Mr March

Wow, amazing poster! I love the layout, especially Chiling Lin's face. Has that super pop star feel to it. Larger than life next to the other characters. Great work!

Whoa, I have to check out this thread more often. Great work anime52k8. Love your character design!

I'm simply revising the artwork for the next update of my website, as I've done for all the other Varauta mecha. The revision consists of new scans for both modes taken from a book with better quality line art, colors that are much more accurate to the anime, and improved shading/lighting to give the mecha that metallic appearance seen in the best drawn episodes of the animation. If you saw thumbnails of the other Varauta mecha I posted in the Az-130 thread, that will give you a good indication what to expect from the FBz-99G Saubergeran art. There is a UN Spacy version as well, but the only pictures available for the craft are rough concept drawings found in books like Shoji Kawamori Macross Designs Works.

You guys are killing me with your fan art requests I have to get the GERWALK done for the VF-14 Vampire first and then I can help with your Iron Man Valkyrie

This weekend got busy and I wasn't able to work as much on the art as I would have liked. I did manage to complete the VF-14 Fighter mode, but not the GERWALK as yet. I was also distracted from the VF-14 by a moment of inspiration I had for the final Varauta mecha to be updated. So I completed new scans and I am about half way done the Battroid mode for the FBz-99G Saubergeran. Going to work more this week and try to get all the Varauta pictures done and out of the way.

Well 2012 was already one of the best years for film in recent memory just based on what was released before this weekend. Now that I've just returned from watching Looper, this may turn out to be THE best year for movies ever. What can I praise about Looper that hasn't already been written? The cast is great, the story is amazing, the cinematography is incredible, meow, meow, meow... Another hit film that easily cements Rian Johnson as one of the best directors currently working. I'll post a bit more when I'm not so tired, but trust me, this is yet another must-see movie. Watch it.

Damn dialNforNinja, you're making me feel like a one-night stand My coloring was originally done in Photoshop CS using the multiply feature for the line art layer and then a sub-folder of various color layers. Currently I'm using Photoshop CS 5 (what an awesome program!) and pretty much use the same method. The line art layer is always on the very top of the layer stack, with all colors underneath. The primary color is stacked on the bottom, then comes a different solid color layer for the shadow on top, then followed by another solid color "deep shadow" layer on top of that and then followed finally by the solid color highlight layer on top of all that. The only thing that's changed much over the years are the number of color layers, improved software/hardware/technique. Generally, my goal is to recreate each piece as close to the best example of the "animated cell-shaded style" as it appeared in the original anime. There are examples of gradient shading shots and other more detailed paintings within the anime, but I want the best example of the "fully animated" version of the art for my website. Simple shadows, simply highlights and solid colors. Previously I scanned everything at 1,200 DPI grayscale using the TWAIN support in Photoshop CS and saved it in .psd format. Now, I have a much better scanner, so I scan most art at 2,400 DPI grayscale using Epson software and save initially in .tiff format before converting to .psd. An individual piece of line art is typically 4,000 to 10,000 pixels in the largest dimension, the reason being to accomodate higher resolution displays in the future. With digital you can always scale down but you can't scale up Typically I only use special effects when the individual piece of line art calls for it. The Hollywood Amusement Ship from Macross 7 was created using a single solid color layer and then a grayscale layer using the brush tool and selection tool. What you do is select the full color layer, then switch to your shading layer, choose the brush tool, make it VERY large and use a diffuse brush, shade outside the selected area so only the edges of the brush create a shadow and repeat as you see fit until you get a nice round, even and gradual shadow. Lately I have been a limited number of transparency layers for glass highlights, especially on line art with a prominent piece of glass or cockpit. All I do is place a "white" layer over top of the line art layer (the only time I do this). I paint in the shape of the glass reflection that I want and then adjust the opacity of the layer so you can start to see the line art and colors underneath. The effect is very useful for giving the illusion of glass, at least in the simple style I'm using. That's about it. If you need anything more, let me know. I'm happy to help.

We must be careful not to misunderstand; we don't know for certain if the poster using my colored art was an "official" Big West production or just an individual vendor at a Japanese convention using internet pictures to advertise Macross merchandise. The property rights is a whole other issue. Technically, I can't own any rights to the images because the art is owned by Big West. Only the coloring is legally my own original creative content (at least according to Canadian law). So technically I can't use the images but neither can Big West. Of course, in REALITY, the one with the deeper pockets and the most lawyers can do whatever they want...which I assume is what happened in the Lucasfilm case you're describing. Yeah, I've completed all three modes in this style for the VF-1D Valkyrie (plus I now have enough line art for a VF-1D Color Code Transformation Guide, so I built one). I'm really happy with the coloring results. It's as close to the animated shows as I've been able to replicate...so far. I've got dozens of images completed for the next update using this style, from Valkyries to Gun Pods, to Vehicles to Enemy Mecha. It's gonna be full of bling

Why thanks, that means a lot from you Zinjockey I'd be truly honored if Big West felt my coloring work was accomplished enough to feature on their products. We did see my colored pictures used for a BW poster at a convention...I still have a photo of that poster kicking around my hard drive

F-ZeroOne Oh yeah, it's still going to be challenging that's for sure. One of the funny features in the Quick Look on Giant Bomb was the inclusion of a Memorial at your base Axelay I figured you would be. I recently reread some of the old X-Com threads we had here in the archives and there's more than a few of us who were big fans of the original. If you watch the Quick Look I posted above, the Firaxis fellas talk about mod support, so i wouldn't worry. It's on their radar.

I could have sworn there was a topic for this game, but it appears this will be the first thread for X-COM: Enemy Unknown. For me, this video game kinda came out of nowhere; in development for 4 years, I wasn't even aware it existed until 2012. Since the early part of this year I've been following this game and each new video looks better and better. Details are as follows: A reimagining of the original 1994 PC Game UFO- Enemy Unknown (aka, X-COM: UFO Defense in North America) Turn-based squad game Made by Firaxis (makers of Civilization) Release date is October 9, 2012 Available for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Premiere video game website Giant Bomb just released a "Quick Look" at the new game and it's everything an X-COM fan could hope for. I just finished watching this almost hour-long video and I wanted to share the love. http://www.giantbomb...nknown/17-6601/ Pre-orders are available now from most of the major game distributors, including digital via Steam. Check it out!

Oh my gawd! I'm so sorry to hear that! You should have messaged me and I would have helped. If you want copies with the placeholder layer removed, just let me know and I'd be happy to give them to you. That layer is only in place to make fan-made color variants easy. Say if I wanted to build a black colored VF-1J Valkyrie, you just turn that layer black and then adjust the other layers to suit. The placeholder layer is there on all my "white" mecha, just in case.

dialNforNinja Not to worry, as you can tell from the many times I've revised my website, I'm also more than a bit of a perfectionist. Perhaps it's a good thing our time is limited Mommar The battle damage is actually part of the original line art for the VF-1D Valkyrie in Battroid and GERWALK modes (the Fighter mode is undamaged). My website currently only has the original VF-1D Battroid art, but the battle damage will be much more pronounced after the next update because of a newly scanned version from a superior source book. The VF-1D GERWALK currently on my website? Well...that was one of my dirty little secrets I started the Macross Mecha Manual with only three books of line art; the SK Macross Design Works, Macross Perfect Memory and The Gold Book. As such, I couldn't feature complete profiles of all the Macross mecha because the books I owned lacked the line art required. So I cheated. The VF-1D GERWALK currently on the M3 is heavily modified line art of the VF-1J GERWALK built to look like the "D". The line art I posted above is the original VF-1D GERWALK taken from This Is Animation Macross Volumes 1 and 2, two books which I only obtained this year. I suppose now that my secret is out, there's no harm showing a comparison picture (see attached). If time permits I may remove the battle damage and post "clean" versions too.

dialNforNinja I'll fix the hip wing and ankles, but I can't spend too much more time on this piece cause I still have the Fighter and GERWALK modes to complete and I need to work on my website material. I'll post the three modes sometime this week. chillyche Thank you so much for saying and I definitely agree I've been able to improve as I've worked more and more. My original goal was always for the Macross mecha art to look as close to the animated show as possible, complete with shadow and light effects (perhaps more accurate to say as close to the "best animated episodes" as possible). Sadly my skill as a colorist, my access to quality line art, my scanner and accurate reference pictures were all lacking, so I couldn't make it work. Now most of that has been corrected If you like my coloring for dialNforNinja's VF-14 Vampire, you're going to love the next update to the M3 website. The next update will feature dozens of profiles rescanned and recolored with 3-tone and 4-tone colors. I've only got about a dozen more pictures to color and the update can be posted. Working as fast as I can. Attached is little sample to satisfy you while you wait http://www.macross2....-1d-gerwalk.gif paramat Thanks dude. And yes, I'm going to work on the other two modes next. Should have them done this week.

I picked up the game this weekend and it is a ton O' fun. Great controls and gameplay plus a lot of different ways to use your abilities. Will post more as I play. Giant Bomb also released a great review: http://www.giantbomb.com/mark-of-the-ninja/61-37615/reviews/ Enjoy

Thanks charger69. dialNforNinja, Okay here's an updated version with the blue "mohawk" on the head. I also modded your line art a little to accomodate some red coloring inside the "camera/sensor" in the center of the forehead.

Coloring the VF-14 was a rush job on my part, so I just took colors from the old concept-art pictures I currently have on my website. But like most of my first time colorings I lacked proper color reference, so the colors need to be slightly readjusted to reproduce an actual anime-accurate appearance (wow, lots of a-words there, lol). Revisiting my screenshots I can see the face/hands/engines are not white but actually grey, the hull is a more greenish-blue type of black and the pink parts should be nearly bluish purple. The hands appear like my original "white" in some shots but they are "grey" in others. On Macross mecha - when the hands are colored differently from the main hull - they are almost always the same color as the engines. So I'm assuming shots like the one you posted showing the "grey" hands are the "correct" color. The darkness is always a really tricky part, for obvious reasons when dealing with the color black. Also keep in mind the background for displaying my art is always white, which will make dark colors look brighter if placed upon a dark colored background. So the blacks need to be lighter when I build my pictures. In addition to the more accurate colors I have made the main hull darker, but only just SLIGHTLY. Here's the revised version.

Alrighty, here's a colored version of the VF-14 Vampire M7 PLUS. I created both a VF-17 Nightmare-style Blue/Black version and also created a Grey/Black using the colors found on the "logo" spread done by dialNforNinja. Comment, complain, cower

Love her...er, I mean it Looking at that VF-1A and VF-1J GBPs makes me think it would be cool to create those customs for the fan art section of my site. Regardless, great work from TheElf.

Get back to Macross stuff? Rubbish! Who needs that junk? Incredible work Talos! I love all those badges.

Watched it last night. Intense, disturbing, enthralling, exciting and action packed all adequately describe this lean and mean adaptation of the Judge Dredd comic book character. If many of you have heard of the parallels Dredd has to another top shelf action movie called The Raid, rest assured that while the similarities are there, these are two very different beasts both made in all the right ways. I had no problem thoroughly enjoying Dredd and judging it (chortle) most favourabliy on its own merits. Performances from Olivia Thirlby as Rookie Judge Andersen and Lena Heady as crime lord Ma Ma were particularly good. Karl Urban in the lead role as Dredd himself is sufficiently brooding, terse and brutal, but it's to the credit of the script that the supporting cast carry the drama and invest the audience. On his own, Dredd is an almost flat and a near tension-less force-of-nature within the film who best functions as plot device than character. Yet Urbans performance as Dredd does allow for some great action sequences and classic one-liners delivered with entertaining self-seriousness. When he says he's the law, we absolutely believe he means it inspite of the melodrama. The 3D sequences were spectacularly designed and implemented with an accompaning score that almost felt like a drug itself. If like me you experienced an action film "re-awakening" when you watched The Raid this year, you owe it to yourself to see Dredd. Again this year we are treated to a movie that takes us back to what action films should be and shows what we've been missing in our domestic action cinema for far, far too many years. Highly recommended!

LOL That is hilarious.

Yeah, the work looks amazing! I'd love to color your new VF-14 versions for my site. Check your PM. Not that I'm complaining about what you've doen so far for the armored version (it looks cool), but wouldn't the VF-11C Thunderbolt APS-11 Protect Armor be a more era-appropriate template for a Full Armor VF-14?

Not so crazy about the model, but I like the colors. Sexah!

Um, holy fracking hell this is awesome? Wow! If you're interested, do a front view of the Fighter and Battroid and I'll color it and post it on my site.