Coming along nicely. Can't wait to see more.
Great job on this. :thumbsup
Great job on this. :thumbsup
Building The Death Star - PRODUCTION
- Thread starter PHArchivist
- Start date
vaderdarth
Master Member
I love it as is. Keep going. 
Alot of the black dots and oddities will disappear when you apply your pencil lines Rob.
Alot of the black dots and oddities will disappear when you apply your pencil lines Rob.
PHArchivist
Master Member
Comments/Response/Insight to this latest stage:
--First and foremost, once done, I wasn't as enthralled as I was with the upper dome. Don't know why, really. There's nothing going on I don't dislike, and there are still opportunities to enhance what I have. Maybe since it was second, I was just less impressed.
--This was clearly too big of a chunk to tackle in one shot. I've learned that at most, I should limit my areas to about half of what you see. Yes, this amount of area makes consistency actually harder to acheive.
--My initial impression is that the lower dome is lighter than the upper. Tough to tell - lighting is very different on the lower that the upper. You'd think that less direct lighting would make the lower look darker, but I'm not an expert in this arena. One thing is certain though; the lower dome received a lot more white than the upper, as the speckling - per the reference - is "busier" (more dense with more color variation) on the lower than on the upper.
--Plus, as Dave noted, the addition of the black marker and pencil lines (which there are TONS of) on the lower will no doubt effect the overall impression, and will almost certainly darken the appearance.
--Finally, regarding dots/speckling consistency, remember that one of my now standard and critical steps is to paint out the larger, more offending black dots. Y'all may not believe this, but its really not that difficullt or time consuming at all to go into a square and massage the speckling manually. I use a very light grey (almost white) to paint out the large black dots. The think about it for a sec - if this leaves a white blob that is too big, then it is a slam dunk to just go back in with the black Rapidograph marker to add one or two much smaller black dots in the now-too-large white one. All this increcases the degree of granularity, resulting in a more fine texture.
--Beyond that (correcting dots that are too large), it is also surprisingly easy to go in with the Rapidograph or a pencil and just add a bunch more small black dots to each square. It takes probably 1 to 1.5 seconds per dot to add more, so in less than 30 seconds, I can add a moderatly decent number of black dots to any square, and darken to overall look (if necessary).
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PHArchivist
Master Member
This is just an example, but the dots in the red circles can very quickly be painted out (plus more as needed).
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PHArchivist
Master Member
I think I'll work on the area just to the left of the dish next.
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feek61
Sr Member
Rob, this is looking grand. I know it's a work in progress but the vision of the final product is exciting (with your dedication and attention to detail). I know this is going to be great! Thanks for posting the updates. I watch for this thread every time I log onto the RPF.
Will
Will
clancampbell
Sr Member
You, Sir, are a Death Star God!!!!!
Rich
Rich
It's too bad you didn't set a camera in a static non-moving location in your garage just before you started painting so you could snap pics along the way from the same view and make a 'time-lapse' style series of images.
See, this pic makes it look closer to the top, if not the same. I have a feeling the curvature/no detail lines and no flat clear coat is throwing everything off when you take a pic.
I can't wait until the 24th!
Brad
I can't wait until the 24th!
Brad
This is just an example, but the dots in the red circles can very quickly be painted out (plus more as needed).
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ReplicantShadow
Member
Impressive ! :thumbsup
Davy Jones
Sr Member
Looks great!
If you are worried about the top being too dark, (I think it is) I think misting some of the base color over it would even it out nicely. Thats what I did in my paint test wherever the tone was uneven.
Id test it first however to make sure you like the effect.
I cant wait to see the next area done.
This thing is really looking less like a small moon and more like a space station.
If you are worried about the top being too dark, (I think it is) I think misting some of the base color over it would even it out nicely. Thats what I did in my paint test wherever the tone was uneven.
Id test it first however to make sure you like the effect.
I cant wait to see the next area done.
This thing is really looking less like a small moon and more like a space station.
PHArchivist
Master Member
Gimme a buzz later if you have a few minutes.
PHArchivist
Master Member
More progress, and more views of the project. Looks like no matter how I slice it, I ended up with a lighter lower dome...
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Man!!That looks AMAZING!!Really great work.I cant wait to see this one finished.:eek
PHArchivist
Master Member
Needs to be the other way around... Not sure if the lines will really do the trick or not. May go back in and remask to darken.
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PHArchivist
Master Member
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I wonder if gravity is to blame ? Do we know in the original was painted like yours, or painted as 2 domes and then put together.
They will help. Get it all done then come back and fix up the spots you don't like.
You've got to see the big picture before you start nit-picking it.
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