Need some help and ideas for composition

[cya]

Hello,

since I am new to this forum hello to everyone! Very nice forum you have here.
And since I don't know what other nice things to say, straight to what I came here for.

I've been working on an image, which I want to use as an animated still later on. But I'm fairly unexperienced and thus don't know what else to do. It's not looking really bad, but not reeaallyy great either. I want to give it a more post apocalyptic look, sort of black pools on the ground with funghi(not the pizza) growing out of them and black ooze dripping from the buildings, maybe some blood here and there, well let's see where the day brings us. But I don't have a clue on how to do that. I've spent hours looking for tutorials on this matter If somebody could point me in the right direction of how I can achieve this, give me some pro tips, it would be very much appreciated.
Of course if you got some ideas what else I could do, please, don't hesitate. There is still a lot to destroy


greeting from Essen (not actually overrun by funghi jet)

PS: To emphazise that I suck at photoshop (best tutorials ever) I put in the before picture too.

Before:



After:

 

[Dataflow]

you need broken stuff in it.
and you made the image dark but there are still strong shadows so it doesnt look right

 

[5600k]

I think thats not a bad start cya. Since youre just looking for ideas may be i can throw some in. Maybe youve already thought of it or maybe you havent but anyways.. Youve added lots of stains and dirt to the buildings and the roads but like Dataflow said i think breaking or damaging some of the stuff that youve got in the image would really help.. I would assume the white flags would get more dirty looking at how much dirt is there on everything around it. Another thing you could try is getting some cracks on the roads. You'll find tons of images if you do a google search on cracked roads.. I see that youve added a car may be some more broken ones? Shouldnt be hard to find broken car images i guess. And in general lots more debris.. some trashcans lying around or something like that should help.. A darker much more moody sky. Colors look too pleasant for an apocalyptic scene. Dark clouds might help. May be some plants growing from here and there.. Okay i should probably stop now.. Im going out of control.. But most importantly.. Have fun with it..

 

[cya]

Thank you both very much!

Yes the lighting seems to be a big problem working on that first.
And well, although my fingers really itch, I didn't wanna break too much since it should have more of a deserted look, but having some rubble and trash lying around is now next on my list with a few deserted cars.
Again thank you!

 

[ibclare]

Welcome to the forum CYA. Be patient and you'll get more input on this than you can use!

My take: your lighting is overall too dark. Do selective darkening but let some of the foreground and important details stand out, even if it seems a bit surreal. Anyway the amount of darkening of the street scene seems to have gone further than the sky, IMO. BTW, great job eliminating the people. Wouldn't be much of an apocalypse with someone strolling across the street.

Here are some tutorials that may help, even though they aren't about oozing substances. You could try downloading some blood or other liquid brushes - deviantart.com is safe for downloads.

This tutorial has some elements that may be useful to you.

http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/How_to_Destroy_a_City_with_Photoshop

This is going to seem weird since it is about putting a texture on a face. But the concept also applies to putting a texture on the face of a building, for instance.

http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/photo-effects-tutorials/apply-textures-uneven-surfaces/

 

[sprucemagoo1]

I would make the sky look like night time, and set things on fire god damn it! There are no rips and tears in the flags and canopies over the windows. Broken glass, signs and walls falling down. Standard stuff really.

 

[cya]

Alright great advice already thanks. Had to start over since my lighting before was destructive... :banghead:

So, I'm slowly coming up to the point I was before. It really takes a long time doing this kind of stuff, and it's only going to be seen for two or three seconds... luckily it's really fun when it's not frustrating.

ibclare

Yep, there's only one kind of people we want strollin' about in a post-apocalyptic scene... *brains*
Can't open the first one, but the second tutorial is great, thanks! I have seen it before, but I thought, nahh a face you don't need that.

sprucemagoo1


"and set things on fire god damn it!"


Thanks, nighttime hadn't thought about that. I'll see if I can find a tutorial. Ok, I fixed the flags first on the redo, but there is still a lot to break I haven't come around to. I don't wanna put in fire just now since I will add some animated fire later on in after effects.

The beginning of the second try:

 

[Fatboy73]

Looks good, It's coming along nicely. Just keep breaking and dirtying stuff up. Some missing letters from that neon sign would be cool as well. One issue I did notice is a couple of your foreground cracks in the street.
I've quickly illustrated what I'm talking about.
When you do cracks on the street and sidewalk they should mostly follow the grid I've shown in red which matches the flow of the street. When you draw a crack(as illustrated in yellow) that goes straight though the red lines and natural flow of the pavement, it comes off as awkward and fake looking.

Just my two cents, spend it how you will.

 

[ibclare]

Yep, I like it and Fatboy has excellent input.

If you still are interested in that tutorial, see if you have better luck by entering in google: How_to_Destroy_a_City_with_Photoshop

Also, yeah, it's a face, but the principle applies on the texture application. If you have time, you might want to try that tut and you will get ideas from it. IMHO.
:mrgreen:

 

[cya]

Thanks for the google tip ibclare, once i accessed the site over google it worked. Good tut, going to do the buildings next. After the ground floor is done, so that'll come in handy.

And excellent input indeed, thank you Fatboy73, those cracks looked off. Cool thing you did that.. don't know the english word, it's Fluchtpunkt in german, let's say matrix.


At the moment I can't decide on how to do the pavement, I've got three possibilities, that would all still need adjustement and getting rid of little flaws. But before I do that I would like your opinion:

Moss in overlay:


Moss as a normal texture:


Without moss:



I kind of like using the texture without overlay, but that's because I really like the texture. Well, tell me what you think!

 

[Fatboy73]

Glad it was helpful. It's not really a vanishing point, more of a 3D wire frame and it can help to understand the flow of things. Having attended school for computer animation, I saw everything in wire frame for an entire year.

If you haven't watched it already you should check out the history channels "Life After People" series. http://www.history.com/shows/life-after-people It really shows the systematic break down of everything people have built from day one of no people till nature completely takes back the earth. It would help immensely with what your doing..

 

[cya]

Ah yes vanishing point, the word was flying around in my head somewhere.
Must've been fascinating going to a school for computer animation, now I'm a little envious. Well except for seeing everything in wireframes. That must've been annoying.
The thumbnails look very promising. But it's 2.25am and I really have to sleep so I'll watch it tomorrow.

 

[ibclare]

I like the first version, the texture is great. The second one is too much, looks like a bad hair day! And the third is boring ... to me. You have three different lighting effects. What's up with that? I like the lighting on the first version as well. I wonder though if the middle building in the distance shouldn't be a bit darker to fit the atmosphere created by the sky, etc. Leaving the large building on the right brighter is OK because the contrast creates depth and drama. Perhaps though, the left street side of that building could be a tad duller lightwise.

Anyway, it's really coming along. I like it.

 

[ibclare]

Looking at it again and I think the first version could use a heavier layer of moss around the water pools (or oil?). The edges of the pools look a bit artificially hard-edged and the moss softens them. Just a thought.

 

[cya]

You were right ibclare, much more input than time to actually do it... *sigh*

Glad you like it! The lighting is the same in all three pictures, I haven't done any adjustment to that, probably the texture that gives that impression. Going to work on the lighting and buidlings this evening. You're right, the moss should be thicker around the puddles. It's water, since I couldn't find realistic images of black slime with world conquering mushrooms growing out of it.

How long does it normally take you guys, to do a picture like this?
I've been working on it for a week(with redo), mostly after work and it's only halfway done. Seems to me, that it takes ages. But then again, I might lack the experience in PS to work faster.

 

[ibclare]

I think it's probably both,

1) it takes more time for you to do things right now because of your inexperience. Quite frankly, I think you're doing great allthings considered. Besides, it is the only way to learn and have things stick. So don't let the extra time bug you. I've spent sometimes hours working on something, just to find out it didn't work and have to start over again. Or because I might not have found out how to do something the efficient way, I would find out later that I could have saved myself a lot of time and done it better if only I had asked for help or find tutorials. So you're doing great.

2) Heck yeah, it can take forever. Especially the more complicated it is and the more quality you want in it. And it is obvious you want quality. Don't hurry it. Put it away if you have to. If you need it right away, find a stopping point to make a jpeg or whatever, but go back to it if you're not satisfied.

Here is some work from pros who have posted on this site, Cindy Grundsten and Drejs. I personally asked Drejs how long one of his took and he told me, "months."

http://www.photoshopgurus.com/forum/show-board/31446-new-manipulation-broken.html#post104274

http://www.photoshopgurus.com/forum/show-board/34027-moment-time.html#post124847

Don't give up. As they say, enjoy the journey!