Space Opera WIP

some progress, this will be the foundation of the backround, it will be pretty simple although im planning to add a few props to increase the level of sci-fi.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/conundrum/20041223103440_Focus-P…]

Looking good

What is Space Opera Challenge about is 2D and 3D
and dose it have to be linked to some thing to do
with one game of some type I can not say that ive
seen anything to do with Space Opera is it a game?
I dont know. JUST CALL ME OLD [;)]

[url]http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=178327[/url]
Grand space opera is the massive 3d + 2d challenge being held over at cgtalk ATM. It's pretty much the best artists from all over the world going for gold. Very inspirational stuff.

Good work Conny (can I call you that?). Keep at it. [:)]

call me whatever you want palantir[:)]
just a quick change in the armour before i go to bed. any c&c would be really helpful, thanks.
[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/conundrum/20041230105342_Focus-P…]

the changes are pretty obvious, im trying this new composition to open it up to more action in the backround. discarded the usurper idea and have turned him into a defeated king or lord. any c&c would be great, thanks

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/conundrum/200511113132_Focus-Pic…]

funny pose for a defeated king! I am pleased to see you have widened the composition though, I felt that the previous one looked more like a character study than a full scene. I'll be interested in seeing how you fill in this composition. Once there is some basic detail roughed in it might be easier to give some useful C&C :)

thanks for the reply john, some significant changes, i havnt been getting much response over at cgtalk, the competition thread moves incredibly fast (34 views in 12 hours). so i was hoping i might get some help over here, once i work on something for a long time i lose sight of whats wrong so any comments would be appreciated

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/conundrum/2005113225648_Focus-Pi…]

Thats coming along nicely now Conundrum - although I think the balance is a bit skewed.
Unless theres something you plan to have going on out over the ocean I think the emphasis should shift slightly toward the defeated king a tad more, as there is alot of vacant space out to the left.

im guessing its going to change but at the moment the king really clashes the colour scheme and lighting situation of the background, downing the saturation and brightness may help.

Starting to look like a composition that communicates a story[:)]
Whilst I'm sure you intend the focus to be on the characters on the right, I find my eye focusing on the people (I assume that is what they are) on the distant bluff below. The Sombre colours and soft shapes of the coast are great and really convey a quite/defeated mood - I would hope that you retain that mood in the background as you progress.

I'm not so keen on the King and the techno-architecture in the foreground. Compositionally they are quite seperate from the rest of the image, the circular shapes all redirect your eye the the right hand corner & side. Thematically I think the design would be far more powerful if the King, rather than looking at the viewer, was looking into the scene at the distant people.

hope that helps some[^]

thanks for the replies

hazard- i added in an attacking force to the left, i had planned it but hadnt painted it in yet

moonunit- i was going for some clash, but you were right about it being too much, so i toned him down

johnN- the techno architecture doesnt work very well, but ill lose the space theme otherwise, he probably would be better looking out in the distance but i just dont have the time, 17th is the deadline.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/attached/conundrum/20051155755_Focus-Pic…]

thats shaping up really nicely, and i do like the changes you made to the king. keep at it! its really coming together

thanks moonunit, well this was the final image which i submitted.

[IMG]http://img8.exs.cx/img8/5302/Space-opera-final-1.jpg[/IMG]

looks great and good luck! curious, why did you decide to flip it

thanks, for some reason, when i introduced the blue it looked better flipped to me

I think you have been looking at it tooooo long! The background has become too saturated and no longer recedes properly. Flipping the image over to me seems to make little difference to the balance - probably because the area defined by [the figures and architecture] and the area defined by the [shore edge and the cloud bank] are both similar in volume and shape. The two general shapes are almost mirror images of each other and create a rather static composition :(
Hope that's not all sounding too harsh but I think aspects of you 14/01 post are far superior

no problem with the crit john, im sure i have been looking at it too long[:)]. its good to know for the future though, the whole balanced compostion thing haunted me throughout most of my progress. unfortunately its loo late to fix so im stuck with it[:p].

Nice work Conundrum! I like the flipped version. I like things that veiw left to right. Its just how my eyes read stuff.
Hope you do well in the comp [:D]

thanks anuxi, i'll certainly need the luck judging by the quality of the entries