Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR)

mmitchell_houston

mmitchell_houston said:

And just like that, I have something I'm interested in... This has potential. This fixes the loss-of-focus problem I was having with the previous version. 

The obvious problem with this is the face on the attacker. I'm very close to giving up on this altogether, but a previous version of the illustration is already in the book, and replacing it would mean resetting the entire page to ensure that the new image fits. Plus... I don't really have anything else ready to take its place.

I think this size is closer to the actual printed size, which explains why I went with such bold ink strokes. When it was displayed full-size, the inking was overpowering, but at this scale, you can see that it's not really all that bad.

Print scale is one of the most frequent issues I see with a lot of the NPR work in this group. Most of the sketch looks would only print as full-size illustrations. In most cases, the sketched lines would close up and just become an odd gray-scale effect if actually printed in a book. Now, for online work, that's not an issue. But if you are thinking of taking your work to paper, scale is something to think about.

Another question: On the attacker's outstretched arm, I think I need to decrease the shadows on the top of his arm and increase them on the bottom. Do you guys agree? The dual lighting rig I use creates accurate shadows, but there's something off about how they are layered in this illustration.

mmitchell_houston

Artini said:

Kheiron - https://www.daz3d.com/fwsa-kheiron-hd-for-genesis-3-male   in front of the castles from Unity Polygon Knights Pack.

This is a very cute illustration. I like the simplified colors, and the simple geometry definitely takes it to NPR territory. Although... it kinda has a video game look to it, I think kids would dig it in a story book. I definitely like the moutains and clouds. Compositionwise, the centaur is lost next to the well/fountain. In a wide shot like this, I would suggest moving him significantly forward so that we can see him more clearly. After all, we don't need him to establish scale because there are steps and doors in the illustration. And consider why we're seeing so much lawn and so little sky; the illustration horizon line seems to be a bit high. Finally, think about the colors of the flags. Are they they so muted because you're sticking with a muted color story of blues, greens, purples and cool colors? In white, red or yellow, they would "pop" more than they do now.

Anyway – great job. You are really making headway with this particular style!

JOHNGARRETT

This one is a comic I did a ways back as a sort of promo for the upcoming sci-fi novel that I still haven't finished (just never seems to be enough time in the day).

The character is a Genesis Neo that I modified - I'm usually a big fan of the Raiya characters. The alien is a modified "Kuril" figure from The AntFarm.

I did my compositing in Photoshop and the text in Illustrator.

I also ended up making a quick animated comic out of it in Blender both for fun, and because I wanted to learn the Blender sequencer. At the time I did it for Instagram and it had to be under 15 seconds so it goes a bit faster than I would like, but I thought it worked out. I don't think I can embed an Instagram post here, so here's a link: https://www.instagram.com/p/q72c05AUyS/

Headwax

mmitchell_houston said:

head wax said:

mmitchell_houston said:

head wax said:

Thanks for the heads up on Old Book Illustrator Bunyip02

Here's a few Carrara Render passes worked up with Topaz and then using Filter Forge Old Book Illustrator 

 

Hmmmm. In general, I like it. But there is a strange discordance between the foreground and background. Particualrly in the area of his trousers. The color treatment and shadows are really intresting, though. I'm interested in seeing where you can take this.

 

thanks, yes, the upside down v between the legs... I tried a few tonal values and nothing seemed to work. Nice point about the trousers - I think the textures are causing the discordance. ?? hard to say. I think losing the vine pattern at back left would help too. Moral - always render background in a different pass :)

I think the textures on all of his clothing are problematic in this treatment. They're just too busy and they are distracting because they have the same tonal weight as the background. I think you either need to do a color overlay on the figures, or drop the textures. Right now there's just not enough contrast to make the illustration work. I do like the character design, though.

yes, you are very right, thanks for that/those observation (s) !

 

 

Headwax

mmitchell_houston said:

mmitchell_houston said:

And just like that, I have something I'm interested in... This has potential. This fixes the loss-of-focus problem I was having with the previous version. 

The obvious problem with this is the face on the attacker. I'm very close to giving up on this altogether, but a previous version of the illustration is already in the book, and replacing it would mean resetting the entire page to ensure that the new image fits. Plus... I don't really have anything else ready to take its place.

I think this size is closer to the actual printed size, which explains why I went with such bold ink strokes. When it was displayed full-size, the inking was overpowering, but at this scale, you can see that it's not really all that bad.

Print scale is one of the most frequent issues I see with a lot of the NPR work in this group. Most of the sketch looks would only print as full-size illustrations. In most cases, the sketched lines would close up and just become an odd gray-scale effect if actually printed in a book. Now, for online work, that's not an issue. But if you are thinking of taking your work to paper, scale is something to think about.

Another question: On the attacker's outstretched arm, I think I need to decrease the shadows on the top of his arm and increase them on the bottom. Do you guys agree? The dual lighting rig I use creates accurate shadows, but there's something off about how they are layered in this illustration.

 

I think the arm looks fine as it is. Maybe just post both versions here :)

 

Headwax

JOHNGARRETT said:

This one is a comic I did a ways back as a sort of promo for the upcoming sci-fi novel that I still haven't finished (just never seems to be enough time in the day).

The character is a Genesis Neo that I modified - I'm usually a big fan of the Raiya characters. The alien is a modified "Kuril" figure from The AntFarm.

I did my compositing in Photoshop and the text in Illustrator.

I also ended up making a quick animated comic out of it in Blender both for fun, and because I wanted to learn the Blender sequencer. At the time I did it for Instagram and it had to be under 15 seconds so it goes a bit faster than I would like, but I thought it worked out. I don't think I can embed an Instagram post here, so here's a link: https://www.instagram.com/p/q72c05AUyS/

wow that's super clean, really enjoyed the animation - I think it adds a lot to the story

 

Headwax

Here's a Carrara render. In post work I  mainly using depth pass, shadow pas,s toon pro pass, coverage pass and Carrara's  NPR - which I revisted after seeing @Vysur's excelent image in the Carrara forum..

In Carrara the toonpro pass, the coverage pass and the NPR pass all give different lines. The toonpro is an extra plugin - the others are native to Carrara.

Postwork with Topaz and overlays by Fotosketcher.

cheers :)

 

 

 

 

 

Oso3D

I tried to do this in 3dl, but kept running into problems. I had INTENDED on doing some intense godrays coming over the horizon but I couldn't get it to work right. Meh.

 

Headwax

timmins.william said:

I tried to do this in 3dl, but kept running into problems. I had INTENDED on doing some intense godrays coming over the horizon but I couldn't get it to work right. Meh.

 

great image though - only thing that doesnt gel is the woman looks flat

 

Headwax

 

Carrara render - topaz work over. Used a shadow catcher to superimpose on a previously rendered background.

Artini

Thanks again, mmitchell_houston, for all very useful insights and comments.
I have placed centaur there, because it was in the point, where the lines from
rule of thirds were crossed, but I were also not so happy with the placement.
Will have to experiment more.

 

JOHNGARRETT

Looks good to me, @timmins.william! Very much like a painting. So this is done in iRay?

The only thing I would suggest is to try to add some "atmosphere" over the tops of those hills to make it look like they're farther away, some light blue or white would do it. 

timmins.william said:

I tried to do this in 3dl, but kept running into problems. I had INTENDED on doing some intense godrays coming over the horizon but I couldn't get it to work right. Meh.

 

 

JOHNGARRETT

Thanks, @head wax! I'll probably revisit motion comics in the future, too. 

head wax said:

JOHNGARRETT said:

wow that's super clean, really enjoyed the animation - I think it adds a lot to the story

 

 

JOHNGARRETT

Now this is fantasy illustrated! it reminds me of the stuff I used to see in Dragon and Dungeon magazines back in the day. 

head wax said:

 

Carrara render - topaz work over. Used a shadow catcher to superimpose on a previously rendered background.

 

Oso3D

JOHNGARRETT said:

Looks good to me, @timmins.william! Very much like a painting. So this is done in iRay?

The only thing I would suggest is to try to add some "atmosphere" over the tops of those hills to make it look like they're farther away, some light blue or white would do it. 

timmins.william said:

I tried to do this in 3dl, but kept running into problems. I had INTENDED on doing some intense godrays coming over the horizon but I couldn't get it to work right. Meh.

 

 

Yeah, I had been struggling to get some good distance haze but ... meh. ;)

And it's Iray then run through Fotosketcher (which is awesome).

Here's another Iray + Fotosketcher.

 

Worlds_Edge

@timmins.william - four arms, huh?  It took me a few to figure out what was odd in the picture, lol.  It looks good.  Love the mellow colors and the painterly effect.  The sand line might be a little too straight, suggest a bit of variation, but works either way.

Oso3D

When I'm in a bad mood (which is almost always) my art generally cycles between dark (to vent) and light (to distract myself).

Here I'm cycled back to dark...

http://willbear.deviantart.com/art/Stelae-o-684337427

(mild nudity)

Headwax

JOHNGARRETT said:

Now this is fantasy illustrated! it reminds me of the stuff I used to see in Dragon and Dungeon magazines back in the day. 

head wax said:

 

 

Carrara render - topaz work over. Used a shadow catcher to superimpose on a previously rendered background.

 

Thank you Mr Garrett

tkdrobert

Big Fan of the original BSG and the reboot.  Redid this one several times.  Not sure I'm satisfied with it but it's cool nontheless.

Worlds_Edge

It is beyond cool, @tkdrobert.  

Oso3D

Nice, tkdrobert!

And another in a series of vaguely Lovecraft inspired works.

Mild gore.

http://willbear.deviantart.com/art/Last-Castle-o-684395446

 

Headwax

Carrara render passes worked up in Topaz etc.

'The Body of Christ, The Tree of Life.'

It's a follow on to an image I made for a religious prize a few years ago. The first image is now owned by The Uniting Church.

mmitchell_houston

head wax said:

Carrara render - topaz work over. Used a shadow catcher to superimpose on a previously rendered background.

I am definitely digging the Dragon Magazine vibe (Thanks JOHNGARRETT -- I really digged those back in the day, too!). That is a very interesting item on the ground, and the painterly effect on the face is nice. The shadows don't line up to the feet, though...

mmitchell_houston

head wax said:

Carrara render passes worked up in Topaz etc. 'The Body of Christ, The Tree of Life.'

It's a follow on to an image I made for a religious prize a few years ago. The first image is now owned by The Uniting Church.

Fascinating image. I'm intrigued on multiple levels, especially seeing stigmata on one so young. I'm puzzled by the duality expressed in the body, but the hair seems to be a single piece that crosses the two textures. Is this symbolizing nature crossing the boundry twixt man/nature? Or am I reaching? Nevertheless, fascinating (and when I'm in a better mood, I'll go look at your "dark" illustrations – this just isn't the day for it).

tkdrobert

Little experiement with Topaz.

 

Headwax

mmitchell_houston said:

head wax said:

Carrara render passes worked up in Topaz etc. 'The Body of Christ, The Tree of Life.'

It's a follow on to an image I made for a religious prize a few years ago. The first image is now owned by The Uniting Church.

Fascinating image. I'm intrigued on multiple levels, especially seeing stigmata on one so young. I'm puzzled by the duality expressed in the body, but the hair seems to be a single piece that crosses the two textures. Is this symbolizing nature crossing the boundry twixt man/nature? Or am I reaching? Nevertheless, fascinating (and when I'm in a better mood, I'll go look at your "dark" illustrations – this just isn't the day for it).

thanks you for that and your insightful comments once more. Ah the image is all about suggestion, with something like this its best to let the viewer take away what they find for themselves. And that is usually related to their life experiences or knowledge or culture/myths.

Headwax

mmitchell_houston said:

head wax said:

Carrara render - topaz work over. Used a shadow catcher to superimpose on a previously rendered background.

I am definitely digging the Dragon Magazine vibe (Thanks JOHNGARRETT -- I really digged those back in the day, too!). That is a very interesting item on the ground, and the painterly effect on the face is nice. The shadows don't line up to the feet, though...

Ha ha thanks, can't get away with anything here! Yes the back leg is raised off the ground (because he has seen something bad and is stepping backwarsd) hence the shadow being weird. I debated long and hard whether to fix it but thought I could get away with it - that'll teach me!

 

Headwax

tkdrobert said:

Little experiement with Topaz.

 

looking good especially the foreground faces and the chap on the lefts musculature.

 

Artini

Envy from https://www.daz3d.com/7-deadly-sins-vanity-and-envy

with Topaz Clean applied in postwork.

tkdrobert

Artini said:

Envy from https://www.daz3d.com/7-deadly-sins-vanity-and-envy

with Topaz Clean applied in postwork.

Nice.  I really haven't tried doing reflections in any real big way.