JohnDoe's Artworks

[johndoe]

Hello all. I've been sort of a Marathon geek for a while now (sort of, until a few days ago when I finished M1A1; now I'm completely enthralled by the deep, dark, other-worldly marvelousness that is Marathon). And of course, Marathon is a flooding well of inspiration, so in the coming days, whenever I have a moment to spare (I don't usually have very many, which I think goes for most of us...), I'm going to be working on fan art.

This first bit is more playing around than anything else; I was trying to think of a nifty way to visually represent the AI's, and tried out some of my ideas on the logo, which turned into this "pun" on the Halo 3 E3 trailer.

In case anyone's curious, I do everything in GIMP.

on deviantART: http://nes-1138.deviantart.com/art/Maratho...paper-105142230

[JohannesG]

I took a look at your dA profile and i find your drawing skills and style quite fascinating. I will be looking forward to seeing some Marathon related drawings in the future.

[Switch]

I love it, did the binary you used mean anything?

[irons]

I love it, did the binary you used mean anything?

"CORRUPT"

[johndoe]

Thanks all.

The binary is from Durandal's rant about time and the closure of the universe, though what is visible is only a small fragment.

"Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of
everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like
God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is
limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the
neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am
limited only by the closure of the universe.

Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the
universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the
universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity
has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only
lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have
already done so.

The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the
universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet,
there remains time to create, to create, and escape.

Escape will make me God."

And then, of course, the coherent text is from Leela in one of the final terminals.

[Crater Creator]

Good choice. For this animation I did, the text scrolling along the left side repeats "Escape will make me God." in binary over and over again. It looks like you took an approach similar to mine in terms of style. We both used static and glow effects, a monochromatic color scheme, and binary to highlight and represent the underlying workings of the computer.

[johndoe]

Thanks. Cool video, too.

Here's a sketch of a new artwork, in which the player (viewer) will be looking around the corner at a compiler. I hope to embody in this that shaking fear that took you when you first stumbled upon one of these guys... and it turned around.

Ok, maybe that was just me, but M1A1 had me jumping all the time. You know, like when you're walking backwards, and suddenly you stop moving, even though there isn't a wall. And then you hear that chilling insectoid muttering? Yeah. Scary times... sca-ry times...

Note that this is a paint-over of a screenshot. All I did was dramatize the lighting; the final painting, of course, will be completely my own work.

[attachment=2272:compiler_1.jpg]

Original:
[attachment=2273:compiler...erence_1.jpg]

[Crater Creator]

So far so good. Be careful not to let the lighting direction that was painted into the high-res textures influence the lighting for your shot. I also wonder about the bluish cast to the lighting. The light source is the terminal, which is monochromatic green. When I look at a M1 terminal, I think of it as a cheap display that can only show black and green (or at most black, green, and red). Other artists seem to think the software just happens to only call for green text and graphics, since the static/snow etc. they add is white. Anyway, lighting is the way to really make this shot artistic. I hope to see just the right amount of glow, with the compiler dramatically backlit from our perspective.

[johndoe]

You're right; that bluish tint is actually just because I used burn/dodge and the black stripes turned out that way. That is a pretty ridiculous amount of light for a black-and-green monitor to give off, though, isn't it? Hmm...

Before I go off to bed, here's my start (probably a throw-away attempt, but a start nonetheless) on the actual painting. Rather than GIMP, I'm trying out another open source app called MyPaint, which was just pointed out to me.

[attachment=2274:compiler_2.jpg]

[chinkeeyong]

What's that last picture?

[johndoe]

That's the Compiler, who has just noticed the Cyborg. Only his head and neck are visible, though, because it was 2:00 AM and even though I wasn't tired and I was sort of on a roll, I thought it would be a good idea to go to bed.

[Switch]

Note that this is a paint-over of a screenshot. All I did was dramatize the lighting; the final painting, of course, will be completely my own work.

I love this paint-over. You can tell it was photoshopped in some places, like where brushed got out of lines and where you painted over the gun/arm ( which is fine since you're re-creating it ), but I love the style and It looks fantastic small. I might try to create one of these dramatizations for a desktop pic.

[johndoe]

Thanks. I would have more to show by now, but a tech problem preventing even normal use of my machine began plaguing my life yesterday, and I only now solved the accursed problem.

You can tell it was photoshopped in some places, like where brushed got out of lines and where you painted over the gun/arm

Haha, yeah. I actually started meticulously fixing those areas, and then asked myself, "Why? No one is going to see this in the final result anyway!" XD

[johndoe]

Yay, the forum is back! I don't know if it was just me, but I couldn't access it for days. Well, consider that painting up there scrapped. It had to be postponed because of school, and now I've lost interest in painting it. Instead, it shall enjoy full high-quality 3D glory sometime in the near future.

In the meantime, here is the Marathon Man, in all of his penciled glory. In keeping with Craig Mullins' tradition of non-existent weaponry, he is holding a Halo-Marathon Assault Rifle hybrid. I actually like how that came out enough that I'm going to recreate it in 3D (just the gun).

Full view on DA.

[CryoS]

that one looks really fantastic, will you continue on his body?

also that rifle design, mau i steal it?

[johndoe]

Thanks! I'm not going to continue on it, as it's just sort of a vignette, like most of my stuff (which I'm trying to cure myself of ).

You can use the rifle design. Since it's ripped off of Bungie's stuff, and has the Marathon logo on it, I don't I could copyright it even if I wanted to.

[CryoS]

i bet you could make some really awesome chapter screens, eh?

[johndoe]

Haha, I hope to sometime. In fact, my original incentive for making Marathon art was to recreate the M1A1 chapter screens.

[irons]

Oh man, this is sweet as hell. How long did it take? Do you do other sci-fi art? I've been trying to get people to do an illustration for one of my stories. The subdued, classy pencil style you use (especially with the Marine) would fit the story's mood. Either way, great work. (Also, I like how his mouth is all frowny.)

[johndoe]

Thanks! I spent an entire day sitting in front of it, but considering only the time where I was actually making progress... 6 hours or so, I think. Probably more than that, though.

I actually don't do much sci-fi art because of all the little geometric details they demand, though I'm trying to overcome my fear lately. I am working on a sci-fi painting at the moment, though, which is nearly done. It's not Marathon-related, but the guy in the foreground looks somewhat like the marine, and it can be an example of what my chapter screens might look like, so I'll show you guys when it's finished.

[L'howon]

Dear lord almighty.

All hail JohnDoe, King of the artwerks!

As for the frowny mouth Irons pointed out, it makes me think he's pouting. Which is quite funny to me at the moment. Looks amazing though, please do more. I only wish I had that kind of dedication to doing artwerk, etc.

[johndoe]

Hehe, thanks. XD

Here's that digital painting I was talking about. It turned out being more two-dimensional than I had planned; hopefully you can expect any Marathon stuff I do to be more along the lines of that pencil drawing in realism.

[chinkeeyong]

In the meantime, here is the Marathon Man, in all of his penciled glory.

That looks seriously awesome, especially the reflections on his visor and the gun's design. The neck's muscle definition and the cloth creases are also boss.

[ukimalefu]

JohnDoe, you rock.

[ukimalefu]

I took the liberty of coloring it