[WIP] HCE Promotional Poster

[Chainsy]

Well, I was bored today, so Ive decided that Im going to create a series of promotional posters/desktop wall papers that I will distirbute to various sites to attract peoples attention to this game, and maybe get some more overall popularity for it.
Ive just started on the first one, and here is the basic layout for it:
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn229/1chains1/ceadvertisement-1.jpg
It will show 3 banshees breaking through the atmosphere of the earth, the halo ce logo will be placed in center bottom below the middle banshee.
So far I have the sky done which so far has turned out pretty good:
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn229/1chains1/ceadvertisementcopy-1.jpg
I will continue to post updates here, and any crit to make these the best they can be will be greatly appreciated. I will also accept ideas for future posters for anyone who wants to contribute in anyway.
Overall I will probably make anywhere from 8 to 10 of these promotional posters, and will have the 3 most requested sizes and will be released in order upon completetion.
Thank you for your time and any useful crit you may post.

[Con]

If I were you, I would feature things that are unique to CE in your drawings. Other than that, work on the nebulas or whatever in your space. They look rushed, I would try actually shading with detail instead of painting some blue on there with a soft brush and never changing the size.

[Corndogman]

Do the Earth first before you paint the banshees. I think that would look really cool with a black and white sketch of a banshee over a colored space scene.

[Chainsy]

If I were you, I would feature things that are unique to CE in your drawings. Other than that, work on the nebulas or whatever in your space. They look rushed, I would try actually shading with detail instead of painting some blue on there with a soft brush and never changing the size.
Nebula was rushed, Ill be sure to work on it some more, also banshees are not exactly banshees, as you will see once Im done painting them. On the subject of what you said corndog, its my basic workflow to color in background first anyways, so the earth is next. The earth section will be posted tommorow though. Also while talking about the nebula, Im going to add some reds to it to give it some more color.

[DarkHalo003]

Not bad. I would recommend you color in the Banshee ASAP though. I good start none-of-the-less.

[DaneO'Roo]

Normally I'd totally rant off my head about how crap something is, and this is no exception.

I'm guessing you tried to do this with a mouse, you should really just draw freehand on paper and scan it in instead, because mouse drawings always look like like complete dog vomit.

However if this was tablet drawn, argh, I'd hate to see you drawing with a mouse.


Anyway, criticism:

You need to draw more, and stop using the first thing you drew as the final product. Sure, this drawing is ok for a rough storyboard or something, but you really shouldn't use it for painting on. It'll just look like a kindergarten fingerbang.

[Chainsy]

This was a mouse drawing, and no, I did not want to go into detail on it for a good reason: Once done painting the actual base outline layer will be deleted. They serve as guidelines as to where to paint and how exactly everything comes together at that perspective. Once the detailed painting is done, the actual drawing/ guide line will be deleted.

[Chainsy]

Sorry for double post but, OHSHI- UPDATE!
Once most of land is done, Ill add defining features on it such as shadows. mountains, lakes, rivers , ect.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn229/1chains1/ceadvertisementcopycopy-1.jpg

[Heathen]

Damn, I wanna get you out of that red, but bla bla 24 hours.

[Gwunty]

He has like -89 rep points -reps are like +reps for him now :|

[Heathen]

Idc. Everyone could use some +

[Sel]

I thought he wanted us to give him -rep :tinfoil:

[Chainsy]

I do. :3

[Chainsy]

Ok, another update. To take a break from my first poster, I have started on my second one.
This one will be a wrecked city in total grey scale, with master chief standing in the center colored in bright red. It will have a 300 esque look (those red cgi capes are bad ass) and will have some grey scaled covenant ships hoveirng above the wrecked city.
A popular demand Im doing next after this is the interior of a longsword with crew working and outside the window some kind of stunning scenery.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn229/1chains1/poster2copy-1.jpg

[rossmum]

It'll just look like a kindergarten fingerbang.
lol'd.

Get rid of the outlines the moment you colour, because the outlines are way too sketchy and... well, plain off.

[Chainsy]

The final product will not have the lines. Once I finish most of the picture I will delete the lines, but they keep my thoughts organised and easy to identify with through out the painting.

[Bastinka]

Take some art classes on perspective and shading, then come back to us. Also, finish something before you start something else.

[Chainsy]

Other then the street not widening as it gets closer to the bottom, I see no problem with the perspective. I also havnt added shading yet, the dark parts on the buildings are to establish corners where I will fill in later, since it will most likely be clouds, there will not be any major light source to create strong shadows, also no light to create strong details.

[Mass]

That would be barely acceptable if you were doing an actual wash on fucking paper. It's too much easier to be nit-picky on a computer to excuse your errors.

look at an actual aerial shot of a street on Google and maybe even trace it a bit, because you can on a computer.

try more to be looser with your lines to start out with so you can get your composition and balance just right before getting anal (which you'll need to)with the details, because you can on a computer.

draw in a light source and do your shading logically, and then later, erase it, because guess what, you can on a computer.

make a layer and throw on some really rough color washes and get a really good scheme going before you toss whatever the hell you think makes sense on the piece. Because news fucking flash: you can on a computer.

Draw at the speed of thought and experiment into the fucking heavens, be fearless with your subjects and images, do something until it's right, make it goddamn interesting. Don't be conservative, because you don't have to be on a computer.

tl;dr: do not pussy out while working in the most forgiving medium in world fucking history.

Fuck.

[Chainsy]

Its more of a level shot of the road first off. Also, go to www.halowars.com (http://www.halowars.com) and look at the concept art, most things in the distance are done blurry without much detail, the actual part of the painting that is in focus will be in much better detail, but there is no point going over huge details of something 3 miles away. Also Im going for a certain effect here that will make sense when done. All I want is crit on things to make it look better, not how I organise and plan my things. Silentwind was on the right track of what he said, but wasnt specific in what was off. Now Im going to be anal over details up close, but not far away.

[Chainsy]

update
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn229/1chains1/poster2copy-2-1.jpg

[Heathen]

Looks damn good to me.

[Con]

It's better to work at a higher resolution than the intended res. It gives you more room for error and makes adding detail easier.

[Chainsy]

I have a high res copy I work on, I post a jpeg so no one will complain about loading issues. Also, .bmps and .pngs take forever to upload of photobucket.

[Kalub]

It's better to work at a higher resolution than the intended res. It gives you more room for error and makes adding detail easier.


Don't let Dane see you writing that >_>

Other than that, I like them.