[Discussions] SOTM #33 - August / September 2015

[nanashi1]

you mean you cut in 3 shaphes (boxes) the background look a bit separated tha background? or did you ad the "flare" effect of the sun at background?

Ehmm... Well, I did the BG in 3 parts cut: Where then the upper and under parts zoomed; and did' they on 3 layers given and each other outlines added. - I wanted somehow an new visual style try/experimenting...

 

[Dark Angel]

Ehmm... Well, I did the BG in 3 parts cut: Where then the upper and under parts zoomed; and did' they on 3 layers given and each other outlines added. - I wanted somehow an new visual style try/experimenting...

looks good :)

Also i feel now the my entry completed fixed :)

Well i don't know when something new will hit me to make another to compete the one i have placed now

 

[nanashi1]

Also i feel now the my entry completed fixed :)

Well i don't know when something new will hit me to make another to compete the one i have placed now

Thanks D'angel...xD


And your next hit? ...Well, this'll be under 24 h.

 

[Dark Angel]

Thanks D'angel...xD


And your next hit? ...Well, this'll be under 24 h.

To be honest with you... the idea with that sig hit me by the moment i saw the 2 clannad snap photos...

The main part of sig to give you en example i have to rotate custom degrees to much the rotated placed of the render so the rail bar of he render (where te girl seat) and the rail bars of the background

Then i cut some area from the other background to have some more sakura trees behind the area that girls seats. I merged the background layers only, and the i copy pasted the background merged layer upper the render and the i played with layer effects how to mix it like overlay effect etch. so in that way to thin that the gilr is sits somehwere under shadow and some parts of trees opening letting through sun on her.

It's a nice trick ;)

 

[nanashi1]

To be honest with you... the idea with that sig hit me by the moment i saw the 2 clannad snap photos...

The main part of sig to give you en example i have to rotate custom degrees to much the rotated placed of the render so the rail bar of he render (where te girl seat) and the rail bars of the background

Then i cut some area from the other background to have some more sakura trees behind the area that girls seats. I merged the background layers only, and the i copy pasted the background merged layer upper the render and the i played with layer effects how to mix it like overlay effect etch. so in that way to thin that the gilr is sits somehwere under shadow and some parts of trees opening letting through sun on her.

It's a nice trick ;)

Well, then we had more or less the same process way with our projects, how interesting, or...?

 

[Dark Angel]

it might be. I have tones from Girls in School uniforms but i don't know why that renders and that two images stack on my head???!!!

 

[nanashi1]

Hmm... Probably out of pure randomness...? Lol, dunno. But you had sure your reason why you these materials used have, or...? Otherwise it'd no sense make...

 

[Dark Angel]

i was looking forward to use the girl on rail... but whatever background i made wven in C4D or mixed elements at the photoshop... something didn't hit me to use them...
While i was looking in my anime collection i run some anime Jinsei, Ji-Bu Club, Seitokai Yakuimondo to find a background with a school gate and some sakura trees and i saw Clannad & Clannad After sotry...

I run to looks some wallpapers from those series to mr. google and i found many but accidentaly when i saw an empty background and i saw the rail / bars at that side then it hit me the idea of using them...

 

[nanashi1]

Well, good rendering materials to find from 2-3 year old series is almost impossible to find, even the doujin-works nowadays sucking...>.<

Actually, I wanted originally an Mahouka siggy make with Saegusa: But fu**!!! From Mahouka doesn't give nearly good materials (From Gelbooru to Yande.re NOTHING!!!), where then did dropped that...>_>


But meanwhile I'm happy with the AB!-siggy...

 

[Dark Angel]

Well, good rendering materials to find from 2-3 year old series is almost impossible to find, even the doujin-works nowadays sucking...>.<

Actually, I wanted originally an Mahouka siggy make with Saegusa: But fu**!!! From Mahouka doesn't give nearly good materials (From Gelbooru to Yande.re NOTHING!!!), where then did dropped that...>_>


But meanwhile I'm happy with the AB!-siggy...

What materias do you need from mahouka? I might have a good amaount of renders mine and others combines are goes beyond 50...

 

[nanashi1]

What materias do you need from mahouka? I might have a good amaount of renders mine and others combines are goes beyond 50...

Well, especially from Saegusa Mayumi some stand alone artworks of her, but I know that from her such doesn't give - I mean really good ones... And yeah, I refuse from frames rendered one - Because I'm more where original/unique illustrations prefer, not from 3rd party made doujins (where massively messed up are)...>_>

 

[Dark Angel]

Well, especially from Saegusa Mayumi some stand alone artworks of her, but I know that from her such doesn't give - I mean really good ones... And yeah, I refuse from frames rendered one - Because I'm more where original/unique illustrations prefer, not from 3rd party made doujins (where massively messed up are)...>_>

i know those i have seen them and they aren't so good :( i hate them!

 

[nanashi1]

i know those i have seen them and they aren't so good :( i hate them!

Well, really. From anime/game/manga/LN-series where about after 2010 released/aired was doesn't give much good sources - Before so 2010 could you hundred/thousand unique artworks download of them, but nowadays...??? Lol...>_>

 

[Dark Angel]

Well, really. From anime/game/manga/LN-series where about after 2010 released/aired was doesn't give much good sources - Before so 2010 could you hundred/thousand unique artworks download of them, but nowadays...??? Lol...>_>

i must have collected very rare materials from the time when the Screen where CRT with maximum resolution of 1024x768 max 1280x1024 at some High End monitors back then... i must have 2000-3000 wallpapers if i will find them i will zip them and uploaded here at the forum somewhere ;)

 

[Ignis]

Welcome back [MENTION=2]Ignis[/MENTION];!!!

[MENTION=2]Ignis[/MENTION]; Welcome!!!!

and Welcome back [MENTION=2]Ignis[/MENTION];!

Thanks Konstantinos, Anestis, and Evdokia for the warm welcome ヽ(´ー｀)ノ Looking forward to your participation in this round too!

[MENTION=29193]nanashi1[/MENTION]; & [MENTION=2]Ignis[/MENTION]; i just finished rendering those but i am trying to fingure out how to mix them with background...

Spoiler: Renders

The think also is should i will go with 500x300 or 500x250?

Also if people might want to take and use the render they are free to do it :)

Hmm, I guess I'm late since by now you've already posted your entry, but I think you chose the right render.

The School Rumble render is nice, but with three faces, it has three focal points in total―not very easy to blend and posit properly. Also, since the image is wide, I don't think it'll look nice at all in a signature made with the standard way of blending a render with semi-abstract effects, unless you only use parts of the render (e.g. you use Tenma only and omit the rest). That said, it looks like could fit well with a nice background to make it look like harmoniously fleshed.

As for the girl with the bike, I think it may take too much precious vertical space to properly make it apparent that she has a bike with her. To make enough room even just to show the bike basket you'll need to shrink the render down considerably that you can fit the girl from face to stomach (unless, of course, you simply omit the bike).

Finally, I'd argue that the last render is the most superior in terms of raw artwork quality, but the bubbles can be distracting. I can imagine it fitting well with a smudge-style background, but I'm hardly any good with smudging myself, so...

So, yeah, I think you chose the right one. s for the size, personally I prefer a smaller one, so between 500x300 and 500x250 I'd probably pick 500x250. Depends on your preferences. Nice entry too, by the way, though it kinda feels overlevelled/overfiltered? The sitting girl looks like she got sharpened too much that some edges (parts of her hair, blazer, schoolbag) look jaggy. Also, while the scenery is nice, I can't help but feel the colours are too strong, even for my standards (and I do like strong, vibrant colours).

can i use a sexy teacher concept or other school uniform wearing characters?

I have some thoughts over chatcers with also those that i finished rendering from School Rumble.

Sure, I don't see why not. As long as the teacher does give the vibes of being a teacher and not just a sexy mature lady (a sexy teacher and a sexy office lady would likely wear different clothes, for example), go ahead. I mean, if pretty students give other students a reason to never skip classes, there has to be something that motivates the teachers as well to go to work everyday, right?

 

[nanashi1]

Oh, welcome Ignis...


Hmm... What is your opinion about the two siggys until now in SOTM...?

 

[Ignis]

Hey there. Already opined about Dark Angel's signature (super-short version: nice harmony, but a bit too sharp/vibrant); please see the paragraph before the last in my previous post for the details.

As for your entry, nanashi, I'd say it's a significant improvement over pretty much all your previous works. Well done! At a first glance, a background image depicting a rather peculiar scenery―iron stairs normally wouldn't be the first thing people think of if they wanted a scenery―it turned out pretty okay in blending and juxtaposition. The render doesn't look that out of place. I guess the pink shade-like effect surrounding the render gives it a nice accentuation and makes it blend better.

If I had to nitpick, it would be the outer borders (stroke). If I had a signature with semi-transparent parts (i.e. not in a simple rectangular shape), I'd want to make sure all the outermost parts have the same depth. If I'm going to add shadow, then all the outer parts must have equally strong shadow. If it's a stroke, then they shall all have a similar stroke. In your piece, while the base shape has a black stroke surrounding it, the render's outermost parts don't. This is often my problem with semi-transparent parts in a signature―they look like they're cut off.

Then again, it's still a matter of tastes and preferences, so do what you think is best :)

 

[nanashi1]

Hey there. Already opined about Dark Angel's signature (super-short version: nice harmony, but a bit too sharp/vibrant); please see the paragraph before the last in my previous post for the details.

As for your entry, nanashi, I'd say it's a significant improvement over pretty much all your previous works. Well done! At a first glance, a background image depicting a rather peculiar scenery―iron stairs normally wouldn't be the first thing people think of if they wanted a scenery―it turned out pretty okay in blending and juxtaposition. The render doesn't look that out of place. I guess the pink shade-like effect surrounding the render gives it a nice accentuation and makes it blend better.

If I had to nitpick, it would be the outer borders (stroke). If I had a signature with semi-transparent parts (i.e. not in a simple rectangular shape), I'd want to make sure all the outermost parts have the same depth. If I'm going to add shadow, then all the outer parts must have equally strong shadow. If it's a stroke, then they shall all have a similar stroke. In your piece, while the base shape has a black stroke surrounding it, the render's outermost parts don't. This is often my problem with semi-transparent parts in a signature―they look like they're cut off.

Then again, it's still a matter of tastes and preferences, so do what you think is best :)

Ah, I see... Well, this is always at him (what not negatively meant is): He posts often his entry very fast, but then coming a flood of updates-changes etc. But I find that wonderful at him, he is a real artist...xD

And thank, this times I wanted an new style: At the BG an zooming effect give... - Short said (but it'll probably nevertheless longer...): Well, I wanted the look of the siggy so give, that the appearance of an screenshot (of an PV/video clip one game) has. And the pink shape was directly so slided - I've thought that this were not bad...xD

Spoiler: And this is the BG in original...

The bridge leads to the dining hall (A part of the big school area...), where often the concerts of the G.D.M. (A girl band in Angel Beats!) held will...

 

[Dark Angel]

Hmm, I guess I'm late since by now you've already posted your entry, but I think you chose the right render.

The School Rumble render is nice, but with three faces, it has three focal points in total―not very easy to blend and posit properly. Also, since the image is wide, I don't think it'll look nice at all in a signature made with the standard way of blending a render with semi-abstract effects, unless you only use parts of the render (e.g. you use Tenma only and omit the rest). That said, it looks like could fit well with a nice background to make it look like harmoniously fleshed.

As for the girl with the bike, I think it may take too much precious vertical space to properly make it apparent that she has a bike with her. To make enough room even just to show the bike basket you'll need to shrink the render down considerably that you can fit the girl from face to stomach (unless, of course, you simply omit the bike).

Finally, I'd argue that the last render is the most superior in terms of raw artwork quality, but the bubbles can be distracting. I can imagine it fitting well with a smudge-style background, but I'm hardly any good with smudging myself, so...

So, yeah, I think you chose the right one. s for the size, personally I prefer a smaller one, so between 500x300 and 500x250 I'd probably pick 500x250. Depends on your preferences. Nice entry too, by the way, though it kinda feels overlevelled/overfiltered? The sitting girl looks like she got sharpened too much that some edges (parts of her hair, blazer, schoolbag) look jaggy. Also, while the scenery is nice, I can't help but feel the colours are too strong, even for my standards (and I do like strong, vibrant colours).

Sure, I don't see why not. As long as the teacher does give the vibes of being a teacher and not just a sexy mature lady (a sexy teacher and a sexy office lady would likely wear different clothes, for example), go ahead. I mean, if pretty students give other students a reason to never skip classes, there has to be something that motivates the teachers as well to go to work everyday, right?

I did that intentionally i can have her more smoother but i like it to be sharpened that area. and the filter also i did that in purpose i can leave it i can make you one with smooth render the girl but in my eyes didn't fit so well.

The one i already have posted.

and the one you are suggesting. I remove the sharpness filter separate from render the render here is original without any alteration. also i remove the overlay layer effect from the 3rd layer that i placed over the background and render. I left untouched the coloring balance i made not more from 5% in each option. So basically that the original wallpaper coloring (after the rotation and mixed parts from the other wallpaper i used to to ad and make a compilation to finalize the background.

 

[Ignis]

And thank, this times I wanted an new style: At the BG an zooming effect give... - Short said (but it'll probably nevertheless longer...): Well, I wanted the look of the siggy so give, that the appearance of an screenshot (of an PV/video clip one game) has. And the pink shape was directly so slided - I've thought that this were not bad...xD

Ah, I see. I didn't know the image was from Angel Beats as well. Still looks like a choice of background that wouldn't click with the render at a first glance, but perhaps you took a good part of the render. Including the sky or trees may not have turned out very well. Good job overall.

and the one you are suggesting. I remove the sharpness filter separate from render the render here is original without any alteration. also i remove the overlay layer effect from the 3rd layer that i placed over the background and render. I left untouched the coloring balance i made not more from 5% in each option. So basically that the original wallpaper coloring (after the rotation and mixed parts from the other wallpaper i used to to ad and make a compilation to finalize the background.

You must've used a rather strong sharpening filter. I tried using the standard sharpening function on your second example and, while it did make some of the outermost lines of the render a bit jaggy, it wasn't as strong as yours. I think I may prefer the second example as it has a soft feel to it. It kind of gives the vibes of a spring breeze flowing nicely. On the other hand, I also like daring colours. Considering that you also sharpened the background (not just the render) in your current entry, it still looks harmonious on the whole.

Personal preferences, personal preferences...

 

[Dark Angel]

You must've used a rather strong sharpening filter. I tried using the standard sharpening function on your second example and, while it did make some of the outermost lines of the render a bit jaggy, it wasn't as strong as yours. I think I may prefer the second example as it has a soft feel to it. It kind of gives the vibes of a spring breeze flowing nicely. On the other hand, I also like daring colours. Considering that you also sharpened the background (not just the render) in your current entry, it still looks harmonious on the whole.

Personal preferences, personal preferences...

Don't know the smoother one with original coloring is very "dull" boring that's why i felt better with more vivid coloring and more sharpened filter

Spoiler

Combined that image as main background (with rotate some degrees)

only from the area where the rail/bars are visible.

I add this Piece

Taken from that wallaper

I combined them and merged the layers

here

Combined now with the sakura part that i took out from the other wallpaper.

As you see now with the girl on it's can't match the original coloring so much with girl...

It looks somewhat hm let's just say not so natural (in my eyes)

Now Adding the merged background layers as an upper layer with 50% opacity and with Overlay Style effect the image it looks a whole better from before (with original coloring)

The last layer with the Overlay effect it give's also the trick that she is seating under shadow and the some sun beams are letting pass through the tree / leafs of the tree that she (supposed) to be under.

I didn't use any special way to make her with a less of 20 minutes i come down with this concept.

 

[nanashi1]

Ah, I see. I didn't know the image was from Angel Beats as well. Still looks like a choice of background that wouldn't click with the render at a first glance, but perhaps you took a good part of the render. Including the sky or trees may not have turned out very well. Good job overall.

Because I did at an previously post of here mentioned: That following 4 themes in choice gave for this SOTM (In mind better said) - Angel Beats!, Charlotte, Valkyrie Drive and Mahouka koukou no rettousei. But Mahouka is fast fallen out, due lack of very good rendering materials (chara); V.D. is as well shortly after fallen out, due lack of BGs to render/chara; And Charlotte, well, because Charlotte is still a fresh medium, where then the source materials lacked have; And as winner out of this group is AB! come out, because from them tons of source materials gave.

Well, so was the development process of this project, and I think I'll it not further update that this times...


Edit: It was 5 - include Shokugeki no Souma, but at that time did forget Mahouka to mention...xD

 

[unownHGSS]

As much as I like SOTMs, I'll have to let this one pass =[
I won't have the time these upcoming weeks due to a lot of work and holidays for a week so I'll miss the deadline anyway.

So I'll be looking forward to all of your entries this SOTM. Good luck everyone ^^

 

[Ignis]

Don't know the smoother one with original coloring is very "dull" boring that's why i felt better with more vivid coloring and more sharpened filter

[...]

I didn't use any special way to make her with a less of 20 minutes i come down with this concept.

That's a nice use of methods such as overlay and shading to give the final piece an overall more natural look. Well done. I can see why you feel the original colour composition felt dull and boring; as I said, it's still a matter of personal preferences.

Personally, I just would like to avoid a render with overly sharpened outer lines in an otherwise harmoniously blended piece. I've had that too, and sometimes used denoising tools such as Greycstoration or Topaz Denoise. They often don't work for just the edges, though, in which case I'd have to smooth and de-sharpen them manually. There's also a filter called UnSharp Mask that can help to some extent.

Because I did at an previously post of here mentioned: That following 4 themes in choice gave for this SOTM (In mind better said) - Angel Beats!, Charlotte, Valkyrie Drive and Mahouka koukou no rettousei. But Mahouka is fast fallen out, due lack of very good rendering materials (chara); V.D. is as well shortly after fallen out, due lack of BGs to render/chara; And Charlotte, well, because Charlotte is still a fresh medium, where then the source materials lacked have; And as winner out of this group is AB! come out, because from them tons of source materials gave.

You don't really need a render to make a signature, though. I've made more pieces where I didn't start with a render than where I used a render. Sometimes, I ended up rendering the base image myself, but often enough, I simply tried to blend the background of the base image into the background I want to create, omitting unnecessary parts (just not as detailed as a thorough rendering process would be).

You could say this is lazy, I suppose, but it works for a lot of my stuff. To me, factors to consider on choosing a base image are the more basic aspects such as the character, the franchise s/he/it is from, the illustrator, and overall look of the image itself (facial expression, posture, outfit). Whether something is rendered or not isn't consequential at all. In fact, at least in some cases, I think it's easier to work with an unrendered image―you only need to make a background that matches what the base image already has, rather than making a full background from scratch to use with a thoroughly-rendered image.

Again, personal preferences.

As much as I like SOTMs, I'll have to let this one pass =[
I won't have the time these upcoming weeks due to a lot of work and holidays for a week so I'll miss the deadline anyway.

So I'll be looking forward to all of your entries this SOTM. Good luck everyone ^^

It's totally understandable; like how I was away for over two months no matter how much I liked the forum (´Д｀)
We'll be missing you this round, but good luck with your real-life stuff.

 

[nanashi1]

You don't really need a render to make a signature, though. I've made more pieces where I didn't start with a render than where I used a render. Sometimes, I ended up rendering the base image myself, but often enough, I simply tried to blend the background of the base image into the background I want to create, omitting unnecessary parts (just not as detailed as a thorough rendering process would be).

You could say this is lazy, I suppose, but it works for a lot of my stuff. To me, factors to consider on choosing a base image are the more basic aspects such as the character, the franchise s/he/it is from, the illustrator, and overall look of the image itself (facial expression, posture, outfit). Whether something is rendered or not isn't consequential at all. In fact, at least in some cases, I think it's easier to work with an unrendered image―you only need to make a background that matches what the base image already has, rather than making a full background from scratch to use with a thoroughly-rendered image.

Again, personal preferences.

Well, I know, you did this already few times mentioned, and I respect that. - Everyone has his/her own methods to make their siggys/sets, and I don't want in this fact(s) change, because it'd be then egoistical from me, and I hate egoism.

Well, siggys/sets to make is for me like if I an dish cooking would (Because I'm chef...): I want from the very first "ingredients" start (renders, BGs, etc.), and not with already halfway cooked stuff (where I don't know what already give was in...) - it has with the duty one chef to do - But like you already mentioned have: "Again, personal preferences." Where then...