July/Aug - Norm - Daniel Ezri
 

Hello everyone:)
It's my first post here, my first challange ever, so my hands are shaking ;)
I thought a bit if i should post for Noob or Norm, but, like all of the games i played (like HL ,Q3 for example) i started always from the "Carnage" or "Insane" level, so, this time shouldn't be different.
My goal is to improve my skills in 3D in general, and specially the challenge's main judging point : lighting, atmosphere, and mood of a scene.
And now, about the frame i have in my mind :
"The Harlequine" - it shows a sitting harlequine at a table while holding in one hand a cigaret and in the other hand a poker game card. He's looking at the card (guess which one :)) with loathe, hate in his eyes. The candle should give the scene a creepy mood, reflecting in his eyes.
I post a general sketch of the scene . You can ignore the "under the table" part ...just for fun... i will zoom in to show only what's on the table and behind it.
Well, good luck to everyone and :beer:

where is the attached file ?
 

i can't c the attached file:confused:
how do i post it in the message?

image posting... take 2
 

another try

some progress
 

nothing exciting , but ... a progress :)

zoom on glass
 

:beer:

scissors
 

i plan to add on the table some poker game cards, some of them in pieces, cut by those scissors.

Looks like you are progressing nicely, would love to see thous renders with Ray Tacing shadows and refaction turned on

Ryan
:beer:

thanks ritual
 

i want to get over with modelling first, then get to texturing, rendering and Layout stuff. promise to turn on every "button" i can to make the scene like the one i see in my head :)

nice idea
 

Hi Sandfish. Just wanted to wish you luck. I hope to see some progress. I hope you will find time among all those summer assingments.
And again, good luck.

hi Oleg and thanks
 

glad u joined the challenge :)
now i KNOW it will be a difficult one
good luck :beer:
here is something i worked on these days :
the bottle i made with help from tutorial at liquid-arts.de. great site and artist !!!
the candle holder is from my "box" :)
i think i'll position my frame inside a circus tent, so the background should be vertical stripes... white and blood-red circus stripes :)

C&C about models/concept are always welcomed
thanks

WIP
 

been away for too long so i haven't done much:headbang:
here is the last update.
i also change the scene abit:
the harlequin is actually a pro killer hired at high price.
in the scene ,he get hired to kill sombody.
the hiring man is sitting on the other side of the table, only one of his hand visible on the table.he fears the harlequin , but most, he fears that the "hit" will fail.
the harlequin doesn't hide his loathe to someone who can't clean his own mess.

enough, back to work ;)

of course, the scissors will be replaced by a more lethal weapon;)

some wip
 

i think that the harlequin will be in the shadow. this will add mistery to the scene... but more important, will make life easier for me' working on that model.
anyway .. i came up with idea about the shadow : a stand with a mask on it, that will block the candle light !

from front

shadow idea tested

looking great has a realy nice style to it. very Dali like.

hi Ritual
 

thanks for the compliment. i've been in Barcelona and didn't visit the Dali Museum ... now that i think of it ,and see some of his work on the net.. what a shame:headbang:

i made some changes ... threw the irrelevant(now) scissors and added other objects.

other changes
 

i threw also the bottle of wiskey and the glass because i felt they do not match with the time when the scene happens... too modern. I added instead a wine bottle and a silver goblet.
also some currency ;) three gold bars . the harlequin doesn't take creditcard :p

light test...

nice update, like the change in bottle and glass really fits. I think the closer camera works better and is a nicer compistion. can wait to see some surfaces applied to those objects.

Ryan

harlequin fave
 

trying to show loathe

from angle

personally, to show loathing I would drop the corner of the mouth back down some as it looks like a sneer right now, and also narrow the eyes, and if you can furrow the brow.

I like your modeling. Very clean lines!

~~CM!

10x merlin
you are right, the mouth needs tweaking
here are the wireframes of the head ... eyes included ... free of charge ;)

harlequin hand

Looking really good!

Just 1 crit.....the thumb looks a little too wide, or the fingers too thin.

~~CM!

slight change on concept,new composition.
before i explain about the concept....what do u think...feel,about this render?
no textures of corse, for now? any ideas how to improve, changes?
thanx

The scene is in disarray but with no apparent cause. If you add one, I guarantee people will go......"Oh! Cool!"

A bloodsplash up the wall maybe.

Maybe a simbolic object relating to the doors, which with the face would bring you to...."I took a face from the ancient gallery".

Just what came to me first when I saw it.

I like you models!

~~CM!

...i'm agreeing with merlin about the apparent dissary of the objects...if you gave them some sense of purpose i think you'd have something...i thing the composition is a lot more promissing than the any of the originals...

...here's what i'd look into doing if this were my image to finish...blood on the blade of that knife...maybe a few drops on the table where its stuck into it and a little pooling at the bottom...some liquid pooling from the spilled goblet...and a killer texture on that back wall to give it the dark damp basement or dungeon or catcacomb look...maybe some chains if you decide to go the way of dungeon...

...anyway good luck with it and i hope you get 'er finished up...we're almost out of time!:eek:

Maybe you should make one side of the face black with some white on it and the other side white with some black.

Or mannequin style.

~~CM!

...seeing merlins last post about the black and the white gave me a twisted idea...since the face already kinda reminds me of a jester and there's a lute in there...maybe throw a jester hat in there ...subtley of course...like in the background so you don't pick up on it until you start to read into the image some...leaving with a murdered or murdering jester...kinda twisted kinda cool...

...on a darker far sicker twist of that train of thought...what if you gave the face some droop and sag and textured it up to look like a real face...one that had been skinned from a jester or harlequin [however you spell it]...

...i don't know just throwing out some ideas...i'm really liking your image now tho...in anycase...good work!

hi Merlin and Warlock and many thanks for your comments and ideas :bow:
i'm glad , because you both, in general, "got the picture" ;) from the ideas you both wrote.... it means that i'm in the correct direction. now i will explain the concept:

It's is about a harlequin(jester) that also is a pro killer hired to "finish" ill-fated persons. the problem is, he's starting to have regrets about what he's doing, begins to hate himself for that.
So, when some nobleman comes to him, and wants to hire his "skills" (gold) to murder some poor guy, the harlequin loath and anger bring him to amok:angery: :angery: :angery:
Proffesional as he is, he control his temper, poison the nobleman with some powder hidden in his ring( which is in the middle of the table) in the wine . while the victim is blurred, the harlequin puts the mask on the victim face, and stabb him dozen times, and , for the grand finale, a final blow in the head, with the mandoline. (what's a harlequin, without his mandoline?)
after that, he return the mask( with blood on it) to it's stand, the blooded knife and mandoline on the table, and seats on the chair .... thinking, planning what to do next...where to ,now? he KNOWS there will be no more murders, on his part.

so what we see in the frame is the "after" part of the concept, which, BTW, is happening in a tent(hence the round and verical lines...and the tear with the stitches)

well, what do you think about the concept?
again, thanks you both :beer:

here is a little update:
Merlin... you suggested a hat.... when i read that i had just finished the hat and the candle stand in the background :bow:

see in the picture... with texture, and reflections, it wil be more clear.... btw... the things which are close to the camera, and the ones behind the mask...on the stand, are the same i put on the hat .. .you know, noisy and shiny decorations to the harlequin hat :)

...awesome now that you've explained the story...everything makes sooo much sense...and you're definately on the right track...awsome work!...keep at it

BTW ... what is the deadline of this challenge? 23:59 of 31 August? what timezone?
i asked the question in the rules post... but no answer yet

been wondering that myself actually...i'd assume its server time...so but i don't know it that means we have 24 hours and 40 minutes or just 40 minutes!!!

ok ... let's look at the server time... now it's 09:00 here ... see what is the post time on the message

hi guys
i am texturing my scene right now...and came upon something quite amazing.... IMHO
i was texturing the wine bottle when i saw a little reflection on it...
so i was curious what is reflecting there

i zoomed in ... and :eek3: :eeek2: :eek3: :eeek2: :mg:
i was amazed what it revealed... u can see the entire scene ... in a very ... psychodelic way.
ii know that im not objective , but still ... i'm like a little boy seeing himself in a "magic" mirror :blush:

a closer look
everything is there but different ... the knife stabbing the gold... distorted and opposite (up\down) proportions... "broken"mandoline... even ,u can see in the upper left corner, the chair/candle stand/harlequin hat

well , i babbled enough, what do u think?