Blood Money

Final Submission

Okay folks, this is it! My final submission for this awesome contest. Thanks again The Rookies Team for making it happen and to everyone else participating and creating such cool designs and artworks. During the project i got very inspired by all the beautiful entries in which a lot of time and effort went into. So congrats to every single participant. You have done great!

My project has changed a lot over the past few weeks. But every single decision has a reason - to improve visual quality and storytelling. And of course i learned so much, both technical and creatively.

I improved the weapon size and position to make it more recognizable and kicked out some of the money bills on the table to give the other props more room and make the image less overloaded and more clear.

So that's it. I hope you like it.

Cheers!

During the project i had a lot of ideas that i tried and sometimes rejected again. For example the perspective and lighting changed drastically compared to concepts in the beginning. I often try a lot of things out because only then I can decide whether they are suitable or not. For the storytelling i added a weapon and blood to the shot. They are very prominently placed on the table, easy to see and with a reflection of the main light on it. I've also thought about another weapon several times, like the Peaky Blinders Razorblade Hat, but i think the luger pistol fits better. Due to time constraints i bought the pistol model and the blood substance smart material from artstation marketplace (https://www.artstation.com/beatheart/store/zBON/luger-p08-parabellum; https://www.artstation.com/safwen/store/9KRL/bloody-mary-smart-meterial-with-multylayered-effect) Everything else in the scene is my own work).
There are a lot of small details i am working on right now, but the project is nearly completed.

I will upload the final composited image (+wireframe, clay render, etc.) next.

What I will do in the last few days:

• Improving "money-bills" models and textures to make it look way more rough and tattered
• Improving blood position and texture (splattered across multiple props in the scene)
• Improving money container models and textures
• Improving chair textures
• Improving ground textures
• Book variations
• Lighting
• Prop positions in general
• Atmospherics
• And a lot more...

Working on creating more depth in the picture as well as the remaining assets for the scene. Made some big lighting changes, so the outside light (street lamp) is less dominant and more realistic. Instead of keeping the "orange and teal" look i also switched to a green color which fits the scene better.

I will also improve the blood position and texture soon. There is still a lot to do but we are on the home stretch folks! So keep going everyone. Finish line is ahead.

Working all night long on more stuff for this. The render time is around 12-18 minutes(4k)on the i9-9900k. Still a lot more coming. So stay tuned.

This is my latest scene rendering. I marked some parts which are WIP. I have still a lot more ideas for the scene. It's so much fun. I learn so much while  pushing myself and diving deep into subjects on which i haven't had much experience so far. More stuff coming soon! Happy holidays again!

This oil lamp will be placed on the table in the scene to spread some warm orange light. They offer a strong contrast to the cold moonlight coming from background.

Working on additional assets for the scene as well as tweaking the lighting (Pic 1). Until now i created the textures only with photoshop and blender. But i do think about switching to substance for more details and the better workflow.

To create depth i have a foreground with the main props (Pic 2). The foreground is illuminated by the background window. The midground contains a more warm light source so there is a contrast to the cold and blue moon light from the window. The blue light is still the main light source because it supports the violent scene setting.

I want to add a lot more to the scene. So i also attached a super awesome scribble (Pic 3) which shows what I intend to do next. More details coming soon.

Feedback highly appriciated!

Hi everyone. First of all i wish everyone good luck. Enjoy the creative work. 

Thank you to The Rookies team for making me aware of this awesome series on netflix. I actually really enjoy it and i am currently watching it (when i am not working on my stuff). So the decision to participate was a no brainer for me. 

First test renderings. (yeah the blood in the background looks like jam i know... it's just a test :D ).