Heyo! Still working on that cover for the Unicorn book. I took many suggestions into account and this is how it's shaping up so far. I've still got a bunch of changes to go, but if anyone who responded to the first image I posted can respond to this one as well I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance. Oh, and if anyone new wants to weigh in with contructive criticism they can fire away!

not bad. i can't help thinking that the scale of the characters is too large in comparison with the background. still, great work :)

The transparency of the lower part of the dress seems a bit high, but apart from that I like it. Nice blur in the background (postworked?).

really worried about this bit...

Nice image, but those wings will never fly, they just don't look real. Fran

kinda looks like a fog, since the stuff is over the trees in the background as well..I'd still rotate the back legs of the horse back, to give a rearing effect, but that's me.

Looks like it is headed in the right direction. Two thoughts: - I think I'd try darkening the sky. The hills have a really nice effect going but the brightness of the sky matches the main characters too closely. - The interaction between the characters and the environment seems shaky...the bottom front of the dress looks like it overrides some of the grass that it should appear to be behind...but more importantly there doesn't appear to be any shadows. The woman in particular looks fairly front lit so I would expect a bit of shadow on the grass. I like this in comparison to the first one though. Nice work!

Thanks, everyone. The lighting on the dress has been giving me a consistent problem. I put a negative spotlight back there--maybe I need another. Bryster--the problem with the wings will be addressed, thank you for taking the time to point it out. I'm thinking about using an entirely different set of wings, so I'll make adjustments at that time. The blur was done entirely in Bryce--no post. Claymor, there's probably going to be a book cover element in front of the dress, so I wasn't worried about the issue with the sense of depth. However, the piece should stand on it's own, so I'll keep working on the shadows. Thank you all so much--and comments are still welcome. Have a great day!

I kind of remember a very striking sky in the original that I liked very much. I know that makes problems with the lighting, but it did add some drama to the image. Oh yes, I agree that the rear legs of the unicorn need to be changed.

Message edited on: 02/18/2005 13:27

I think it's the depth-of-field, the focal blur, that makes the characters seem large and the background tiny. Perhaps show us a render without the blur? Looking better, though! I love the lillies (?) and flowers...

If the mountains were replaced with terrains or photos, as well as a Sky photo, it would look much much better. I really like how strong the colors are (especially the water). It really adds depth to the image.

Actually, DVD, my original version had photos for both the mountains and the sky, but the lighting didn't match the scene so I took them out. Those ARE terrains in the background, but I flattened the appearance of them because they seemed to detract from the figures in the foreground. If you have an interest in seeing the earlier images, they're posted in my gallery: http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Yes&Artist=JackStr8 Comments on the earlier images are still welcome. Thanks for taking the time to comment!