Paladin's Art Thread

Feeling a little artsy lately, so I thought I'd spend a couple of hours with Photoshop and post the results...

I've been daydreaming about a team of 'B' superheroes. Superheroes who really aren't all that super. Each one has, like, one not-so-special superpower. This guy's one of them. His name is Crackshot and, well, he's a really good shooter. Like Green Arrow, but with guns. Unless he loses his glasses; then, he's blind as a bat.

Yeah, that's pretty much where I stol--what inspired me.

Although I didn't envision anyone quite as inept as Invisible Boy or the Blue Raja...

I'm working on an Honor Harrington portrait...here's the work-in-progress...



A loooo-oooo-oooong way to go...

I can't wait to see that finished! Good stuff!

Final update for tonight...still a very long way to go...



I'm not real thrilled with my bridge layout...my inability to use Photoshop hinders my more creative ideas about architecture.

Note Antonio Banderas and Casper van Diem playing the tactical and weapons officers, respectively. I've used photos of them as placeholders. The lighting on them is not too far off what I want, though Antonio's looking in the wrong direction...

Coming along...

I don't think I got Angelina's face quite right, but it's close enough. This is turning into a real Photoshop education...

No sooner did I post that then I completely ripped it apart. I wasn't happy with Honor's crossed leg 'hovering,' so I altered it to lay atop her right knee, also allowing more of her left boot to be seen.

This forced me to reposition the gun hand to a spot on the thigh closer to the knee, meaning the right arm had to extend differently (and more naturally) and the left arm gets repositioned (the fingers still rest on the gun hand's wrist, but the palm is resting on the thigh, more relaxed looking). The new posture doesn't make Honor look so thick in the middle or big bottomed as well.

Ah well, this is all just practice, anyway. The point is to learn how to use Photoshop. I have no problem "murdering my children" (what a video arts professor called ruthless editing).

Also, the gun will not be futuristic. It will be the 1911 .45 that Honor got from her father.

Oh, yeah...just discovered how to use the airbrush/Darken layer to gradually shade things. This is pretty powerful. Looks to me like you should rough in a figure, color it cartoon-style (no color gradations), then selectively darken and lighten areas to give it depth. Then pass over the hard edges with the smudge tool to soften them...

Latest updates...painting in some shadows and minor details...



Drawing with a mouse sucks. I may need to invest in one of those Wacom tablets if I'm going to do more of this.

This is the flavor I'd like to get with the guys in the background. Basically dark sillhouettes with some instrument lights highlighting their features...

Onward and upward...



I really like the yellow on red operational display (behind Honor) that I came up with. It's total BS but there's enough detail in it that it looks convincing.

I'll eventually restore some of the detail in the two background officers...they'll be lit by lights on the instrument panel.

More shadowing...that's A LOT of work.

A couple of additions:

1. Note the texturing on the floor. That took a little doing. I made a linear pattern and 'speckled' it with a bit of noise, filled a large area with it, and then did a Free/Perspective transform on it until it more-or-less lined up with the edges of the deck and the chair.

2. I hastily added some glowing green monitors in the background. I don't know if I'll keep them as they are (they seem to want SOME detail, after all), but I like the glowing effect (done with Motion and Gaussian Blur on the monitor shape and then superimposing the original monitor shape on top).

3. Added some motion blur to the crewmembers silhouettes. I like that; it gives a sense of activity in the background. We'll see as the thing evolves whether I keep it.

4. Also threw the background slightly out of focus to emphasize the foreground.

1. Made a good start on the gun. (I cheated...I found a 1911 picture that was the perfect orientation, scaled/rotated/positioned it, then painted over it!)

2. Started detailing Honor's "monitor."

Trigger discipline! Honor would know to keep her finger off the trigger until it's time to shoot someone.

Just a break in the monotony...here's a sketch I did of Nathan Fillion (it's been slightly tweaked in Photoshop to get some of the proportions right):

Not all that thrilled with this one (arms don't look long enough, right hand thumb is gruesomely positioned, etc.), but it was just an excuse to try out some more tools in Photoshop. I'm trying to get the hang of airbrushing.

Anyhoo, this is Julius Caesar, after the first assassin has cut him, the instant before he realizes it's a plot to kill him. Any resemblence to a certain starship commander is purely coincidental.

Mal looks good. You could work on the forehead more.

I have to agree...there is a sort of...lumpy thing going on there.

Oh...very well!

This one's for Diacanu...a faux comic book cover featuring Harry Hembock. (Not that it's too obvious, but I used Steve Carrell for Harry's face)...

[t]http://www.wordforge.net/images/smilies/eek2.gif[/t]

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Outta rep, but very nice!

Spectacular, Paladin!!!!

That kicks so much tushy!

My reaction to Sarah Palin's acceptance speech:

May as well start building this thread up again...

Here's tonight's creation. I hope this person is identifiable...I did this freehand (no tracing or overlaying involved)...

Speaking of sucky heroes, I once played in a friends movie as a man with super-strength, but no invincibility, so if I tried to lift something too heavy, I'd end up with broken bones and the like.

That's great sketch of Mordecai "Thee Fingers" Brown!