Fiction Elite: Lave Revolution Art.

[Allen Stroud]

Okay, as some of you will know, I have been learning how to use Bryce ever since I started my Kickstarter. I'm doing this with a view to producing some artwork and animation/CGI to accompany my book.

Each image is a visualisation of part of the story. They aren't "through the eyes" snapshots, but they were how I saw things as I wrote.

This evening I've just about finished on three images which have gone to Frontier for approval. So, I thought I'd post them up here to get people's thoughts, with a chance to vote for your favourite.

Ashoria Downtown.

Furnace Arrival.

Lave Orbit.

 

[jan]

I voted for the first 1, for some unknown reson it reminded me of the Dune Movie. My brains workings is weird ways even for me.

 

[psykokow]

I really like the Lave Orbit....

But I love Furnace Arrival

 

[Minti2]

Not so keen on the first one, but Furnace Arrival and Lave Orbit are really good! cant make my mind up which is my favorite, but if pushed probably Furnace Arrival, the composition looks great

 

[OneViGOR]

Ashoria Downtown is a very nice picture, although it feels a bit flat. Besides a few landmarks, all of the buildings are the more-or-less same size. I feel that it would add a little more depth to have a bit more variation in the standard building height. That is my only criticism.

I voted for Furnace Arrival. The colours complement each other very nicely, it's not too busy, and is has an air of mystery about it.

Very nice work there, Allen!

 

[Sir.Tj]

They are all great but Furnace Arrival pips it for me.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

Hi Allen

The Furnace picture by far is the best - it looks the most natural and real.

 

[PacalB]

Hmmmm ... ? just jumped the gun and voted for the wrong one. I voted Furnace Arrival when it should have been for Lave Orbit, ahhh well. Allen, just a tip ... less is more sometimes and composition is everything. The rule of thirds is always a good place to start as well, you get that down to a fine art and you can break those rules as you get better.

Good work, nicely done keep it up.

 

[T. James]

I preferred the middle one - it seemed sharper, and more detailed. Is it motion-blur in the other two images? Somehow they don't seem as in-focus...

 

[Flowswithdrek]

Hi Allen,

Furnace Arrival is by far the best, its really well done and from a texture point of view everything looks like it belongs. The image would look fantastic on a poster. The other two aren't bad either. I really love the cityscape in the first one, but the larger ships seem a bit blurred and their horizontal thrust isn't working for me as they don't appear to have wings. I would like to see them closer up in more detail with vtol thrusters. The smaller ships close to the buildings are difficult to make out, and are distracting because they appear to have an artificial texture compared to the buildings.

Hope that helps.

 

[matthewdbenson]

Nice pics. In order of pref, 2, 3, 1 - Furnace arrival ahead by a margin. In the first pic, I felt the ships were a bit 'low' in the sky, above the city, to be flying around using rockets like they seem to be doing

 

[Andrew Sayers]

I think the thing that puts "Lave Orbit" ahead of "Furnace Arrival" is that hiding the majority of the focused object behind the gas creates a sense of action. Furnace Arrival looks like you're just sitting there observing the station do its thing, whereas Lave Orbit looks like a waypoint in an adventure.

 

[Ian Phillips]

I once went to an artists workshop, where he had displayed 30+ versions of the same picture. They (of course) had the same shapes but each had a different combination of colours. Of the 30+, there was one that I liked.

So, on that basis of intensely personal preferences I would rate the pictures in this order; 3, 1, 2 and vote for Lave Orbit.

 

[Majere]

Furnace Arrival

For me, the stand-out one is Furnace Arrival. The first one really doesn't hit any buttons for me at all.

Great job there.

 

[drew]

Voted for the Furnace arrival too. Very nice! The ship looks big and old with a great sense of presence

Don't like the 3rd one at all. There is no way you could have a nebula like that in close proximity to a planet in real life so it loses out for me there in the realism stakes.

Even if you could have a nebula in that position it would never be dense enough to show 'wisps' which could partially hide the planet from the perspective of a ship/viewer. Nebulae are not like clouds. (Same applies to Furnace arrival where the ship is partially obscured. Nebulae would not do this.)

The first one looks too 'CGI'/obviously generated to me.

Cheers,

Drew.

 

[Allen Stroud]

Thanks folks, new version of "Lave Orbit" below.

I think the colour is better on this one. Unfortunately the previous render crashed exporting the full size image for printing, so I recreated it from the previous save and tweaked a bit.

Re: Thirds, I'm very aware of the principles thanks. Artwork is something I've never done before this year, but photography and filming is part of my job. I've only been working on digital art like this since March, so I'm gradually learning as I go. Placement is much trickier and creating the feeling of depth takes a bit of time.

Ashoria Downtown may get another tweak later, but need to get two more images up to a good standard.

 

[Allen Stroud]

Don't like the 3rd one at all. There is no way you could have a nebula like that in close proximity to a planet in real life so it loses out for me there in the realism stakes.

Fair point. I have previous versions without the cloud elements, but they look a bit flat. The use in the previous one (Furnace) was to suggest small particles in the asteroid belt.

I may look at doing something else with the layer of Lave Orbit to establish depth, but it's submitted now, so major changes may make work for other people, which I don't want.

 

[T. James]

Fair point. I have previous versions without the cloud elements, but they look a bit flat. The use in the previous one (Furnace) was to suggest small particles in the asteroid belt.

I may look at doing something else with the layer of Lave Orbit to establish depth, but it's submitted now, so major changes may make work for other people, which I don't want.

I like the clouds. Adds drama, colour, and depth, although I'll take Drew's point on astronomical accuracy. I've seen lots of this type of effect in sci-fi work. Those in the know may spot it, but Joe Punter won't... You could add some white lasers, for effect...

 

[drew]

Fair point. I have previous versions without the cloud elements, but they look a bit flat. The use in the previous one (Furnace) was to suggest small particles in the asteroid belt.

I may look at doing something else with the layer of Lave Orbit to establish depth, but it's submitted now, so major changes may make work for other people, which I don't want.

You can have the nebula in the background (it would be beyond the limits of the solar system) but not 'wisping' in front of the planet like earth based clouds. It's pure fantasy I'm afraid.

Nebulae are huge and very very low density (even a dense one is much less dense than the best vacuums we can generate on Earth).

Technical reasons why not:

1. The solar wind would blow all low density particles outside the limits of the solar system. Nebulae retreat from newly formed stars within a few thousands years of the stars ignition

2. A planet would 'sweep' up any remaining nebulous material in its orbit and 'clear a path' within a few hundred years.

Cheers,

Drew.

 

[T. James]

You can have the nebula in the background (it would be beyond the limits of the solar system) but not 'wisping' in front of the planet like earth based clouds. It's pure fantasy I'm afraid.

Nebulae are huge and very very low density (even a dense one is much less dense than the best vacuums we can generate on Earth).

Technical reasons why not:

1. The solar wind would blow all low density particles outside the limits of the solar system. Nebulae retreat from newly formed stars within a few thousands years of the stars ignition

2. A planet would 'sweep' up any remaining nebulous material in its orbit and 'clear a path' within a few hundred years.

Cheers,

Drew.

A prototype planetary cloaking device? Local gaseous emissions from the Lave Jameson Reunion curry night? There's lots of other, plausible, explanations.

I have work to do. It's time to stop procrastinating and annoying everyone on this 'ere forum.

@Allen - nice pics. All but the city-scape doing it for me.
@Drew - I would bow to your superior knowledge, but a little gentle ribbing instead keeps you humble.