okdust vs. Nguma Monene :: Tactile Stylin'

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/4002/dn5v21hf.jpg


the comment below refers to this version

..made a slight adjustment to the top left hand lighting after seeing it on another computer. I'll leave it alone now ;)

i like your idea and the feel of it. There's definitely an ambiance in that picture.Good choice for the " architects of the future" type face. Something's wrong with the shadows on the left side, which makes it fell a little flat.

I'll post my last pic as soon as possible, then we'll close the curtain on that one.
It's been great battling with you.

Thanks Nguma, it's been a great battle. The "architects" font was just Stencil (not one of those pre-grunged stencil fonts) :) The lighting is a little difficult to gauge, my mac Photoshop needs to be reinstalled so I've been using an old PC. It looks great on the PC but I can see what you're talking about when I get on the mac! I might touch it up and edit it in seeing as its the my last volley in this battle. edit: done, i've linked to the original

Overall, great, inventive volleys man, thanks for the battle!

A little late, but Nguma....I like that mild, spicy, hot volley. Very cool!

Impressive stuff from both sides, I really enjoyed these images...

okdust, your Was that food ok to eat image includes terribly awful colors and very strange stocks, but you managed to make it great...that's talent, bud.

Thanks man, sincerely :)

..and thanks everyone for checking out the battle and commenting. It was damn fun, I've gotta say.

very nice return okdust, i'm glad you did another texture like style, (one of those - not really a picture, but a statement - kind of art) love the typography, but i think the shadows to the left are too blurred compared to the notebook, which you can see the shadow almost as clear as itself, does that make sense?

thanks rhyeen. I think what I was going for was a volley that was half textured, half not. I really dig that untextured stuff at the moment so I want to hone that skill, but I figured that texture is what it is and so I balanced it by making the focal point texturemania -- as if the texture was on the notepad and the "real world" had none. I kinda like the lighting too, in a sense that it leads your eye straight to the text, and then you explore the envelope (did anyone see the "Conga" shoutout?) and the rest of the image. Maybe it's too dark to be believable....just pretend its a highly concentrated circular desk light on a pitch black night with no moon :O


my thoughts on texture (brushes) ... I realise that they're a bit of a croud pleaser and they can look great .. but at the same time, it's way more difficult to pull off a successful volley without them, and I kind of like that challenge.

Texture works by bringing consistency to the image, linking it all together instantly and so it doesn't have the "stacked up" effect, because everything is underneath it and drenched in texture. Clicking off the texture layer on those kinds of volleys would sometimes "expose" the real work that's been done, but the real work is what I'm interested in I guess. That religious volley a page back may have looked perfectly blended with a texture over the top, but I'm glad I didn't put one on because it will push my skills up trying to get a non-textured image to work. This work by ondraedan is a classic example of a top notch volley that has the clean, exposed thing i'm talking about. There's something about that kind of volley that I aspire to create. The texture on that image is so light it's almost non-existant, and the blending is held up honestly for everyone to see.

And now to qualify that ... the fact that textures can make a bad volley into a good volley in one click shows that they are a really powerful element. Personally I think it's got something to do with the "organic" quality that we all (subconciously?) look for. So they definitely have their place. Textures great, if a little overused and a little overestimated

/rant

aaanyway dude, that wasn't directed at you, just something that's been floating around my head :)

wow thats deap man, poetry to my ears, i totally agree with you though and now i see where you went with your religious one. I like how you took real world, and textures combined in the recent volley though, and it turned out really nice.

thanks rhyeen :thumbsup:

okdust, your "texture rant" is right on, I wish more members would try to break into the perfect blending style now and then. Not to say I don't like texture overlays, cause they're great, but something about turning out a clean, photo-like manip is super satisfying. In my experience, especially in recent weeks, if I put out what I believe to be a crisp, clean, photorealistic manipulation, it doesn't receive nearly as much praise as the grunged up stuff.

Example: I love this image because of its simplicity. Ugly text though.
See how I followed up with an image sporting a grungy texture overlay? Because the crowd was getting hostile ;)

are you kidding ondraedan? I saw that on your dA, and I absolutely love it.
One of my favorites of yours, it got away from the monotone of "another" dark grundge image from the twins.

I mean, those are normally great too, but they get old after a while ;)

You could be as well asking if symbolism is better than post-modernism. :yikes:
The principle of style is that it is unique to every artist / designer, you can't say one worth better than the other. (unless this arena is made for exclusive display of photoshop technique, not content)
whether you're more sensible to a photorealistic image or a an abstract composition, what matters is the result.
Also certain ways may be better to translate certain subjects...

OkDust, i salute you for going into areas that aren't your usual playfield. I like your other style because you seem to have a lot of fun with it and you express a lot. But again you're trying new things, it might take a few volleys before you really put it to its potential.

At the end of the day, whatever you feel works, man, whatever you feel.
As long as you keep your creativity HIGH... :mrpimp:

btw, i need a little time to make the last volley, i don't get to have a lot of free moments these days...

ended up making one:

http://design.grandmodena.com/databa...er/goodbye.jpg

good last volley, the typography wouldn't be my first choice of font, and the yellow road on the wall is a terrible color, but the mountains, and texture are both great, all in all; great volley. :thumbsup: