[Highfive]

This is a painting done mainly for Shiro_tengu's post Underwater City Concepts but I'm also following the directions offered by Craig Mullens and Ripelly about getting the colours and lighting right first, and then working in the details.

c&c appreciated

[Etict]

Hey, that's cool!
I love the idea. Instantly reminds me of X-COM 2... excellent.

[macho2k]

Very good picture!! like the details.. LOVE IT!!

but theres one thing I wonder, how could there be big submarins there? its not very deep? or is it?..


just a thougt!!

[Tarandon]

That has got to be the coolest thing I have ever seen. Where did you come up with the idea? The lighting is superb. I can't wait to get a tablet so I can start doodling on my cpu.

I love it when people post sweet ass pics.

Awesome.

[geoman2k]

where is the yellow light comming from? i thought it was from the blast of the torpedo, but then there should be yellow light on the front of the torpedo-launcher-dude's body...
also i really don't think an infantry torpedo launcher would work... the blast from the launch would send the person flying backwards, and the torpedo prolly wouldn't go fast enough.
hold on, i'm just about don't tearing your picture to shreds...
one last think is that other than the colors, the bubbles and the ground, there is no real way to tell that the guys are underwater. they don't look wieghtless at all, so i have to assume that they have some weights in their armor or something... which i think is a bit too much for the viewer to do on his own.

sorry if this crit seems a little too bruttle. just wanted to point that stuff out. remember thats just my opinion, which means exactly squat

[Shiro_tengu]

Well I think you got it. The lighting and colours are beautiful. After looking at it first on my thread and looking at it now - I want to repeat that its fantastic and awesome and super cool.

[DiXter]

I like it alot!!
I have nothing to crit.


Sorry for the brainless comment.. I'm tired. :P

[ November 23, 2001: Message edited by: DiXter ]

[Leo]

At last I see something more interesting than those "warning: nudity etc." topics.
Your picture is well done... good choice of colors. Nice rendering too. I think you can add more particles into the water to make an underwater feeling.
Anyway good work. Keep it coming.

-leo

[Highfive]

Thanks for all your comments, guys! I appreciate these pointers on the physical flaws in these ideas. Call me an anorak but they're great to debate!

Etict - I heard X-COM 2 was a pretty cool game. Sounds like a great source for inspiration.

macho2k - thanks! You're right that it's not very deep at all. I wanted to have the water shallow enough to provide plenty of lighting. They aren't necessarily attacking big submarines either Maybe in the concepts post, we'll have smaller attack subs that can negiotate the valleys in reefs. Who can say?

Tarandon - I thought about all the ways weapons would work underwater I suppose. When I though of the shoulder-launched torpedo and how cool it could look when it's propelled out of a cloud of bubbles, I started painting.

geoman2k - Most of the light should be coming from the rear flash and not from the front. If that's not getting across then I'll have to make the rear flash much larger.
I know that shoulder-mounted rocket launchers are recoiless because they are open at the back, causing the propellant to push the air at the back of the weapon but not the weapon itself. I figured the torpedo would do the same thing, although I don't know the forces involved when one is launched from today's submarines.
I agree with you on that second crit. Even with good weights on, they do have a steady stance for people standing underwater. I think if some wrinkles on the clothes were floating as well as their armour straps, that would help that feeling of weightlessness.
If it's your honest opinion, geoman2k, it's worth more than squat to me

Shiro_tengu - thanks, man. If you like it that much, expect more of them pretty soon!

Dixter - Wha? Nothing? Not even a little tiny nit-pick?

Leo - hehe, I know what you mean! Cheers! Adding more particles sounds like a plan. I've got to admit that on a second glance they don't look like they're surrounded by water that much.

Thanks again, everyone, for your crits. I'll definitely try to fix some of these problems.

Here's a little example on how I started this pic, dealing with the lights and their direction first.



Any crits, suggestions or pointers on these? Is there anything unappropriate about the colours of the lights that I chose?

[Ripelly]

That's pretty good job, Highfive!

I did a very quick experiment with the lighting in your painting and you can see the result here. I'm not sure if it's worth a two cents but you might want to play with the gradient tool yourself.

I utilised quickmask mode in which I used gradient tool and a very large soft edged brush to create smooth selections. Then it was just about gradient tool (low opacity, overlay) with appropriate colours, small adjustments with Levels, and I think I used brightness/contrast to soften the background with history brush (with large soft edged brush) to restore the contrast to the foreground.

Keep rockin' \m/

[Highfive]

Cheers, Ripelly! Two cents is considerable more valuable in Australia since they were abolished from the economy almost a decade ago.

The glow from the torpedo flash is more orange in your paint-over. Is this to add a warm colour to the scene? It definitely helps the image seem more rich, complete and appealing to the eye. In fact the older image looks almost cold and dead in comparison. Dammit, I wanted to add a warm light to this scene, but I didn't know where it could go.

Lightening the water and the bubbles makes sense, since the camera is looking up at the sky. The blue light from the left is stronger, too, revealing the breastplates more.

Thanks for this overpaint, Ripelly! It's helped my lighting skills a little more. I'll have to look into using Quickmask, too.

[GoldenBoy]

very nice indeed, gave me lo of thought on my paintings. Soldiers remind me of plastic armymen. Maybe the composition isn't the most intresting, but hell it looks good. I don't know why but i crit a lot even i like the painting very much. Keep up the good work.

Mika

[maceface]

hot damn this is my first look at it! i need to jump over to shiros concept thread! highfive this is awesome...great idea too! you have done it again!

[balistic]

very cool idea, I like it . . . only thing bugging me is how uniformly the men are colored . . . they look almost like they could be sculptures. Some variation in color/shininess/value between different parts of the their suits would make them look a bit less statue-ish, I think.

[NextGen]

I love your idea but a couple things came to mind when i saw this.
1) when you set your foot down underwater on the sea floor like that if you added some particles fluffing up and the foot sinking into the sand it would look a little more underwater-ish.

2) from what I remember torpedo's are either Propeller or Gas propelled not explosive rocket power. So the flash wouldn't be there.

These are just some things i see. Great Idea though.

[Highfive]

maceface - by all means jump over there! It's just getting better and better.

balistic - Agreed. My skill's at painting aren't that great on materials. I'm working on it.

Next Gen - 1) should've thought of that one!
2) hehe, these are futuristic torpedos, but you're right, they usually don't. Supercaptivation's going to change that one day.

[Malachi Maloney]

Good stuff HighFive.
For some reason it reminds me of something out of a Bond flick. (Which it a good thing. )

Keep it up.

Malachi