What do you guys think about this one? I did a rough sketch, then made it in Blender, and finally did a paint over.
I think the 3D probably looks best but 3D also feels like cheating to me. I want to get better at painting. Why is it that we're always good at things we don't care about but suck at the things we really want to do? Maybe it has to do with being too precious or tense about proving yourself in a medium that you haven't?
The 3D isn't even particularly good, it reeks of kitbashing and not even good kitbashing. Not that there's anything wrong with that technique, it's just not to my fancy; feels like I don't learn much or achieve the amount of stylization I want.
I was thinking about the new Marathon game while working on this. I really liked their "Graphic Realism" style they spoke about in the announcement video. It's something I've been seeing emerge lately as y2k aesthetic gets brought into a modern context-less context.
The pessimist in me assumes it'll be a soulless Bungie, MP-only arena shooter game. But the art and world they've presented really sparks my imagination in the same way that the original story's text logs did way back when.