FINAL | ARTWAR 2 | 2D | Saturday Knight | MDashow

[rgdraw]

You're welcome! And you deserve that, you did such a great work on this!
Congrats on finishing it!

[sanguine]

This is amazing. I'm loving the disco knights!

[glubglubz]

This turned out great!
I feel like the angel holding the radio is too sad though.

Also, if it's not too much work, I would suggest changing the color of the flashlights to something a bit more disco-esque.

[deivcalviz]

No worries about the nose lighting thing. I can imagine how making it too realistic might look weird in this style. I guess in the end, it can work out just fine.

Great job overall! This can easily be a poster. Really inspiring!

[mdashow]

Thanks for the notes, everyone!

@glubglubz It's not too much work for me to change the color of the flashlights, but I don't agree that changing them would make the picture better. I rather like how the chrome finish on the flashlights mirrors (!!!) the surface of her disco-ball armor.

Anyhow, I went back in and made a few tweaks to my character sheet, coloring the lines a bit and making sure that the above-the-belt parts of her tabard lined up with the below-the-belt parts. Here it is:

Still accepting feedback on any of this before I submit my finals... (Do we even submit finals? Or do we just post them here. I'd better figure that out...! )
Cheers, all!

[skullguzma]

I think once you’re finished with your concept sheet and final image, you edit the original post in your topic to have both of the images, and change your title to: “FINAL | ART WAR 2 | 2D | Saturday knight | mdashow”
I think last year it wasn’t clear and Cubebrush staff was probably losing their minds trying to find everyone’s finished submissions x’D. not to mention all the people who didn’t get to the end of the contest. This year will probably be different.
She looks pretty finished to me! although i think the only thing you could really do at this point is aftertouches like overlay layers or playing around with the level curves setting to get everything “finished” finished. like, warmer highlights, cooler shadows, stuff like that. The rendering and composition feels complete to me overall though.

[mdashow]

Thanks, @skullguzma, for both the tips on entering and final polish.

I already have a bunch of overlay layers in my piece... but the rules sound really strict about no using any photography, so I started getting really paranoid that my entry would be eliminated for something small like overlay layers of lens flares and stuff. So just to be on the super-extra-safe side, I'm repainting by hand the overlay lighting layers I've been using.
Maybe this will be useful for someone:

For the spotlights, I created straight lines first and then distorted them into place (adding some masks and such to fade them out.) Because straight lines are easier to create.

To create a lens flare, I created the straight lines first again, and then used 'Polar Coordinates to turn a straight bunch of lines into a radial bunch of lines. It takes a little experimentation to get it just the way you want it, but at least now I can get rid of the photo texture and say I painted it all by hand!

edit: I'm totally embarrassed. it's "POLAR," not "polor."

[evehartman]

This is like a mini tutorial, great to see how you made them! I think your entry will be fine in the end, seeing this explanation

[alecksandrs]

You are doing the right thing my friend! You can never be too safe)

[mdashow]

Okay, I'm not repainted all of the overlay layers by hand, using the techniques described in the last post. NO photographic anything left in this pic! But I did go in and handpaint a lot of photographic artifacts, like the lens flares and rainbow chroma coming off the lights being splashed all over her. (Let me know it's it's too much or too cheesy!)
I also (subtly) warmed up the highlight areas to contrast with the cooler shadows (Thanks, @skullguzma, both for the advice and the explanation on how the finals work )

Here are the new edits:

Any last feedback?

[rgdraw]

Just when you think it can't get better, it does! You're amazing dude!
And I didn't know about that polar thing, thanks for the tips

[eissa]

so nuice man i really like it !! and i love the contrast between the colors

[mdashow]

Okay, that's a wrap: I'm calling this done!
Many thanks go out to everyone along the way who gave me feedback, opinions, suggestions and encouragement. It's been great having you along for the ride (and being along for the ride on your entries as well!)

Cheers, all!

[ipos]

Good luck, Michael!

This artwork is astonishing. The idea is great. I have to say: this is the most unusual and bold decision for the contest (in my opinion). I like her story, the background, and all this little stuff around her, all this details — excellent plot. Amazing!

[ipos]

But according to the rules, the final image should be larger!

Pay attention to this, @mdashow ! 2048 x 2048 for a Concept sheet and 2048 as a minimum for the smallest size of Final Image.

🅰 Concept Sheet

Dimensions: EXACTLY 2048x2048 pixels

🅱 Final Illustration

Dimensions: at least 2048 pixels in height or width, format of your choice

[mdashow]

@posashkov Thanks for pointing that out. The painting I uploaded was actually 2048x2582, but Cubebrush seems to have rescaled it. Weird. Hmmm, how do I get around that to submit an official entry?

[ipos]

I don't know too. Maybe there is an answer in the FAQ?

[malcom]

I just fixed the size for you. So your good to go now.

[mdashow]

@malcom, thanks for your help!
(although you should probably explain what you did so that you don't have to manually do it for 317 more entries! )

[silartworks]

Funky and unusual - like It👍🏼🕺🏻, good luck !