Attached Link: http://http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=282772&Start=1&Sectionid=3&WhatsNew=Yes

For all those nice people who discussed a night long with me the possibilities to convert a cow into an ox... *lol* I didn't need a veterinary at last - Lyne had an ox on her site and after two weeks waiting there is a first preview on my Xmas picture - a close up with a better look on the ox. Hope you like it - and lots of thanks again... Dorothea

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=282772&Start=1&Artist=Doro&ByArtist=Yes

This link worked better....nice picture !!

Nice picture - but which one is the ox? :-))) One little critisism. The horse AND THE OX seem to be a little small - in relation to Maria and Joseph. lol, Walther

It's a really interesting scene, Doro. About the animals, I agree with wabe... One other thing : you should soften the shadows 'cause it creates a kind of confusion on the baby and the background... Other suggestions : You should play more with light and darkness for having a intimacy mood. I think about the Caravage's paintings : one bright light close to principal characters that makes their faces bright. The less important characters are, the less their faces are enlightened. And the background is usually darkened and indistinct. Often in classic paintings, the source of light is jesus himself, or a candle near his hand. It gives to the scene some interesting lighting effects with that light from below... My two cents thoughts... ;-) Argentium Thri'ile

LOL Please could anybody translate: "Caravage's paintings" for me? No idea what it is. I agree with you, Argentium Thri'ile, that the light should be on the baby but those textures available for the Millenium baby are incredible awful - it has either a look like a marzipan pig or like something made of solid plastic. That's the reason why I abstained from softening the shadows... ...the size of the animals - o, I forgot to mention, this is a only a part of a bigger image and there are some more things, you will maybe find astonishing: a alpine style stable, snow on the scene and more. It is inspired by something, we have in Bavaria beneath our Xmas trees and we call:"Krippe" (crib)The characters in those scenes are carved from lime tree wood and every generation added one or two figures. My own "crib" - the oldest figures are about 250 years old - has elements in VERY differant sizes. (Some of my sheeps are the same size as the ass)

Caravage's paintings = Gemde von Caravaggio (Italian Baroque Era Painter, C.1571-1610). Another word to the animals (??). Unless you make it visible that this is a model world (which it is in fact), it is very difficult to understand, that a horse is a lot smaller than the people in the scene. And even if you "declare it as model", not so many people will know about the bavarian traditions and will ll have the feeling that is something is wrong instead. The charme of the impressive tradition is only understandable for the ones with knowledge! :)) Walther

Attached Link: http://btr0xw.rz.uni-bayreuth.de/cjackson/

Doro, CGFA Virtual Art Museum is a good resource for looking at paintings of artists from all countries and times. They do have a section on Caravaggio. Also, Titian did a lot with similar types of lighting. You can see what Wabe is talking about there.

Thanks for the correction, Walther... :-) Doro, about your problem with baby's texture, why not trying procedural texture ? My 'The Invitation' and 'Paladin' scenes are both made with procedural for characters... Argentium Thri'ile