Art Archive A Problem with Some Star Wars Art

Is it just me or is anyone else tired of seeing re hashed photos from star wars painted by artists. I feel like anytime that I see Star Wars art that it is not an original picture , but reather a picture of an existing picture. I am not knocking on fan art at all. When I go to places like CIV and see artisits booths filled with their art and they are not even original I cringe a little inside.

Is it to much to ask artists to actually create an original star wars art piece.

 

Reference photos do help a fair bit, some of what I like to call my best pieces were with some kind of reference, and not all from memory. But as HanSolo29 said, I also try to mix things up a bit to make my own.

I wouldn't call using reference plagerism, but sometimes a specific official SW reference image can be overused, and that's when seeing a new image from the same reference by another artist becomes a bit boring. I think Slave Leia suffers the most from that. I can think of about 3 or 4 production photos of Slave Leia that are in a good chunk of people's Star Wars sketchbooks. I have fallen into this trap myself, I think most people are "guilty" of it at some point or another.

I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to take their own reference photos though, it can be a hoot. For this picture, I remember writhing in agony on my basement floor with the camera on auto-timer when my girlfriend came downstairs and asked just what exactly I was doing. Definitely motivation to finish the piece I was referencing so I didn't look (completely) crazy!

[image=http://www.basement24.com/galleries/starwars/2005/anakins-death.jpg]

I still have the reference photo... but that will be for another day.

At any rate, I understand what you're saying, but I think like any other art (beit non-SW celebrity portraits, or even landscapes) using stock, non-artist-generated reference is highly used to get a better final product. I don't think it's something that's going to go away any time soon.

 

I agree. I have been somewhat disappointed with some of the professional stuff out there. I think I have been spoiled by the stunning artwork of FalconFan or Wicktone, to name a few.

I was especially disappointed in the last couple covers of the Legacy comics. Unless I am mistaken, these were made with a Poser program. Especially this cover:
[image=http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/102/cadezf4.png]

I know I shouldn't be one to criticize anybody using that program since I love using it. But I use it because I am learning how to draw. If I could rough sketch human anatomy correctly, I wouldn't have to rely on it. Slowly, I have been getting away from using Poser because, IMHO, pictures made with the program are lacking something... it is almost like they have no soul. I know that sounds corny, but I have never had my breath taken away by a computer generated drawing.

Now I don't want artists like Giolon05 to get mad at that comment. I do realize how difficult and time consuming it is to make great, realistic pictures with the program.

What am I saying.... I guess I just like it when I look at a painting and say, "That looks like the work of HanSolo29 or FalconFan or Wicktone". But when you look at Poser generated art you think, "Oh that is Poser." The individuality of the artist is not seen in the art. Does that make sense?

AG88

 

No offense taken, AG88. I make no excuses for the fact that I use Poser because I have no manual artistic talent, and that is something I have struggled with my entire life. The discovery of that program has been extremely liberating, in that I can now express many of the things that have had to remain solely in my imagination for lack of artistic skill or talent. At first I was insistent on squeezing everything out of Poser, but gradually moved towards using Photoshop to correct things or adjust them to get the exact look I want, and I actually sometimes end up spending more time there than in Poser proper. After nearly two years of using the program however, my lack of manual artistic ability is again becoming a prison to my own ideas. Alas, c'est la vie.

However, if you haven't found anything that takes your breath away, I would posit that you probably just haven't looked hard enough or wide enough. Part of the problem with these Legacy Poser covers is that, frankly, they just aren't that good. While not bad, they still fall into the mediocre category. There are dozens of artists at Renderosity and elsewhere that have made Poser art that is absolutely stunning. Additionally there are several who's style is unique and unmatched and can be picked out as easily as you can pick out a FalconFan piece or a HanSolo29. I've tried to stress the things that I think make the biggest difference beteen an OK Poser piece and a great Poser piece to Jan Duursema in the critiques of her covers, but it's just one amateur's opinion and she is the professional artist after all. The final version of the cover you posted is still much improved over the original that was posted by Dark Horse a few months back, and I'd not dare to take credit for them, but most of the issues I pointed out and improvements that I suggested were fixed in the final version.

While I have no delusions that what I come up with is as good as hand drawn work by say FalconFan, I'm still extremely proud of what I've been able to accomplish, and I'll happily show it off and heartily defend my work to anyone. It's easy to get a bad result or a decent result out of Poser with minimal effort, but to get a GOOD result or even an outstanding one it takes time, practice, and experience (and I'm not even trying to claim that I, personally, am getting those great results). Part of the reason I don't use complete character packages is because I like to offer something unique that nobody else can. If you want to see Daru, you have to come to me. You're not going to find her anywhere else. That's why as much as I enjoy working with Max, you don't see images with her as often (plus her standard outfit has eleventy billion polygons and makes all my renderers cry). One of these days I hope to be able to craft my own clothing, so that will be unique as well. I think that's similar to the desire to create new Star Wars scenes vs. re-creating a known scene.

 

That is probably true. I don't really visit Renderosity, but stick to TFN and DeviantArt. I dare say many of the drawings that do impress me may actually be poser, but I don't know it because the artist is so good that is doesn't scream POSER!

But those comic book covers were obviously poser and it was a bit disappointing. But I have to admit, I am not sure if the clothing was computer generated or not. Do you know?

AG88