of course sue doesnt care, look at her!!!

Reed's Expression = Awesome!!

Wooooot! This picture made Lady Heromorph's top ten pictures of the week ending December 9th 2006

Wow... this is an impressive piece. The one thing that does bug me a little is how Sue looks like she just doesn't care. But hey, the piece is still fantastic! 10!

Woah! This kicks! Very cool battle scene! And I have to say, I just love the effect/texture on Torch!

(yes, I know I said this over at c2f... I just copied and pasted. I'm just that lazy )

Clean and fascinating, Kev! An easy 10 from me.

BB

Not to gush,but it's quality pieces like this that,in my mind,put Heromorph far above other fansites. The layout, the action and textures all look,well,fantastic.

Awesome, don't know where to start complimenting. It all looks amazing. Only, I hate to pick at things but I'm not feeling the lines on the Johnny.

Absolutely exceptional! Great composition! This is one of your greatest works, Mr. KI! Let's full this comment with a lot of exclamation points!
Calm down, Android. Calm down. There is only a little problem: Sue Richards is very stoic while her husband, brother and friend are in deep trouble.
A comic book approach for a Human Torch photomanip? I would never think about that... but it works. Good job.
The Thing and, most of all, Super Skrull's right arm are amazing!

Amazing attention to detail. Case in point the finger prints against the shield of Mr. Fantastic. Excellent job, this must have taken forever.

My Art Notes:

Intro/layout: Wow, look I'm not turning it in at the last second (for once)! Mmmkay so for the second challenge I knew I'd have to really figure out how to involve all of Super Skrull's powers and all of the Fantastic Four without it looking like a messy knot of limbs, fire, and rocks. I started off by sketching a couple different scenarios. I first considered doing the 'alternate' team of Ghost Rider, Spiderman, Grey Hulk, and Logan that was featured for a couple of issues back in the 90s. I realized this would actually be less interesting for me because I had done all of those characters at one time or another and hadn't really worked on the FF before. Researching classic FF battles, I noticed there was often similarities - Reed was long and stretchy, Johnny was flamming off high in the sky off in the distance, Ben was front and center punching or throwing something, and Sue was often the captured victim. I decided on a general layout that featured Johnny front and center because I thought his fire effects held a lot of possibilities. I then decided to make Reed the victim and let Sue roam freely. Ben became my opportunity to add depth and perspective to the scene, and I used his form to frame my layout. I decided to go with 'classic' era costumes. The image was done entirely in Photoshop CS.

Background/lighting: I started with the background, looking for generally messy, construction/ destruction photos. In order to maximize the visual impact of Johnny and the Skrull's fire effects I decided to go with a night scene. I figured it was easier to go from a day time photo to night that vice versa so I picked this warehouse photo. The photos two main light sources are moonlight and the fire effects. I tried to repilcate reasonable hints of moonlight effecting the different surfaces realistically (brighter on the telephone wires, metal roofs, and the parked car). In terms of moonlight, only the Skrull is really highlighted (his 'Thing' fist and bits of costume) because the moon is to his back, and Johnny is in front of him. Sue and Reed are highlighted by the invisible power effects and Ben his highlighted by the fire.

The Thing: I realized early on that I'd be creating the Thing from scratch since there weren't any folks with his shape that I could manipulate. I started with a solid pane of 'Thing' orange. Dodging and burning this shape to give it some depth, I started drawing the crack lines with the line tool and then created 3D 'tiles' representing the separate rock plates. Overlaying a real rock texture and adjusting the colors and lighting for the fire and night setting completed the Thing.

Invisible Woman: I decided that invisible effects wouldn't fade into transparency but rather powder/sky blue 'ghost' signatures. I wanted a 60s inspired look for Sue So I went with dark eyes, frosty pink lips, and that flip hairdo. The bubble dome was hard to shape but I finally decide on a half formed sphere to protect against the Super Skrull's 'inivisrays' and advances.

Mr. Fantastic: To create his twisted body I looked at pictures of infinite math knots/loops (nerd perfect!). Finding the right shape, I added/manipped warped arms. The lighting his supposed to be glowing to represent the invisible effects surrounding him.

Torch/Super Skrull: For the main event I used a wrestling photo of two guys tussling. For Johnny, I wanted to bring back the old school 'fire lines' all over his body that the movie version had omitted. Instead of using photos of fire or fire filters, I decided to make his fired form and sparks from scratch so that I could control their shape and direction. For the Super Skrull's 'Thing' arm, I started with a five fingered hand, chopped off a finger and thickened the remaining four. I went through the same 'Thing' process to complete that arm. His other arm/hand was also make in Photoshop to accomodate for the angle and shape I needed. To demonstrate his invisible powers and add some visual texture, I created the ray effects. I thought the 'invisirays' impacting Invisible Woman's dome would look pretty cool so I added the ripple effects.

Enjoy!