After (or actually still during) Jonathan's 30 Days of Modelling, There are two major things I learned that will be helpful in this months challenge:
Not to feel so pressured to get things perfect.
And to speed up;)
So, I am still doing the 30 Days, but finished today's entry. Decided to get started (is that too early?) and, although I won't be able to design a vehicle from scratch (at least not in one month!), I will try and give it something of a personal touch.
I am going for a sort of insect-based flying machine, thinking of 'Lexx' (those 'little bug flyers').
Here is my first block out, using (sometimes slightly modified )primitives:
The idea is, to first get the basic shape this way and then retopologize...
spikeyxxx you won’t need a pilot when you find a nice composition from this angle:
I think you make something dynamic from this angle, with a couple flying away towards something in the distance 😊
After Miranda's fabulous suggestion, I just had to try out some composition:
Not too sure about it, but something like this should work.
I will worry about the environment and posing later, I just tried to get a general idea of the composition here.
Just the bees, not the environment obviously...
Please help me here; what's wrong with this, how can I improve this? Be harsh, I can take it;)
spikeyxxx They look like they're just flying around randomly. They should be doing something.
- It’s too busy in the wrong place. Too many wasp planes surrounding your main focus (the big wasp up front). Try moving the busyness to the upper right (and make them look a bit farther away so the big wasp attracts most focus)
- Look for leading lines to guide the viewers eye through your composition. The main wasp plane is now looking down while your action is happening on the air. If you turn your big wasp plane to be more like the pose I suggested, it will look up and guide the viewers eye to the wasps flying away.
- Make sure your main subject is completely in the frame, with a bit of empty space around it. Doesn’t have to be much, but it needs a bit of breathing room. It’s okay to have a wasp plane flying out of view in the top right (as in being cropped out at the border of the picture), but do make that one smaller so it’s really flying far away (really give it the feeling it’s flying out of view because it’s too far away to see completely). I would suggest to have at least one in the top right that is completely in view, I think that would give it a nice view.
That would be my suggestions for improving the composition. The main idea is there though 😊👍🏻
williamatics Doing something? Like what? I'm sorry, I just don't understand what you mean;)
ssmurfmier1985 Excellent points! Thank you!
I would like to have one seen from below like the one you crossed out, but I do agree, that the way it is now is not working at all.
And the main one needs to be closer to the camera and turned like you said, I think.
Maybe I should just forget about the 'bottom view one', like you suggested. If it doesn't work...
I'll try again tomorrow, but I think your suggestions should make it a lot better.
spikeyxxx To tell a compelling story you sometimes have to sacrifice things to make it better 😊
However, if you want to show of details, nothing is stopping you from adding a few beauty shots from different angles, some closeups pictures and maybe a turntable as addition to your main render 😉
spikeyxxx They don't look like they're accomplishing any sort of goal.
ssmurfmier1985 To tell a compelling story you sometimes have to sacrifice things to make it better 😊
You're absolutely right, of course!
An d thank you for the suggestion, I wasn't sure if we were allowed to put in some extra shots; I was about to ask that;)
williamatics They are flying machines. Machines don't have goals.
But joking aside, I think you mean that they don't seem to go anywhere specific.
I was looking at bee swarm references and they appear very random. So I tried to encompass that in the composition, but you are right, that that doesn't make any sense.
Thanks for pointing that out! It can be hard to see the big picture, when working on something for some time in close-up...
The last few days I didn't make much progress.
Did some work on the interior of the head, but as this won't be seen mostly, I started finishing the exterior, so that I hopefully have something to bring into the critiques...
Been spending time on the legs today and that was not as easy as I thought.
Got the top working now:
I will try and finish them tomorrow and get some basic shading on the model. Then a render and submitting it on Sunday.
Then I'll see what can still be done next week (won't be able to get everything perfect, but let's see how it goes...)
I'll call the modelling done for now (at least until submitting it on Sunday...).
Tomorrow I'll place them in position and start shading everything.
Should get a basic scene ready by Sunday.
Here are some screenshots of what I achieved today:
Hope you like them;)
spikeyxxx I love those details spikey, they look really nice :)
Maybe the cables could be a touch bigger? They look pretty frail now, like they could easily break
ssmurfmier1985 Well, nothing could be easier!
They're still Curves, so it's just a matter of changing the Bevel.
I'll try that first thing tomorrow and see if that looks better.
Thank you.
