Fred Lang's Art Thread Options

[Fred Lang]

108 Days.

That's 2,592 Hours.

Or 155,520 Minutes.

Or 9,331,200 Seconds.

That's how long I have to get good enough at drawing, digital painting, and create my completely new portfolio from scratch and stand in front of Hasbro HQ and show 'em what I got.

Holy crap, so much to learn.

This will be the most important test of my ability to learn, execute and impress with my artwork. There are no excuses, no escape hatches, and no way out now. I'm in the tunnel, and May 22 is sitting there, in the future, unwritten.

Every hour, minute and second between now and then HAS TO COUNT...or I'll fail.

Whew. Back to work.

[Greg G.]

Eddie, painted.

So pink.

Looks like Kirby ate Eddie.

[Fred Lang]

So pink.

Looks like Kirby ate Eddie.

*haha* Yeahhhhh!

[Fred Lang]

In order to practice painting 3D models in Photoshop, I designed an ElectroMag Sport Bike today in Google SketchUp Pro 8. I love creating tech that looks like it might actually work, even if I have to fudge the science to get there. If you're interested in this kind of concept work, I've included a brief description for each view of the bike with my thoughts on how my imaginary bike would operate.


I cobbled together the 3D elements of 5 sport bikes, a hover car and a turbine engine for this design.

I imagined a bike powered by electromagnetism, with only an electric "push" to get the opposing magnets inside the turbine-like engine to rotate, causing a sort of "perpetual motion" reaction that powers the bike.



From this view, you can see the multiple storage / balancing motors that ensure even, safe power from the magnetic turbine. Without these, the mass-to-power ratio would be very dangerous! Please do not disable any of the balancing relays--manufacturer is not liable for death or injury resulting from excessive speed!




Note that the single-fork design never actually touches the wheels. This is due to the magnetic bond that keeps the wheels at a specified distance in a frictionless magnetic relationship to the forks, which emit a constantly fluctuating "roll" of magnetism that propels the opposing magnets in the wheels. This also eliminates the need for a power train in the traditional sense--no chain, etc. needed. Everything is electronically controlled.



Note the front-end of the magnetic coil turbine just behind the front wheel. In a retail market version, a screen would likely need to be erected to keep water and soil out of the inner relays.

As the turbine itself makes very little noise, the manufacturer offers six different operating sounds to choose from. You can also upload your own personal "engine" sounds via any personal holographic music player.



Though the "single fork" design may appear unbalanced, the natural pull of the magnetic field the bike emits provides the balance for the rider. An operator would not feel any difference in balance between this bike and a traditional two-fork design so long as the engine is operating. Care should be taken when pushing the bike while the engine is not on--remain in control of the bike at all times!



This post has been edited by Fred Lang: Feb 23 2012, 09:05 PM

[Ron Fortier]

Hey Fred, any chance we can see the hover-car you worked on too? I'm editing a top-secret project later and the writer would love to be inspired by a flying car.

[Carl Shinyama]

I've been looking into getting into using Google Sketch-up as well. Any reading materials that you would recommend, Fred?

[Fred Lang]

The past week or so have been the worst of my entire art journey.

It's like I'm painting with my goddamned feet, I swear.

All the tutorials, the videos, the how-tos, and I feel as if very little stuck.

Moving from line-oriented artwork to volume-oriented artwork is the hardest thing I've ever done.

I feel like hammered shit, and I got very little out of the week other than the nail-encrusted baseball bat to the face realization that this is going to take supreme effort from every single day I have to practice.

Definitely an "eat my pistol" week. Jesus freaking Christ.



I'm an optimistic person, but I figured I'd let you guys who follow me know that it's not all Pollyanna time here in Fred World. I have shit days, too.

Now to destroy a bottle of cheap blended red wine and play some mindless computer games for a while.


FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU---!!!

[Greg G.]

The past week or so have been the worst of my entire art journey.

It's like I'm painting with my goddamned feet, I swear.

All the tutorials, the videos, the how-tos, and I feel as if very little stuck.

Moving from line-oriented artwork to volume-oriented artwork is the hardest thing I've ever done.

I feel like hammered shit, and I got very little out of the week other than the nail-encrusted baseball bat to the face realization that this is going to take supreme effort from every single day I have to practice.

Definitely an "eat my pistol" week. Jesus freaking Christ.



I'm an optimistic person, but I figured I'd let you guys who follow me know that it's not all Pollyanna time here in Fred World. I have shit days, too.

Now to destroy a bottle of cheap blended red wine and play some mindless computer games for a while.


FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU---!!!

Have a drink and blow off some steam.

It's not so bad.

Once you get the hang of it, it will change your thought process or how you approach the work. It's different and fun.

Not at all said as a master of it, but as someone who has been exposed to it and when it sinks in - it feels more like sculpting with color than drawing. At least, that's how it makes sense to me.

[Ron Fortier]

Repeat....Being an artist is fun. Being an artist if fun. Being an artist is fun. Trust me Fred, there are days my writing sucks to high heaven!!!

[cougar18]

God Fred, I would KILL to have had the week you had. My week consisted of a college project involving a group that was about as communicative as a wall. This means that a project, which is due is this Wednesday is now back to the wall. And we are all gonna spend the next few days stressed and tired out. Until at least I am a broken wreck. Horrible situation. After all of my work within 3d animation, having initially been told that I would have to have 30 seconds of animation rendered out ( a very, very slow process) last Thurdsday, I found out I needed 2 minutes, which requires a miracle to acheive. This was after three weeks of non communication from my group. And did I happen to mention this group does not seem to know what it is doing?

So now I am freaking out, heading for a breakdown, and ageing 1 year every day.

But I am sure there is someone out there who is having it way worse than I am. Just would like to meet them.

[Greg G.]

God Fred, I would KILL to have had the week you had. My week consisted of a college project involving a group that was about as communicative as a wall. This means that a project, which is due is this Wednesday is now back to the wall. And we are all gonna spend the next few days stressed and tired out. Until at least I am a broken wreck. Horrible situation. After all of my work within 3d animation, having initially been told that I would have to have 30 seconds of animation rendered out ( a very, very slow process) last Thurdsday, I found out I needed 2 minutes, which requires a miracle to acheive. This was after three weeks of non communication from my group. And did I happen to mention this group does not seem to know what it is doing?

So now I am freaking out, heading for a breakdown, and ageing 1 year every day.

But I am sure there is someone out there who is having it way worse than I am. Just would like to meet them.

Sonny Chiba time?

Sonny Chiba time!

"Listen my son, TRUST NO ONE! You can count on no one but YOURSELF. Improve your skills, son, harden your body, become a NUMBER ONE MAN! Do not ever let ANYONE beat you!"

In the future, take point on the project; let the other knuckleheads follow you.

This is being a Number One Man!

[cougar18]

Sonny Chiba time?

Sonny Chiba time!



In the future, take point on the project; let the other knuckleheads follow you.

This is being a Number One Man!

True Greg. True. In the past number of months, what with losing my grandmother, and one or two folks who I really liked and admired that lived close by, but had reached old age and died, I feel certain things are beyond my control, and certain things are within my control. What personally irks me is when I have to rely on someone else to help me, which, in this Group project, I do. I also need to rely on someone to tell me how much of something they need. With 3D animation, the time it takes to get even a decent amount of animation is unreal. 1 hour for half a second, 8 for 4. When I had 24 seconds, they never even took what I had, but just frowned and said we need 2 minutes. I was told that on Thursday, and that was after getting no information for the last 3 weeks. Then I get labelled a non-team player.

It just seems like no matter what I bring to the table, despite what I am told, I get the oppossite reaction, or, in one or two instances, told 'that's not what I wanted' or on one occasion, when the lecturer questioned the guy who asked me to do make a ghost glow effect, asking him 'Did you ask him to do this?' He replied 'No'. I had to call him out on that, saying that he wanted the ghost material effect., he replied, mumbling 'Oh yeah'.

Now, what I have done may not even be used, which just ticks me off to high falooting heaven ( I am censoring myself, by the way, even though it is really hard to do so). Seems like I am being pushed off of the project, even though I can do this stuff with 3d and After Effects (After Effects is a different package, but allows really cool effects) in my sleep. I am not bragging, just saying that I can do this, and make it look cool, which seems to be the main goal of this project.

Sorry, Fred, and company, I don't mean to be spamming these boards, but I do need to vent. I also hope to show Fred that there are folks out there having an even worse time at the moment. Just been a really, really, really sucky week. Really.

This post has been edited by cougar18: Mar 13 2012, 08:48 AM

[Fred Lang]

New painting--



And with a logo I made up for mock-up purposes.

[Greg G.]

New painting--



And with a logo I made up for mock-up purposes.

I have no polite way of saying this. . .

Jesus H. Christ Fred!

That is a kick ass illustration.

[Fred Lang]

Thanks, Greg! I'm taking a day off today, then back to it tomorrow. The studio can't rest much between now and my visit with Hasbro in August. Onward!

[Carl Shinyama]

Damn, that is one awesome painting!

[Fred Lang]

Damn, that is one awesome painting!

Thanks, Carl!

[Fred Lang]

Though for sure I'd posted the final edit of Shadows of Endor:



And I painted a custom self-portrait Facebook Cover Image for my FB page, inspired by the Black and White horror flicks I've been watching lately:



This post has been edited by Fred Lang: Jun 4 2012, 12:04 AM

[Ron Fortier]

In the word's of Cleveland on Family Guy, "This is so wrong." A nasty Ewok! What's the galaxy coming to.

[Gonzogoose]

An Ewok with a lightsaber?!!! Awesome!