[michaelplogue]

Here's a WIP I threw together for the February Renderosity Challenge "Love Hurts." Would appreciate any crits or improvements you can think of before I submit this. Thanks all!

(NOTE: All figures from Poser, rendered w/ Maxwell Beta)

This is the processed image:




... And here's the untouched rendering (except sizing)

[Mihai]

Their chopped of heads look weird....

[michaelplogue]

Their chopped of heads look weird....

That's because they have no heads... Why do you think she's leaving him ?

No, actually I'm trying to see if I can convey emotions just by viewing their body language, and not via facial expressions. I'm guessing that it's not working??

[mverta]

Actually, I kinda like it...

_Mike

[Mihai]

Yes I kind of figured that's what you were trying to do Michael, but for me it doesn't work. Also I think there should be more motionblur on the subway train.

About the theme, this may sound harsh but I think you chose a pretty banal way of interpreting it. Wouldn't it be more interesting to portray the interdependence of two people in love, rather than the cliché love hurts=break up?

Dig deeper

[sandykoufax]

Very Good job!

I like more the untouched rendering

and matches well with your theme "Love Hurts".


Ooops, I'm rendering now a subway scene too.

[mverta]

About the theme, this may sound harsh but I think you chose a pretty banal way of interpreting it. Wouldn't it be more interesting to portray the interdependence of two people in love, rather than the cliché love hurts=break up?

Man! It's so funny how people see things so differently... this image rang absolutely home for me.. not in the least bit banal. Only in love would you cast your self-consiousness aside to the point of being humiliated in public as your love storms away. All these people watching a very private moment, but of course you don't care about that.. you only care that she's leaving.

Love does hurt, sometimes!

_Mike

[Mihai]

sure, sure....I didn't mean such a moment is banal for the people envolved, but the thought that springs to mind when you hear love hurts, is a break up. We've seen this depicted a hundred million times, that is what I ment, it's ordinary stuff, it's the least interesting aspect of a relationship. The most interesting relationship you ever had could end in the exact same way as your least interesting one, so which is more interesting to you? The relationship, or the break up? Since we are the observers of this pic, I don't know what their relationship was, I'm just seeing a couple break up, pass the cornflakes....

What is less explored and could also be much more interesting and sometimes much more painful is the love itself between two people. For example, two people in a relationship but one doesn't love the other as much, the blind idolizing and the pitfalls that entails, the feeling of incompleteness, the dependance etc.....To quote a phrase from As good as it gets: "I'm drowning here, and you're describing the water!"

Sorry, didn't mean to get aaaall poetic on the Maxwell forum technical section........chromatic abberation! There!

It's a nice pic sure, but nice. Love hurts makes me think of something else, the feeling of being born with your heart on the outside.

[ivox3]

huh? .....what's going on here?

...... based on his 'hey, where ya goin? ...something i said???' hand mannerisms .......i'd say it's more akin to a first date and she just realized he's an ass and she's gone,
'I'm outta here'!!
The image doesn't have the 'heaviness' that would usually accompany a serious break-up. You don't just stand there and watch the love of your life walk away like that. If you do, ...then your weak and you suck .....that's probably why she's walking away.

by the way Michael ...........with all this chatter, .....I'd say you suceeded just fine with your mission.

.

[Hervé]

That guy has a nice wine cellar...... but he's an ass... that's why she's leaving...

[tom]

Are the columns floating?
Nice concept michaelplogue

[jleckron]

Very nice image, Michael, here's a couple critiques/comments

1. I like the textures - very nice job

2. There's something a little funny about the woman's dress - along the back it almost looks as if the smoothing was turned off - could just be my perception of it

3. This might just be me, but the other person, in the jeans and jacket, looks (possibly just to my eyes) a little busty. That plus the tight jeans makes me wonder - is that a woman? Which would add some interesting sub-texts to the image

That's it. Fun image, lots of open questions, particularly witht eh heads cut off, like that. To my eyes, it doesn't so much look like the scene of a breakup as an "unrequited love" sort of image. The charector in jeans is watching futily as the object of his/her affection just walks on by, oblivious.

[Olivier Cugniet]

i like it

[Eric Lagman]

I just pictured it as an argument. She will be back, or he will run after her, then they kiss and make up. It has more of a date feeling than a serious love affair gone wrong. Of course maybe she was upset that he showed up for the date wearing jeans and a leather jacket like a schlub while she dressed appropriately for the opera! When you do images like this some people are going to like it some are not thats just the way it is. Its all based on how someone can relate. I personally have not had an argument in front of a subway, or in public so I cant relate that much. From a technical standpoint it is ok. More motion blur on the train would be nice. The image is a bit static when it needs to show movement based off the subject matter. The guys chest looks like it sticks out too much. I guess he is beefcake! All brawn no brains poser figure. He deserves it.

[Voidmonster]

I'm with Mihai on this. The picture is technically accomplished (though I'd like to see a better sense of cloth interaction on the guy, and a slightly less 'thick' looking dress).

As your stuff always is, Michael, I get a genuine sense of life within the characters. Your poses are alive. But the scene lacks specificity. It's another woman in a red dress leaving a guy in a leather jacket.

You've clearly put a lot of work into what you've got -- so I don't really think scrapping the idea is called for. I'd just examine what's there and try to come up with a way of making it more specific and interesting.

I'd personally use blood, but that's just me.

One possibility would be to have the guy's pose be extremely angry -- an accusatory finger, balled fists, blurred gesticulation; something along those lines. Pain, anger and love share a lot of headspace.

You might also try the same thing with more subtle poses. What's there is pretty unambiguous. Introducing less 'charged' poses could help.

If I wanted to let the body language tell the story, I'd probably break it down even further and do a crop down so that the hands were the only major feature recognizable, but that -- like the blood -- is my personal thing.