Sci-Fi Boreas Research Facility

[Jaxeller]

A group of researchers have made camp and set up a research facility on the distant planet of Boreas. Little is known about the planet other than its perpetual sub-zero temperatures, mountainous terrain and randomly powerful winds; these attributes have made it difficult for scientists to retrieve any additional data. In this painting I wanted to show the mountainous terrain of Boreas and have a research facility set up along with a few camps. The painting is still in very early stages, but I wanted to get feedback on it anyways. At this stage I am mostly concerned with color pallet / value, composition, and focal point. However, any feedback is more than welcome.

[Jaxeller]

A few more hours into the painting...Refined structures and mountains.

[Jaxeller]

Further refinement! Don't be shy with the critiques folks; any tips or suggestions on how to make this painting really pop is more than appreciated.

[moonskittles]

If it is perpetually sub-zero, I would think the scientists might set up some sort of connecting structures between the buildings. I think some tubes connecting them would look quite neat.

I find myself craving some more interesting shapes with your buildings. I did some image searching for research labs. I expected them to be quite utilitarian, but was surprised to see many of them are quite artsy. Here's some cool architecture I'd like to share:


(That design would look quite cool with the little house-looking structures you have that are closer to the viewer.)


Perhaps a greenhouse?




Just my two cents.

[pauloricardo]

Well... there are some scientific bases already settled in Antarctica, you could use some pics of that bases, or look for some movies, if you want something more futuristic, the last ref provided in the post above is similar to the buildings sown in that movies.

[Jaxeller]

Thanks for the feedback moonskittles and pauloricardo. I added some more architecture using some of the reference that you posted. I was actually looking at science research facilities in Antarctica as reference at the beginning of this painting. I didn't copy them verbatim because I wanted to use my own unique designs, but I still referenced them for form and function. Here is an update of the painting. I really don't know what else I should do with it; I think I am going to consider this one done unless anyone else has some feedback.

[Velocity Kendall]

http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/...ideas/mcmurdo/

http://isearch.avg.com/images?s=side...+base&tc=test4

[moonskittles]

Nice work! That added some interest.

I think your foreground should be developed more to make it really feel like a foreground. Obviously the base is your focal point, but I think this piece would be a lot richer if you refined the closer parts more.

[Mikael Eson]

I like your picture and even though I think there should be more value separation I'm not confident enough yet to give any concrete examples.
However, what's up with the bent mountain peaks? Having them bent like that and snow flying off the top makes them look like they're made of jelly or something ^^ I think you'd find that a mountain peak usually don't look like that.

[DAMJAN]

I like the structures but your mountains are very muddy and I don't see you've worked much on them. Are you planning to? The thing that bothers me is that mountain shapes are all pretty much same. Change that, make it more interesting.
That left area where the buildings are is empty, add another structure there.

[Jaxeller]

Hey everyone thank you so much for your feedback. I have gone back and refined the foreground and placed a structure in the "empty" area next to the base. I also changed the shapes of some of the mountains to make them more interesting as was suggested.

[pauloricardo]

Hello man, I guess that if the wind is so strong to carry the snow on the peaks and on top of the buildings, it should be the same for the smallest structures as well for the persons on the ground.... May be you already thought about it.

best regards

[Slothboy3000]

Get some reference for the mountains. They don't look much like mountains right now.

[Jaxeller]

Made a few changes put more snow at the base of the mountain on the left hand side and added a little snow being carried off of some of the smaller structures...Adjusted the brightness/contrast as well as the saturation. @Slothboy3000 I have reference for mountains and I have been using them throughout the painting process. I have been using photos of the rocky mountains, what specific changes should I make to make them look more like mountains?

[Velocity Kendall]

However, what's up with the bent mountain peaks? Having them bent like that and snow flying off the top makes them look like they're made of jelly or something ^^ I think you'd find that a mountain peak usually don't look like that.

this is still happening, the mountains l;ook like theyre being blown in the wind like whipped cream, its strange.

[Jaxeller]

Finalized. I bent the mountain peaks to make them more interesting and to give them character. I know that snow wouldn't be whipped off of the peaks of mountains like that, but I wanted to show that it is a windy environment and do something more creative than say using flags to establish the wind.

[Aceoko]

The people aren't very noticeable, they blend in too much with the colour scheme of the building. But on the other hand they are are too big and make the building seem quite small, but maybe it is small? I thought maybe you could get rid of the guys on the left and change the path the guys on the right are walking on into a cliff, it will bring them closer to us and make the building bigger and further away. I did a not very good and quick paintover simply to show you what I mean, I only had a mouse so I hope you can see what I was trying to explain and I apologise for the quality. Maybe there is a better way to go about it, up to you.

(the red lines are the cliff edge & the path)

[Giacomo]

I bent the mountain peaks to make them more interesting and to give them character.

If by "give them character," you meant "trot out the most tired cliche in fantasy landscape art," then you succeeded. Tilted mountains are the landscape equivalent of those enormous pauldrons (shoulder plates on a suit of armor) that were all the rage in fantasy art a few years back. More annoyingly, they don't even make sense in terms of geology or physics: gravity and erosion disallow such structures from existing in nature, or at least not for long.

[Velocity Kendall]

yeah theyre not really working dude. everyone else is going to think the same thing when they see them as Micheal said, they look like jelly for no reason.
theyre very small for mountains too, i figure about 40metres tall. why not make them blue, like giant icebergs, which often have wierd shapes?

[Jaxeller]

Big thanks to Aceoko for pointing out the lack of a foreground. I have gone back in and fixed that problem.
I am not very confident painting the human form so I am sure there are 101 problems with the character in the foreground.
I also got rid of the snow whips.

[Mikael Eson]

Great job on fixing everything, it looks a lot better now!

[Aceoko]

It looks a lot better now. How come you got rid of the snowing blowing off the mountains? It doesn't look as windy now.

[DAMJAN]

Much better, put back the blowing snow and I would fix the anatomy of that person walking.

[Jaxeller]

Added a couple moons, brought back the snow swept mountain peaks and one of my friends suggested making the foreground rocky instead of being rounded so I changed that as well. @Damjan can you please be more specific about fixing the anatomy. What specifically do I need to fix?

[moonskittles]

Hey, this is looking much better than when I last poked my head in.

First thing that bothers my eye is the large swath of dead space to the left of your traveler. Also, don't think his footprints would be that uniform. nor the ground that flat.
His pose seems a bit funky. Here are some refs for you:

[Velocity Kendall]

"@Damjan can you please be more specific about fixing the anatomy. What specifically do I need to fix? "

specifically the parts that are wrong.



edit moonskittles added loads of good pics too.

[Pavel Sokov]

I think his pelvic girdle looks too wide like he has some really good birthing hips. Also his legs come off as too long, at least to me. He seems too wide in general, I think simply tasking him and squishing him horizontally would be an improvement. He is also slouched like an old man, which may be ok because 1) He may be an old man, 2) he may be really tired and famished.

[DAMJAN]

Yeah, Pavel explained it good. Sorry I didn't explain. The person seems cartoonish to me and like I said, Pavel covered those mistakes good.