffZNY]

I liked the ring, but you're right, it's not 100% necessary. My last suggestion would be...maybe put it to the right of her head as I suggested, but very very faintly...as if the atmosphere obscures most of it, but it still provides a subtle compositonal guide. Also, I didn't say it before, but I feel this is one of your strongest pieces in terms of color. Color can often come down to personal taste, but for me, I favor simplicity. Warm yellows contrasted with cold purple hues are a favorite of mine, so this painting works especially well for me. Seriously, great work.

[Chuck,mate.]

very cool!
the colors are awesome and the main figure rocks.
the composition is a bit too busy though, and
i can`t make what the purple things are.
plus - his ship could be a bit bigger.
my 2 cents right there!
:)