ENCHANTED FOREST - Environment/Character - LEVIN

[Thoth]

Nothing really creative comment here :) ...but i like the colors...would be nice if the same kinda warm feeling could be attached to the final image. And i'm not sure but looks like you got a waterfall there ...and that's just great ;)

Good luck...

[KOryH]

I like the feel of this a lot.
I would suggest a foreground element to push the depth.
Keep up the good work.

[levin]

so what's the story? well here goes

i have this character i made about 8 mos ago, i was just playing around with Blender which got me introduced to 3D. it is a very messy mesh, i wasnt aware of edge loops or uv mapping back then;

just aimed for the end look and form.
this is really old stuff, if you notice, her ornaments have the same stretch bump map, and the lighting was nowhere pretty
and she had no appeal; goes to show i really knew so little, now i hope to learn more through this challenge!

her name is Lica; princess of the Aramygans -- sea dwelling mecha-merfolk. she finds this tranquil spot through the river that goes to the sea, where she contemplates...

i decided to remodel and revive her, and integrate her to the environment i have envisioned

[levin]

thanks for the early comments...
Thoth:yes, that's a waterfall

KOryH: i guess maybe she would balnce the depth?


i was wondering how i could put her in the scene maybe some rocks on the left foreground? or she flips in mid air like some dolphin...

i ll try to work on it



here is an attempt to redesign her later, about three months ago,
which also ended up unfinished.

[Mike Pauza]

Hey Levin.

Like your rough background a lot! I was dragging out old reference photos last night and ended up with something kind of like what you have there. Hope to see an update soon. You might check out mine when I get something going.

PS Your new character is much better than the first so far.

[eugene_fraxby]

for my money the background is finished!!

i love it

the mood is just right and the colors sing.....

abstract rules!!!

a

[hypronost]

Really love the background, it gives a sertain magical mood to it all.

nice work !:thumbsup:

[MikaelPersson]

Would be nice if you kept that abstract painterly effect in 3D. Make several layers and distort them like your strokes. Then make the edges blend together.
It felt so refreshing seeing that abstract painting. The 3D can really bore you after a while.

[levin]

garrrhhhhhhhh!!

i'm way behind.

it's so hard to find time for this. now i get to slack off my job until the weekend. i just hope i finish it in time.

here are my latest pics

[levin]

i will be destroying the wall/gate at the background, and fill it with foliage, giving it the lost temple/ruins look, add more detailed trees at the right, finish that tree

any comments?

i need help.

[levin]

heres the wire shot (if anybody is interested)

[ZrO-1]

Well, I'm not knocking your 3D scene, it looks really good in it's own right. But there is nothing of your original concept painting at all in the piece. What happened? You went form a soft Rembrandt/Monet painting style to a harsh grecko-roman illustration style. Again I'm not saying the 3D looks bad, 'cause it in fact looks pretty good. I just feel a bit diasapointed that you didn't carry that beutiful painting style to your piece. :shrug:

[levin]

ZrO-1:
actually that has been a question that is at the back of my mind as i progress... but how am i supposed to do it in 3d?

if i want an abtracted output, i could post edit it in photoshop, but is that thing allowed? if so, it all boils down to 2d then.

render plugins pretty much do the same thing

now do have any ideas on how to do something like it in 3d..
i'm not really well-versed in effects. tweak depth/motion blur ?
atmospheric foliage? i have some atmospheric trees in the
background--- they look lame; i haven't put any atmosphere effects yet, maybe this lack brings out the edges too much? i'll try to look into that...
also the colors are not that vivid... probbably it's the lack of foliage

anyway, i'm thinking of handling that after i finish all the objects in my scene...

as for now the my plan is to do it in 3d detail then apply abstraction effects to the 2d output

any other ideas?

thanks.

[leigh]

Hey thats starting to look pretty cool :thumbsup:
Your architecture has a cool Phoenician look to it.

[levin]

Leigh:
close. actually i was aiming at assyrian; i'm gonna be filling it with foliage anyway, as in the greens in my initial painting

i saturated the colors, made the foliage for the main tree.

still a lot to do...

[levin]

here's a close up of the tree bark. all procedural.
what do you think?

[levin]

played with photoshop... wanted to add bloom for the dreamy effect

click for a larger version (http://www25.brinkster.com/levincraft/index.html)

[leigh]

Hey Levin :)
That link doesn't work :sad: Why not just post the image here??
Hmmmm... that bark doesn't look great. You should try using a different shaped procedural - that cellular shape you are using doesn't look like bark. The colours are nice though :)

With regards to your building - have a look at the water damage I have added here. Where the water meets the walls, you should add moss and staining to them, and well as a hint of different water levels from when the water has risen after rain. I've also added some faint streaks from just below the battlements. I think this kind of thing would really help to give your building more realism :)
Also, maybe some nice Assyrian murals of warriors in chariots along the walls?? With some cuneiform text? That might look pretty cool!
Also add more moss around the rocks where they go into the water.

[levin]

Leigh:
fixed the links
about the bark, you're right i'm trying to find a squarish-linear pattern for an old bark and tht cellular is the closest i can find cuz, you're not gonna make me uv map this tree.

about the walls, yes actually i'm planning to do that, with moss and creeping plants creeping up to the walls, hanging roots, and some full grown plants somewhere up; not through modelling it yet, cracks, big cracks, weathering , planning on adding a ziggurat or something like that mayan sorceror's temple ruins behind the wall, gonna comp it though.

thanks for your help,... hey youre way over 1000 posts! i guess this is a forum all- time-high!?

[ZrO-1]

Ah, I see now. OK that's looking better Levin. I like the nice red tree you placed in. I guess I can't really comment too far untill I see where and how you place in more of the vegitation. I like Leigh's idea of putting some pictures/cuneiforms on that back wall....even if they are mostly covered up. I like the image with the higher saturation and bloom. THose should definetly be keepers for the final render. :thumbsup:

[Rhid1en]

I think you should really push for your origional painterly style. Check out this guys art, amazing! Not quite the same as what you've origionally painted, but maybe it can give you an idea how to go about achieving that style. I definatley think it would be worth the effort!

http://art.net/~jeremy/contents.html

good luck to you!

[levin]

been working on the main wall. gonna change the architecture a bit.

C&Cs needed.

[GrAnt]

Simply marvelous! did you use a displacement map? its really starting to come alive now

[levin]

Rhid1en:
who doesnt know Jeremy Engleman? the guy is one of my inspirations. glad you posted the link though; saw some stuff i never bothered looking at at his site.

as for the painterly style, i will *TRY* to achieve something like it

actually, the first painting is just for blocking out the elements and color study, anyways most of you liked it so i'll try to live up to that.

click for larger versions ; the 50k limit is killing detail (http://www25.brinkster.com/levincraft/walls.html)

[JohnR]

Hey Levin that is very cool:beer: , I think is a fantastic idea that of the assyrian ``Forest´´...... But I think you should try to put more blue parts on the walls ...... Keep on it:thumbsup:

[OZ]

HEY! u fix the links!and it is a very good thing because ur work is so good that MUST be seen!:thumbsup:

[leigh]

Hey Levin - That is looking AWESOME!! :applause:
The moss is looking great :thumbsup: Obviously the only thing you really need to fix is the stretching in the gap.
Something I would recommend is that you enhance the bump map of the bricks slightly - they don't seem to have enough definition.
The colours you have chosen are really lovely :) Great work!

[levin]

JohnR:
i was thinking of the same thing, something like the ISHTAR gates?! cobalt blue and gold trimmings, gold winged lions and dragons... that'd be cool! but it would also break the color palette i have chosen for this scene... so i'd just stick with the RED +warm-neutral + green


-OZ- thanks. is the link broken? i dont have a site so its kinda hard posting ... sorry. i'll try to fix it, ... but it works on my browser! .. ???

Leigh: well not without your help of course! thanks for the suggestions-- you don't know how much they are worth. the gap, im not planning on fixing, i'll be covered anyway. about the bricks, i'll see what i can do.

[Iguiniz.X.]

He that is looking excelent.
thumbsup:
Leigh is right about the the bricks andthe gap in the wall maybe it can be done easier if you just slecet the verteces( or what they are called) of the gap and delselect them,this way they won't be part of the structure anymore but keep the same palce in the structure. then you could put a other texture on that part.
I dn't know if you use 3D max but it might help.
:wavey:

o and could you psot a frontal vieuw so I can see the image on the wall in totall, That would be cool:cool:

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