Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR)
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Thank you VERY much! This is very high praise, especially from you (meaning I value your opinion). I feel like my work with this noir technique is still in the learning phase, but I'm finding out that I can actually get results that I am pleased with. Each new page is exciting -- even though I'm still spending too much time on clean-up and finishing. But my speed will increase the more I do it. But my clean-up is just that -- clean-up. I'm not redrawing or inking over every surface. Most of my cleaning is on fixing small breaks in the geometry lines, touching up faces, and opening up some of the details so they will print better. And as you described elsewhere, puting each element on its own layer is essential to this process. It lets me tweak the composition as needed to make things work in the panels.
As for the upgrade -- I think this one is worth it. It feels more stable and the comic book live preview is smoother than it was in earlier versions. Plus, in earlier versions I think don't think it was possible to define a different geometric edge width for each material group. FYI: If you can get the pro upgrade, you should. But I did all of this work in the standard version of Poser 11 on my old ASUS Essentio (se my sig line for system specs).
Wow. That is VERY fast. Picking up speed is something I'm struggline with. If your other books are available for sale, please PM me the info. I'd like to know more about them. And, once more, this is STRONG stuff.
I really like this as a start. The characters are strong and you have a good sense of design. Areas that I see needing help are:
Again, these are good character designs. I definitely like what I'm seeing. What's the name of the novel, if I may ask?
Just thought I'd mention that I posted another NPR illustration to my gallery. Here's the link if you're inclined to mosey by for a view:
http://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/237891/
@algovincian I love that image! They look good together! I think you did a great job of posing them. They look very natural and dynamic. :)
I updated the image in the original post with a lettered version.
If anyone would like to track the project, links to both Spanish Moss and my current series, The Locksmith, are in my signature!
The Locksmith #3 kickstarter will probably launch in December.
I noticed that, too lol. When I posed them, I hid her hair, horns, all of their clothes. At the time, I was working on an old AMD box with 8GB RAM and a 2GB card, as it was the only box not busy chewing on something. I totally blew it putting her body horns back in (left them hidden), and her hair needs some serious love, too. I'll go back to the scene when I have some free time on a better machine.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Glad you enjoyed the image and this style of NPR - it's one of the newer ones I've been working on, and it's quickly becoming one of my favorites.
- Greg
Thanks, Knittingmommy - I appreciate it. Both Kayleyss and Rawn deserve much of the credit. They both created awesome characters, and the HD morphs really look great.
- Greg
Your lettering looks good, tgrace - very clean, and I like the white space in the bubs. Checked out your 2 kickstarters for The Locksmith and was impressed. I'll order from comiXology tomorrow on my iPad.
How do you like comiXology? Do you like their Guided View technology? Do they do a good job at marketing to earn their 50%?
- Greg
That's awesome, Greg. Comixology is a good platform -- And I do like their guided view tech (they do it for you) -- But residuals are lacking. The Locksmith was a "submit" property and aside from the first exposure you receive, it's really up to you to drive traffic. And of course, it's difficult to compete with the big brands. I do hope with their new, all you can read model, I will slowly gain more exposure as this series nears it's end and the next one is launched.
- Terrance
This is VERY nice. I like the fairy tale look that you achieved. This is a time when simple composition (centered, equally framed by the trees) is helping maintain the classic feel. However, I do think there is a problem with the colors. I would expect the house to pop more so that it is the focal point, but righ now it is almost equal in intensity with the trees. I would suggest modifying the colors to either bring down the trees (make them a little more toward the sage end of the spectrum) or pump up the yellow in the house coloring.
Greg -- Doesn't it drive you crazy when you miss something like that? I know it makes me nuts. Hours on something, and then two days later you go, "How did I miss that?" I really like this style you're using (I can see why it's becoming your favorite). I may have to pick your brain about how you did it. After I finish my current noir comic, I have some projects that could benefit from a lighter touch.
VERY nice lettering, good sir! Your baloon placement is rock solid, and I love that double-line treatment you used in the last panel. Question: What font are you using for the dialog? And are you lettering in Photoshop/GIMP or Manga Studio/Clip Studio?
Also, a thought about the font you used in the first panel under her name (and I love that font, too!). The middle crossbar on the "E" is very high and close to the top one. Have you used this typeface before, and have you had any issues with it closing in (i.e. clogging, as we used to say in my typesetting days) when printed? I like the basic feel of the font, but that technical aspect worries me a bit.
You know, I ususally don't like "sketchy" comic art -- most often it looks like it's half-finished to my eye. But your use of strong lines on the shapes, coupled with the oh-so-light touch on the interior details, is simply perfect here. It conveys just the right hint of Southern Gothic charm.I can almost feel the clinging dampness of the bayous smothering me like a warm blanket when I read this (and I'm in South Texas -- I know how hot and muggy it can get here and in Louisiana). Very exciting work.
Yes, I know how a lot of people are sensitive to sketchy comic art (I happen to love it) so glad to hear that it passes with someone who isn't always a fan. As I was experimenting with a style, I was looking at some of Ashley Wood's Zombies v. Robots work as inspiration.
My workflow involves rendering out layers of a panel in 3Delight (I prefer this to Iray for comic work). Heavy photoshop post work with a variety of filters from Filter Forge and Akvis and my own digital sketching with a wacom art tablet. I do all lettering and ballooning in illustrator.
The dialogue lettering font is CC Richard Starkings... Same as in The Locksmith. I almost went with Comicraft's Colleen Doran font, but I really like Starking's simplicity and decidedly non-fussy typography. That's a good point regarding the Caeldera font -- I haven't printed that before and will check in with the printer I use to see what they think. I'm still finding a stylistic rhythm with Spanish Moss and will probably go back and change some of those kinds of details once I get farther along.
Speaking of Texas -- I almost made a trip to Caddo Lake to take photographs to use for backgrounds and texture -- I still may do so.
Thanks for the feed back and suggestions, I'll tweek the charcters. Plus I'm propping on drawing more than using the entire 3D models instead.
The title is still in the air, all I can say is that the story is about an Egyptian girl guiding an Android to his "afterlife."
I was playing around in 3Delight and came up with this. I really like how it turned out. I rendered it with the LineRender9000 Toon camera and then used NIKcoloreffects on the image to get a high contrast image. I turned that into an overlay and adjusted the opacity level until I liked how it looked. I'm really amazed at how different some things are when you play with postwork just a little bit. I'll be making a post later in my thread showing the original and the 'how I did it stuff' later today. I want to go back into GIMP and get a couple of screenshots before I post that.
Mean-old scarecrow won't pick her up - doh! Great pose. The long shadows work really well, too. Nice to see you creating again, as opposed to having to spend your time dealing with IT.
- Greg
Thanks. I'm very happy to be rendering again, too. :)
Did you render a RIB out of DS and do a full render in the stand-alone?
- Greg
No. I did the render in DS using the LineRender9000. I don't know if you can use that script and still export RIBs. I didn't try either, though. I still haven't figured out the RIB files and I don't have the stand-alone set up. I'm thinking about doing that, though, once I have everything working a hundred percent in Linux. There are still a lot of things like that which I have no clue what to do with, but I'm learning. It's one of those things about which I still need to do some research.
I really like the renders I see here. I just uploaded the first part of my animated show Witch Hunter here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PisQHWPFeE0
Not exactly haloween but some evil magic anyway. :-)
I also started a thread for NPR animation.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/123746/witch-hunter-npr-animation-project
I probably don't come here as ofter as I should but I always find a lot of inspiration when I do so thanks. As Mike said above the Geometric edge line tool which is new to Poser 11 Is the one indespensible tool that I also always use.
David
Panel testing
Keep it up David, started following you on youtube and love your animation thus far :)
Today I have a concept art and a comic page which I may use as the opening of the story. I felt that the third panel needs to tone down a little and change the bubble text, However, I love where the direction is going, plus I'm debating to have it black in white or color.
Thanks for the info about Comixology. BTW, I did pick up The Locksmith and read #1 - definitely worth checking out IMHO. Not sure exactly what page it was (because I can't figure out how to get thumbnails or anything in the Comixology viewer on my iPad lol), but I particularly enjoyed the page where the paramedic escaped from Queens County Hospital. That, and the last "to be continued . . ." panel were both really good.
- Greg
FWIW,
Over in Carrara-land forums, @Dartanbeck posted a sample/inspiration animation video from the Diablo game (cut scenes) that really struck me as relevant to the incredible style that @aglovincian started this thread with:
Just first 1 minute 'parchment' scenes are what I'm talking about, but the whole first 2+ minute segment is incredible - all CG! wow.
I especially like the '3D' feeling of the initial parchment animation/drawings as the scenes pan and the elements parallax across indicating depth, etc. very creative/powerful.
There's a lot more (38 minutes) of the same sort of amazing stuff, but that first 2 minutes give a flavor of the artistry going on!
I hope it's inspiring!
--ms
Thanks again, Greg... I really appreciate the interest and support!
I do hope you get a chance to check out #2. We really hit a groove with that issue.
#3, which launches in a couple of months is even better.
@Sammy_jr_mart I really like the panel you posted. I think it should stay in color. I definitely like the color choices you used. It really gives it that wasetland dunish feel to it.
I thought I'd share my latest little experiment. I had a little fun with Staci and Nuggets. Isn't he cute?
Really like the saturated lighting you used in this one, and the expression on nuggets is priceless!
- Greg
Thanks, Greg! I would have liked the cartoon lines to show up a little more, but I'm still playing with the new cartoon filter in GIMP 2.9. They show up a little better on Nuggets than they do on Staci and I'm not sure why. I'll have to experiment with it some more. I ended up adding two different NIKColorEffects layers and turned them into an Overlay and messed with the opacity until I got a look I liked. The extra saturation came from one of those layers and I really like the overall effect. Still another thing to experiment with some more.