Mounds (terpen)

Started by Dune, July 08, 2011, 02:52:54 AM

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Kadri


It looks dangerous to live there! Nice :)

Walli

very nice, a lot of detail like the bird and the old fence. I also like how some grassy areas are hit by light, some others not. The trees are a tad dark for my taste though.

Dune

Yeah, the trees are strangely dark. I'll check them out. Here's a dry season version. The only thing that went wrong was the depth of the creeks; it seemed to have flattened out a bit too much. I like the sky most, somehow. I realize I need to make some 3D swallows... and perhaps change the poles (they are stones, actually) to better poles.

Kevin F

I like this a lot. Nice balance with the grass distribution and flowers, and the dry ground really works well. I think it needs something extra in the foreground though, like maybe an old cart or a pile of logs?

DutchDimension

This looks very nice indeed Dune! It's a pleasant composition you have there. The polders in the distance with the islands running through them give a good sense of depth and scale of the environment.
I hope you'll work a bit more on the foreground however. Perhaps have the pathways worn down a bit more to the point where they slope down a tiny bit in the center as well as having a smoother surface. That and have some smaller weed-like plants (shorter than the grass) bordering the edge of the path for a better blend. It's a bit too abrupt right now. That is unless they are meant to be footpaths of course. :)
Also maybe experiment with adding a few more populations to add things like small pebbles, fallen leaves, and general "debris of nature" of that sort. Don't go too far with it though, right now the composition has a peaceful, minimalistic look to it. It would be a shame to lose that.

I must say that I really like the darkness of the trees (as well as the houses). It makes it more realistic in the photographical sense. I wouldn't brighten them up if I were you.
If you were to take a single photograph of a similar scene, under similar lighting conditions, you would never be able to capture a wide enough dynamic range to correctly expose both the brightness of the clouds/sky and the darkness of tree shadows. A choice has to be made as to which parts you want to expose properly. In sunny lighting conditions it's always a sacrifice you have to make. The power we CG artists have been granted enables us to bypass such limitations. 'Great power comes with great responsibility' as the saying goes and often times that power is exploited with the unfortunate result of unrealistic imagery. I think you've done really well here!  :)

choronr

I also like this version very much with the clumping of the grass. As you said, perhaps the bare spots might appear better if that looked lower than the grass. As for the darker appearance of the trees, this is no different than real life with the lighting you have set - I think they look good as they are. Mentioned by someone else, maybe the cracks in the bare spots would look better if they were smaller. 

otakar

Yes, the first thing I noticed is the sky. Lovely!

Henry Blewer

There may also have been some mollusk hunting. I would have some dug up areas where they had been found as the tide went out.

This is really looking great now.
http://flickr.com/photos/njeneb/
Forget Tuesday; It's just Monday spelled with a T

Dune

#23
Thanks for your lengthy comment, DD. But they are not pathways, as you can see from the first iteration; they are supposed to be runoffs/creeks in an estuary/tidal area. The sea (Waddensee) in the distance. And there is no room for pebbles or fallen leaves, as this is just muddy ground in a quite bare environment in what is now the province of Groningen. Only some bushes trying to survive at the edge of the settlement mounds.
@ Henry: that's an idea. As you can see from this partial render, I have already dumped a forgotten bucket.

The proportions are better here, especially the poles. They wouldn't have found the huge beams I used earlier.

I'm hoping to make another book some day (I self-published my paintings earlier at Blurb), and this one is a good candidate to add, IMHO.

Oshyan

This is looking quite nice. Lots of great detail.

- Oshyan

Dune

Thanks, Oshyan. By the way, how are things going ;-) ??

Oshyan

Fairly well. Email soon. ;)

- Oshyan

Dune


freelancah

Wow this just gets better and better! Great work

choronr