Here is the basic model for the insect in the boys hand. I will be adding hairs to its back and the ātongueā will be out and curled from itās mouth. Characters certainly arenāt my strong point so any suggestions and tips would be greatly appreciated.
Dave.
Hello all, just a quick one to show you a bit more of where iām heading with this, the ship in the background is a very early model based on a design iām just not too sure about. I want it to be blocky and ugly, but i think this is maybe a little too much.
Iāll post up some modeling shots of the mountains and the falls in the bcakground soon as well. (when they are finals). The city as you see it is still very much a stand in, the actual shape of the city fits in more with the contours of the mountains and is split in half by a river, on one side is smaller buildings and on the other a magnificent palace, think rennaissance.
Dave.
Just wanting to say a big thanks to everyone for their comments, it really is motivating getting all this feedback.
Working on the tree model at the moment, (it sits in the left of frame in the foreground) it only really involves the base and one main root but iām trying to put in some more detail than usual to get that knotted and knarled look, post up the model soon, maybe not today but see what i can doā¦
Well, interesting theme.
maybe the child should hold some robotic animal or bug
(just an idea).
See this:
Very interesting concept Dave. The amount of back story thought you have put into your scene is great. Canāt wait to see more.
Here is the base model for the tree which sits in left of frame. The thing is it is right up in front of the camera so detail is paramount, not sure there is quite enough yet, added some geometry displacement which coupled with the smoothing adds some nice smaller wrinkles, still not sure if it will be enough but iām working on the texture at the moment and early tests are promising that a large amount of the detail can be done in-texture.
Anyhoo, will keep the updates coming, probably texturing this tree will be next.
Dave
This is the textured version of the tree. (obviously) The texture is made up of 6 different bark photos and 2 mossy photos. It is a 5000 * 5000 texture which is making the olā puter chug a bit but i think it makes up enough detail in the full size render. Had some troubles with mapping it but it is mostly hidden behind the folds of the geometry so not too big a problem.
Tell me what you think,
Dave.
Well, interesting theme.
maybe the child should hold some robotic animal or bug
(just an idea).
Thanks for your comment, my original thought was that he would actually be playing with some sort of robotic toy up on this hill and that was what was holding his attention, but as the themes behind the image grew a bit more in my mind i realised that it had to be some form of life that was captivating him to contrast the events that are about to happen in the background. Thinking more about this; the idea of a creature newly emerged from one of itās larval stages seemed to fit best with the concepts of change and upheaval.
Thanks again,
Dave.
Nice progress so far. I know that your scene is still very much a WIP but you should definetly change the color of the forground earth. Green with mountains and stuff doesnt mix well. It just gives a whole sense of unprofesionalism to it (ok who am I to talk about profesionall work 
). I think you should change the mountains to a sort of grey-white color and the foreground to a rocky dusty earth with a FEW bits of grass spurting in between the cracks. I hope you see the vision as clearly as I see it in my head. Great idea you got here.
Keep up the good work.
Good point. Probably should try and get some more reference i guessā¦ But i really do like the idea of a more lush environment for the boy to be in. sigh
With the colour of the mountains iām thinking there is still a lot of texturing work to be done on them to get them right, but do you mean that the browner parts should be more of a grey colour or the snowy parts? Iām also going to change the composition of the image a bit, moving the mountains āupā so that you catch more of the base rather the entire peak (except maybe the one farthest away), which should also help a lot with the perspective i think.
Thanks for your critiques, these are what help me (and my image) get better!
Dave.
O.K, so here is the tree incorporated into the image as it stands now. Iāve knocked out most of the clouds in the background and replaced them with a photo i took of some very cool clouds from our balcony this morning. The ship is still pretty much a stand in, canāt decide on which way to take it really. As for the city part, kindly ignore the entire left half (the populated bit) but feel free to cast a sort of vaguely interested eye over the rest (ie. that one building), testing out the idea at the moment as that is probably what Iāll start on next.
Dave.
sweet manā¦ nice concepts and modelign u got thereā¦ i like that treeā¦ keep it up
some suggestions: try experimenting with the camera angles or FOV, currently ur scene is looking kinda flatā¦
best of luck bro 
Yes, agreed. At the moment you really donāt get that sense of scale which is something that has been bothering me since the beginning, iām thinking that if I pull the camera down a bit and point it up slightly that might help, but also with the moving of the mountains and the incorporation of some grass lands between the city and them it might help flesh it out a bit.
Thanks for your comment man,
Dave.
Hi David! it was a couple of days i watch this thread. it so nice that the progress is going forward 
i like the texutures on the tree and displacments too nice nice nice. looking forward to se more. i think the whole āShotā of the scene can be very powerful in the end , cause you have a good idea behind it.
/Pau
Hi, Dave!
Your renders are sweet. The only thing I can comment is the tree. Roots are little flat. The texture is going not very nicely on them. See those vertical lines? Or maybe Iām just a little freaky.
Keep progressing!
Hello all, am still alive but got a contract 5 weeks ago so not a whole lot of time for my own stuff, (somehow the idea of sitting in front a computer when i get home from sitting in front of a computer for 12 hours isnāt quite as appealingā¦ hmm.)
Might get a bit of time over the holidays but it looks like work will continue into next year, anyway will see how I go, I really want to finish this image, even after I havenāt touched it fo a few weeks itās still sitting quietly in my brain waiting to come out, so even if I donāt get it done in time for the challenge Iāll finish it anyway.
Been good to come back and see how far everyone has come in such a short time, very cool indeed.
Dave.
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