Looking for a critique - Hover tanks

I have been working on my digital painting skills doing concept art. The design is a flying / hover tank. I have two versions, and I wanted to know which one people like more - the one more abstract impressionistic-like or the one which has more line work showing through and is more detailed. Also, of course, any constructive criticism is welcome!

I chose pencil but I am a fan of impressionist styles. To me the impressionistic one looks a little imprecise - or rather, has mistakes - whereas the line version looks more exact. I know that sounds stupid bearing in mind what impressionism is, but I can't think of a clearer way to say it. I prefer the soldiers in the impressionist version, though.

The main problem I have is the skids. If you could make them a little tidier in version 1, I could be persuaded to change my preference. I prefer the luminous background and cloudiness of the first, too. I'd expect the writing to be less legible though.

I wish I could draw

pH

Phyrebrat said:

I chose pencil but I am a fan of impressionist styles. To me the impressionistic one looks a little imprecise - or rather, has mistakes - whereas the line version looks more exact. I know that sounds stupid bearing in mind what impressionism is, but I can't think of a clearer way to say it. I prefer the soldiers in the impressionist version, though.

The main problem I have is the skids. If you could make them a little tidier in version 1, I could be persuaded to change my preference. I prefer the luminous background and cloudiness of the first, too. I'd expect the writing to be less legible though.

I wish I could draw

pH

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This ^^

Also, the impressionist one looks somehow 'unfinished'.

I fully expected to like the second one, given my personal tastes.

However it felt the least finished, least story invoking of the two. After viewing the second, the obvious 'brush strokes' of the first felt more like water drops on the window through which the view was glimpsed. The faces of the first, though less distinct, have more character. The atmospheric smearing gives the first a feel of action. Where as the second is motionless.

AlexanderSen said:

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I have been working on my digital painting skills doing concept art. The design is a flying / hover tank. I have two versions, and I wanted to know which one people like more - the one more abstract impressionistic-like or the one which has more line work showing through and is more detailed. Also, of course, any constructive criticism is welcome!

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I like the first one better. In fact, it's perfect! It reminds me of several Japanese artists. Have you ever lived in Japan?

Hi, thanks for the critiques everyone! I am reworking the image and trying to use the input from the critiques. And yes, AstroZon, I did live in Japan for a while. It was a great time - they have a strong Manga and Anime market, so there is so many cool things that they have there.

AlexanderSen said:

Hi, thanks for the critiques everyone! I am reworking the image and trying to use the input from the critiques. And yes, AstroZon, I did live in Japan for a while. It was a great time - they have a strong Manga and Anime market, so there is so many cool things that they have there.

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Cool. I lived there too, a few different times in fact. Most people are familiar with Anime and Manga, but there is so much other good art in Japan. The expressions and the eyes on the first picture are what remind me so much of Japanese illustrative art.

Based on everyone's critiques I made another version which took the best things out of the two illustrations before.

I was experimenting and also did another version of a hover tank. Similar design, but slightly different. I tried another style again this time using big thick comic book lines. I am not complete happy with the dazzle camo on the tank, I probably should look into more real life references to get the right feel.

The new version looks great!

hopewrites said:

The new version looks great!

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Thanks! I am now working on another version of the hover tank, here is the rough. Also, I have been working on a hover jet bike and flying car as well. I must have a thing for hover vehicles...

Instead of changing tires you change intake filters?

I have done another hover tank illustration, this time the tank is with turrets to fight things both above and below it. I imagine the hovering altitude of the hover tank can change, so the lower turret on the tank has a Vulcan Cannon which takes care of ground based troops that might get under the tank because of the its higher altitude. I really like how the design came around, I based the design off real-life tanks so it feels more believable to me. I like the triangle and dots insignia - it seems like a real life tank squadron insignia, but I am not completely satisfied with the skull insignia though, I just put it up as FPO for now.

I think I preferred the earlier versions, IMO this looks like two turrets glued together with the lower half looking distinctly, upside down. On a technical point, I can't actually see (unlike the earlier versions) how it levitates, or lands? With regard to design, the concept of a 360° arc of fire is excellent, however, I don't think having a large gap at the rear of the upper turret is going to improve crew moral, or if there isn't any crew then longevity in battle. Tanks should offer the absolute minimum of surface area to enemy fire and the surfaces it does should not be flat and ideally without any gaps. I'm ignoring its vulnerability to an aerial attack. I think the skull insignia is fine. Let's be honest, if I saw this flying towards me on the battlefield I didn't think I'd paying too much attention to the markings.

Hi, I am back! And with more hover tanks. This time I have two designs, I took into considerations your critiques and came up with these designs. One which emphasizes more an organic tank design, and another one which is more of a tank destroyer / hover gun platform.

I think the MK 10 looks pretty good, heavily armed, well armoured, and has the look of a hover tank. Depending on how much realism you want to convey, main battle tanks tend to weigh around 60 tonnes so that would require a powerful propulsion system to ensure maneuverability in combat. The hover gun platform is interesting, it looks as though it could dart around the battle wreaking havoc, although I don't know how long the gunner would last , perhaps it could be remotely controlled or encased?

The gun platform is more of a tank destroyer type deal - a lot of fire power, but little protection. Usually used for support from behind the front lines. A glass cannon if you will.

Thanks for the suggestion. Here's a design for a flying drone, based upon your suggestion. It flies and it's remotely controlled, I imagine it would be loaded with sensors for the remote pilot. It's in a ruined battlefield, probably hazardous for humans thus using the remote controlled vehicle.

Yes, that looks like a Drone and it's myriad of sensors gives it menacing look. I think the lights and the grey urban camouflage add to the realism considering the ruinous background. Also the similar curved design to the MK 10 Hover Tank could indicate that they belong to the same Army.

I have some more designs based off of previous designs and people's suggestions. They are still in rough line work phase, but I did a quick tone / fill to bring out the shape of the silhouette. I will shade them later, once I refine my ideas.

I liked the design of the Hover Weapons Platform (HWP), so I did several more designs using the chassis of HWP - I see these like variants in real life. i.e. Panzer II, II , IV, V, etc. with the building and evolving of tank designs. Not exactly a Hover Tank but more like a Mobile Weapon Platform, but I thought I'd just call it a hover tank for now. Until I find a better name for it. Any suggestions would be welcome!

The MWP-8A has an armored closed top turret like that of a regular main battle tank. As opposed to the earlier SPG version which was open topped destroyer/mobile field gun with shield, and was intended for long range support from the back lines. Finding a need for mobile armor which could be used to break through enemy lines brought the need for more protection for the crew, so a closed top turret version was built. During the design they also found a need for firing from 360 degrees due to the nature of hovering vehicles which when hovering at higher heights enemy troops could hide and shoot the tank from a blind spot underneath the vehicle. So a machine gun was mounted on the lower front hull to deal with ground threats. The MWP-8B is a up-gunned version of the WMP-8A, with a Vulcan Cannon mounted where the previous MG was placed before.

As well, there is the MWP-8C-RMS (Rocket/Missile System) design which is more an artillery role / heavy firepower support role with it's large missile rack on top of the turret, similar to that of a Sherman Calliope. It can also be armed with guided missiles instead of rockets.

I also added a sketch of a bigger more larger and more heavily armed MWP.









I would love any feedback on my latest designs!

All good designs. I think the Vulcan cannon makes a useful addition for close quarter defense. I assume the multi-launch rocket launcher would be deployed in a static position at the rear of the army, so perhaps it should have some air defense capability? The Mk 9 MWP looks impressive, nice drawing.