DSG 1138: Sci-Fi: MECHA-MEN BOARD THE CHASM-DOCKED, TRANS-SPACIAL WAR-SHIP

[William b. Hand]

[ This one says what it needs to, I believe... ]

[ Reasonably self-contained. ]

[ You'll probably have the whole weekend for this one, as I need to head out of town... ]

Sci-Fi: MECHA-MEN BOARD THE CHASM-DOCKED, TRANS-SPACIAL WAR-SHIP
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[paradoxba]

Whole weekend,well there will be great posts here.Looking foward to post some work.

[Johnnyhorse]

Good.. a great one to get back into the DSG with, heh, as soon as that 3CH, the other DSG is done

[realitychek]

Cool! Lots of time to put into this one...

[goran]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v17/smogyboy/CA%20sketchbook/droids-markers-test.jpg
Sorry guys ,english second language.

[Pixel8]

What are your thoughts on the meaning of "chasm-docked" by the way?

Thanks for being first up, Goran!

[goran]

@Pixel8-Don't ask ,I am just bluffing.

[Mad Giraffe]

What are your thoughts on the meaning of "chasm-docked" by the way?

Thanks for being first up, Goran!

Docked in a chasm....so in the side of within the chasm or at the bottom of it.

I could imagine futuristic mechs building their lair in a chasm. Easily defendable, easy to hide.

Nice, extra time, let's see what I'll pull up from my arse from this one then, got a few ideas, but I'll wait a bit for more...inspiration.

But don't you think more people should post topics like this, like some fill in guy, who does the topics when you can't, or something.

[Legato]

i think its fairly obvious that the ship needs to be docked in a chasm... define as you will what type of chasm it is i guess :P

[Horsefly]

Wow, Goran... you're setting the standard damn high with that. Awesome! :teeth:

[dan liimatta]

This can have some good stuff indeed :P

I'm in for sure.

[Hazzard]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/Hazzard65/transpace.jpg

Problems along the route of the Trans-spacial Galactic Highway has cut short the expected duration of the Laviathin's journey across sector 519. Luckily there a repair crew in the vicinity has the Laviathin back on track after just 5 hours.

[Pencil_In_Pain]

http://perso.wanadoo.es/drninguno/misc/DSG 1138 MECHA-MEN.jpg
This is my first post. I hope you like It.

[Horsefly]

Bah... forgot about the 'board' part so let's just say they're going through the 'pre-boarding' phase. Also, it's more like a canyon than a chasm. Oh well! :dead:

Spent a little more time than usual (best part of 2 hours) thanks to Goran upping the tempo on this topic. Too much scribbling in the end and not enough fluidity. :dur:

http://bluntedtaffer.50megs.com/speedpainting/DSG1138.jpg

Goran: Thanks for being first off the bat and posting such a cool piece. Made me try a little harder. I love the design of the ship... particularly the way the wings have a skeletal frame to them. Also like the circular fan/frame on the underbelly. Nice figures and colours too.

Hazzard: I guess a jump gate/hole is a nice interpretation of a 'chasm'. The highway is a nice idea too and I like the position and pose of the repair man.

Pencil_In_Pain: Welcome aboard. I'm still kinda new here myself. I like your style and will be looking forward to seeing more. The Mecha-men are well designed... particularly the heads. Very nice. The only thing that detracts from the piece IMHO is your use of effects: The lightning (?) bothers me the most and I think you should be looking at ways to produce such FX with your brush strokes. The grain is a little too hard and overly noticeable and the glow around the door is kinda too obvious - use it sparingly. Still, the figures are great and have a comic book style to them. Again, hope to see more. :)

[dan liimatta]

The CP-34 battleship is down for repairs and maintenance on the remote planet Malus XII, where the C-Drones have one of their rebel bases.
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/4681/robotscn0.jpg
old (http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8177/robotsdq7.jpg)
PS CS2 as usual.

Horsefly - Really nice piece, and a cool looking ship. Oh & scribbling is king, I didn't paint or drew most of mine, I scribbled (and my mechas actually walk out of the spaceship, though you can hardly notice) ;)

Pencil_In_Pain - I mostly agree with Horseflys comment (hows that for constructive :grandpa: ) But I somewhat miss the chasm part of the piece, unless it is a chasm in reality etc, and then I find it unclear & Welcome to the DSG, I hope you stick around.

Hazzard - I like the space take on the subject, as most seems to have walked the same path so far, and as HF I like the repair man. I got some problems with the ships, they feel stale and in weird angels. Oh & I wanna see where the cables attach :x

demdike - you where so right about the clouds in my last DSG - so tried to improve my poor performance there here, I hope you like it :P

[Mitze]

This is'nt finished but for the a sketch it is. Might go back over and tighten it up add all the detail i brushed over.
Shit everything posted so far is great. I definitely have to repost a more finished piece.

Thats a great pic dan liimatta

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/mekese2000/test12.jpg

[Pixel8]

DOGGONIT!!!! Quit with the killer pics, will ya???? I'm having a hard time getting my idea out of my head and onto paper where it belongs.

You guys keep raising the bar and I'll NEVER be able to post!

(I knew I shouldn't a' looked... :-) )

[DELTA-CHARLIE]

http://www.davidcarles.com/illustrations/DSG1138.jpg

[DELTA-CHARLIE]

And dan liimatta, killer pic by the way , love the feeling.

[bobble]

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p68/darthfabulous/dsg1138.jpg

[Johnnyhorse]

Dan, that is by far the coolest (i guess that would be the right word) looking robot i've seen in a LONG time. They are usually so cliche'. I like the detail in the grating too (under the bot) :)
Horsefly: I really like the strange style of yours... just the organic shapes, solid lines, and earthy colors fit strangely well. Excellent job on those cliffs--they look enormously tedious!

Everyone really is putting out for this one.

[Fl3wk]

You guys are really talented. i might see if I can fit an hour into my schedule to include my foresight on the task.

[zenarion]

Is the contest still open? Im kinda in the middle of drawing and want to know if i should continue.

[dan liimatta]

zenarion
sure, not that you should view it as a formal contest, though you might want to beat the rest of us of course - but that's up to you :wink:

Pixel8
Are you not raising your own bar? I think so, and thus you shouldn't doubt grasshopper; for we should all still be learning. :grandpa:

Mitze
I'm looking forward to see the result. & The composition seems weighted over to the right, a decision to emphases the ships falling into the hole or just the usual right handed preference of the stroke?

DELTA-CHARLIE
I like the ship design & texture. I do have some problem with the rest though; you choice of perspective, that is the high horizonline makes you looking down on the robots, leaves few intersecting lines in the environment; you have little in the way of atmosphere, and your world seems to lack a horizon line. They all make the drawing look flatter then it should given how well you dealt with the ship itself. The composition is also skewed a lot to the left, and I feel some heavy cropping would help the piece - still good going :confident

Johnnyhorse so joining us? :madchef:

[DELTA-CHARLIE]

Thx Dan, percpective and composition are my weakness, thx to point it out it will only push me in the right direction. cool.

[DELTA-CHARLIE]

Dan i will love if you have time, if you can show me what you will crop on my pic, but i will understand if you dont have time for this.

[setmonkey]

just been trying to up my game with a bit of vyle tutorial action - those custom brushes kick some amount of ass

http://homepage.mac.com/jlapsley/images/docking3.jpg

Dan - excellent image -love the depth

Moonlit good stuff - only real crit is your clouds look like your rock face

Mitze - nice

pencil in pain love the look - makes me think of old flash gordon/ king of the rocketmen serials

[moonlit]

Hi,

I see some great pictures have been posted.

Thanks for your comment last week demdike. Tried a bit less saturated this time.

http://moonlit.xs4all.nl/pics/ship.png

Regards, Ron AF Greve

[dan liimatta]

DELTA-CHARLIE A tip is to just crop it and hope for the best, and then try and try again and learn from the mistakes etc. Try to flip the image horizontally to see eventual unbalance in the image as well. Anyway I've done 3 small edits of your piece, in the first I simply cropped it (0 (http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/2802/compositionexample2zc2.jpg)), in the second (1 (http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/609/compositionexampleit0.jpg)) Iadded some quick depth while trying to balance it out, and then in the third (2 (http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/6585/compositionexample3ru4.jpg)) I cropped it some more as I just had added some repeating forms on the other side. Note: this is just my take, nothing else (I'm hardly king & queen of the drawing court)

Moonlit Is that you? damn you have progressed far from your first DSG, and I need to pick up demdike as a teacher it seems. You still have perspective problems though, and that really rears it's ugly head in the background. Anyway that's just details in comparison with the smile I got from the improvements you have made over the last week, keep it up ;)

setmonkey mm brushes, if that doesn't make me hot I don't know what will. I'm checking that artist, and following tutorials out pronto :)

[Hamsta]

The hulk uses a vacuum formed space to propel it's huge mass through atmospheres and may hover in place. Due to this capability and sheer size, docking it at the side of a canyon seemed the financialy wise thing to do.
painter, 2 hours?
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5647/1138chasmdockedag2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[sarillion]

i'd call it a WIP but i prolly won't finish it :P this is just a sketch group anyway ya?

ummm Drone bot on Genozux 3409 watching the boarding of a Battalion 38 cruiser docked in the city canyon of the capital city, seat of His Majestic Royalty, the High Emperor, may he live forever!

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/nlistrom/personal_or_previous/DSGcanyon1.jpg

Edit: touched up a little and shrunk down a little more

[moonlit]

Thanks Dan, that is encouraging :-).

[Hideyoshi]

I hate to paint when there's no concrete idea in my head. This looked totally different in the beginning...
ah, well... This topic needed to be tackled, no matter what!
Awesome entries!

http://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net/images/chasm-ship_small.jpg

[zenarion]

This is what i got from having a headache. No chances of winning, but i dont care. I do it for practice. Cropped out the most interesting bit of it, since the rest was a pretty empty cliffside.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/zenarion/Concept%20Art/cliffedge_boarding.jpg

Reinforcements did not arrive as planned, so the squad was slaughtered. Only two soldiers were left. Radio suggested to run up the cliff, where they would be met. Caleb did not survive the run.

[Johnnyhorse]

Hey guys!
Hideyoshi - I know exactly what you mean -- ideas and concrete sketches help to eliminate a lot of unnecessary painting time..and frustration!

Here's my half-assed attempt. I really need to get bolder with color... I'm too scared. :
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k151/JohnnyhorseCA/DSG1138v-1.jpg

[Crustacean]

Hey peeps. This one gave me a heap of trouble, and came out absolutely not what I wanted. Live and learn, I guess.

http://www.j-stengade.dk/1138.jpg

Hideoshi Your image isn´t loading. :(

[goran]

New version uploaded.Cheers

[Johnnyhorse]

Goran - I really dig the new piece (though you should leave your old on up too... they are both great). The windswept winter scape looks great <-- it was what I was orginally planning on doing.. but you know how that works.

Hideyoshi - Yeah, your image was showing up, but not anymore

Delta-Charlie - I really like the rendering on your ship. I daresay it looks almost like Feng Zhu's stuff.

Oh, and Hazzard - I forgot to initially say this, but I love that worm-hole design. It looks really empty (which is a good thing), and those ripped tears in the cylinder really do it for me. I wish the ships were a little more dynamic though.

[Truepinkas]

Well this is my first time ever posting to the DSG. This was my 1 hour doodle, I must admit having such a time limitation is certainly a challenge. I’m not sure how frequently I will be participating because of grad school, but this was defiantly a fun stress reliever. You all are quite talented, perhaps with practice I can live up to the high standard that has been set forth.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/truepinkas/DSG/DSG1138.jpg

[Johnnyhorse]

Cool, welcome to the DSG. You should play around a little more with the perspective (too late now I guess, but try it out in your next DSG and do a detailed under-sketch). You could make this one a lot more interesting with that, and given the skewed view/rotation, it begs a sort of deep perspective/fisheye effect.
Basically, I'm saying this because the left side of the picture would work a lot better if the tower/people were leaning to the left and not right, but that's a really simplified approach to something much more complex.
Sorry, that was a crappy critique. Hah, well I hope to see more.

[Truepinkas]

Could you define "detailed undresketch" for me?

[Johnnyhorse]

Could you define "detailed undresketch" for me?

Haha yeah, sorry. To be completely honest with you I shouldn't be posting right now, I've had way too much chocolate and caffeine...
What I meant by detailed under-sketch is just basically the line-drawing you do first in Photoshop before you paint over it. Once you start painting (atleast for me) the picture starts to drift off in it's own direction. By having a solid line-drawing under the painting, you can set a solid perspective and composition before you start painting.
I guess I should say this isn't just directed at you... I'm kind of playing this off of what Hideyoshi and Crustacean said about problems with a clear focus, and basically just talking out loud about what's troubling my own paintings currently (selfish). Okay, I'm going to sleep now, I hope nobody reads this :( seriously, I'm going crazy

[jtburg88]

first dsg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62/jtburg88/robotcopy.jpg

[setmonkey]

updated image above

hideyoshi - your image has gone awol

[Torlai]

First participation in dsg too...

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/torlai/dsg1138torlai.jpg

[dagreengo]

oh my god some awesome entries for this one. people love their mecha-men. mecha-men love their mecha-women. and so the circle turns.

sarillion- i really LOVE that concept, very cinematic.

torlai- cant get enough of that robots hanging on a conveyer belt thing, so classic

here's mine, photoshop

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v159/dagreengo/dsg1138.jpg

[Johnnyhorse]

Updated mine above ^

Dagreengo - Looks like a bad time to board!

Setmonkey - If you don't mind me asking, where did you find the Vyle tutorials/custom brushes? You piqued my interest

[protect]

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/3295/mechamanew7.jpg

heres mine heh

[setmonkey]

Johnnyhorse - bought gnomon dvd - 'from speedpainting to concept art' - had been having no luck with photoshop, couldn't work out how guys like goran get their awesome textures, but this pretty much laid it out for me. now i just need to practise!!

[Horsefly]

Great turnout, and nice to see more first timers. Welcome. :teeth:

dan liimatta: Man, there's so much to like about this. Love the battery shaped design of the mech and the way the ship is docked in the side of the chasm. Lots of nice touches like the birds and waterfall. No crit's... Killer job!

Mitze: The ship design is looking sweet and I like the green sky. My only concern is the angle of the ship in relation to the chasm - looks a litle like it's crashed.

DELTA-CHARLIE: Awesome ship design and just the right amount of details. I think the addition of mist makes the scene look less weighty and kinda haning though.

setmonkey: This looks good. The design of the ship is tight and I like the angle. I thik it could do with a bit of cropping on the right to make it sit better - all the action is over on the left.

moonlit: The colours give it a nice mood and I like the chasm, but the ship is too saturated compared to the scenery and kinda looks stuck on. Interesting design though.

Hamsta: Love the ship... nice shapes. The mute colours really add to the dusty feel, but perspective of the boarding station and ramps doesn't sit right with me.

sarillion: I like the composition of this. The ship is nice too but maybe the nech is a little too generic? Atleast you got all the elements in though... unlike me.

Hideyoshi: Sorry. Red X. :^^;:

zenarion: Nice mech design - particularly the gun arm.

Johnnyhorse: Great perspective and design. Love the addition of the carapace things over the mech's shoulders and heads. Also diggin' the ship itself.

Crustacean: Nice, clean and tight as usual. Colours sit well and the triangle shaped designs on the mech's look cool. I'm not too keen on the ship design though... kinda looks like a Rock 'n' Roll jukebox?

Truepinkas: The perspective doesn't work too well, but you have all the elements in there and I like the masses of troops. Good first DSG.

jtburg88: The mech looks cute, love the hands. The bridge is also well done, but the ship needs a little something to give it a bit more character which would fit in with the rest.

Torlai: The way the mech's heads are attached is a great touch along with showing bigger boss-type mechs aswell as the grunts. The moon is a little too prominent and draws my eye and the way you have used blur to illustrate depth of field is offputting, but your ideas are strong.

dagreengo: Are the mech's de-boarding? I know I would be! :teeth: I like the rows of windows at the front of the ship, and the idea of having it breaking up is cool. The perspective is also nice, but the way you've done the planet with a band of sea and a band of landmass below detracts a little.

protect: The mech is a bit too generalised as far a design goes, but you show alot of promise and hope to see more.

[jtburg88]

horsefly- thanks did this in my Maya class didnt really have time to fine tune

[Torlai]

Horsefly - Thanks for the feedback!

[Truepinkas]

Thanks Horsefly, yeah, I realized after Jonnyhorse's comment that I should have exaggerated the vertical perspective a lot more to make it more dramatic. oh well though I’ll just try again on the next one. Also I did this straight in Photoshop, no pre-sketching or anything. I think my next one I will do my traditional sketches ahead of time and see how that works, probably tack on another hour to it, but 2 hours isn't too long i guess. Well I’m off to work on a paper...Go go gadget grad school!

[jtburg88]

anybody got some good tips for tablet painting? i want to start painting realistic not cartoonish

[Johnnyhorse]

jtburg88 and anyone concerned - This whole website is a great source of information if you know where to look... try looking around in the other (more boring) sections and you'll find loads of stuff... even comments on others' pieces in the critiques section can help out...
I've quickly grabbed several links that could help you out. Bumskee's has helped me the most probably:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47859
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18980
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
bookmark these ^
kudos for the willingness/desire to draw realistically!

PS. I hear the Gnomon DVDs are amazing as well (but not free!), I have yet to purchase any though :(

PPS. Almost forgot; someone linked me these really great free video tutorials, here: http://www.carloscabrera.com.ar/tutorials/

[voraz]

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/435/skt27102006007upfa9.jpg

[Hamsta]

Horsefly I like it, loads of character in the strokes, interesting composition, and I like the white border, making everything stanf out.
The perspective on the front of the ship looks a little off, and your men are somewhat static and something isn't quite right about that guy in front.

[wagemage]

Not sure if this is too doodly, but here goes.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k310/wagemage/canyon-ship.gif