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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Art Archive Star Wars Nostalgia

Discussion in 'Fan Art' started by Undomiel, Oct 29, 2005.

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  1. Undomiel

    Undomiel Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2002
    Sigh. I'm having a bout of Star Wars nostalgia. It's rather creepy, to be honest. I get moody and wistful and all that "Good old days" jazz. This happens at least once a year. As a result, I did a vector-paint hybrid of Luke on Tatooine from Episode IV. Vectoring professionally, usually requires a nice program like Illustrator, but good grief, I already have too many programs on my computer (and have you seen the prices of those programs?!!)

    Anyway. This was my attempt at vectoring in paintshop pro 8, to cure my nostalgia. I honestly didn't use the pen tool at all (which you're supposed to do with vectoring), but rather made my vectors with the selection tool and cell shaded them the way anime artists do (minus fussing with layers). Then I applied "noise" to his shirt, pants, boots, and the desert sand, for texture fx. I applied a yellow lighting tint to the whole piece then went back in and changed the top and bottom to normal white. This was so Luke would blend atmospherically, with the background, but the piece would still have that crisp clean look that white affords. Hope you like it. It helped my nostalgia...a bit.

    [image=http://artapprentice.net/images/luke2.jpg]

    And a water color filter version:

    [image=http://artapprentice.net/images/luke3.jpg]

    Han Solo (see description several posts below)

    [image=http://artapprentice.net/images/han4.jpg]
     
  2. ShrunkenJedi

    ShrunkenJedi Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 26, 2003
    Ooh, that is very nice! And thanks for including your technique! Very informative.
     
  3. That_Wascally_Droid

    That_Wascally_Droid Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 29, 2001
    Hey! That ain't bad! =D
    That's a pretty neat little trick there with a good eye and nice aesthetics.
    Also, I wouldn't have the patience for that I don't think :p
     
  4. Corellian_Rogue

    Corellian_Rogue Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2001
    Great work! A little bit of nostalgia is good, it's great to go back to the original stuff sometimes isn't it. A series in this style would be great, especially if you did Han (considering the amount of fangirls here for Han it'd be received wonderfully :) )

    *prods my dwindling bank balance* Unfortunately I do know how expensive those programs are! :D LOL It's ridiculous pricing but they really are worth it when you love doing digital work. Wonderful work with the programs you've got, really smooth and great looking! Hope to see the others soon!
     
  5. FalconFan

    FalconFan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 25, 2004
    Oh, very nice work Undomiel! Welcome to our little "asylum" here in Fan Art! You're going to like it here--we're a pretty congenial bunch!

    I really like the stylized look of this--and I've always thought the vector technique gives some fantastic results! This piece looks almost like a collector's card, one of a series--and Corellian_Rogue is so right about doing one of Han Solo: you'd have a gaggle of instant fans! :p :D

    Very nice work--thanks for sharing, and be sure to post up some more when "nostalgia" strikes again! ;)

    FF
     
  6. academygrad88

    academygrad88 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 6, 2004
    I don't even know what vectoring means, but I do like the picture you made. It is beautifully done with warm colors and clean lines.

    I just wanted to know, what is the object right above his belt on his right hip? My eyes are not what they used to be, so I can't make it out.

    AG88
     
  7. Undomiel

    Undomiel Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2002
    thanks :)

    i think his kimono looks odd but it was only my second vector. my first was
    "A Gentleman's Gentleman": http://www.deviantart.com/view/24578510/
     
  8. Undomiel

    Undomiel Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2002
    Corellian Rogue,

    Well now, I will certainly try to do a piece of Han Solo. :) Harrison Ford has been my favorite actor for many years. I really began to appreciate his abilities when Raiders of the Lost Ark and Empire Strikes Back came out.

    Sallah: Indy, you have no time. If you still want the ark, it is being loaded onto a truck for Cairo.
    Indiana: Truck? What truck?

    Indiana: Meet me at Omar's. Be ready for me. I'm going after that truck.
    Sallah: How?
    Indiana: I don't know, I'm making this up as I go.


    Falcon Fan,


    Thanks. :) I have been admiring your art, in the interim. Nice nice and again I say nice. You can see the progression in your art thread, as you gained experience, expertise and confidence in your abilities. Awesome.


    Academygrad88,

    I dunno what that is. Maybe a communicator of some kind? A comlink? erm, something related to moisture farming?
     
  9. HanSolo29

    HanSolo29 RPF/SWC/Fan Art Manager & Bill Pullman Connoisseur star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2001
    Welcome to Fan Art, Undomiel!

    Ah, yes...SW nostalgia. I know exactly what you're talking about. In most cases, that's what fuels my SW drawings. And I get a lot more out of them that way as well.

    I'm not too familiar with vectoring, but I know all too well how expensive those programs are. I think you did a wonderful job rendering Luke while keeping it simple. Excellent choice of color as well. I agree that it would be great to see a whole series of these and yes, you MUST do Han. :p
     
  10. Undomiel

    Undomiel Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2002
    HanSolo29,

    Thanks and okay. Hrm, now which Han to paint. Han on Hoth? Han on the Falcon? Han in Cloud City? Han in Carbonite? Han on Endor?

    Still working on a Leia concept but could easily get sidetracked with a Han work.
     
  11. soitscometosith

    soitscometosith Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 30, 2005
    I think that's fantastic. Your shading on Luke's top is just too perfect for words. Can't wait to see the Han pic.
     
  12. FalconFan

    FalconFan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 25, 2004
    Oooo! Oooo! Suggestions for Han? Well, my choice would be the obvious one: Han on the 'Falcon, of course! :p Seriously, though--I think that any one of the films would be suitable for work of this kind (and actually, the cockpit of the ship is pretty complicated...). I always loved the shot of Han in stormtrooper uniform, leaning back against Chewbacca on the Death Star and muttering to Luke in disbelief: "Where'd you dig up that old fossil??" [face_laugh] Great in-character moment for Han there!

    And you have a Leia in-progress? Kewl! :cool: Is it, perhaps, our favorite princess in her accoutrements of slavery...? ;) Always a favorite (although for me, I favor the shots of her hefting that great big blaster rifle in ESB--Go Leia!! )! Can't wait to see some more!

    FF
     
  13. Corellian_Rogue

    Corellian_Rogue Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2001
    Harrison Ford is a great actor. I like him in a lot of things actually although him as Indy is wonderful. That role was made for him, the all american smart @ss. Usually I don't like that, I usually go for the british sarcasm, but with him how could any hot blooded woman resist? ;)

    And as for the Han you should try I'd strongly suggest classic Han. There's just something about that white shirt, black vest and blaster that's just so him! Ooo...and the glove too! He only wore it for like two seconds film time but I love it! :D And also it would fit the series, as the Luke you've done is very particular to him. It's how most people see Luke and I think the ANH Han is how most people think of him too. Just a suggestion though, I'd be happy with anything you choose. :)
     
  14. academygrad88

    academygrad88 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 6, 2004
    I will always love that first kiss scene from ESB. You know, "I like nice men."

    That is the Han I love. Romantic Han.

    ;)

    AG88
     
  15. Undomiel

    Undomiel Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2002
    Han in the Falcon. This is based on the scene where he and Leia have their first kiss. I've embellished quite a bit. The scene is only somewhat like the original. There's not much of the scene to see, and it's only half a Han. I'll do a full body after I finish Leia. I just wanted an up close version for the fans of Han. Tried to make him look even better than he already does, but ended up making him look like a pretty boy instead of that rugged pirate [and archaeologist].

    It's a vector/painting. I used a photo reference for Han and a different reference photo for the background. The background was made by laying down blocks of color with the selection tool, then applying noise and a gradient. The light was made by using the ellipse selection tool, applying light yellow paint, making the ellipse larger, then applying a white lens flare. You can see the pixelations in my outlines in the background, but there's not much I can do about that since Illustrator is like the only program on the market that doesn't pixelate the line and pen tool. His shirt wrinkles were made by drawing the wrinkles with a selection tool, and applying a gradient that was transparent on the bottom and had blue color on the top. His face was made by doing and redoing it about a thousand different variations of dark and light, in every skin tone I had at my disposal. At one point he had ruby red lips (lol). He is very difficult to vector, btw. I ended up painting in some of the details on his eyes.

    Hope you like it.

    [image=http://artapprentice.net/images/han4.jpg]
     
  16. ShrunkenJedi

    ShrunkenJedi Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 26, 2003
    :D That is unmistakably Han! Soits... is right, you have a great shading/vectoring technique that I'm envious of! I'll be glad to see more whenever you update!
     
  17. academygrad88

    academygrad88 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 6, 2004
    Beautiful work. That is the cocky pirate I know and love! Great job!

    AG88
     
  18. Undomiel

    Undomiel Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2002
    ShrunkenJedi,

    Thanks :)

    Academy,

    Thank you. ^_^



    And a water color filter version of luke:

    [image=http://artapprentice.net/images/luke3.jpg]
     
  19. HanSolo29

    HanSolo29 RPF/SWC/Fan Art Manager & Bill Pullman Connoisseur star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2001
    Oh wow, Han looks AWESOME! :D

    You picked a great version of him to draw! You captured his likeness quite nicely. Like ShrunkenJedi said, you can most definitely tell that it's Han. ;)

    The watercolor filter also looks great! I've recently taken a liking to watercolor as a media. After dabbing with it in class, I started to like it. :p
     
  20. FalconFan

    FalconFan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 25, 2004
    **does happy-Ewok dance because Undomiel did Han on the ol' Falcon!**
    [face_dancing]

    And he looks awesome!! Love the expression, the casual pose--great, great work! If you're doing these likenesses "freehand" in your program, I bow to your ability to capture them so well! Excellent work--and can't wait to see Leia! :D

    FF
     
  21. Undomiel

    Undomiel Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2002
    HanSolo29,

    Thanks. I'd like to do watercolor work but not in traditional art! That just drives me bonkers. The colors run, blobs drop, SPLAT, in the middle of the piece, there's no erase or edit button! lol

    (BTW, a non star wars related vector side tracked me. The idea came to me and it seemed I just had to paint it: Fred Astaire [image=http://artapprentice.net/images/fred1.jpg] and the reference: [image=http://artapprentice.net/images/fast.jpg]

    Okay, back to Star Wars. :D
     
  22. Undomiel

    Undomiel Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2002
    FalconFan,

    It's a combo of painting and vectoring (illustration of a pre-existing piece of work, photograph, etc). I use "posturize" to get just the darkest outlines, then work from there. In the case of Fred Astaire, Han and Luke, I had to do all sorts of additional freehand work (for example, I had to redo almost all of Han and Fred Astaire's faces freehand because the posturization was too extreme and didn't accentuate their best features). I could, technically, draw them in pencil first but that's just an unnecessary step when illustrating, unless you can't paint or create a background without drawing it in traditional media first. These are illustrations, rather than original pieces of art. The only original aspect are the backgrounds and the occassional embellishment (and the tweaking of the facial features). Vectoring is supposed to say alot with very little color information. In Han's case I painted most of his face freehand. It had alot more planes of color than for Luke's face, in order to render him believably. Whereas Luke's face was just a few large blocks of color, Han's was many many carefully placed shadows, shades and highlights, but still trying to keep in mind that it is supposed to look like a vector with an economy of information. lol I think I ended up with something inbetween.

    For example, here's Fred's posturization [image=http://artapprentice.net/images/posture.jpg] . Compare it to the finished piece (see above).
     
  23. FalconFan

    FalconFan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 25, 2004
    :eek:=D=

    **breaks into a Fred-and-Ginger step**

    What a fabulous painting of Fred Astaire!! I love his dancing, and all his old films--such great stuff!--and this is just a beautiful tribute to that marvelous entertainer and gentleman! I love the "old-time-photo" effect you used for this one--the circle behind him--so appropriate! And the coloring is gorgeous--the lovely flare of red in his lapel flower is just perfect! What a wonderful treat to see this before starting my day--thanks for that! ;)

    FF
     
  24. Undomiel

    Undomiel Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 17, 2002
    Thanks :) My favorite part are the rosy cheeks. I remembered seeing old photos that had been retouched after the photographer took the picture, to enhance the appearance of the subject, usually by adding color to the eyes and rosiness to the cheeks, smoothing out imperfections and so on. So I thought, well this is supposed to look like an old picture, I should make it look as if we are seeing an old advertisement or playbill for a Fred Astaire film (Top Hat, I think, was the name of the film this picture is from) and do that rosy cheeks dealie.
     
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