Joe's sketchbook

[Grieverjoe]

Here's where I'm at right now. I worry that I might've made Angus too dark, but I also don't want to lose that awesome sunset backlighting thing I've got going on.
Suggestions?

[djizomdjinn]

Hmm. Well, the sun is high enough that I think you could get away with some small patches of (overexposed) light on his sleeves and definitely on the folds of his waist wrap. If it's supposed to be thin linen-ish material, it should be bright enough to silhouette the body and make the waist wrap look transparent as well.

[astrapho]

Hmm, I don't think he's too dark actually because he's in the shadow. Agreed with djinn on the translucency. If the clothes are going to have that then you might want to add some subsurface scattering into the skin as well because the light hitting it is so strong. But is this going to be a celshaded style? The mist has got waay too much texture in it, it's hurting the picture's sense of distance, it needs softer edges. Also would suggest to make the distant black conical structures lighter in value so it looks further away, and make the foreground figures bigger so that it looks closer to the camera. It's a little too early for me to tell what else can be done to improve it because your intention is not fully out yet, keep plugging at it.

[Grieverjoe]

The clothing will not be thin, it'll be more heavy, almost like coarse canvas. I did add some translucency on the hair, though. Pretty proud of that.
Gotta remember to go back and soften the fog some.
I'm not going for a cel-shade style, I just suck at making it look anything other than. My intention is for it to look like Marko Djurdjevic, Wesley Burt, and countless other MTG-style artwork, but I don't think I'm at that level, yet.
Basically, it'll have the sun behind them, with fog in the distant background; planning on adding some grayish-blue for ambient lighting, and he will be casting a spell (which is why the people on the foreground are all disintegrated). I think the spell will be like a halo around him, casting yet more light. Will definitely go back and some subsurface scattering on the skin and tame the values on the obelisks.
Thanks, dudes. Keep them coming!

[Grieverjoe]

You guys remember that piece I did back in January of Zidane atop the Prima Vista? Today, I received notice that my piece was picked to be featured on the trailer for the album and will also be included IN the album when it releases. Go check out the trailer.

Also, progress on the MTG commission.

Softened the fog, added some subsurface scattering to his skin, added some ambient lighting all around, put some more love on the horns, face, and hair, added some dirt to the bottom of his robe for added visual interest, and softened the obelisks in the distance.
Yay? Nay?

[djizomdjinn]

I still think you should add the transparency; it'd help add contrast to what's otherwise a very limited palette (due to the brightness of the sun flare) and also help emphasize that this is indeed a very bright light. Even thick canvas is translucent to a bright enough light.

On the fog... white is a very neutral color. It's also the brightest color you can use, which means you want to use it very sparingly in the important places. I'd see about darkening it, lightening only at the edges, again, to emphasize the brightness of the sun.

[Grieverjoe]

Hold up, that looks awesome. Guess I'm gonna have to go in and add some of that, after all. The commissioner asked if I could make Angus lighter, so the answer might be on some transparency, after all.
I see what you mean about the fog. I did not mean to make it as white as it came out, but I'll go back in and work on it some more.
Man, I'm learning so much from doing this project, and from you dudes. Thanks!

[Grieverjoe]

Ast and Djinn, I took you guys' advice. How's this?

There's still work to be done, for sure, but I think we're headed in the right direction.

[astrapho]

Hmm, do you want to know how to get a more realisticcy/fantasy renderingy look? I can do a quick paintover to show you one way to do that when i get home. Meanwhile i'd sugggest for his magic to throw up some sand clouds in the foreground, otherwise the sand in the environment looks a little too solid...

[Grieverjoe]

Originally Posted by astrapho Hmm, do you want to know how to get a more realisticcy/fantasy renderingy look? I can do a quick paintover to show you one way to do that when i get home. Meanwhile i'd sugggest for his magic to throw up some sand clouds in the foreground, otherwise the sand in the environment looks a little too solid...

Haha, the ground is supposed to be a grassy field, I just haven't added any grass to it; I just put down some undercoloring, first. I was gonna put a bit of debris as grass/dirt flying off in the end. I'm glad we're on the same wavelength on that,at least.
All of the yes to a paintover.

[astrapho]

Oh gosh, I thought it was a desert, I think it was his clothes, haha. So this was a bit of a struggle because I reeeally suck at environments so this is definitely not the best solution, but here are some suggestions to push the background back further and a way to add a sense of light and form to the character. The ground needs to gradate to cooler colors as it recedes to give that sense of depth. Also thought the structure at the back was drawing far too much attention unnecessarily, so I toned it down (maybe too much haha). The color of the light has to be more consistent, on the character it looks yellow but the way everything else is catching it it looks white or pale red. I just keyed everything a little more towards yellow but use your own judgement. Also quickly put something on the bodies to make it look more like part of the scene, but I'm not sure what kinda magic you're going for so I just put something generic there. Hope it helps.

[Grieverjoe]

Holy shit. Just... wow, damn.
Damn.

Sorry, had to reboot my brain from the awesome. Damn, though, seriously.
When I get home, I'll post the direction the commissioner gave me. Maybe that'll help shed some light on what I'm trying to do, but still, damn. Wow.

EDIT: Okay, so, here's the request...

"Angus Mackenzie standing in the same field as his card, with the Sol Ring above and behind him and Fog in the background. The Grim Monolith is visible in the distant background, and Angus looks like he's casting Wrath of God. See if you can incorporate Sensei's Divining Top in there, too."

So, Angus is casting the spell, the people are disintegrating, and the figure on the left is dropping the top from having his hands disintegrated. Make sense?
Couple hours later and I'm still blown away by that paintover, though. Damn.

[djizomdjinn]

Ast tends to have that effect on people .

Just note there are several different variations for each card. I'm a big fan of the 7th edition card art myself for Wrath of God, and I think it's closer to what you're going for.

[Grieverjoe]

Okay, back at it.

I used Ast's paintover as a guide. Left out the fog, didn't touch the tower, and didn't touch the people; I just focused on Angus and the background.
Thanks for the help, Ast.
Djinn, I do believe that spell looks more like what I'm trying, here, so I'm gonna try and incorporate a bit of both of them.

[Grieverjoe]

Still working on that commission.
In the meantime, have a pink Yoshi, as requested by my daughter.

[astrapho]

Hahaha gosh that's adorable. Yeah that looks like an improvement. Looking forward to see where you'll go with it :9

[Grieverjoe]

doot doot
With special cameo by Colour Constructor!

[RobotCat]

I think you can add a bit more 'destruction' type effects towards the edges, to give the Wrath effect more emphasis. Have some grass being blown away between them?

[Grieverjoe]

I am glad to hear that, because I was worried I was putting too much on it. Now I can go back and add more!
I do plan on adding some grass and dirt flying when I add the shockwave/magic/pulse/whatever.

[Grieverjoe]

Worked some on the tower, fog, and top. How's the tower look? I'm afraid it's a bit too sharp. Maybe blur it some to push it further back? Or perhaps make the colors cooler?. I'm still gonna go back and add more dissolve-y type of effects to the dudes. I've yet to finish the top, then add the magic, and do some foreground spiffifying (grass, dirt, debris, etc).
Keep those comments/critiques coming!