hello everyone, im a long time looker at the forum, first time talker.i see from time to time that artists tend to look for inspiration within the community with good results. So with that in mind... can you look at my wip and gimme some ideas as to how to take it forward? i have tried to go for a classic oil painting feel before (with varying degrees of success) and i seem to have reached a dead end here.. do i flatten the foreground terrain and add something to dominate the picture or just add minor details around? any suggestions would be most helpful,,,my brain hurts...

imo the purple land doesn't match the sky. purple should be more yellow-ey (or other way round)

I agree, the purple doesnt match,..looks like a waste land, maybe some dead tree's?...great picture other wise,nicely done!

Really cool colouring!

I'm looking for a point of focus here. You have a nice ruin on the left, but the light is concentrated on the two pools of water on the lower right. I'd put something of interest there. Perhaps a single flower, desperately clinging to life, or a sword or torn banner planted in the ground. Something dramatic like that.

<strong>bandolin</strong><br />
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thanks for the input guts...i totally take on board the purple light thing, and have altered it(i hope improved) and am experimenting with objects for the foreground including trees and otherwise...thanks again for the feedback

looks good to me so far!

Holy crap! This is an amazing beginning!

Looks really good. I would add something (a rock) in the nearest pool to the right side, to interrupt the rather straight edge (of the pool shore) there.

Agree with bandolin. I don't know expert avenues in Bryce but have developed some views on views (and remember this also is just an opinion). A good painter or photographer will use the natural flow of lines to focus the attention on the subject. Pick something or place something you want as focal point and use you artistic talents to point it out. Note existing sloping wall and background terrain pulls viewer to the mound or pools. Do something there. Or add a dead tree limb or something to move the viewer elsewhere. So far the image is remarkable. I look forward to the final render.

just looking at this and seeing where you want to take it. I grab a book my better half has on oil paintings, so far you have got the tone of the image right..the lighting, colours and feel of it gives it that oil painting look.. Add a rock like jfike mention you could also try adding a dead tree in the background over the back of that mound of rubble just to break the openess it has there a bit. Just my little bit of imput i hope helps.

Attached Link: http://www.saz3d.com

if you picked up Daz Studio, you can get people to pose (Daz has Mike 3 and vickie 3 for free, but thee gets no substatial morphs..alas..;) It's free, the content is free. Usually a picture like that has some sort of human or animal to focus, provide scale, etc. Check it out.

Nice work,...........how about a dead, leafless tree somewhere in here ? Just a thought.

Have to agree on the trees, if you can find a model, maybe a half buried skeleton would be good (note - doesn't have to be human :) )

Nice work, Composition looks good....needs a little something on the right mound in the middle of the edge. That section tends to lead the eye out of the scene. Mats and lighting work well. Here are a couple links to check out. Landscape rules is an easy read though the golden rectangle/ratio is a bit dry, though once you have the concept it's just one of those things that sticks in your brain. Super work so far....Welcome!! ICM Landscape Composition Rules The Golden Rectangle / Ratio in Art

Witches! I'm reminded of the scene from Shakespeare's 'M' play - 3 witches round a couldron type thingy...... Why? Cos this is a very spooky scene imo. Brilliantly done btw!

Attached Link: http://www.daz3d.com

sorry, wrong link. I'm not dyslexic, but my fingers are..;)

You could put an animal drinking from the pool, or another part of the ruin - if it's a church as it looks to be, you could have the remains of an altar in the light, if not a church you could have a sacrificial stone in the light... just a couple of ideas. (the purple WAS a little strong in the first image but then I LIKE purple, and I think that certain tones of yellow and certain tones of purple can give a very dramatic effect, when the yellow is in the light and the purple is in the shadows, but it's a hard balancing act to achieve) Very nice image so far, I'd very much like to see the finished effect that you decide to go for, and what you decide to put in the light.

well, all i can say is THANK YOU ALL for the terrific input to my work. i have thought long and hard about each suggestion. it seems the idea of lifeless trees is pretty much unanimous,so ive put a "nasty" copse of trees in top right with the branches hopefully running in a nice curve which balances the ruin shape.and jfike's idea to break up the pool has been implemented. pakled thankyou for the link..i've tried to put in various warm blooded lifeforms including a praying amazon warrior (deleted) and a flying demon from an earlier work (also deleted)... i just don't know if this picture needs a creature, it seems to take away something everytime i put one in. i may go for an inanimate object in the pool of light ..what do you think?

Inanimate object would be fine, but there needs to be a REASON for it to be there, by that I mean it should link in with the rest of the theme, which seems to me to be running along the 'dead, dying, ruined,' kinda route. So a broken alter/alter stone, a battered communion/sacrificial cup, a broken or bent crown, a torn bridal veil & tiara, or an old rusty & chipped sword... something along those lines would fit. And I think you could be right about a creature not really fitting. Just a few ideas...

This is looking fantastic, great work, I agree with Fran, just something small lying in the centre hollow, would look superb

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1045385&Start=1&Sectionid=0&filter_genre_id=0

im still working on it, the mood will not be lost, but while im working i posted a weird version

Hmmm, this certainly changed the whole feel of this scene, which here in the forum looked to be going the "sad, serene and noble" sort of route. This now has a whole different feel. And the cannon in the pool of light shows that the decision on the final object to be placed here is not going to be easy. The cannon is not lit even though it's in the pool of light, it's dark, and thus to me it doesn't look quite right, also the figure at the cannon has too much energy for the scene to work well (for me) perhaps if the figure looked more desperate, like he was mortally injured and had only just managed to fire a last shot? Sort of draped over the cannon, or leaning on it? Dunno exactly but it's lost something... Not a bad idea though, I like the positioning of the blown up figures.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1049023&Start=1&Sectionid=2&filter_genre_id=0

as i said in the explanation on that last image it was definately not going to have any cannons in it or explosions... i was just havin a bit of fun...and finally i settled on this version before it became an obsession.... thank you all again for your help and input!!

Message edited on: 09/17/2005 18:50

Oh sure, I understand that it was just fun. I just can't seem to help myself... I'd better shut up now. ~~~~~~~ <-- zip Fran

no!!! don't ever zip it fran- your comments were extremely helpfull and will be in the future i hope!

ggg, well I'm glad for that. Keep creating and do let us know what you decide to go for in the end.