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Sketching the Rock


kraegus

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Hey guys,

 

so until the shops open again this week, and I can go buy miniatures to paint, I've decided to spend some time getting in touch with my painterly side.

A forum post in the dark angels forum came up about what the rock looked like (the rock being the fortress monastery of the chapter, for those who were unaware)

 

The thing is, since there's no general consensus on what the rock looks like, everyone has their own ideas, including me. so I whipped up a small sketch in a very short period of time with a basic blueprint.

 

this then had me thinking, well, why don't I ink it, and see what it looks like then.

 

I ended up with this:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2642/4105731681_f4bc7e4d20_b.jpg

 

 

 

so then that got me thinking, why don't I paint the thing properly?

I've now redrawn it from a 2d perspective to a 3d perspective, i'll keep updating my quest to draw the rock in this topic

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it took about 3 hours to do.

 

ok. so here's the rough of the 3D version, you can see the basic details,

keep in mind that plenty of things need to be moved around and adjusted as I see fit,

but it gives a rough idea.

 

and I'm beginning to flesh it out as follows.

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2679/4105808869_19a041f48c_b.jpg

 

 

I would LOVE critique. I'm extremely new at this whole painting on the computer thing, I've only done it once or twice before.

please suggest ANYTHING you think would improve it, don't be shy!

Very impressive work so far, just one question. How does the thing change direction? :confused:

Are we meant to assume that there are two drives at the back and it just turns very slowly? Even with that you might expect a couple of smaller drives on each side to speed up the rate at which it turns.

As I said, aside from that nitpick, excellent work!

Cheers

going from 2d to 3d I feel it had lost alot of mass... it feels like it went from a small planetoid (with the sectors representing small villages) to 1 big city rock where most of the surface is filled up with stuff...

I'm not sure myself which I prefer, you also drew in a strike cruiser at a size which makes me wonder if it can hold a battle barge? Off course these are all points which are questionable anyway. A Battle Barge could just as well be serviced docking somewhere along the exterior of the Rock as I'd imagine alot of the big battleships would be too big to be actually docked "inside" any space station.

 

Nitpicking aside, I'm loving it and cant wait to see you finish colouring it, looking great so far! ;)

I agree about it looking like it lost too much mass. that was a mistake in scaling on my part.

 

i've extended it, and hopefully it's looking a little better proportioned. I'm undecided on if I should add some space to the bottom and show the very bottom, or keep it as it currently is

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2610/4107283830_0913c9bfbf_b.jpg

Hey kraegus, good to see you around again, as artistic as always I see.

 

Here are some suggestions:

 

I've extended it, and hopefully it's looking a little better proportioned. I'm undecided on if I should add some space to the bottom and show the very bottom, or keep it as it currently is

 

The problem with the 3d version and your losing the impression of mass lies in great part with the monastery complex on the top. In the first picture the enormity of the asteroid dwarfed everything, including this mighty structure. If I was you I would think about scaling that down so that it fits more with the proportions of the first ink drawing, which had proportions that I greatly preferred.

 

As for the rest, I'm not an expert on colour or light but I take it that apart from your solar light source you're getting light from the engines? And I suppose a tiny bit from illuminated sources on the buildings.

 

Anyways, it still remains a nice illustration and it should look great once it's finished.

The problem with the 3d version and your losing the impression of mass lies in great part with the monastery complex on the top. In the first picture the enormity of the asteroid dwarfed everything, including this mighty structure. If I was you I would think about scaling that down so that it fits more with the proportions of the first ink drawing, which had proportions that I greatly preferred.

 

agreed :)

(and yea, it's good to be back, I live in a new country :D)

 

As for the rest, I'm not an expert on colour or light but I take it that apart from your solar light source you're getting light from the engines? And I suppose a tiny bit from illuminated on the buildings.

 

yea the only bit that's illuminated by the engines is the back bit. everything else will be front light, except the buildings in shadow will have various window lights that can been seen. i think. I'm winging it as I go along really, if it feels good then I do it.

 

thanks ever so much for the advice :D

 

This is why input is so appreciated, I have NO defined plan in mind whatsoever, i'm pretty much making it up as I go along.

 

 

aand here we go:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2535/4106746413_4a1db6f0a0_b.jpg

That... is... awesome.

 

It's not really the way I pictured the Rock but it certainly works and shows a lot more creativity in shape, design and utility than I could have come up with. I especially prefere the scaled back Monastery on top, it really adds to the feel of size and mass. In the end you could perhaps show scale by including a small fleet following alongside the Rock just discernable against it's unbelievable size.

and here's a close up of sector 4 :lol:

 

the buildings are white because that's right on the edge of the vertical horizon.

i'll continue colouring, and if it looks like those buildings should be in shadow, then i'll fix it :)

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2707/4107728560_bfdb79c7a6_o.jpg

Yeah, you're in Germany now right? Hope you're enjoying it.

 

Seeing the buildings up close is great, they have a lot of detail.

 

That space background is lovely. Looks like you've made some serious progress. At this pace you'll be done quite soon it would seem. Well, I'm looking forward to seeing the end result.

Yeah, you're in Germany now right? Hope you're enjoying it.

 

Seeing the buildings up close is great, they have a lot of detail.

 

That space background is lovely. Looks like you've made some serious progress. At this pace you'll be done quite soon it would seem. Well, I'm looking forward to seeing the end result.

 

 

yep, it's great, lots of architecture to take inspiration from.

 

I would hazard to guess that I'm about 1/6th done. I may be making good headway, but I've still got a LOT of Rock to cover :)

 

sector 4 is being pesky and taking a while :lol:

you can see two thunderhawks flying out of one of the west hangars

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2740/4107283283_b89a705c53_o.jpg

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