Graveyard Scene

[Dr_Rendesvous]

Hey everyone. Been a while since I posted, so here's a creepy graveyard that I've been working on just for fun. First, is the set-up in Sketchup where I composed and lit the shot and added a little fog. The second is the finished piece in Photoshop. I'm not a hundred percent pleased with it, but since it's my first serious attempt at a paint over, I think it came out pretty much how I envisioned it.

[Tonic]

I think you need to add more fog in deep background. In over paint, it ends so suddenly, while in SketchUp it smoothly disappears into mist. You also need a value variety - I mean, put some fog in areas that shouldn't attract viewer at first time and leave bright area for focusing purpose (maybe a guy at gate?)

But overall, it's a nice work, quite creepy. Especially considering it's your first. I'm sure you will get better with next works :) Maybe some rendering would help? Oh, and these stone cracks are truly brilliant. How you did that?

[Dr_Rendesvous]

Thanks, Tonic. You're right about the fog. One mistake I made was to bump up the contrast a little too much in PS. That knocked out the subtle depth of field that the fog setting in SU gave it. About the cracks. After I had push/pulled a simple tombstone, it was just a matter of attacking it with the line tool. Drawing long narrow triangles that met on adjoining faces, then erasing the connecting line. Then, connect the apex of each triangle with a line, and a facet (or crack) appears. It actually wasn't as time consuming as it sounds. Below, is a close-up of a tombstone corner. The red lines show where I erased after making the triangles. Even the more complex cracks are done just by repeating these steps. I hope this, at least, made some sense.

[Tonic]

That's a pretty easy trick! :) Thanks for sharing.