Artist AG88's SW images***UPDATED 30 March 2013

Thanks Double_blade. I have been trying to get away from using photos and make the faces myself with Poser and Corel, but I am still not skilled enough to make nice renderings of Luke and Mara.

I did the pic over using a photo for Mara.

Is this any better?

[image=http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/1254/project320fz.jpg]

I think Mara's neck might look too long now. ***Sigh*** I don't think I will ever get this right.

AG88

 

88,

On the one right above this post: Mara's neck is perfect, the moment is tender, and the layout engaging. Well done!

 

Thanks Zonoma. The fanfic that inspired it is even better. But I am a huge Luke/Mara shipper.

AG88

 

Wow, AG, this is really great. I love your depiction of it. You've managed to transmit such a tender moment between them. Their expressions are right on target. I love it.

 

Thanks Zonoma and MaraJade4s for your comments. I am glad you liked it. This is some coverart I did for a fanfic I wrote.

[image=http://img331.imageshack.us/img331/5319/theauction60ew.jpg]

 

That must be some fan fic!

 

Sorry I'm late, but you already know that I love the artwork you did for my story!

You're getting a lot better, but you know me, I'm picky and as naggy as you are...

And yes... The Auction was one heck of a fic!

 

Great work on your latest pieces AG88! I must admit I do prefer your less romantic stuff but that's because I'm more into gore and blood! Oh and so understand your lament with Painter!!! I've had it for a while and I still have no idea what most things do. I've found a few brushes I like, the sponge, an oil brush and a blender but beyond that I'm hopeless! I've only just actually finished a piece with it which took me ages. Can't wait to see what you do with it though! Well done and hope to see more soon.

 

LOL at the "Cheesy Fanfic Coverart" warn-age! Romance novelists have a new resource with our own AG88!!

I really like your sense of composition in both the latest pieces--not too busy, good use of color, and an excellent matching of lighting on the faces/bodies/backgounds. There's nothing more distracting than a piece that's overcrowded with images, or where the color seems discordant with the theme/message. You're really getting quite skilled at this AG88, and it's always fun to see your new things! You must be getting quite a list of cover requests about now, eh?

FF

 

Thanks everybody for your wonderful comments. I forgot to mention that the last pic is purely a photo manip. I did not use poser for this picture.

What!! You would rather see Jacen enduring the embrace of pain more than seeing Luke meditating in the nude?!?! That ain't right!

I think I would do so much better if I actually could draw in real life (meaning pencil on paper). I do like the FX brushes in Corel. They are fun to use. I just have the 30 day trial offer, but I think I will purchase the product when the 30 days are up.

Thank you FalconFan. I appreciate your stopping by the thread and taking time to comment. I am glad they are not too busy. That is usually my biggest concern.

I have gotten a few requests. But often they are from young males who want to see some female SW characters in various levels of undress. Sorry, I draw the line at nude Luke. LOL. I mean come on, I really can't get into making a pic of a nude Jaina or Tenel Ka.

I also want to say that if my fic The Auction is any good it is because of my wonderful Beta, RedGold. I am really not a writer, but she encourages me to think I am. LOL.

AG88

 

I love your cheesy romance novel covers This one's great, although the dress looks like it should belong on Tenel Ka instead of Mara.

I love the cheeky expression on Luke's face

 

Thanks. I love my cheesy Romance covers the best also.

I found some old photo manips I did early on that for some reason I didn't post.

Here is one of Young Obi-Wan. I just made it because I like the look of Young Obi-Wan.

[image=http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/6498/sdfsdfdsfdsfdsafds5ns.jpg]

This is for another friend's fanfic:

[image=http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/9579/duhicantspell0ra.jpg]

For another great fanfic:
[image=http://img290.imageshack.us/img290/4531/newbleedingdryforyou4cc.jpg]

I probably didn't post them because they were nothing great.

AG88

 

They're better than anything I can create right now

 

Thanks PLJ. It just takes practice. I think I have improved greatly in the few months I have been doing digital art.

Here is another cheesy fanfic coverart I have been working on.

It is the cheesiest one yet, but this picture uses the very least amount of photos. The only things from photos are Luke's head, Mara's face and Luke's belt. Everything I either computer generated or painted.

I did the background using Bryce 5.5 3D landscaping and animation program. I just started learning this program a few days ago, so I really am terrible at it.

The bodies were made using Poser 6. I painted in Mara's hair using Corel 9 (I have been using a trial version for the last two weeks), so that is why it looks a bit funny. I think I gave her too much hair. I also painted in the details of the clothing (what little there is--I hating painting clothing)

Anyway, this all was done using Corel 9, Bryce 5.5, Poser 6 and Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10 (I still haven't saved up enough to get Photoshop yet ).

AG88

[image=http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/5008/posteredgecopyofproject361nk.jpg]

 

Blast!! I missed the newest stuff again!!
**stomps around, throwing a hissy, then comes back to type in a reply at last**


I actually like the "earlier" pieces in your previous post, AG88--the compositions are very nice, and the images all seem to match pretty well. My favorites are "Bleeding Dry For You" and "Sleight of Hand:" both have very nice choices for the images (I especially love the pic you have of Han there!), and are well-laid-out. The "Bleeding Dry" cover is the best one, I think, just because of the cohesiveness of the piece--the two foreground figures and then the evil Sith-eyes hanging in the Tatooine sky behind them. Very nice!

And I had a giggle again at the pure "romance-novel" feel to the latest piece--you need to look into composing covers like this for a living, I think! All in all, it's very well done--I like the "comic-book lines" you've added to the figures here--I'm not sure why, but it just looks cool to me! And again--excellent matching of faces/lighting and bodies--everyone looks in proportion and "in agreement" with the lighting in the piece. I think the only incongruence I can see is that Luke seems to be missing his thumb on his lightsaber hand...or it could just be me... In truth--I think Mara would be firing a blaster between Luke's legs here--she's just not the sort of person to simply be "rescued" or protected! lol!

Great work! It's always fun to drop in here and see what you've been up to!

FF

 

You know FalconFan, I was going to do that, but I forgot. Although I would think having a woman who once wanted to kill Luke firing a blaster between his legs might make him a tad bit nervous. One slip and it will bring a whole new meaning to running off on a fool mission halfcocked.

Maybe I will be able to get to it tomorrow. I can also look into Luke's missing thumb while I am at it. It was there, but I may have painted over it by mistake.

Thank you for your kind words. I am glad you like my early manip work!

AG88

 

Halfcocked?!!!

*falls of chair laughing hysterically* Gives a new meaning to that for sure!

I second Falcon's idea that you should work for romance book covers! You'd make a million! Although I cringe at the romance-ness of these, I can appreciate what has gone into them...your skills are going forward in leaps and bounds, congrats!

And what's so weird about wanting to see Jacen tortured rather than Luke in the nude meditating?

 

As per FalconFan's request, I gave Mara a blaster. This allowed me to use my gun 3D program that I just bought. It is pretty cool, I can design my own 3D weapons and import them into my poser 6 program.

For this one I didn't run it through a Poster Edge filter. So this is how the images looked from my 3D design programs. I did paint in a lot of the details.

AG88

[image=http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/7302/copyofcopyofproject368de.jpg]

Here is the same picture after it is run through a Poster Edge filter:

[image=http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/6317/updatedcopyofproject367pv.jpg]

Thanks. I can't believe you don't like romance pics. I really need to get you to read some of my favorite Luke/Mara fanfics. Those suckers will definately get you in the mood for a nice romance picture.

Thanks Corellian_Rogue and FalconFan for your comments.

AG88

 

LOL! I love the new cover art. I have to agree that it's better having Mara packing heat I think it's amazing how much better you're getting w/ each piece - you're really getting good at poses and making them very natural looking...(thinks of new slinky Mara) well as natural as you can get

Yeah, I don't currently have the tools to create stuff - however, I should be getting myself a new computer next month and plan on getting myself a bunch of art programs so I can seriously get to drawing work *rubbing hands*

 

Thank you PLJ for your kind words. I really appreciate you taking the time to look and comment.

If you are going to get some powerful programs I would definately look into getting a computer with the Recommended RAM. My programs work with 256 Ram but 512 is recommended. So, since I have 256 RAM, the programs work but slowly.

If you want to know anything about Poser 6 please let me know. I am just learning Bryce 5.5, but I may be able to let you know what it can do---even though I may not be able to produce works of art with it yet.

Corel painter has a Free Trial offer available. I have been working with it for a couple weeks and I am impressed. And of course, I know quite a bit about Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10-- which can do some of the things that Photoshop does, but only cost about $40 after rebate.

Thanks for stopping by my thread!

AG88

 

I just spent time this evening perusing the features of Poser 6 and am itching to get my hands on that software, course I need a computer first though

Corel Painter IX is top of my list for programs to purchase when I get my new system, but I think I might need to try that Poser program. I've always had a problem w/ drawing the human form and getting the proportions down correctly - so that would be a great tool to use to assist with that. Thanks for the list of programs now I know where the rest of my money will be going into the next year

 

I can't believe you don't like romance pics.

Ummm...I actually do like romance pics, see my fangirl reaction to double_blade's Winter/Tycho pic! LOL

I must admit that Luke/Mara aren't my favourite coupling, a little cliche perhaps? Although I did like Mara in a book when she's pregnant and all moody and she calls Luke a crummy dresser! I've never laughed so hard, well that and that moment you so well illustrated in the bio-organic pool thing! LOL Okay maybe I like Mara...but I think I like the more unknown/ not so major character relationships. Like Tycho/Winter, Wedge/Iella, Nrin/Ibitsam etc.

 

Heya AG,

You've got so much stuff here that I just don't have time to comment on it all. I also didn't take the time to read all the replies so I might be covering ground that has already been touched upon. I'm just concentrating your Poser works here, because God knows I don't have any qualification to comment on anything else (and even qualifications for commenting on Poser are questionable).

Anyways, I thought I'd mention some things out of my favorite images in there:

Death of Mara Jade:
Both Luke and Mara look way too straight and stiff. It seems like Mara is supposed to be a recently dead body. She should be at least slightly sagging in the middle. Also, Luke is absolutely 90 degree angles. He looks like he should be arcing his back for a scream of grief and agony. In addition, carrying Mara's body looks a little odd on his upper arms. Is there a reason why she is not cradled in his hands and forearms? All that said, I absolutely love this image. The grief and unreality of the situation really comes through in the colors and the impressionist style. I don't know how much of it intentional vs. your regular style, but it works great here.

Luke Meditating:
Ok...this isn't one of my favorites, but I had to comment. Even my girls wear more clothing than that! (most of the time). The image, however, is done very well. I think I would rather not have the image of a smirking, naked Mark Hamill in my head though But hey, you gotta cater to your audience right? Then again, just what IS your audience? lol

Ganner's Last Stand:
I love it. This is one of my favorite scenes from the NJO, and I think you captured it quite well. The lighting is especially well done.

Bearing the Chosen:
Again, very nice image, though Luke looks a little young.

Complications:
Overall quite nice, though I feel like Mara's right arm shouldn't be sticking straight out like it is. It seems like it should be cross back over the front of Luke's leg. That's just the feeling I get looking at this image. Like she should be holding onto him a little more. Also I think Luke could use some longer hair.

Overall, very nicely done. You don't give yourself enough credit. You have a very interesting, impressionist style. I think this lends quite nicely to portraying emotions since you're not as constrained by reality.

Keep it up!

 

I totally agree. I think I had only been working with Poser for a week when I tried this and at that time I didn't know you could do more than one figure at a time. So I was trying to create the figures individually and then copying, cropping and putting them together using a program similar to Photoshop.

You see, this is what happens when you hate reading the owner's manual and you are computer illiterate. In fact, it has only been in the last two years that I used the computer for anything other than writing letters. I finally got the internet hooked up and I started discovering different programs. I have only been doing photo manips for about 9 months and Poser for 4 months. Since I didn't grow up with computers I have a lot of catching up to do.

I think if I tried doing that picture over again now I could do it so much better. The photos were listed in order that they were created, so hopefully they progressively got better.

What!?! Who doesn't love seeing a naked Luke!?! Okay, just about every guy that visited my thread. And a few women who prefer the younger male Jedi over the Jedi Master.

I got a big reaction with that pic. Either you love it or hate it.

I belong to a few fanfic writer's forums full of ladies who are major Luke/Mara fans. The Luke meditating picture received a warm reception in these groups. Their major complaint of my work is that Luke wears too much clothes.

Yes, I agree. The problem I had with this picture is the person I was making it for is extremely picky (you know who you are RedGold!). She didn't like any of the faces I made using poser, so I ended up just putting in the faces of Mark Hamill and a model for the figures. Unfortunately, the only picture that really fit with the pose was one of Mark in ANH. And he was so young looking in that movie. When I use a photo in addition to poser I do mention it in the thread, but if you just checked the first post I don't go into detail into how they were made.

This is one of those pictures that I did and redid. Initially I just had Mara holding on to Luke like a damsel in distress. But many of the Mara fans I know objected to Mara looking so... vulnerable. By then I did so much post-poser work using Corel painter that I didn't want to do it again. So I went back to poser and just did Mara's arm holding a blaster. I then copy, cropped and pasted it into the picture using Microsoft Digital Image Pro10. But you are right, it looks silly. I told one person that I don't think Luke would really be comfortable with Mara firing a weapon so close to his crotch.

Okay, now I have to disagree here. Mainly because I love guys with short, short hair (good think I am married to a soldier). Luke's head in this picture is really a picture of Mark Hamill pasted onto the poser body. I think the only two things that are from photos in this picture is Mark's head and Mara's face. The background I made with Bryce 5.5 (which I just started working with), the bodies were from poser and all the details were done with Corel Painter 9. Th