CGAN March 2016 - The Last Stand - WIPs

Atto: There's a much better structure to that face now and I think his expression looks even more aggressive.
If you're worried about the other figure disappearing into the shadow then you could use some cooler reflected light from a different angle to shape the form (it might make a good contrast with the red hair.)

Micro: Nice to see some action emerging in your pic. The shape of those ships look like big swooping birds that give a nice sense of movement and depth around that ominous distant saucer.

Oaktree: That's a complex yet well-balanced composition you've worked out there. It looks very busy at the moment but just be patient and subtle with your shading and let the edges separate the figures in space and it'll work fine.

Schizo: Scarily ambitious! Good luck with all those figures. That empty space creates a great sense of anticipation and suspense, and then filling it with the main character's shadow is very clever. It's like the figure and his shadow are the hands of a clock counting down to the time of action!

like the figure and his shadow are the hands of a clock counting down to the time of action!

he he! Thats such a poetic way of looking at it Val - Love it! If thats what you were aiming for Schizo thats symbolism on a level I wouldn't have ever thought of!

Thanks for the tip Val, I'll look into that tomorrow. For now I have begun to add in some more figures - they seem a little condensed together but I think I quite like it - a bit like those old Fast Show sketches of the '66 world cup where one guy kicks the ball and the whole team runs after it. It kind of hints at a very ammatuerish approach on behalf of the guards.

Atto: Idd, say hello to my little friend!!!

Valence: Yeah, I know, but I 'm just going to paint the crowd sketchy, or what is the word? To paint something with just a few strokes. Ah, that reference to a clock is an happy accident! Thx!

Atto: I like the pointy spears! They add some context to the narrative and I prefer the wider format too.

Update for me...
It's a little frustrating because I made such quick progress on the first day but since then it's been a case of working for 2 hours and then not seeing any difference whatsoever. But it's slowly changing so I guess I should try and be patient with it.
I've put the hand in courtesy of the aforementioned reference (thanks again for that, Atto.) I had a bit of trouble finding and shaping the wrist so I put a tied strap around it and that solved that problem. When in doubt, cover it up.
At the moment I'm just trying to find the balance between clean edges and texture for the foreground.
Without wishing to sound like a stuck record, it still feels a little derivative to me and has done right from the first sketch. A bit like artistic deja-vu, as if I've seen this picture several times before or maybe that's just exaggerated by the quick start followed by very slow progress.
Perhaps it'll come together more when I tighten up that messy middle ground.

Hey Val, don't get frustrated, you pretty much showed an almost finished version the first time we saw your pic, so all thats left really is the fine details, and maybe some more lighting. But it's looking pretty cool!

Although if you wanted to, seeing as his pants take up a large portion of the image, they seem fairly durable seeing as hes fighting a bunch of zombies (who actually seem afraid of him!) I wish zombies would fear me, i'd be the biggest bad ass on the planet!

I would put some holes in those pants and maybe some cuts and bruises to show how much he's been through it with the zombies, maybe one of his shoes fell off. The perspective you have is a awesome, really tells the story well and it's interesting definitely, the colors are perfect, I like the warm colors, maybe you can put some cooler tones on the warrior
to contrast it a bit.


Atto your pic is starting to take shape with the spear additions, can definitely see whats going on in the story now. The details of his expression are perfect, you somehow managed to capture anger, fear and sadness all at the same time. The pose of the women really shows how she feels hopeless, knowing she will most likely die. Although, I can't help but imagine him holding a semi automatic machine gun, and just blowing them all away!

update from me

Oaktree: The colour update looks great! I assumed it was gonna stay black and white, so this was a nice surprise. And it'll provide another way to help separate the figures.

Val: Loving that zombies head in the foreground as his icky brain blood mingles with his hair. This kind of detail in the middle ground will really sell the image. I do agree with micro regarding the rips and damage to the main figure though (something I will be adding toward the end on mine).
Oaktree: Such a lot of action going on in yours, personally I like to see dwarves weilding massive weapons (I think its the one time you can get away with almost WoW size weapons) but I think they would take up to much of the foreground here. Perhaps they could be extended outside the frame of the picture? Not sure if that's the kind of thing that bothers you, just an idea.

A little more from me.
I've been away for the weekend working so not a serious amount of progress here.

Your pic is looking awesome with all the detail going on Oak, just have to work up more of the details and push some lighting further and it'll end up looking even better.

Atto, the colors are starting to look great together, the lighting is looking much better tho, especially with the shadow falling on the girl now, just careful it doesn't get too muddy.

Sure everyone saw this coming but I decided to change up my idea

hello guys another really male theme, mh? Okay...Guess I can handle it, too. Everybody has really great battle scenes here!

Last week I thought I've got a nice idea for this, the last stand in a more emotional way.


A child who fights against her emotion for her dead mom, vanishing to a ghost in the sky. (yeah, reeeeally novelettish) but then my mom had to go to a hospital (nothing really bad, she can come home this thursday ) but I wasn't able to continue this painting.

Last weekend I watched the millionth time the last unicorn and I love the painted scenes at the beginning a lot so I thought it could be nice to paint the fight of the Unicorn and the Red Bull as the last stand. Good against bad. You know.



But then I thought I want it to be a more 2D-effect painting, like some older paintings and I had to start the third time. But I guess this could it be. Now.