To answer your initial question - No, I don't think it is a "look" that I have seen too many times, but I don't ever look at any artwork with any kind of "jaded eyes", nor do I tire of any kinds of styles ever produced.
When I stopped and really thought abut it, if the style appeals to me, I don't get tired of it either. So cancel my previous comment.
In fact, that particular style (a rough anime style emulation), I, personally, find very appeasing, and I wish ninety percent of all 3D comic books I have seen out there in the last two decades would have at least went for this easily accessible style opposed to the drab standard render with word balloons thrown on top.
I haven't read many 3D comics, so I'm naive about what is out there. My comic reading background was 2D stuff from Marvel. Loved Jack Kirby, and also the Conan full sized Magazines.
I was going to comment on this when you posted it the other day, but I wanted to see what other opinions were going to be presented. I was toying around with this technique back in the early 2000's (I just found an example from one of my 2005 archives) for my graphic novels, but because it is so easily accessible to everyone I decided against it.
I liked the filter, but it's not quite what I wanted. Where's the Frazetta filter when you need it!
Regarding your image - I like it. I almost love it, but there are a couple of things that prevent that for me.
First, I agree with head wax, except for the line weight critique. That is such a Marvel Comics black/white way of thinking. I have produced hundreds of hand drawn illustrations in my lifetime with singular line weights, and there are thousands of examples out there of the same. Some prefer varied line widths, and some do not. It all depends on the style you are trying to produce.
Yes, for your illustration, the hand drawn emulation of that particular PS filter only yields singular line weights. If you wanted to venture into the realm of variable line weights through 3D NPR, you could give Freestyle (Stand-alone, or inside of Blender) a try. That would also open you up to vector NPR work as well, if you wanted to go that route.
Thanks for reminding me. Someone else in the Art forum also mentioned Freestyle as the best program for rendering line weights. I may have to give it a go.
Back to my critique, there are only two things in your image that prevents me from loving it; 1) I find the image a little confusing in regards to environment. It appears to be a sewer, or some kind of highly flooded dungeon, but why then is there a window? If it is a standard castle floor, I understand, but that castle is under siege by a greater hell than those demon tomatoes. And, 2) The use of a spot light really throws me out of the image. It appears as if someone with a very powerful flashlight (or spot light) is standing off camera and pointing it right at her. I understand the need of it's use to get color posterization separations and the shadow, but the use of layering and postwork would have done wonders to alliviate the "spot" on the wall. If I am way off basis, and you were trying to emulate light coming in through the window, then the spot doesn't seem appropiate, and the interior lighting would tell a different story. I belive you have enough ambient light to make the scene believable (with the window). I just think the lack of the spot on the wall would have been the way to go. Other than that, it is a great image. The posing, color, composition, and ambience are terrific.
Part of the issue is that my image was originally a PR image with a lens flare effect coming from the sun shining through the window. There was no spot shining on Vicky from the front. What you are seeing is the remnents of a lens flare (the spot on the wall). I left that part of it in the image simply because I thought that is looked nice, as it changed the wall texture in an interesting way and also made Vicky's skin warmer. However, if it confused you, I understand. That, plus the idea of an indoor pool inside of a castle is probably not too common. Then add a dangerous tomato trying to take over the pool...well, I'm pretty sure that suspension of disbelief is pretty much out the window on many levels.
I really appreciate your comments. I look forward to seeing your work!
Yeah, now that I see the lens flare in full effect in the other thread, I understand better the NPR result.
A Frazetta filter would have rocked that image. It already is very Frazetta-esque.
You can see some of my NPR over at the Art Studio NPR thread. To save you from hunting for any of my work throughout the pages, just go to page one. I have a couple posts towards the end of the page with some examples. I don't have any scenes. They are just pin-ups used for working out work-flows of different techniques. Usually, I post different techniques I achived in varies ways, and for every image I have posted there are hundreds I have not. Also, almost every image posted is not a one off production, but a selection among 100 variables for the given work with some utilizing a dizzing amount of layering postwork with dozens of filters, and layering techniques.
Right now I am working on the holy grail of NPR, and trying to produce something that can fool anyone into believing it is hand drawn and not 3D (which is the goal for my GN work). A difficult thing to achive with discerning eyes such as head wax, but I am almost ready to present some coke/pepsi testing in the forums where I want to see if anyone can pick the hand drawn illustration out from the other 3D NPR Illustrations.
HW, thanks for the feedback and tips. I will try what you suggested, and see if I can stumble upon something that works. My heart wants to do NPR, but my head tells me to learn the Carrara modeler. Head currently winning. :)
Part of this is knowing the ins and outs of the software, but the bigger part is knowing what you actually want to do. I need to study more NPR examples to imitate.
Speaking of examples, the Phantom below looked amazing, but you never answered how you got it so painted-looking. If it's a secret, please ignore.
(and thanks for posting such large images, as closer inspection makes it obvious that a lot of hand work has been done)
DaremoK3 saideth
head wax:
I would also love to know how you produced that stunning painting emulation. If it is a secret, like UnifiedBrain suggested, then, please, just ignore me as well.
My favorite part is the poster. That is brilliant.
Oh, and I am a huge fan of the work you have been producing, along with Stezza, Vyusur, Diomede, Bunyip02 (whose work finally convinced me to hook up a Windows machine to the internet to acquire the filters for my offline FF - thank you, Bunyip02) Artini, MDO2010, and everyone else participating in this thread.
I am still working on my first Carrara piece to present to the thread, and now that I know I do not have to solely rely on Carrara's NPR modules, which I am still struggling with, I am going use one of my stapple NPR work-flows once I get the Carrara set-up finalized, and the beauty pass (as you would say) rendered.
thanks DaremoK3 and UB! , no , no secret - except to my own Brain. Ha ha, well I own Topaz Simplify and Topaz Impression.
They both come with a billion presets - which makes it difficult as it is trial and error, then when you find a preset you like (after customixing it) then you can save it to your favourites ... after a while you have so many favourite customized presets it's gagah
I stopped early on this one.
First I did my normal post work which is to clean up poke through, paint in some lights if I need to, adjust the tones and contrast
I probably used a depth pass and made the parameter screen to drop down the contrast on that back fellow on the left
Else I might paint in some atmopshere with Ron's fog bruishes and use the index pass as a mask so I dont paint over the foreground figures - we are looking for a sense of depth, light and atmopshere
Then I would take it into Topaz Simplify and use Buzz Sim very gently so I am losing a little detail
And with this one the next step was to take it into Topaz Impression and I have no idea what one of my customized presets I used - but it only neede one and I stopped there, normally I would fiddle with it for another hour!
When in Impression you can paint in a mask too, so that part will be less effected, so I painted in the mask over the Poster to keep it's legibility.
hope that make sense
looking forward to seeing more of your work DaremoK3 and UB et al. The more the merrier :)
edit - and I did a black and white gradient from left to right and set the parameter to multiply, and probably coped that layer, and flipped it - that way the edges are in shadow and add a little mystery and surprise ... I hope
edit 2) you might not noticed but on that left edge it looks like the paint is rubbed off which happens when artists pick up their paintings while they are wet, or when they are too slack to paint to the edges --- so that effect is also from Topaz Impression
Excellent work! Maybe I would increase the size of the figure or move the figure closer to the viewer. Andrew, would you be so kind to explain me how to use WVD plug-in please? Do you apply it in DS first or in Carrara?
thanks PHillW, interesting days.... and thanks UnifiedBrain and Vyusur , yes I agree about the space, Rembrandt in a little of his work left 'too much' space in his multifigure scenes (eg one with Lazarus?) , he should have hung with Carravagio ;)
this is just the beginning of a multifigure work - I will add another at the doorway and add a little extension to the right of the image
it's one of a series where I am placing the Dadaist Hugo Ball within paintings that mimick the style of, or elements of, other painters - eg Mondrian, PreRapaelites, James Ensor , Bosch, Hiroshige - etc
VWD - you need Philemo's Bridge and the VWD program and you run it straight from Carrara - they are bothe available at the 'other' site. We had a good thread about it for a while here....
It works about 40 percent of the time quite well straight out of the box .... they have a trial for it - if you decide to try it let me know. There's a few simple things that make it easier...
EDIt: PhilW is a genius with it
this is when I first got it a long time ago it's done in Poser - but once you load up VWD the work flow is the same in Carrara
Comments
Back to the feedback:
When I stopped and really thought abut it, if the style appeals to me, I don't get tired of it either. So cancel my previous comment.
I haven't read many 3D comics, so I'm naive about what is out there. My comic reading background was 2D stuff from Marvel. Loved Jack Kirby, and also the Conan full sized Magazines.
I liked the filter, but it's not quite what I wanted. Where's the Frazetta filter when you need it!
Thanks for reminding me. Someone else in the Art forum also mentioned Freestyle as the best program for rendering line weights. I may have to give it a go.
Part of the issue is that my image was originally a PR image with a lens flare effect coming from the sun shining through the window. There was no spot shining on Vicky from the front. What you are seeing is the remnents of a lens flare (the spot on the wall). I left that part of it in the image simply because I thought that is looked nice, as it changed the wall texture in an interesting way and also made Vicky's skin warmer. However, if it confused you, I understand. That, plus the idea of an indoor pool inside of a castle is probably not too common. Then add a dangerous tomato trying to take over the pool...well, I'm pretty sure that suspension of disbelief is pretty much out the window on many levels.
I really appreciate your comments. I look forward to seeing your work!
Also, thanks for voting!!
Yeah, now that I see the lens flare in full effect in the other thread, I understand better the NPR result.
A Frazetta filter would have rocked that image. It already is very Frazetta-esque.
You can see some of my NPR over at the Art Studio NPR thread. To save you from hunting for any of my work throughout the pages, just go to page one. I have a couple posts towards the end of the page with some examples. I don't have any scenes. They are just pin-ups used for working out work-flows of different techniques. Usually, I post different techniques I achived in varies ways, and for every image I have posted there are hundreds I have not. Also, almost every image posted is not a one off production, but a selection among 100 variables for the given work with some utilizing a dizzing amount of layering postwork with dozens of filters, and layering techniques.
Right now I am working on the holy grail of NPR, and trying to produce something that can fool anyone into believing it is hand drawn and not 3D (which is the goal for my GN work). A difficult thing to achive with discerning eyes such as head wax, but I am almost ready to present some coke/pepsi testing in the forums where I want to see if anyone can pick the hand drawn illustration out from the other 3D NPR Illustrations.
And, you are welcome...
RE: Frazetta - our dear friend Cripeman took a break from his great Carrara tutorials to do his own tribute to Frank Frazetta.
EDIT
Crap, don't think I can link the video because the preview has nudity. Google search for Cripeman Frazetta
UB saideth
DaremoK3 saideth
thanks DaremoK3 and UB! , no , no secret - except to my own Brain. Ha ha, well I own Topaz Simplify and Topaz Impression.
They both come with a billion presets - which makes it difficult as it is trial and error, then when you find a preset you like (after customixing it) then you can save it to your favourites ... after a while you have so many favourite customized presets it's gagah
I stopped early on this one.
First I did my normal post work which is to clean up poke through, paint in some lights if I need to, adjust the tones and contrast
I use this product quite often to 'paint' in falling light - it's very good https://www.daz3d.com/illuminate-supreme
I probably used a depth pass and made the parameter screen to drop down the contrast on that back fellow on the left
Else I might paint in some atmopshere with Ron's fog bruishes and use the index pass as a mask so I dont paint over the foreground figures - we are looking for a sense of depth, light and atmopshere
Then I would take it into Topaz Simplify and use Buzz Sim very gently so I am losing a little detail
And with this one the next step was to take it into Topaz Impression and I have no idea what one of my customized presets I used - but it only neede one and I stopped there, normally I would fiddle with it for another hour!
When in Impression you can paint in a mask too, so that part will be less effected, so I painted in the mask over the Poster to keep it's legibility.
hope that make sense
looking forward to seeing more of your work DaremoK3 and UB et al. The more the merrier :)
edit - and I did a black and white gradient from left to right and set the parameter to multiply, and probably coped that layer, and flipped it - that way the edges are in shadow and add a little mystery and surprise ... I hope
edit 2) you might not noticed but on that left edge it looks like the paint is rubbed off which happens when artists pick up their paintings while they are wet, or when they are too slack to paint to the edges --- so that effect is also from Topaz Impression
Gia 6 - Fotosketcher - Watercolour
Thanks HW! Above and beyond.
You should get a commission from Topaz Labs.:)
Back to metaballs...
Morpheus Roman Numerals
Renderus at postum workium
G3 Morpheus with Genesis using GenX
Excellent !!!!
Thx Bunyip....
This one using G2 with Morpheus using GenX
Great work with Morpheus and GenX!
Morpheus crossed with an Orc. Toon! part III
Morpheus crossed with Genesis Brute X and with an alien head morph.
Morpheus and Creech G3M cross.
You are getting very creative with your Morpheus crosses!
wow the possibilities are gooblesmakering :)
They sure are... and Bunyip is fully enjoying it..
a lttle bit of morpheus in this one as well.
Farewell Aunty Jack
Definately enjoying morphing Morpheus, nice addition to the gene pool. Also enjoying Aunty Jack as well.
Flintstone (with a shade of Morpheus) and Trex
heh, heh, you two have almost convinced me to buy Morpheus
here's an M4, I've been having a look at Rembrandt for an up and coming show
the clopthes are draped with the wvd cloth plugin, so are the tablecloths
used Topaz filters en masse on top of a photon render and diffuse render
Ps what's the gossip on the hivewire cat landing at daz?
Excellent work! Maybe I would increase the size of the figure or move the figure closer to the viewer. Andrew, would you be so kind to explain me how to use WVD plug-in please? Do you apply it in DS first or in Carrara?
HW - https://community.hivewire3d.com/threads/official-announcement-hivewire-3d-to-publish-animals-through-daz-3d.2121/?mc_cid=b6b98b6dc0&mc_eid=5e88da14b2
(I wouldn't normally post a link to HW but as it is about Daz then I hope this is OK)
Top notch!
I had to come up with an alternative to the overused "excellent" or "amazing."
thanks PHillW, interesting days.... and thanks UnifiedBrain and Vyusur , yes I agree about the space, Rembrandt in a little of his work left 'too much' space in his multifigure scenes (eg one with Lazarus?) , he should have hung with Carravagio ;)
this is just the beginning of a multifigure work - I will add another at the doorway and add a little extension to the right of the image
it's one of a series where I am placing the Dadaist Hugo Ball within paintings that mimick the style of, or elements of, other painters - eg Mondrian, PreRapaelites, James Ensor , Bosch, Hiroshige - etc
VWD - you need Philemo's Bridge and the VWD program and you run it straight from Carrara - they are bothe available at the 'other' site. We had a good thread about it for a while here....
It works about 40 percent of the time quite well straight out of the box .... they have a trial for it - if you decide to try it let me know. There's a few simple things that make it easier...
EDIt: PhilW is a genius with it
this is when I first got it a long time ago it's done in Poser - but once you load up VWD the work flow is the same in Carrara
I'd tell you but I can't remember!
Andrew, thank you a lot for the good example of this very interesting and useful feature.
Headwax & Stezza, nice work as always.
One from me, is a blend of Filter Forge & Fotosketcher.
ha heh , what a scream :) now let me google bong
pleasure Vyusur , I've been using clothes made as dynamic meshes recently and some of them give good results, others seem to give lumpy tri-gons ...:(
thanks Bunyip, that's a great watercolour effect!
Thanks Headwax, I'm starting to explore different effects so should get some interesting results.
Another Dragon render from me.