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ErikShoemaker —
Chaldea
#black #blue #clouds #desktop #hole #landscape #mattepainting #sky #wallpaper #photobash
Published: 2018-09-11 08:00:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 57050; Favourites: 1702; Downloads: 1658
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edit: made some minor adjustments concerning the bird's scale and the lighting of the landscape. Thanks TobiasRoetsch for the critique.
Time for a matte painting which captures my obsession with black holes. X)
It is actually going to be used as a background for another artwork, but I think it deserves to be a standalone piece as well. This is also my submission for the Nature Wallpaper Contest .
I hope you like it!
Source images:
beta.mattepaint.com/gallery/im…
beta.mattepaint.com/gallery/im…
Additional clouds are part of a pack purchased from: gumroad.com/l/UUxKm
www.goodfreephotos.com/united-…
pixnio.com/fauna-animals/birds…
Bird silhouette1 by FrankAndCarySTOCK
Asteroids by Dagohbert
Anything else not mentioned here is painted.
Other similar space objects from my gallery:
As always, thanks for stopping by!
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After lurking around in the background watching your art I can safely say that you always manage to impress me with your interesting pieces with this one being a prime example!
The way clouds and sky warp around the what I assume is a black hole is really jarring. But in a good way! I saw this as an Earthlike world orbiting a black hole and this was the view before the end, The final few days before its gravitational pull rips it apart, A Truly once in a lifetime view. no matter what you manage to pull out of that brain of yours you still manage to impress me, Your work is magnificent and I encourage you to continue.
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thanks for the nice compliment, it's really appreciated!
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Congratulations Tobias: you officially have been too slow realizing an idea you had...
The thumbnail was already looking very promising (good indicator for things like perspective and composition because you can see right away if the image is working no matter how great the details are once you watch it in real size). The full sized image is flawless when it comes to the blending of the elements and the world feels quite real. I wasn't really sure about the smaller cloud circles close to the black hole first, but I guess it's caused by the unnatural shape. When you turn the image by 90° the parts that looked weird before are looking normal again but others doesn't.
I'm not writing much about the nature of the scene itself because this was the main reason for me not having tried it myself yet (physics vs fantasy, violent armageddon scene vs. peaceful landscape...). I couldn't figure out what I wanted. You decided to go with a peaceful landscape one and as said before: it works visually.
The things that could be improved from my side are 100% optional and could even make it worse instead of helping the scene.
- So I'm not sure if the reflection in the lake should be brighter.
- The clouds from the normal sky you've used (and which you can see on the very left bottom side) are going to the horizon and beyond. I guess there should be smaller rings of clouds in the background there too (due to the 3D shape of a black hole). While it would make more sense it could make the scene too turbulent at the same time (visually)
- The values of the big bird are different to the forest below, which makes it look quite big (way larger than the trees). If it was intentionally because it's some fantasy world with big birds I haven't said anything. e.deviantart.net/emoticons/w/w… " width="15" height="15" alt="
- The asteroids are bothering me the most. Not visually but from the idea behind. There are two possibilities: the black hole is within the atmosphere of the planet (it would explain the clouds): then the ring of asteroids isn't making much sense... or at least some other stones and parts of the landscape should fly towards the hole as well. And the other option: the hole is somewhere in space. Then the asteroids would be fine but the clouds within the planets atmosphere wouldn't make sense.
Here we are again: the struggles I had with the scene in my mind e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b… " width="15" height="15" alt="
Anyway. Congrats on the great image and keep up the good work Erik!
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How about make the bird slightly blurry? Make it so the viewer is looks to be focused on the black hole and is not focused on the wild life.
And maybe some of the trees too.
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The bird in the foreground actually worked fine for me, but maybe because my brain automatically assumed that it is normal-sized and decided that it is just closer to the light or some scattering source (clouds) 
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Well yeah the points I mentioned are only my personal opinion and not supposed to be the truth
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Thanks a bunch for the critique! Indeed physics realism is often secondary for me as can be seen from most of my gallery.
That said, the black hole is supposed to be outside of the planet's atmosphere, which means the cloud formations are not correct at all, but I like it for the visual effect and composition.
Actually you could still give a version with the black hole inside the atmosphere a try. I'm very curious what that would look like - for me it was too hard to imagine. The clouds could also be spinning around the black hole horizontally, like a tornado.
The bird is actually not supposed to be gigantic, just closer to the viewer. I guess I have to darken it further? Thanks for the tip I'll rework it a bit.
Thanks again!
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Darken the bird or brighten up the trees
You are welcome!
Yeah maybe I'm giving it a try myself.
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I see, like a bermuda triangle in the air
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indeed! Thanks
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Yes, I only noticed after I made that comment. It's very good as well.
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glad you like it, thank you!
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it was quite tricky to make so I'm glad you like it!
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Oh wow, my sincerer congrats my friend!!!
By the way, your work is great and is recognized, but I see plenty of DD with such a poor result, some have less than 100 favs, there is something wrong here, what is your opinion?
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thanks a lot mate!
You are right and I am guilty of it as well, because honestly, I never bother to open the DD page.
Since the footer won't return, the DDs will never again carry the weight they did 10 years ago. However, I don't think the solution is to shove them into our faces through some other channel. Good design doesn't dictate its user what to look at but lets them decide what they want to see. People know the DDs exist so if they really cared about them as they claim they do, they'd all check them more regularly.
A better solution would be to make users want to check out the DDs again, but honestly I don't have a clue how to that. People lost interest in DDs because they don't matter, and due to the lack of attention they matter even less. It's a vicious circle.
What really counts today is being featured on DA's social media pages. Instagram, twitter and facebook posts are often selected from the DDs, so it can still pay off to get one of those. In any case, it is still a nice recognition to see their work picked out of so many that are submitted on this page every day.
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Thanks so much Dani! It was a nice surprise
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As quite an enthusiast of works of fiction centered around going way too fast and what happens when you do, do very warmly approve.
Well done.
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haha thank you! I'm quite such an enthusiast myself
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