Convergent Residuals

More-or-less completed image that will be presented for third and last crit of the semester (Dec.1)

Untitled Composite

 Main image presented for the second crit. (Oct.27)

 I printed it big enough

taking-down hijinks

Fledgling second Bridgetown image

Here's another image I'm working on that's set in the same "Bridgetown Belt" world as the first image. Still clearly in a rough, early stage. 

Sketchup makes the process interesting, I have the freedom to be slightly more automatic in filling in the blank spaces and experiment more efficiently. Even so it's pretty slow going, there's still a lot of time spent with trying to make things work that I eventually have to give up on. Even so I think it's an interesting new way to work.

I'll hit the next stage in the development of this image when all the blank spaces are fully textured. At that point I can add further textures to enhance detail and ambiance, and work on blending the lighting and colour to make the composite look less like a goblin-spawned Lego heap. 

Thinking about including a foreground element to occupy  about half of the open portion on the right hand side, though I'm not sure just what to use. The POV for this shot in Sketchup is from a point in open space with no large structures around, so I'm thinking about  something light and movable. Maybe something attached to a crane...  

406 Crit #1 image (Bridgetown Belt 1)

First up, here's what I presented for my first crit back at the end of September:

Feedback was generally positive, people seemed most happy with the fact that I chose components that complemented each other well enough colour and lighting-wise to give an adequately seamless impression. I was pleased to hear my professor Linda note that the stairwell leading downward did a particularly good job of opening up the world of the image to the imagination.
The main problem most people had with this image was the part that I'd been struggling to resolve from the beginning, the top-right hand portion showing the structures and land below. The difficulty of finding an adequate image to suit the extreme downward angle combined with impressive height was something I didn't manage to overcome. Instead I copped out and went with some strangely scaled trees and a rooftop of dubious perspective. In the end it just kind of compromises the integrity of the whole rest of the image.

To rectify this, I realized it would be a good idea to model the scene in 3D, which was my original plan anyway. I gave Google Sketchup a try, and after some initial hiccups I was able to get into it and model the space as well as the larger area I have in mind for the setting as a whole.

I quickly took to Sketchup since it would allow me to not have to worry so much about scale and perspective; I could use it to correct what I already had going and also to find perspectives from which to create new images, simply by moving through 3D space. Problem with that was I spent too much time in the program without making progress in Photoshop, which left me at a disadvantageous position leading up to the second crit last week Thursday (October 27). But more on that later. Here's where I'm at with the image at the moment:

More stuff going up shortly.

Megabyte contemplates a Null / Blog Resurrection Attempt #2

Let's see if I can manage to actually post something again. This picture is a start. It'll take several posts to catch up with what I've been up to lately, so bear with me.