AuthorTopic: GR#047 - Citadel - 3 Point Perspective  (Read 17633 times)

Offline Dwimori

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GR#047 - Citadel - 3 Point Perspective

on: March 05, 2011, 01:32:38 am
Well I started drawing and ended up with the following. As I moved along I decided it was going to be the tall walls of Troy, totally untoughed, with a fire's glow inside at dawn. I know the colours don't exactly scream dawn, and might not fit with the theme at the moment, but right now I'm more trying to put together a style for the piece. As for the wall that actually has bricks as of now, it's soupposed to look ancient and semi-crude but magnificent (therefore huge bricks) and very advanced for its time, like I've always imagined Troy. Not sure if I pulled it off or if it just looks like an inconsistant and crude piece of (future) art. Now every time I try to add definition to this wall its ends up looking like a wall of bulging stones than masonry. Should I add more definition or attach a simplistic palette and style to this one? Possibly more contrast? I have artist's block  :(



Please also point out any mess ups in it. And now I realize I should have been doing it on a neutral BG... next version it will be

PS. Wasn't sure if I should post a new topic, what with my old one still being on the first page, and me not quite happy with it, but this is a new piece, so... you tell me...?
« Last Edit: March 30, 2011, 01:11:31 am by Dwimorí »

Offline Tourist

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Re: [WIP] As Troy Burns... very early, C+C needed

Reply #1 on: March 05, 2011, 03:03:59 am
I look at that and it doesn't convey ancient Greek architecture (caveat, I know nothing about ancient architecture).  It looks faux medieval to me.  A quick search from Wikipedia brought me here:
http://www.cerhas.uc.edu/troy/

Take a look at the flash videos for Troy VI and Troy VII for a better idea of what the walls might have looked like.  To emphasize the Trojan War instead of any old city, it should also have a giant wooden horse head peeking up.  Inside the walls, so not entirely visible, but enough so that the viewer can recognize it.  Maybe lit by the flames in a dramatic fashion.

Hope this helps,
Tourist

Offline Dwimori

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Re: [WIP] As Troy Burns... very early, C+C needed

Reply #2 on: March 05, 2011, 03:57:34 am
I wasn't aware they had pinpoint the site, but yeah, its more of an impression of troy than the real thing. Couldn't look at the videos, near my 500 mb limit, but I'll change the colour of the lower half of the wall and make the bricks smaller, like in the panoramas. I'll also make the Windows more square, but I kinda like the mammoth sized crennelations. It's stylized anyway, and Trojan weren't entirely Greek... Or so I'm using as excuses ;) . If I wanted to really show Troy It'd have more towers. And yeah, I'll put the head of the Trojan horse riding up, but It'll probably end up super-stylized this way. Oh well, that's the direction it's going already    :D EDIT, cuz for some reason it added an extra smiley
« Last Edit: March 05, 2011, 03:59:31 am by Dwimorí »

Offline st0ven

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Re: [WIP] As Troy Burns... very early, C+C needed

Reply #3 on: March 06, 2011, 01:43:55 am


threw together a quick perspective reference for you to analyze and compare your current lines. Im assuming a 3 point perspective piece given the viewing angle youve already established (plus they look really neat for structural stuff). Notice that the perspective lines in red angle the opposite way that you currently have illustrated. As it currently stands, your structure's perspective is indicating a topdown viewpoint, while your ground indicates an upward, worm's eye view.

the way i see it, if you pull back the walls to go a good bit 'deeper' into the horizon, you can get a much more expansive illusion of distance.  if you want that 'towering over you' angle shot, you could pull down the origin points defining the grey lines so that the foremost tower looks quite tall as if you were an ant. but to be honest i think the angle youre inferring now should do just fine. (note you could also just make the towers vertically taller).

I think what youre having a hangup on is how to push the details of the illustration, not how to render it. Studying existing architecture that fits in the style of what youre trying to convey and adapting that into your work should help steer it to where you want to take it. Just remember though that the details should fall into sync with the perspective or else the entire illusion is lost.


i just started randomly scribbling some color into it and did some sad gestural attempts at other stuff behind the wall to help give it some depth. notice the color will taper off to a cooler atmospheric blue and that should help sell the depth (i neglected to do this for the ground as well, but the same theory should apply.)

anyway dont be afraid to be a bit messy with your initial work, sometimes that can lead to unexpected positive 'groups' of pixels that work really well and feel more natural than if you were to have planned it all out with the line tool.

i hope that youve found some value of this.

EDIT: - ive taken note that you were hoping to go the whole burnt to hell under ominous atmosphere route - in which case i may have to inform you you may wish to reconsider your current hue choices to convey that, and also makes my color scribble of a perfect blue sky day at the beach largely irrelevant, haha.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2011, 02:35:42 am by st0ven »

Offline Dwimori

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Re: [WIP] As Troy Burns... very early, C+C needed

Reply #4 on: March 28, 2011, 06:23:50 pm
Have been having some computer issues so I haven't been on in a while, but wow st0ven, I'll definitely be analyzing those pics. Without being able to see your amazing edit I continued working, but IO think I'll take a step back and work on something like what you've shown. Here's my continued work, but after seeing what you've done I don't like it in the least:

maybe it won't be troy, because what you've done is beatiful without the fire or a giant horse head. Thank you so much for that edit, once again its amazing, I'll definitely get back to work on this piece after seeing that.

My shaded wall also looks like metal...
« Last Edit: March 28, 2011, 06:25:47 pm by Dwimorí »

Offline Dwimori

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Re: [WIP] As Troy Burns... very early, C+C needed

Reply #5 on: March 28, 2011, 08:02:40 pm
Made a Frankenstein of my latest version and the one before that, then began editing along the lines of st0ven's edit. Looking alot better but I'm not sure if it's time to start detailing or if I should block in more things.

Offline adamisgr8

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Re: [WIP] As Troy Burns... very early, C+C needed

Reply #6 on: March 28, 2011, 08:23:54 pm
I think some dithering in the sky would help the picture a lot.

Nice progress though!
+1

Offline Dwimori

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Re: [WIP] As Troy Burns... very early, C+C needed

Reply #7 on: March 29, 2011, 11:04:40 pm
Did a bit of colour tweak on the sky and tried multiple things to make good looking bricks but they all seem like a step backwards. :( So far this is the best I've got...

Anybody got any tips for good looking bricks? Never done large scale architectural pixels before, and everything I try ends up sucking.

And on another note, I saw the weekly challenge on pixeljoint and decided I'd make an account if I can get this done in time to submit:

I like the basic shape, especially the upper body and arms, though I'm fully open to crits on anatomy, but every time I try to shade him he ends up looking swollen instead of muscular. Any help?

BTW, the bricks are just a placeholder for showing what size I'm aiming for, definitely not a finished product.
« Last Edit: March 29, 2011, 11:29:52 pm by Dwimorí »

Offline Jad

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draw some whole darker bricks and some lighter bricks in believable places, instead of drawing outlines around them

or draw some bricks vaguely, with broken-up outlines, giving the idea of texture without being too lego-like.

I don't know. Just two suggestions
' _ '

Offline Dwimori

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I had actually worked out something similiar Jad, but the things you said confirmed my unsure train of thought and encouraged me to post my progress. Havin a little difficulty when trying to get it scaled down for distance, but I'll figure it out.

Is it lookin' better or is it still too lego?

As for the muscly chieftan, just realized it said full body sprite, so... might redo it as a sprite or just continue as is not for weekly challenge. Or both.