adobe vs. gerbick | Seek Shelter

[squidlips]

sick dudes. sick.

extend the rounds? i'mma post up a battle in the next few days, i want in on some of THIS action.

[gerbick]

Finally got some time, totally did not go with my first concept(s). Thought I'd continue with my "seek shelter" motif.

Stocks: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]

[Adobemedia]

Someone missed the No Rotation part.
You're forgiven.

I like your concept, but (I hope I am worthy to critique your work) the scene at the bottom seems too bright. The best way I can explain the what I am talking about, I guess, is that it looks too cheerful and happy for a image that is predominantly stormy.

I'll try to have something up by Saturday, after finals are over. (Thank god.)

[gerbick]

Look at the original.

The sun was coming in from behind the camera, the tornado/storm front was coming from behind the house.

I darkened that part, actually; highlighted the central part(s) to go with the lightning strike.

The no-rotation part - I ignored it like you ignored your own rule of "no time limit". You'll be ok. 3 days... then my last volley.

[Adobemedia]

Ah, I never saw the original. I guess it's just me then.

The no-rotation comment was all in good humor.

[gerbick]

You should have looked at it as a whole composition as well as look at the stocks. I rarely list out all of my stocks, but I did so you could see the way I put it together.

The lightning strike, the original stock (#7) and the odd lighting of that stock and my choices were very deliberate. I appreciate critiques; I think you jumped the gun.

But thanks. And my comment was in jest as well. I just don't rely on emoticons.

Besides... always remember that in order to see a rainbow, the sun has to be behind you.

[nightwish]

Dude, damn nice reply! The lower part screams gerbick all over the place, cool colouring, adds a nice punch to the image.

Also, loved the little detail on top, the white bird. Cool touch.

[Jujumon]

the focus on the pic is actually right down in the neighborhood. it would be better to add more textures on clouds and tornado that would make it look more dramatic overall. Not one of your best i think. The first volley was mind blowing though.

[sandyrivers]

I like the last volley... hey Gerbs, where are the leaves (stock 9). I don't see them incorporated anywhere, but you may have just used it as a texture.

[gerbick]

I like the last volley... hey Gerbs, where are the leaves (stock 9). I don't see them incorporated anywhere, but you may have just used it as a texture.

Bottom right, on the street are some leaves... and in the air as debris, I "destroyed" part of a twig alongside pieces of the prior image.

[Zacaboo288]

Pretty solid work. After looking through your stock resources I cleared up a few concerns I had with your drop but I'll share them anyways. For instance, the detail on the side of the white house and in the leaves of the tree to the right of the lower lightening bolt is washed out. Either use a different stock that's not already poorly balanced, eliminate these elements from the composition or instate your own detail with other stocks or special brush effects.
Something else that I am having trouble with is the strange, vaporized sheep-like thing in the middle of the bottom where the lower bolt is striking. Not only is the object indistinguishable (which isn't always a bad thing but in this case it is a focal point) but also the lightening bolt, throughout it's course from the foreground all the way up to the heavens, does not change it's stroke width at all and really flattens the entire image.
Otherwise, I am entirely satisfied with your use of typography, the texture and warmth of the clouds and the little white birdies heading for safety.

[Adobemedia]

I got through today, and I have some ideas. Expect something tomorrow.

[Adobemedia]

Well, I got this done sooner than I expected. This turned out nothing like it originally started out as, due to some problems finding good stocks. I like how it turned out though.

[gerbick]

Halfway into one concept, look for it late tomorrow night.

Critique: Your usage of white space needs to be tweaked. Too much space between focal objects and text that you start to lose tension and focus. The perspective of a shadow from an object that distance from the Sun would be totally different. And you could have gone away from the trendy diagonals and used a different texture. I'm personally liable to throw random vectors into an image; however this time it doesn't just fit.

And again... the sky is just... so flat. No nuances.

[Zacaboo288]

The perspective of a shadow from an object that distance from the Sun would be totally different.

If you're referring to the bird then you are absolutely right about your geometry however I'm assuming he was going for a reflection instead, considering everything else above the water was reflected. If this is the case, then the reflection is still off but not entirely. Or perhaps I'm simply disillusioned.

[Jujumon]

nice and beautiful image. From the way it looks now the bird is hovering over the island, and it is a rather huge bird.

[Adobemedia]

@zac
Yes, the bird was supposed to reflect in the water-- it just ended up looking like a shadow. I simply could not seem to get it to blend correctly with the water. I ended up just blurring it, and lowering the opacity to around 60 or so. You aren't disillusioned, don't worry.

@juju
Thanks, the bird is quite huge isn't it? A pity I lost my layers or I would scale it.

@gerbick
You're right about the white space, now when I'm looking at it again. I tried the text on both the left and right sides, but it simply did not work on the right side, it was too confusing to me then, too close to the seagull on the rock.

I apparently have the tendency to choose flat sky images.

[gerbick]

If you're referring to the bird then you are absolutely right about your geometry however I'm assuming he was going for a reflection instead, considering everything else above the water was reflected. If this is the case, then the reflection is still off but not entirely. Or perhaps I'm simply disillusioned.

I would suggest that you go try an experiment.

Go outside to a lake. Look at the edge of the water and look at the perspective of the reflection of things close to the edge. You will see that it "seems" to be almost up and down; the vanishing point/perspective is real tight, so it is almost to scale. Then find anything above it, flying - say a cloud, or something. You'll start to see the skew and scale alter due to the distance on the lake if it were a plane.

In that picture, it's just WAY off to the point where a mirror image sans skew and scale is just wrong.

And your comment about the "sheep like structure"... seriously dude. It's not the focus at all. Because it's at the bottom doesn't make it focus. That part trails from the focal point, the tail end of the tornado with the debris. And that lightning bolt - it was like that in the stock.

[silverx2]

a small boat rowing away from the island, and maybe a lens flare would have spiced it up alot. otherwise i like it.

[Adobemedia]

Hehe silver, I was *this* close to a lens flare, but I am not a big fan of filters-- I stopped that a long time ago. I just didn't know about it, so I left it out.