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Archive for the ‘Spot on’ Category

Maschinen Krieger

23 Apr

In my spare time, besides going out on the street taking photos, I also enjoy building plastic models of robots.
I don’t like so much Gundam, too much fantasy sci-fi for my taste, instead I prefer more realistic sci-fi models like Votoms or Maschinen Krieger. The design is great, rusty, hard sci-fi look and dirty.. not shiny armours for me, but blood on the steel!

Maschinen Krieger ZbV 3000 is a science fiction universe created by Japanese artist and sculptor Kow Yokoyama in the 1980s. It originally began as the science fiction series SF3D which ran as monthly installments in the Japanese hobby magazine Hobby Japan. To develop the SF3D storyline, Kow collaborated with Hiroshi Ichimura (story editor) and Kunitaka Imai (graphic designer).

The creators drew visual inspiration from their combined interest in WWI and WWII armor and aircraft. Kow built the original models from numerous kits including armor, aircraft, automobiles and real space.

The designs were predominantly of powered armor suits, but Kow also created two legged walking tanks, anti-gravity flying aircraft, and automated robot walkers. Hiroshi Ichimura and Kunitaka Imai added the graphic style and created the background story for the new models.

Together they created a unique series with a very different visual style from the typical “Giant Robot” series in Japan at the time. A small but dedicated fan following soon developed.

The Story

The story is set 880 years in the future. Events primarily take place between the years 2882 and 2886. A nuclear World War in 2807 destroys most of Earth’s population, and renders the planet uninhabitable. About 50 years after the destruction, the Galactic Federation (details unknown) sent an investigative team to determine the condition of the planet. They discover the planet has restored itself to a natural paradise and begin the process of sending colonists to populate Earth. The colonists prospered on the reborn Earth. Cities and towns are eventually reformed, but this growth attracts the attention of criminals, AWOL soldiers, political criminals, mercenaries, terrorists, and other people who had decided to leave civilized society, who began to make their way back to Earth as a suitable place for refuge. The Colonists had no real form of government to deal with the problem other than a few local militias. The GF, concerned about the civil unrest and the Colonists forming their own independent government, gave the Strahl Democratic Republic (SDR) the right to govern the planet. The SDR’s hard handed tactics to restore order; travel restrictions, hard labor camps for the unemployed, etc., created great resentment amongst the Colonists. The Colonists create the Earth Independent Provisional Government and declare independence from the Strahl Republic. The SDR immediately forms a puppet government and attempts to quell the uprising. The wealthy Colonists hire the mercenaries to form the Independent Mercenary Army. They attack the SDR forces and the war for independence and the control of the Earth begins.

Some cool pics of Machine Krieger models

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Photo manipulations by Joan Charmant

12 Mar

Joan Charmant is a software engineer who started playing with photo manipulations in 2004, when one day he stumbled upon some UFO pictures and wanted to see how hard it would have been to fake them.
He started spending some days and nights on the website Worth1000.com (there are many great tutorials and competition on photo manipulation in that website, give it a look) and learnt a lot from the other members.

Anyway, his photoshop skills are great and his creative process pretty interesting.. just pity that his day job is software engineer so you can’t find many pics from him on the net (or twitter accounts, blogs, flickr and so on)

I really like his photo manipulations, and you?

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Materials used in this picture:
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material used in this picture:
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material used in this picture:
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fantastic materials used in this picture
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Source:
An interview with Joan Charmant by Abduzeedo
Joan Charmant home page

 
 

International Photography Festival F/Stop 2009

11 Mar

competition.jpgThe 3rd edition of the International Photography Festival F/Stop takes place from July 1st – 7th 2009 in Leipzig, Germany.

The festival focuses on contemporary national and international photography.

The main program focuses on the changes in live of two generations after the revolution in 1989.

Additionally a symposium on “Curating contemporary photography” will be organized.

Artists can the download at http://www.f-stop-leipzig.de/v3/en/aktuell.php the application form for this year’s international competition called “Where do we go from here?”. The deadline for sending your work is *6th April 2009*.

The finalists will be reviewed by an international jury.

The winner will be invited to join the world’s biggest portfolio review in Houston,Texas (USA) and can present his/her work to famous directors, curators and artists from all over the world.

From Moritz Arnold
F/Stop Festival Team 2009


 
 

Steampunk – CG CHALLENGE XXIII

27 Feb

Check out the winners of the CG CHALLENGE XXII by CGSOCIETY, themed Steampunk (you know I like steampunk, right?), Video & Image category.

VIDEO

Team Entry Video – Master Award ‘EMET’
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Artist comments: “Our piece was inspired by the legend of the Golem, telling the story of Rabbi Loew, who created an animated being entirely from inanimate matter to defend the Prague ghetto and we decided to produce a trailer out of it for the CGChallenge.”
Judge’s comments:
Anthony Lucas: Epic. Masterful technical achievement.
Simon Dominic: I feel like I just stepped out of the cinema.
Philip Straub: Outfreakinstanding!
Michael Dashow: The composting and editing were really impressive. Lovely opening shot!

Launch the video : ‘EMET’ VIDEO page

Team Entry Video Excellence Award ‘Atlantis – Inconvenient Truth’

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Martin Koehler (arcaneg), Christian Stadach (cmdrpi), Simon Prager (SimonDarmstadt) and Christopher Hempel (Xr4t3d) GERMANY

Artist comments: ‘Working on the project was quite hard, because actually none of us had enough time for it. But we took the time besides our other projects, because this was lots of fun and really worth it. The idea and story changed many times. To get the project ready in time we worked day and night in the last week, and really: “day and night”.’
Judge’s comments
Anthony Lucas: Some great design. Good idea. Where the animation is patchy the concept makes up for it.
Simon Dominic: Wow, this is slick, with a brilliantly conceived theme too.
Philip Straub: Extremely professional on every level. Top marks from me.
Michael Dashow: Beautiful rendering, design, and camerawork.
Launch the video: ‘Atlantis – Inconvenient Truth’ VIDEO

Individual Video Master Award ‘Hemlock’skitched-20090227-180856.jpg Tyson Ibele (ivanisavich)
NEW ZEALAND
Artist comments: This year’s contest was a lot of fun, especially since the competition was very close due to the large number of high-quality entries. I felt very inspired the whole way through watching other peoples’ progress, and that’s what kept me driven to finish my entry on time. This challenge theme allowed for a lot of creativity, and since I’ve wanted to do a film set in the steampunk universe for a while now, it was a perfect motivator. Thanks to everyone who offered me encouragement and critique during the production of Hemlock, and congrats to the other winners and entrants!
Judge’s comments
Anthony Lucas: Great execution. Fantastic mood. Is the steampunk robot a victim of the well? Marvellously animated.
Simon Dominic: What a great story with superb delivery.
Michael Dashow: What a great mood set throughout the entire piece. The lighting, camera-work, and sound were wonderfully effective, and the ending was terrific. Easily the most thoroughly-executed story of the bunch. Great work overall!
Grzegorz Jonkajtys: Great storytelling and directing skills, not to mention excellent lighting and animation.

Launch the video: ‘Hemlock’ VIDEO

Individual Video Excellence Award ‘Ulysses’ Dreams’
Marc Mordelet (visionmaster2)
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Artists comments: “I had a great fun testing some shots I had in mind, and this challenge gave me the opportunity to question myself about my work process. Especially after I submitted my video, when i saw the works of the other people (especially Tyson Ibele), and after a long discussion with a friend, this evidence came to me : I need to step up to the next level, and make a short movie.”
Judges comments:
Anthony Lucas: Fantastic concept, modeling and lighting. Great design and animation. Great stuff!
Simon Dominic: Completely mental, I LOVE it!
Philip Straub: A unique, bizarre, and creative vision.
Michael Dashow: I loved the clever use of fonts in the robot’s body – very stylish (as was the rest of this film.)

Launch the video: ‘Ulysses’ Dreams’ VIDEO

IMAGES

Image (Individual) Master Awardskitched-20090227-181015.jpg ‘Steamnocchio’
Fabricio Moraes (fabmoraes)
BRAZIL
Artist comments: “WOOOOOOW!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!! I felt so great and could never imagine I could possibly win this competition, actually I still can’t believe it. I got inspired by so many great artists, and I was very well supported by my wife, family and friends. I am very excited, really!Sorry if words are missing, but is so difficult to describe how great I am feeling now.”
Judge’s comments:
Brajan: I love this one, the expression on Geppettos’s face is priceless :) Excellent steampunk image!
Leigh: This image just totally nails the steampunk theme. The technical quality is simply fantastic too.

Image Excellence Award ‘BaktoFairy’

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Laurent Pierlot (sato)
USA
Artist comments: “It is a great honor for me to get the Excellence prize, especially considering the quality of the works that have been submitted for the contest.When I saw that the subject for the contest was Steampunk, I just couldn’t help myself. I really appreciated the feedbacks I got in the WIP forum.It was really hard for me to finish that picture, I’m working full time so it was only possible with the patience of my family on the weekends and late nights.”
Judge’s comments:
Brajan: this image looks great even as as a thumbnail. Excellent design for a creepy steampunk setting!
Oh, and check out the special category winners too!

[From CGSociety News Archive]

 
 

How to Create a Flaming Photo Manipulation

26 Feb

pre.jpeg“In this tutorial, we’ll manipulate a picture so it looks like a woman burning in flames. The idea behind this manipulation was to create a nice looking illustration, only by using simple techniques and tools such as the Brush tool and Warp command. I hope you enjoy the tutorial and try it with your own stock imagery.”

Check out this interesting tutorial created by Jayan Saputra (you can find his deviantart page here) and published on psd tuts+.

It’s a pretty cool effect involving some warp transformation, find edges filters and of course custom brushes. I especially like the use of the warp transformation on the fire, never thought about that but I’ll definitely use this technique on the next Shot from the Future.

Continue Reading the Tutorial

Source: psd tuts+

 

Fallout 3 Concept Art

24 Feb

Check out some cool cyberpunk photo manipulations here and here !

7-07.01_man.in.power.armor.2_fullface.jpgFew days ago I’ve found somewhere on the web a link to a web folder with many cool Fallout 3 pictures.

Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios, and is the third major game in the Fallout series. I kinda like the concept, and find the graphic design absolutely stunning.

Fallout draws from 1950s pulp magazines, science fiction and superhero comic books, all rooted in Atomic Age optimism of a nuclear-powered future, though gone terribly awry by the time the events of the game take place. The technology is retro-futuristic, with various Raygun Gothic machines such as laser weaponry and boxy Forbidden Planet-style robots. Computers use vacuum tubes instead of transistors, architecture of ruined buildings feature Art Deco and Googie designs, energy weapons resemble those used by Flash Gordon, and what few vehicles remain in the world are all 1950s-styled. Fallout’s other production design, such as menu interfaces, are similarly designed to resemble advertisements and toys of the Atomic Age. Advertising in the game such as billboards and brochures has a distinct 1950s motif.
Anyway some cool pics.

7-05.08_capitol_m.jpgA post-apocalyptic Washington
8-10.14_man.in.Brotherhood.of.Steel.Power.Armor.and.Washington.Monument_render.jpg A post-apocalyptic Washington

8-10.14_man.in.Brotherhood.of.Steel.Power.Armor.and.Washington.DC_render.jpg A post-apocalyptic Washington

7-05.15_carrier_m_fan.interpretation_Oriskany_CVA-34_attack.aircraft.carrier.jpgConcept art, study.
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The wasteland
7-05.22_stripmall_m_fan.interpretation.jpeg The wasteland study
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7-10.25_PIPBoy.3000_concept.art.jpeg The PIP-boy 2000 device sketch
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8-05.16_Environmental.3_concept.art.jpg some concept art
8-05.16_Fashion_concept.art.jpg cool characters
8-05.16_Industrial_concept.art.jpg nice 50′s style devices
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robotic stuff

Buy Fallout 3 Now!

Sources: Fallout 3 Official Website Fallout 3 Wikipedia Some concept art

Check out some cool cyberpunk photo manipulations here and here !

 
 

Photo manipulations from Russia

19 Feb

Ok, I can’t read Russian and I’m not really sure who’s this guy (if it’s only one one), but his images are, technically speaking, impressive.
And I like his creativity, the atmosphere, the mood in his photos, and the weird characters populating them.. also he’s experimenting with 3D photos using small animations.. Anyway, check tebe-interesno out!
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Source: Toxel.com

 
 

Beautiful Futuristic Scenes

17 Feb

As you can probably guess checking my Shots from the future series, I absolutely love futuristic and cyberpunkish images. 

So, I’ve found on Abduzeedo some very creative and cool 3d futuristic scenes.. check it out, some of the pics are really amazing.. 

here some of my favourites

Stefan Morrell 

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James Paick

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Source: Beautiful 3D Futuristic Scenes, Abduzeedo – design inspiration and tutorials

 
 

35 Stunning Hi-Res “Public Domain” Astronomy Images

16 Feb

public_domain_astronomy_26From Bittbox, 35 amazing high definition images of space, earth and stuff like that, you can use in your compositions and photomanipulations.. 

Earth, mars, naebulas, moon, saturn, galaxies, small planets and so on.. it’s a great resource, check it out!

 
 

Yoshihisa Kajioka

15 Feb

no-digital

I really like this Japanese photographer.. a little like Daido Moriyama in color.. check his:

Website (NO DIGITAL)

Flickr

Blog (in Japanese)