January Art Challenge - Vektor

[Vektor]

I've only entered the monthly art challenge once several years ago and I wasn't really planning to enter this one, but I had an idea as I was reading over the contest intro and I decided to go for it. Not sure ten days is going to be enough to finish it but I'll give it my best shot.

For what I have in mind, there's no way I could do it in time in 3D, so I'm going to do it the old fashioned way. Sort of. I'm drawing this by hand, but I'm also doing it on my Cintiq tablet, so I guess it's more of a mix of old fashioned and high-tech.

The relevance of this scene to this month's contest topic is probably not too obvious at this point but I promise it will be by the time it's finished. Still working on composition and perspective a little bit but this is probably pretty close to what the end result will look like.

 

[B.J.]

Ooh! Looks very interesting. Even if you don't make it before the end of the month, you've got to finish this!

 

[Vektor]

A small update:

Trying my hand at some more sophisticated shading and coloring, which is something I have very little experience with. This went pretty fast, though, and I am not unhappy with the results.

 

[sojourner]

Wow Vector,
You really should have a job in the entertainment industry. Comicbook artist, CGI artist, or something. I would give both pinky fingers for just a small part of your talent.

 

[Vektor]

Trying to get my colors and shading figured out for the entire image:

Except for Daystrom, the line work and brush strokes are all still pretty rough at this stage. Here's a close-up at 1:1 pixel resolution:

 

[Albertese]

Nice. I'm proud to say I recognized it as the M-5 coming on board by Daystrom's costume and then read the M-5 lettering on the crates.

Fan-fraking-tastic!

 

[Gepard]

I think this image is a lock for the win.

 

[Vektor]

Let's not go getting ahead of ourselves.

 

[Praetor]

Wow, very nice. I can humbly say I had no idea what it was going to be until the colorization of Daystrom.

As someone who's trying to learn the finer points of tablet drawing, your process seems very interesting, Vektor. I take it there's a good deal of erasing and redrawing directly from the original sketch? Did you (or do you normally) do any thumbnails? I must also say I really like the use of finer lines on Daystrom rather than more broad strokes.

 

[ST-One]

Your work never ceases to impress.

 

[BK613]

Great work!
What program are you using? GIMP? Photoshop?

 

[Vektor]

Well, I've had very little time to work on my entry this week and now I'm down to the last two days. Gonna be interesting to see if I can finish it in time.

Been working on cleaning up the shuttle bay background:

More to follow later, or at least there better be.

 

[Masao]

A small nit. I think Daystrom looks kinda short. He's only about 6 heads tall. I remember him as a big guy.

 

[Vektor]

I'll actually be redrawing Daystrom's head. The camera is supposed to be looking up at him but the angle of his head is wrong. I also intend to make it slightly smaller to emphasize his height. If I had more time, I would probably redo his body as well to make his limbs longer and give him more of a barrel chest, but I'm going to be hard pressed to finish as it is.

A little more progress:

 

[Vektor]

Filling in more details:

Edit #1 - By the way, does anyone know off-hand if The Ultimate Computer took place before or after The Galileo Seven? I'd like to avoid any continuity faux pas when I name the shuttlecraft.

Edit #2 - Also, does anyone have any suggestions as to uniforms for the two cargo handlers? I was thinking of putting one in a standard sciences blue uniform and the other in a pair of those coveralls you saw from time to time. Need to decide on a color for the coveralls or if I'm going to do something else like engineering red. Thoughts?

 

[Praetor]

Shaping up nicely Vektor.

To offer some advice to your questions:
1 - 'The Ultimate Computer' took place after 'The Galileo Seven' but they did have the other Galileo until 'The Immunity Syndrome' when it was lost, which was episode 48 to 'Ultimate Computer's 53. Either way, I'd make it the Columbus, or something else. The Galileo II only showed up in 'The Way to Eden' but I guess it's possible they picked it up when they were picking up Daystrom too.

2-I would think one in a Starfleet uniform and one in coveralls is good. Either blue shirt tunic and red coveralls or red tunic and red coveralls I'd say, maybe the tunic'd one a lieutenant.

 

[Jimmy_C]

How about army green for the jumpsuit? Kirk had a green custom shirt from time to time.

 

[Vektor]

Well, on top of everything else, I have now come down with a massive head cold. I'm still trying to get this finished but sinus headaches aren't greatly conducive to artistic expression, at least not for me.

 

[Praetor]

Yuck... Feel better.

(When I was a kid, every time I got a cold it turned into a full blown sinus infection and I'd end up having to go get antibiotics. Every time. But then for some reason I guess when I went through puberty that stopped happening. So I know the pain of sinus headaches quite well.)

 

[Psion]

Wow Vector,
You really should have a job in the entertainment industry. Comicbook artist, CGI artist, or something. I would give both pinky fingers for just a small part of your talent.

I know how you feel. I just found this thread, and when I saw the first picture, it occurred to me, Okay, I understand his technique, I can do this! It's a good feeling thinking you can do art as well as Vektor. I glanced down at my wee little Wacom and thought about playing with it*

Then I saw the second image with Daystrom colored in.

And at the risk of implying that it's the tool, not the artist, I'd like to echo BK213's question about your choice(s) of software, even though I'm a Linux guy and probably can't use the same tools anyway. And you mentioned a Cintiq ... is it anything like this one?

By the way, Vektor, you're one Hell of an inspirational guy!



*Oh get your minds out of the gutter!