Macross Lineart and Profile Color Scheme Art, Round II

[Mr March]

As always, some wonderful work. Looks great!

[Starscream]

This is about 4 years old (If not more)... figured I'd finally post it up and share it.

[Wolfman]

Nice Sturmvogel II, Starscream.

[Starscream]

Nice Sturmvogel II, Starscream.

Thanks. Like I said, I made that pic YEARS ago but just realized yesterday that I never shared it.

[Talos]

Looks good! That's...a lot of purple....

I need to start working on my YF-21/VF-22 again. Maybe after the VF-19, unless I get work done on the VF-9 instead.

[Mr March]

This is about 4 years old (If not more)... figured I'd finally post it up and share it.

Ah, interesting colors. Nice work.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Mr March

[SchizophrenicMC]

Macrossworld, it's been awhile.

So, I've come with some awesome to make up for it.

EDIT: Aw, crap, I just realized GIMP screwed the Macross Kite's position when it compiled the PNG... Dammit.

Edited June 19, 2010 by SchizophrenicMC

[Talos]

Decided to fiddle with my VF-19 a few days ago. I haven't finished the line art or started any detailing, I just wanted to experiment with some of the shading and highlighting. I'll probably end up redoing most of this anyway.

[SchizophrenicMC]

It looks pretty good, and emulates the curves of the actual bird quite well, Talos. I'm, as always, impressed, man.

[Talos]

Thanks, Schizophrenic.

I worked some more today on the line art for the VF-19, primarily in the cockpit area. I based it on the Hasegawa interior and then started adding more and more details from the b/w work in the Macross Mecha Manual's YF-19 page. Still needs lots of tweaking just in the cockpit alone, but it's getting there.

As for the shading, I wasn't satisfied with it so I pretty much started that part from scratch. I think it shows the shape a lot better now.

[SchizophrenicMC]

Thanks, Schizophrenic.

Dude, you make me look horrible as an artist.

I absolutely love your work, Talos. Wish I was dedicated and skilled enough to do stuff like that.

[Talos]

Dude, you make me look horrible as an artist.

I absolutely love your work, Talos. Wish I was dedicated and skilled enough to do stuff like that.

Thanks, Schizo! Really, though, we all have to start somewhere. Look back in the first Profile thread here (to about May 2008 or so) and you'll see some horrific VF-4s from me. I fell in with the right groups and pushed my aircraft and Macross work continuously. I saw those really super-detailed and realistic aircraft profiles and I wanted to do that too, especially with things like variable fighters from Macross. I'm slowly getting there.

I hate double-posting and this isn't a WiP thread for me, so I haven't been updating on the VF-19, but since I'm posting anyway for that, I figure I can stick in my drawing I posted the other day in the Master File thread. They're almost done, mostly just need to finish the wings on both!

[Mr March]

Looking very sexy. Well done.

[SchizophrenicMC]

Hot smex, Talos.

And please, let it be a WIP thread for you. Your stuff is AMAZING, yo.

[chillyche]

Hey everybody... can somebody tell me what the SVF squadron designation we all seem to be using means?

[Talos]

S=Space

V=Fixed-wing

F=Fighter

[chillyche]

S=Space

V=Fixed-wing

F=Fighter

So, if there were an Electronic Warfare squadron made up of say, VE-1s, one might see a designation of SVQ as opposed to VAQ?

Thanks Talos!

[Talos]

So, if there were an Electronic Warfare squadron made up of say, VE-1s, one might see a designation of SVQ as opposed to VAQ?

Thanks Talos!

When I did my VE-3 Howlers, that's what I figured the squadron designations would be too. There is precedent for four letter codes (RVAH, for instance), but I prefer to stick with three.

[chillyche]

When I did my VE-3 Howlers, that's what I figured the squadron designations would be too. There is precedent for four letter codes (RVAH, for instance), but I prefer to stick with three.

Cool. Hey, I'd love to see your VE-3 Howlers. It looks like your photobucket link down there isn't working anymore?

[Talos]

Hmm, odd. I'll fix it later.

Anyway, I reupoaded the VE-3 for you. It's restricted to fighter mode only.

[hellohikaru]

Looking good, love the rotordome!

[valhary]

anyone has the lineart of the thunder hammer???

[Shogi]

Figured this would be the thread to ask: I think there was a thread for this back in the day that actually had blank lineart for people to use. Does anybody still have the blanks? It's weird; it used to be you couldn't throw a rock without hitting Macross lineart and now it's like everything that hasn't already been colored/shaded just disappeared from the Internet. I'm particularly looking for lineart of the VF-1S/VF-1J in Battroid mode, if anyone can help.

[Talos]

There is still some in the 1st profile thread, which should be in the Hall of Great Topics. I have some fighter ones I've finished uploaded too, all the VF-0s, the four main VF-1s, and the YF-21/VF-22. The YF-19/VF-19 are soon to come.

Don't have anything battroid, though. I prefer the fighter modes. XD

[Shogi]

I checked that thread and all the links up front were busted. Going back a half-dozen pages or so from the end I couldn't find anything other than already-colored pieces. Maybe I'll have to try and strip the colors off of an existing picture first.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Shogi

[frothymug]

I'd like to be able to play around with creating my own color schemes, but I don't know what steps I'd need to go through to do it. Any suggestions on where to start?

On a related note, it would be pretty awesome if someone created some sort of application that would let you paint a valkyrie and it would display the appearance in all three of its forms... maybe even let you grab a 3D model with your mouse cursor and turn it in whatever direction you'd like.

[Mr March]

I checked that thread and all the links up front were busted. Going back a half-dozen pages or so from the end I couldn't find anything other than already-colored pieces. Maybe I'll have to try and strip the colors off of an existing picture first.

Do you want uncolored "schematic" line art? Or are you referring to regular drawn Macross line art? I've never seen any official Battroid schematics (aside from rough or variant drawings by Kawamori and co.), I've only ever seen fan-made Battroid schematics, typically taken from Model/Toy manuals (such as those built by Crazy Canuck). Since they were mostly fan made, that's likely a good reason why you don't find them online anymore.

It's also important to note that many old school fans have left Macross fandom and many of the original mid-to-late 1990s Macross fansites have long since shutdown and/or been lost to the nether of the internet.

I'd like to be able to play around with creating my own color schemes, but I don't know what steps I'd need to go through to do it. Any suggestions on where to start?

On a related note, it would be pretty awesome if someone created some sort of application that would let you paint a valkyrie and it would display the appearance in all three of its forms... maybe even let you grab a 3D model with your mouse cursor and turn it in whatever direction you'd like.

Other than acquiring Photoshop and using the multiply feature to build color layers (which is what I do), I hear many people use GIMP (a free graphics program with Photoshop-like functionality) to build colored art. I'd suggest starting with that.

Your Valkyrie color generator sounds great, but that's way beyond my programming skills

Edited August 9, 2010 by Mr March

[Talos]

Other than acquiring Photoshop and using the multiply feature to build color layers (which is what I do), I hear many people use GIMP (a free graphics program with Photoshop-like functionality) to build colored art. I'd suggest starting with that.

Your Valkyrie color generator sounds great, but that's way beyond my programming skills

I use a combination of GIMP and Photoshop for my stuff. I started off with GIMP a few years ago and developed my coloring and shading skills there, as well as designing and drawing markings. Thanks to you, Mr. March, I've been learning and using Photoshop, but I'm keep it with my unshaded work right now, since I'm more comfortable shading in GIMP.

frothymug, the best advice I can give is practice, practice, practice! Well that and 'use the multiply layer' feature. It's in both GIMP and Photoshop and allows you to color or do whatever on a separate layer underneath the line art without disturbing it. Makes everything so much easier. March and I can give you a more-detailed help later, if you need it. I'm posting an example of what you can do with GIMP and Photoshop. They've both been shown before on here (I just need to get back to work on them, I'm slacking!), but I wanted to illustrate my point. The shaded one is from GIMP, the unshaded is from Photoshop. I should note that the unshaded one isn't going backwards. I'm doing more anime-style coloring in unshaded and also doing them in the Macross Mecha Manual style. The shaded one will get more realistic schemes (including up-detailed versions of the anime ones).

Shogi, there was a whole set of fairly undetailed, but complete (top, side, front, back) fan-made schematics of the VF-1 battroids that I remember from many years ago. I'm sure they're still up on one of the Robotech sites somewhere. I remember seeing them on one.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Talos

[Shogi]

By 'lineart' I was more referring to the kind of pictures you see at MAHQ (like this page), which used to be all over the place in the original black-and-white.

[Mr March]

By 'lineart' I was more referring to the kind of pictures you see at MAHQ (like this page), which used to be all over the place in the original black-and-white.

Well, there's plenty of black and white line art at my website, found within the "line art" section of each vehicle profile.

You can also visit the Macross section at Mecha Image of the Day, which has a mix of color and black and white line art (make sure to view the entire archive)

If all that fails to offer the particular pieces you're looking for, try posting requests here on the forums. I can help with a few requests, so long as the requests aren't extensive. Posting you're preferred size would be a good idea too.

Hope that helps.

[SchizophrenicMC]

I use GIMP in a fairly unorthodox method. I use the polygon select (lasso) tool to select which areas I want in the color I want them. Then, I use the Colorize tool to manually change the color value of the selected area. Not the most elegant or quick method, but it works for me. Then again, I never shade anything.

[frothymug]

I started goofing around with GIMP and the first thing I want to do is create a blank profile image of a 25F without any customized coloring. Does anyone have a dorsal and side view of this? Or, can someone show me how to remove the coloring and not make it look like ass like I've been able to do so far?

[Talos]

Mr March drew one, I'd drop him a PM.

[Mr March]

I rebuilt schematic drawings of the VF-25F and S based upon the same set that was drawn for Model Graphix and Hobby Japan. Because the official schematics aren't very accurate, my drawings are also not exactly accurate either, just the cleanest fan-drawn version of what's officially available. If you're okay with that, I'll post the set of VF-25F blanks. Let me know what size you want. Also, I can post the schematics w/o the insignia and w/o the color lines or provide the PSD file if you're using PS or GIMP.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Mr March

[frothymug]

You don't have to go through all that work, dude. I wanted to just mess with a color scheme I thought up. Instead of trying to picture it in my mind, I might as well look at it on a computer screen to see how it turns out! =o) I have been trying to alter the Alto colors version of the 25F I snagged off of your site, but when I try to replace the colors with the off-white from the rest of the VF, it just doesn't work out right. Um, the size that's on your site is more than sufficient. The insignia is fine; all I need is a blank-colored profile so I can just use the paint bucket tool to fill in the colors where I want them to be. Thanks!