Nordic Bay

[glorybound]

here is one I have been working on forever.

[VikrantBatra]

RedBug

Hi there

I think it looks good but I have got a few little suggestions for you.
1. The brown colors on the railings is flat. Needs a texture or atleast a proper tone of brown , maybe with gloss or some bump.
2. Did you the grass in post? looks a bit rough and tiling, may be try to change that.
3. I think the composition is nice but the image overall needs a bit of contrast.

Best of luck.
Vik.

[glorybound]

Nordic Bay

Ya, the wood deck is flat so I will work on it. The grass is all v-ray with a mixed map. I like it, but if I have time I'll work on it.

[paulison]

looks nice, good job.

Maybe the elevated view makes it feel a bit like a model though.

The grass looks good to me but maybe the 'chunky' bits are too large?

Shadows are dark in places but i realise that this may be part of the look you are going for

Saturation on the wood and a few other areas could be toned down very slightly IMHO

how big are the roof tiles? seem a bit small and has a 'windows 3.11 desktop pattern' look to it - you know like when you look from a distance it looks like a flat colour but up close theres a zillion little squares and it makes your eyes freak out a bit

Thats all i can think if though, its good work IMO. Better than what i'm doing anyway so don't take my crit too seriously !

[Jonferimonic]

Not bad at all. I actually like the grass, it looks to me like this is the rear of the building (no front doors) so that slope is the unkept back yard or whatever and its got a slight covering of leafy weeds. Only two things which stand out, the first as always is the roof. Second is the sky which doesnt match your lighting setup, with long low shadows like that and the yellow hue being cast the sun would have to be low in the sky. So a bright blue cloudy BG throws the image.

[glorybound]

update

Here are some updates.

I think I fired my first client today. I started this 6 months ago and it has changed so many time it isn't the same building.... I found out that it actually isn't the same building. Their client decided he couldn't afford to build the first one first so they swapped drawings on me with the second proposed building. They did it gradually so I wouldn't know, but others got involved and someone slipped up. I probably have done 10x the work I quoted and the quote price was low anyway.

[Jer25]

I really like them. I agree with the others about the grass, really nice.
The only thing would be in the last image the sky doesn't seem right to me. Maybe it should be darker to match the orange dusk looking lighting?

These are much nicer then I can produce so I don't really have the right to comment, I'm just bored.

[Jonferimonic]

How insulting having clients trying to slip you new drawings behind your back! But if you've really done 10x the original work quoted for maybe its time to start imposing alteration fees on your clients to stamp out the cheeky penny pinchers.

The only thing would be in the last image the sky doesn't seem right to me. Maybe it should be darker to match the orange dusk looking lighting?

These are much nicer then I can produce so I don't really have the right to comment, I'm just bored.

I agree about the sky.

Err, dont be so hard on yourself - everyone has the right to comment, the stuff i make isnt amazing but i love picking other peoples images to bits.

[Sawyer]

I haven't heard of switching drawings before. Clever. I think they are very nice images, there seems to be some perspective distortion on the updated image. Nothing else really stands out. I think if you want to push the colors on the second image (it looks like the sun has an exaggerated color) follow through with the sky. And the birds look a bit bored nothing else to do put pose in pictures.

[glorybound]

Nordic Bay

This job is like beating a dead horse. I just want to get it over with. They lose, not me. I would this to death if I cared, but I don't anymore. How much effort would you put into work you know someone is going to stiff you for?

[gilpo]

We tell our client up front how many revisions we will do for a certain price. Then after that, it's by the hour. Anytime they send over a list of revisions, we shoot them back a price. They get the idea quickly. They usually end up pay for 2-3 rounds. It also helps them to not be so picky or get themselves organized and do one revision.

If you didn't get any kind of agreement in writing, then your only choice becomes whether you want to keep them as a client or not. Sometimes, when we know a client is cash strapped, but we want to keep them, we will put in a little extra at no charge. It just depends on the situation.

Although, I will say this:
"If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." I read that in a book somewhere

[glorybound]

Contract

I sent a contract, but I don't think I ever got it back. What I am finding is once the client sees the model they see things they want to change. it is probably a great way to make some extra money. You mentioned 2-3 rounds of changes. Is this finding errors in your model or design changes? If you were to quote a fee for what they sent you originally do you charge hourly for anything that strays from the original design?

[paulison]

hmm well regarding contract, I think we send the paperwork to be signed and returned along with a deposit before we commence. If they delay this side of things, then the estimated completion date changes and they suddenly find a way of doing it.

we also have on the quote that design changes or significant modelling changes will be charged as extra and also make it clear (depending on the client) that we arnt a design service for them to bounce their design ideas off. If we cant work with finalised drawings we dont do the work for most clients, or else try to educate them a bit and then try to help them at least to get something done.

Sometimes the hard approach backfires but i think that most clients have come back in the end and are more organised after going through this (even if the first time didnt go well). Most people can respect the fact that it is a business and we have to protect ourselves

BTW: your amendments look good, nice work