Wintry Roman scene

[Dune]

This will be my X-mas card, I think. Perhaps some changes, I don't know yet. Any ideas?
Thanks, Kevin for your new ice. It works pretty nice here, though I think I'll reduce the reflectivity a bit.

[Kevin F]

Nice one Dune, love the differing levels between ice and water. Works really well.

[Hannes]

Amazing Ulco! Although that little bridge somehow looks a bit too modern in my eyes.

[archonforest]

Great stuff as usual!
I cannot really see this for an xmas card though...the message of xmas isn't there. Picture is very cold, frozen but imho is not enough for xmas.
Hehe perhaps you should put Santa's chariot with the deers parking outside? That would be fun

[mhaze]

Brilliant! love that tree very clever.

[AP]

Maybe not for Christmas unless adding some green and red but that could be for another render perhaps. Overall, this does have a convincing sensation of winter and bitter cold. The scale and sense of real distance work quite well. The ice from Kevin looks good to.

[Hannes]

...though I think I'll reduce the reflectivity a bit.

Really? I think it's perfect.

[Kadri]

Looks great Ulco.

[Antoine]

This is great ! Could you do also an another rendering with a sunset atmosphere ?

David.

[j meyer]

Looking at the tree's snow cover I think there should be more snow
on top of the tower's fence and the beams maybe.

[masonspappy]

Looking at the tree's snow cover I think there should be more snow
on top of the tower's fence and the beams maybe.

Was thinking same thing.
Overall this is very, very well done.

[Dune]

Thanks guys. This Roman guy just wiped all snow off the railings (but I had thought of it and can easily add it). I know it's not really X-mas, but I just want something to send to potential customers. I did think of a X-mas tree and balls near that tower, though. And I was also working on a sunset version, but haven't got it yet. The contrast between the dark tower and snow was too much, and there were more difficulties (like the extreme luminance of Kevin's icy ridges, I have to tone that down for a darker scene).
Bridge is supposed to be a really Roman thing, it only looks rather new.
Here's a slightly modified version (warped the ice edge by fake stones for sharp/hard warping). And adjusted the edges of the snow on the fallen tree (by world scale breakup).

[fleetwood]

Looks good. Don't see any smoke. Maybe they aren't allowed to have a fire, or those Roman guys might be chopping up that tree for firewood very soon.

[zaxxon]

It's a beautiful wintry scene, and to my mind can definitely serve as a "Christmas" image. The celebration of the return of the Sun was celebrated millenia before the Christians co-opted the Winter Solstice as The birthday of Jesus of Nazareth. That this is a Roman scene and further stands be a non-Christian "Bleak Mid Winter's" day.  The whole layout of the scene conveys a lot of movement in an otherwise flat landscape. The snow covered tree is especially well done, Beautiful!

[Tangled-Universe]

That muddy ice is really good, fantastic work!
The clouds are a bit flatt'ish, but all surface related stuff looks great.
Not sure if this really has a Christmas sense to it, but I don't really mind