A little something that I wanted to share with the SW forum folks.

I've had this pen tablet for about two years now and without a doubt, it's a tough tool to use. I try it out every 4-6 months, then shelve it because I couldn't even write my name legibly. Then I dust it off and repeat the process. About 3 months ago I decided to force myself to learn how to use it, regardless of how hideous the results were. Now I'm getting to the point where the imagery has surpassed the 4th grader look and I'm proud to showcase a few recent works. I hope you enjoy these and I am open to any comments or critiques you may have.

Joel


This image was inspired by the movie "Le Mans" staring Steve McQueen. The setting is the 1970 LeMans 24 hour race, where Porsche (foreground) gave Ferrari a licking and continued to do so for about 3 consecutive seasons. The Porsche 917 was able to pull a 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds, with a top speed of 248mph and 1500HP! I can only imagine what it would be like to experience that kind of power.


222... That's me! Moments after passing dkmura in a 4 wheel drift through turn 8!


This was an early painting based on a Nissan marketing image (I'm sure many of you have seen this). I have a dual monitor set-up, so I displayed the photo on the right monitor while I painted (or duplicated in this instance) the image on the left monitor. Side note; all of these images were painted in Photoshop.


This is my younger brother, Luke, on his Suzuki GSXR 750. I didn't like the way the image was going, so I decided to take it over-the-top with bold, saturated colors, similar to a Syd Mead style.

I've painted a few cheesy landscapes and such, but I'll spare you from seeing those. Besides, we're all about motorsports here!

 

very good

 

Very COOL!!

 

the first pic is sick!

 

nice you've taught yourself well!

 

Very very nice! Like the 3rd pick the best!

 

You could sell those Joel!!! BTW: I think you are a little taller in your car.

 

Damn dude! I'm not suggesting anything but I can do that in a couple clicks with Photoshop. Either your very good or used P.S.
So I guess take that as a compliment?

 

LOL! Yeah, I was thinking that too! 3D computer graphics is my trade, so in a way, I do make my living off of images like these. I mostly do 3D architectural renderings though.

 

I'm not sure of your meaning. These are not photos with a few Photoshop filters applied if that's what you are referring to. They are digitally painted with a Wacom tablet and Photoshop (I also use Corel Painter on occasion). Google Wacom if you don't know what I'm talking about. I'll take it as a complement otherwise.

Joel

 

So are they sketched free hand? Or do you use photographs as reference and base layer? Using photos does not invalidate your work. It does however give you an easiler start. I am thoroughly impressed if they did not start w/ photographic reference.

 

Nice! I wish I could get those results out of my Wacom tablet.

 

Good job!

 

Call it 90% freehand using the tablet - remember, I'm still just learning. I can see how it might seem less valid or even fraudulent to use photos, but even the most accomplished artists use reference material. None of these are paint-overs though (painting directly over a photo to make it look like a painting).

The third image is a blatant copy of a Nissan marketing photo and I haven't tried to hide that fact. I used it to get the proportions correct and sampled a few colors; beyond that it was an exercise in color mixing and blending. In the computer graphics industry, it's a common technique to scan a sketch and then paint it in Photoshop or Painter. That's basically what I've done.

The first image is the most recent and the one I'm most proud of. For that image I made a very simple sketch of the concept, then worked the details based on several photo references (6 or 7 images I found on the internet). Some of the details are guesswork and some from experience in the 3D renderings that I do for a living. Here's a 1:1 detail...

 

So could you do this with any picture? I'm interested in what you could do with some pictures of my car.

 

Yes, I'm sure I could paint a black Z

Joel

 

WOW! That's unbelievable. It sounded cool when you were describing it at dinner in Pueblo, but actually seeing the finished product is a whole 'nother thing.

My goodness...you could make some big bucks (I suspect) doing that for forum members (I know you're not soliciting business with this, but that seems like a valuable skill to have).

Lots of us have photos of our cars, but how many of us have hand-crafted renderings?

What's the resolution of the originals? If you wanted to enlarge, print, and frame that one of you at the track, about how big could it be before any pixelly wackiness became apparent (if that's even an issue with this medium?)

Great work!!!

 

I didn't think it was less valid to use reference images, as long as you are making your own artistic decisions along the way.

 

Joel- very nice! That first image is incredible and shows off your artistic talent. Those Gulf-Weyer Porsche 917s were impressive cars back in the day and had some epic battles with the Ferrrari 512P in several races.
There are many touches in that sketch that are undoubtedly your artistic interpretation. I really liked it! Let me know what you're asking and I'll commission a similar sketch of my redline GT3 Z.

 

That's the general goal, to develop my original ideas and personal style. I didn't think you were calling me to the carpet (directly ), so I hope you don't mind my full explanation!
Good question. Most of these are about 2500 pixels wide. You could get an 8x10 or 11x17 print out of them without much pixelation, and yes, the nature of the medium would hide a good portion of the artifacts. Part of the process is to start small (1k image) to get the base layer of color down. Then you up-res (make the image bigger) to something like 2k so that you can start detailing. It wouldn't be unrealistic to make these 4k+ images and detail at that level, but at this point, I like the painterly suggestion of detail. If I wanted ultra realism and detail, I'd go back and model the scene in 3D (which would take much, much longer to produce).
I want a few hot laps in your GT3 of course! Your car would be a new challenge, given all the graphics you've applied. I have a few more personal projects in the queue, but you are welcome to send me some reference photos to study in the interim.

Thanks to everyone for your encouragement!

Joel