Oh, and original width is 2900, so that's about details. .n

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=956819

very cool rendition of Alpha's bug- like the little temple you added & as always your textures & coloring rock!

we're not worthy...we're not worthy.... Antoonio, your stuff is amazing...I keep trying stuff on PS and then I see another of your efforts, I go get my big crayons (the kind you get in the first grade) and start coloring again..... Jack keep up the amazing work! and we still want a mini tutorial like where does one begin?

This is fantastic. Even with the loss of detail you're getting with bringing it down for viewing here it looks great. How long does this take you to do? I get the feeling that I'd get lost someone inthe middle of doing one of these. :) -=>Donald

the snail is green with envy Amazing detail there. Nice touch with the cog thingies. :-) (*

Jack. lol ...where to begin. Ok, here's the short tut. Well, first of all you need an idea(humm, thats one big and ugly bug, it could almost carry a house in it's back, hmmmm, house in it's back...). Idea, even fuzzy one is the most important thing of all. Then, I choose base image(one with the link), size and dimensions and rough composition(lets put bug here, and house could be there, and here's space for empty space). Next step is start ploughing trough stock photos and figuring wich detail would fit in my idea(gee, that's a fancy chinese house, neat cogs too). Remove colors from all used images, cut and paste, erase and clone till image is constructed roughly. Then starts detailing, erasing and cloning seams off, adjusting shadows and lighs, checking light directions, matching contrasts, drawing details etc. And I use layers, plenty of them. Almost every single detail I do is placed on it's own layer, so I can move, edit or delete anything I want. Shadow layer, lights layer, cog thingies, houses, base of the houses, bug, ground, background etc. Notice, that in this point, whole image has no color. Then starts the fun part. Coloring and texturing. If I want bug to look dirty or background rusty, I simply add transparent dirt or rust photos top of it. I wanted to create scaled look for head and shell of the bug, so I took photos from pavement, adjusted the size and added it top of the bug. You got the idea. Next step is coloring, airbrush is quite nice for that but you can also use photos with nice colors, many layers with different settings for colors. After that, I'm again looking trough whole image and arbrushing some lil details, hide unwanted things with clone, correct shadows with burn/dodge, do final tuning. Doing this, took about 10 hours of continuous work. But this one was quite easy and fast. Normally, it takes something from few days to week. Hope this clears my methods a bit. .n

wow, thanks Antoonio, i was wondering how you did it too- sounds like a lot of patience & lots! of layers- i've just started using more layers- this has been helpful! hmmmm, start with B&W, photos for coloring- interesting

working from the base in black and white allows you to stop concentrating on the colours and work on image composition itself. Another reason why shooting in black and white is a great exercise (if it aint your thing), as it allows you to see the image itself without colours distrcting you. as for the image Toons, sick as usual. fantastic work mah friend.

Correctomundo Slenko. You said it well, that's why I don't ever use colors in composition stage. Handling both, contrast and color values with multiple layers are simply impossible. Tried many times and failed miserably. .n

I refuse to even try and comment on this image as it's way too excellent to comment on...hang on...was that just a comment? DOH! :-)>

thanks Antoonio, it sounds tedious but not impossible. I may have to break down and destroy...er try and do an image in this method. Never though about using other images in the way you describe to get texture and color but makes sense now that you've explained it in it's basics. thanks, I have a feeling I won't be the only one experimenting now.... Jack

OK, Niko, it's long overdue you doing an in-depth tuturial, bud....... this is absolutely f******* brilliant, man... (",)

Mahvelous....simply mahvelous.....and the tut was damn good as well..... I think we need to note this thread somewhere in the resource center....or maybe get you to re-write it proper like for an article there.....hmmmm...?

Jack(and others who are gonna give a shot), try something simple first. Attach two objects together and start there. It took about two years to develop this style where I am now, and still it's usually pain to get things work like I want. 'chelle dear, I think it's more useful to use this thread. All needed information can be found, like link in bug pic and detail image etc. And besides of that, I'm really(with capital r) lazy to write articles. Is it ok like this? .n

No you must hold our hand and show us how it is done. Expecially the inspiration-that is the key!! Bsteph

Niko, when you say in the tut ".....Add transparent dirt or rust photos....", I am presuming you mean using the 'overlay' option in the layers box? I'm not entirely sure what method you mean to use for that addition - and I found out recently a few people didn't know about the overlay option even being there.

Just as a little nudge, I think this would be a phenomonal (sp?) tutorial if it was based around a simple pic with screen shots, with a small paragraph under each one explaining not how to create the pic, but how to use the effects that create the pic. (That make sense?) Yeah, I know from doing my Giger one it takes a little time and planning, but for the guys I think it's all worth it...... if you decide to do one and want any assistance in filling it out, proofing etc, I'd be happy to volunteer bud.

(",)

Jordy, I'll put that behind my ear. When suitable image comes along, I'll try to remember.. And yes, sometimes I use overlay, sometimes other layer styles, fully depends on image and how strong effect I want to create. .n

"When suitable image comes along, I'll try to remember.." lol - Niko bud, if you're anything like me, you don't realise it's a suitable image until you're about 3/4 the way through creating it ;) The amount of pictures of mine that've started of as "oh, I'll just try this............" lol With the Giger tut, I was halfway through the image before I realised it would be a good one for a tut - because I always save the initial layers I was able to re-work them and do the first stages again.... strangely, they turned out better than the first time and ended up being the basis for the final image! (",)