Heavy Metal 2 by Rykk

Fractal • Fantasy • posted on Mar 06, 2008

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Description

Ultrafractal 4.03 - Photoshop 7 (text only) -might want to do the full view on this one to see the distant stuff... ..."Two distant volcanoes rumble to life and alarm lights blaze at the coming of the green glowing Loc-Nar - "the embodiment of all evil" - to a resting place behind the mountains across the desolate Tarakkian Plains. Green...the color of envy....the color of greed....the color of pestilence......the color of money....... Soon, it will begin to attract and seduce the inhabitants of this harsh but peaceful land to commit acts of unspeakable evil and cruelty and their only hope is to be found in Taarna, the sole remnant of the age-old line of Ta'rakkian warriors...." LOL - or something like that - just making it up based on the movie. Ok, so this is probably the ultimate in fractal "heresy". 2 weeks and 355 layers in the making! A new personal record and boy did my rig complain the last few days! I tried to give this the "hand-drawn" or "pen and ink" vibe and coloration of the illustrated stories that I remember most from Heavy Metal magazine in like 1979-80 - the "Taarna" and the "Den" series. The art in the magazine really knocked me for a loop, having only been exposed to "mainstream" comic books like Batman until I moved to Tampa for school. The scene - the tank n' pipes thingies - is inspired by the landscape in the "Taarna" segment of the movie. So the 3d-ness was subdued and I went for lots of line textures and sorta 'flat' colors. And I tried to make the tank look old and sorta rusted. The red "warning" text on it is the only thing added "post-UF". I left the two columns of fractal "smoke" as they were as a nod to the fractal origins of everything in this pic...and I thought it might be an "artsy" touch(?) I think I've done an "ok" job of matching the vibe of the magazine as I remember it(?)and probably looks like it belongs in the Bryce gallery but EVERYTHING, excepting the red text and sig, was created within and rendered by Ultrafractal and points out just how versatile and capable a piece of software it really is. One real toughie was figuring out how to get the 90 degree "elbow joint" to bend more for the side pipe on the right side of the near tank since that pipe I didn't want parallel to the viewer like the one on the left is. Solved it by applying a very light Turbulence mapping centered near the bend - with UF, there's ALWAYS some way to "git 'er done"! :-) Anyhow, thanks for stopping by for a look at my latest "mega-layer fiasco"....anybody know Taarna's phone number? :-) c-ya! Rick

Comments (53)

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beesknees

8:46PM | Thu, 06 March 2008

Technically a most impressive piece....anyone familiar with UF knows it can be masking nightmare to get things to looks so realistic. I particulaly like the the light on the nearest pipe...nice touch.

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RodolfoCiminelli

6:01AM | Fri, 07 March 2008

Fantastic and creative abstraction my friend.....!!!!

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graphicMADness

6:45AM | Fri, 07 March 2008

C'est magnifique!!! I wanna be you when I grow up :)! Love, Mad

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whirlingfeather

6:58AM | Fri, 07 March 2008

"Bows" You are indeed a master craftsman of UF. I don't know how you do it Rick....goes back to that patience line above, I guess. I like how it is half-veiled as if it is a vision or momentary glimpse into the future. Above and Beyond!!!

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carlx

12:18PM | Fri, 07 March 2008

AWESOME!!!

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iceberg5

3:20PM | Fri, 07 March 2008

WOW - this is a truly fantastic picture , Rick and a great story to read alongside as well ! I love those volcanoes and that fractal volcanic smoke plume drifting along with the delicate sunset behind ! You have incredible powers of creativity in order to put this mumber of layers together and achieve such a wonderful and perfect picture for us all to enjoy ! Great work as always ...... C-ya , Mike

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afugatt

12:05AM | Sat, 08 March 2008

WOW!!! This is incredible! It knocks my socks off!

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clifftoppler

8:39AM | Sat, 08 March 2008

Thank goodness, it wasn't presented as a "tweaking" challenge. It would collapse most everyones' computer systems. Apart from the technical feat, it stands up extremely well as an artistic creation. I was floored at first by the upper dark "slants," but recognised I the viewer am in a cave (in the dark? joking.). I was also caught be the realisation the two opposite angles give the illusion of another mountain shape. Those pipes are a touch of genius. They take the eye to the horizon and also force you to visually explore sideways. A great piece of work!

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