Scared Silly Entry by Mark Johnson (Dustbin1_uk)

[dustbin1_uk]

Thanks Fishadder, the original concept drawing I did was taken from a higher angle. The trouble I found was that the arm gets almost swallowed by the rest of the scene. I think I might go with a shot from behind Scared Sam at a slight angle so you can see the arm reaching out of the toilet towards him and not loose detail on it, similar to the last shot, but higher up.

I am getting pressured for time now. I already work two jobs and I want to spend as much time on this a possible, but I am beginning to get this sinking feeling about finishing on time.

It’s not helped by the fact that I’m gonna have to do allot more work on Sam himself. After studying the face and body I’m not happy to use the model I already made and will need to rethink, QUICKLY!!

It’s a shame, but even if I pass the deadline I’ll submit what I can and finish the rest just for fun.

Sigh, I wish I had a quieter life sometimes.

EDIT:

Oh yeah, thanks for the idea of using ‘dirty water’. I have experimented with the jelly bean material before and think it’s a good choice. Hmmmmmm, decisions, decisions. Where’s that damn time machiene when I need it.

[Rory_L]

I’d go with something like composition 2, but with the man’s left hand raised towards the monster, in a “No! No: get it back!” kind of gesture. With this one, you get the monster’s arm in full frame and a clear view of the man’s fearful face.

Good luck!

R

[Marsyas]

I’d say it’s a tough call between 2 and 4. When I first saw the thumbnails and what they were depicting I was imagining something like the last shot, but with more perspective and a bit more to the side (so you could at least see a bit of the side of his face and his expression).

[dustbin1_uk]

Well it’s been a tough couple of days for me, I had a major confidence crises and thought I was just looking foolish entering the competition up against some of the talent I’ve seen here.

But then I knuckled down tonight and rethought a few things through and remembered that most people here are very experienced 3d designers and I’m brand new to all things 3D. I looked at my work and the original concept and decided to give it one last go.

So here is the latest update. I am so glad I didn’t quit, but I cam so close. I was letting the other amazing artists here intimidate me and I was letting the deadline get to me. But after my progress tonight I feel better.

So… here it is, Sam is no were near finished (and I know his fingers are broken, poor bugger), but you get the idea.

[fishadder]

Hey Dustbin1_UK!

Don’t you dare quit! He looks much better/funnier now he’s older and balder!
and this is a great way to learn more plus you really supported and helped me the past few weeks which I apreciate a lot!

It’s hard not to feel a little bit down because there’s some really stunning art going on but that’s healthy and inspiring and I nearly quit my day job when I followed some of your links to those concept artists and was BLOWN AWAY by the digital illustration on display! lol!

Anyway I think we’re relative newbies to this game and have families and other work too so this should first and foremost be an enjoyable sideline!

Don’t stress the finish line is in sight Arrrgh!!! can I borrow your time machine and most important -

Have Fun and Keep on Z-ing

Fishadder

[Marsyas]

Looking good!

Glad you decided to persist. I try to focus on accomplishing what I set out to do instead of ‘competing’. I’ve learnt so much so far and I’m sure you have to.

[dustbin1_uk]

Thanks guys, your words have given me the steel to get this finished. I started this to learn about how to complete a project like this and I have no regrets now, it’s just been a long week (personal problems) and I really thought I was going to have to stop just because of time. But I have managed to get some time put aside and I am back in and having fun again. :D

THANK YOU for your encouragement and kind words.

So!..… enough whining and back on with it!

[Rory_L]

I want to add my voice to the “Keep at it!” cry! I don’t believe that polished execution is the only critrion for winning art. Your idea is very strong and funny; and the way you’ve made the models demonstrates some of the new features of ZB3, like that retopologizing of the cow.

I have no expectations of winning, but entered to challenge myself: if I complete my image in time and to a standard I’m happy with I will consider that a ‘win’.

And bald is a good design choice!

R

[Altermind]

keep going man ! I love the expression on his face lol

[dustbin1_uk]

Here is a VERY quick compose of the models. Gives me plenty of ideas. Lighting needs alot of work. The saturation on the Treak or Treat bucket is too high.

Not done much poly painting on sam yet. And I still need to add a silo, flush…etc to the toilet, not to mention the rest of the scene, but that will be simple enough in GIMP post production.

C&C’s welcome!

Cheers, Dusty. :D

[JohnSaleem]

i like how he is shocked seeing the hand coming out of the toilet, good work

[fizzy]

Ha ha, I love the expressions you’ve got on his face. Such a nice straight forward scene that works so well.

Well done

Pete B

[Harmonic]

Hey its starting to come together. I was thinking you may be able to get a better composition if you place the camera kind of behind either the toilet or the fallen man, and just a bit to side and a bit up.

[dustbin1_uk]

Cheers Guys! As usuall your comments spur me on to get this finished and done as well as I can in the time I have.

Does the following look a better angle?

[Plakkie]

Well done on the pants Mark, and well done on the whole setup so far! You nailed his facial expression, so it would be a shame if you didn’t show that. Maybe you could position it so that we:

1. Can see the fright on the man’s face and how he hasn’t had time to pull up his pants. AND:
2. Look right into the frightfull pumpkin coming out of the toilet.
   Maybe you can achieve this by turning the man’s face away from the horrible sight: if he looks a bit to the side, but his eye’s look right at the pumpkin, you could get more room to show it all. Plus you get nice conflict behaveour in your character: trying to get away from the terror, but at the same time unable to look away.
   To my eyes you could lower the left arm a bit, that way he would really use it as shield agains the toilet-horror.
   These ofcourse are just my inexpert observations. Do with them what you will!

It’s a really fun concept, keep working on it; it will be worth it!

[dustbin1_uk]

Thanks Plakkie, good advice, as a result I think this is better:

[Plakkie]

Yeah, that’s it! Nice one Mark! When he’s posed like this his weight would be on his right arm, so maybe it should rest firmly on the ground, carrying the weight of the upper body? Trying the pose out yourself (with or without pants :lol: ) may help.

[Slosh]

Much, much better on the last pose, Mark. Glad you aren’t quitting, because I’ve not seen more effort from anyone compared to what you are putting into it. And just so you know, I came close to quitting as well…I’ve had work all week and haven’t done diddly on my project since Sunday. I can’t get the lighting and shadows the way I want in ZBrush and have considered using another app for rendering, but we have a week still and no one should be giving up.

[dustbin1_uk]

Awwwww cheers guys. :o :)

Now I stopped worrying about the deadline and my own skills and just have fun, I’m really enjoying myself.

Hit a slight hurdle though, I have never made a background before. Trying to use a shoe box set (floor and two walls) and then… mental block, just don’t know what to do next. Been trying hard to get the background to fit the composition I have chosen. Can sort of do that, I just don’t know what to put on it.

I want to keep the background simple and out of focus so as not to interfere with the main models. but a bathroom has stuff in it. Was thinking of having a dark room with light coming from a door to hallway. trouble with that, how to get the lighting right.

Hmmmmmmmmm, what to do, what to do?

[Ctrl-Z]

I’d say you need a floor (probably tiles, but try to keep the edges subtle) and two walls. Hang a towel and a washcloth off of the far wall, and we’ll understand there’s a shower just off camera. You don’t need much more than that. Toilet’s in the corner. Okay.

Or forget the towels, and the far wall can be a bathtub with shower curtain. Just don’t make it a distracting curtain.

In fact…

Quick tutorial – how to poorly fake a “depth of field” effect:

• Bring your image into Photoshop.
• Flatten everything to one layer if for some reason there’s more than one.
• Duplicate that layer.
• Apply a gaussian blur to the top layer, at a high enough value to lose all your details.
• go into Hue/Saturation and make the image more dull and grey by lowering the saturation by maybe 10. Dont overdo this.
• In the layers palette, hit the “create mask” button (it looks like a dotted circle)
• Select your gradient tool (it might be hiding under the paint bucket).
• Hit ‘d’ to switch your selected colors to default – black in the foreground, white in the background.
• Look to the top of your screen and make sure the selected gradient type is “Radial”. Also make sure the sample gradient is showing black and white (not fading in from transparent, or any other set of colors).
• Draw a line from the point of greatest importance on your canvas towards the furthest edge away from it.
• What you’ve just done is selectively hide parts of the blurry dull picture to reveal parts of the sharp vibrant one. Your image now forces the eye towards that point, albeit bluntly. Experiment with different lines. It’s a fun toy.
• Lower the overall opacity of that layer by probably half, 'cause you’re too close to your new toy and are probably overdoing it. ;)

It’s actually less awful than it sounds. And once you get the hang of it, you can build towards downright reasonable variations. Like “extracting a depth map from your scene and using that in your mask channel instead of the radial gradient.” (some level tweaks required)

Point being, you don’t have to worry too much about your background. Just throw some raw material down and treat it as such.