I've been in a creative funk lately; the creative juices just aren't flowing as well right now. So as a result it has taken me quite a bit o' time to come up with this scene. I like how the clouds are for the most part but I do think that the ground could use some work.
P.S. I apologize for it not being posted here but the file size is a bit too big.
http://gannaingh32.deviantart.com/art/Rain-is-Coming-145255241
:o WOW. I can't say exactly what it is about this image, but it really "works" for me. As an art piece I think it has a very iconic and classic feel, and it stands very strong on its own in that respect, TG or not. As for it being TG, I think the clouds, especially the middle layer (I assume there are at least 3 here) work really well. Nice to see Matt's high altitude clouds (I assume) getting used to good effect too. I think this is some of the best mixing of complex clouds I've seen in recent memory. The stark ground and lone tree evoke a strong sense of imagery and emotion, without being too specific...
Great work!
- Oshyan
I echo Oshyan's sentiments...bravo!
This is really fantastic!! No crits.
This reminds me of those repro's one can buy in the art shop and I mean this as a compliment! :) The composition looks awesome and on top it's photorealistic. :D
Awesome piece of Art! What can I say more...
---Dune
Very epic work, came out very well. It conveys the mood you were looking at extremely well.
Wow ... That art! Clouds, lights, surface ... fantastic !!!
The only thing I suggest: perhaps it would look just a little bit better if you put the tree to the right (or exactly to the center).... see attachement
Impressive work all over!
Thank you everybody; I had no idea that people would like this one this much!
@ ThinkPink:I was thinking of playing with the placement of the tree (or its complete removal) as an aspect of improving the foreground. I can say that the tree will most likely not end up in the exact center due to my soft spot for slightly unbalanced images ;)
Great image. Taking the contrary position , I think that placing the tree right in the middle emphasises its isolation and really contributes to the mood. And those clouds - WOW!
Awesome render, the lighting is phenominal.
god those clouds look g :o :o D!
the formation of them and the lighting is just superb ;)
The only thing I might add would be a haze shimmer between the tree and the camera. The temperature inversion you see on hot days.
Fantastic! Don't remove the tree!
I agree, keep the tree, it's a great focus for the middle distance. I'd also like it a bit to the right though, something about the way the branches seem swept, from right to left says it should be more right-sided.
Lovely clouds! :)
Thank you everybody! I have done some crop renders and having the tree on the right has grown on me.
@njeneb: That would be really cool if I could get the shimmering haze sort of thing to work, I'll have to play with the program a bit to see if I can get some acceptable results.
I think that a painted shader with a power fractal mask would be a start. A reflective surface would 'bounce' the sky. Getting the distortion above the area will be the most difficult thing.
Truly a great man! I agree with Oshyan, when I took a look at this render for the first time I was floored. You managed to evoke such a strong sense of emotion in such a simple render. Very artistic while still being so very realistic. I absolutely love it!
Sometimes you look at a piece of CG and your heart sinks at how crappy it looks...it's total fail. And then you see a picture like this where the CG artist just gets the textures to pop out at you in a powerful but subtle light and all the details are correct or very close to correct and it inspires you to get back to work so you can get to the same place where he's at. Congratulations. Love those clouds.
Oh ... no! Don't remove the tree! the only thing (for me) was the position ;)
Thanks for the complements everybody :) This whole mirage/distortion thing is really tricky and I may have to end up post-working it in, however I'll keep trying to get it to work in tg2
Hey DV; if you take a plane (kind of elongated in front of the tree over the whole length), make it fake semitransparent by a default shader + a playable power fractal with small values, then apply a reflective shader to it, perhaps you could get some sort of shimmering..... the reflection would only be at the 'white areas', the 'black areas' you would see through. Just a theory.....
---Dune
It's a good theory. Maybe a cloud over the plane for the shimmer?
Thanks for the suggestions. I have been working with a cloud layer over a reflective shader, the problem is many, many small adjustments that must be made to get it to look right. It hopefully will work, it's just going to take some for me to play around and get the settings right.
the reflective shader would need heavy specular highlights but very little actual reflectivity.
But then you might just as well take a cloud with small particles. I thought it was about a shimmering reflection on a hot air layer... a population of 'millions' of small reflective planes might do the trick as well, in a band before the tree, just above the ground.
---Dune