Sci-Fi Scenes


bschu's avatar
New here, excuse me or help me if I'm not in the right spot, although I did read the rules.

Basically I am looking for feedback on my recent digital painting which I've done.

I started with black and white value painting:

Farian City - Work in Progress by bschu

Then moved on to simple colors trying to find a decent color palette:

Farian City - WIP - 02 by bschu

Finally I worked out all the details I could and added some depth and space with extra lighting effects:

Farian City by bschu

It was the first time I took this very structured approach to making a painting, I found it very tiring and at times I really thought I had lost it, but finally it came through to a stage that I felt content with. However I feel it might be lacking "culture" and perhaps is not as "inspiring" or "emotional" as I was hoping.

What do you think of this step-by-step approach to making a digital painting?

Can you recommend another approach or more steps for this one?

Can you give your honest feeling and/or any feedback?

Otherwise, all random chatter welcomed, or if you want to post your recent sci-fi or related I am happy to look.
Comments16
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Urus-28's avatar
I think the main problem of your work is the composition, the focus point is too far on the right and is not really interesting. When you are using such kind of obvious perspective you have to make sure that the eye will meet the strong point of your picture and in your case we just meet a simple building with a design similar to the others.

Urus spaceship by Urus-28   L'arbre marcheur by Urus-28   Space Opera by Urus-28  The take off by Urus-28  
bschu's avatar
I understand your point, actually I never thought of it that way. I like to think that a concept painting can also be like a sudden photo and anything can happen, but you are definitely right, it will look more dynamic if everything focuses on one major subject, and I don't really have a major subject for this. So it is kind of a "random cityscape" with "meaningless focus point" :)

Your work here are great! Thanks for sharing!

Ha! I sense a lot of similarity between your first cityscape here and mine. Different, but similar in theme.
Urus-28's avatar
Even in photography you have to care about composition to make a good picture. I understand that your point was not that one when you made this picture, but to progress you really need to focus on that topic because it really makes the difference.
lancer412's avatar
Try to be more brave with the colors and with the camera angle. The problem is that the B&W has the feel of motion, the life, and has an atmosphere, while somehow the colors are taking all of that away (Reason; wrong choice of colors. They're too pale and doesn't give a lively impression what you'd like to achieve. Try to make them a bit more darker and also more vivid. Furthermore you should rework the motion lines at the cars at the right side as its hard to decide they're coming or going.). The same applies for the airships, the angle of presentation is not the best as regardless what you will make in this angle, they'll seem still, regardless you'd like to give them the sense of dynamics motion.

These are my ones. The first one is my skechity sketch style. I've chosen metallic sapphire blue, so it can give a better atmosphere, even in sketch style. The trick is the space background, which is barely visible, as it gives you the illusive feel that the station is in move, while the ship rests in the hangar.
Sharrow Class (2014 Edition) by IstvanSzaboIfj
And three arts of the same ship in motion. As you can see, the darker colors, mixed with very vivid ones, so as the camera angle can give a dynamics, even to a still picture.
Sharrow Class (2014 Edition) by IstvanSzaboIfj  Sharrow Class (2014 Edition) by IstvanSzaboIfj  Sharrow Class with Siren Escort by IstvanSzaboIfj  
bschu's avatar
Great feedback! Thank you! Once again the colors are pointed out to me. I think I was too afraid to oversaturate the colors which would cause a loss of brightness to the scene. I want that sky light to really feel powerful. But you are right, I can still have that effect while using strong colors if done correctly, and your images here show that perfectly!

Wow! Your work is professional! End of statement. I am still timid with such technical detail, to be honest, I know I can do it, but my mind goes blank on how or where to make the "cool techie stuff" :) As you can see in my images above, I started with a bunch of shapes to fill the scene, and then just tried to fill in the details with line-work. Your ships and hangar here are awesome though, such well thought dynamics to the shape and design of everything.

I am working on some creative methods to overcome that "simple-ness" with tech stuff these days.

Camera angle, yes, I totally agree. This is obviously a simple one point perspective, but it is meant to be my last one point perspective for a long time, I do it because it is easier, and I do it too much. Here on out I am going with two point perspective "at least".

I will study your work more, thanks for sharing!
xXSerena-CrosseXx's avatar
I feel like the parts of what is making this picture really lack a lot in colour; in
one word it appears bland or lackluster. If the place itself is bland or even in greyscale it
could still be done with a stronger impact. I feel like everything is in the same tones, everything
is in the same softness, and everything is blended together too much-which is a shame because
the over all concept here is quite nice. I think by using the correct colours and more contrast this
picture would be much more memorable and stunning. It has so much detail, you know your lighting
great, you certainly have talent, this one just got left a bit too bland-but it is fixable so it's alright.
How our eyes are fools <<<< This right here could probably help you a lot in your picture.


Alien Tsung [Battle Mode] by xXSerena-CrosseXx  Anyways, here is one of my scifi pictures =3
bschu's avatar
Great points, thanks! I definitely need to put more emphasis on color choice, it is exactly what I am struggling with. That link "how are eyes are fools" is awesome, I :+fav:ed it and will be reviewing it frequently.

Everything seems to have the same surface, right again. I think this could be called a matter of "texture". I basically just assumed that everything is the same metal type of surface which made it a bit boring and unrealistic.

Well, I went through 3 stages with this so far, maybe after a break there is time for one more where I play with colors a bit more and focus on the different texture of things.

Thanks for taking the time to write a detailed, constructive feedback!

Nice Sci-Fi work!
xXSerena-CrosseXx's avatar
:icondragontail3: Exactly exactly, see you know what to do~
Your picture will be fixed up in no time I am sure <3 and you are welcome!

But yeah, that picture about the colours is extremely helpful, I have gone
back to look at it multiple times.
And thank you very much =3 
midnightgravedigger's avatar
Actually your picture looks fine, although I think it might be a little better if the colors were stronger. The ones you used seem to be a bit too faint and weak. Stronger colors might make your drawing look a lot more bold and dramatic. 

As for another approach, how about painting it traditionally. That might give your picture more of an individual fare. 

As for sci-fi related material, here's one of mine. 
Laboratory Subject: Wendy by midnightgravedigger  
bschu's avatar
Thanks! That's a really good point about the colors. I am learning about that recently because previously I focused more on comic style art, so the colors would be separate from values (kinda), and balanced out by the strong black line-work. But since I started painting I realized that colors have value too and so it is hard to get the right amount of color without making everything too "dark in value". But I'm glad you said that, and I agree, probably needs more color value, not everything has to be bright.

I certainly hope to have time and space for some traditional work again soon, been too busy and travelling recently.

Thanks for sharing, this drawing is awesome, I was wondering how you got such perfect circles for the bubbles and they all seem to have such perfect shade lines too! :) (Smile) Really popping off the page. Awesome line-work.
midnightgravedigger's avatar
Other that the faint colors, your picture is good. It's got an interesting composition, looks quite futuristic and the perspective give it a convincing depth of field. I just think a stronger use of colors, bright, dark or a mix of both, would make it look a lot more impressive. 

Yeah, hopefully you'll find the time so you can work in that format to. Digital art is great, but I've always thought that anyone who's serious about art should know how to produce traditional artwork as well. 

You're welcome, I'm glad you like it; but I'm thinking of re-scanning that drawing and re-posting it in my gallery. The original one came out way too dark, and I'd like it to be easier to see. As for the bubbles, believe it or not, I drew all of them free hand; the shade lines to. I've got a circle template now, which would be quicker and easier, but back then I just drew them in myself. 
bschu's avatar
I think you have a great "steady hand" and a attention to detail.

You might be right, I think this scan doesn't do this drawing justice. But it might be the "post work". I drew, scanned, and published a full 20 page black and white comic before, starting with traditional pencil and ink method.

Just saying I have experience at this. But back then scanners were a common household items and affordable as a separate component without the added printer, etc. It seems it's not so convenient to scan these days, but maybe you could tweak this one too, it's a pretty clear photo.

After scanning you have to tweak the brightness and contrast in software to get it perfect, the original scan is never workable.

I would definitely take the time to make a nice digital image out of this, it's a great drawing. Then why stop there, move on to coloring it :)
midnightgravedigger's avatar
Thanks, I appreciate the complement. 

Well this was a picture I took of this drawing with my camera; but for some reason, no matter how much light there was, all the pictures I took with it seem to come out kinda dark. But thankfully I now have a scanner and can re-scan it so it'll be more visible. 

As for coloring it, I'll probably leave this one as it is. I'm thinking of doing an updated version of this one. I drew it quite a while ago when I was just starting to learn anatomy and think I can improve it even more now. That would include coloring it. Nod