Feedback as I start this fantasy landscape/cityscape project

[jdp89]

I'm in the early stages of this landscape/cityscape project, and I'm looking for feedback/critiques/suggestions (especially regarding values and composition) that will hopefully point or keep me on the right path as I progress.

In case my rough outline is too rough here is a quick description: fantasy-esque city on the right (mostly in shadow, but not quite a silhouette), large open land divided by a winding river, ocean/bay in the distance (upper right) with a sun nearing the horizon, mountains and hills on the far side of the river, and some clouds up in the sky. I'm thinking there will be a strong warm/gold color cast to the whole thing, partly due to the elements leaning that way themselves, but mostly due to the setting sun. I'm trying to give the picture an "epic" feel, as if it was from an epic book or movie. I want the picture to give off a feeling of strength/safety/solid-ness, mostly implied by the large stone city/fortress.

It is the final project for an Adobe Illustrator class at college, so there are a couple restrictions:

1. The final version must be entirely vectors. No placed images. This means it will most likely have to have a slightly stylized appearance. (I don't want it to look cartoony though; if there are experts in Illustrator here on these boards let me know if you think it will even be possible to do a scene like this in Illustrator or if I should try a different .)
2. It will be printed very large for wall display, at 39x16 inches. I want this to look really good not only at a distance, but up close as well. So I will probably need to add a fair amount of detail, especially to parts like the city.
3. It must be a landscape or cityscape (or combo like I'm doing).

All feedback is welcome. :-)

[dpaint]

Where are your vanishing points and horizon line for the buildings?

[jdp89]

I didn't add them to the rough. ;-) They will be there as I create the actual buildings though (I'm definitely 100% against wonky architecture).

[Harkins]

It's a cool piece but I think it needs a secondary focal point, I want to look over in that big empty area and maybe see something interesting in the distance. An approaching army or maybe just a small town down by that river. It will keep eyes on your work longer.

As for doing that in vector.. I work in illustrator a lot for graphic design and web design projects and holy shit I wouldn't want to use that for a painting lol. Gonna take a lot of solid gradient mapping and stuff. I probably shouldn't be saying this but there's a way you can just kinda cheat it if you want. Do it in photoshop, bring it into illustrator and use live trace with high fidelity....

[jdp89]

A town...that's a good idea. Putting one down by the river could definitely work. I could also add a couple little roads/paths too. Maybe some forests as well, though it might take a little work to get them to look good as well as fit in with the rest of the piece.

I don't think my instructor would be too happy if I image traced anything. ;-) I will be using a lot of the pencil tool though, especially for more "organic" shapes (clouds, mountains, etc). Pen tool/shapes for the buildings. Still though, you're right about it taking a long time. It's probably going to be around 10-20 hours at least. And what's worse, it's due next Tuesday. Every moment I'm not at school or work will have to be spent on this project...

[jdp89]

You didn't ask, but here is the "final" version that I submitted and printed. ;-) If things look a little small, it's cause it's meant to be viewed from a couple feet away at a size of 39x16 inches.

I did manage to do the entire thing in Adobe Illustrator, though it did take me at least 20 hours. It is definitely far from perfect; there are a good number of changes that I'd like to make if I ever have the time (and energy). But it's good enough to make me happy for a little while. Of course, the more I look at it the more mistakes I see.



If you see something that could really use some improvement and you think it would be worth spending the time, let me know. I do want this to be something I can be proud of. (Heck, even if it isn't worth spending time on still let me know; if nothing else it might help me when it comes to future projects.)

[StefRob]

I like it very much. The rendering is quite "pure" if you get my meaning.
Just few thought from my non expert eye:
1) it will be tricky but the castle lacks of shadows projected on the roofs tops
2)I've made a quick sketch shadows locations, the sun is very low so you should see long shadows of the village (agreed, it will be little at this size but visible)
3)Maybe a little of light on the dome side facing the light?
4) More important, maybe add some textures to the city walls. Bricks or cracks, irregularities. Everything looks too neat and clean for my taste

[jdp89]

Thanks, good points. I did add little shadows for the buildings down in the valley, though now it does seem they are too short.

I'll adjust the shadows on some of the foreground buildings...not sure what I was thinking with some of them. I think I might have been thinking too much about reflected and ambient light (from the sky and other buildings), though I definitely didn't do a good job of it.

I see what you mean about a lack of texture. I could just import this into Photoshop, though I kind of want to be able to say everything was done in Illustrator, just to show that I know how to use the program (at least to some degree). ;-) I could probably add a repeating brick pattern using just Illustrator though, and it might not be too hard.