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steve-burgThe Sighting

Published: 2010-09-25 22:28:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 65588; Favourites: 2467; Downloads: 2197
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Description I wanted to create a cheerful and happy scene. This was the result (go figure!) Well, at least it's colorful This image was made for the book "Concept Design II" about 5 or 6 years ago.

The huge spaceship was created in Lightwave 3D, with a very large custom texture painted in Photoshop. It was rendered against a blank background.

Everything else is painted in Photoshop. I looked at some reference images to paint the clouds and the farm. The clouds took ages to finish because I really wanted them to wrap around the ship. There were a lot of layers!

The barn and some trees were painted in a separate image, at much larger size to get the detail. They were then reduced and softened with grain and noise, and a slight Gaussian Blur.

At the time this image was created, my overriding goal was to achieve an absolutely photographic look to the painted elements. It involved a lot of painstaking effort, adding grain and noise to simulate the look of actual film. Really, not so much fun... I've discovered that simply painting is a lot more enjoyable, so I no longer pursue this "faked photo" effect in my work.

CHANGE: I adjusted the text to clarify some things
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Comments: 477

Small-Brown-Dog [2015-10-18 13:35:02 +0000 UTC]

Amazing work, the sense of scale is just mind blowing. A well deserved DD

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dcmstarships [2015-02-09 00:35:14 +0000 UTC]

nice Chris Foss feel to this image

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RonaldinhoTEN [2014-09-19 23:55:13 +0000 UTC]

Breathtaking. You should be proud, because we are.  

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Harurara [2013-10-27 22:06:41 +0000 UTC]

wow!

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SmokingWalrusX [2013-05-24 00:00:17 +0000 UTC]

Amazing!

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Odilicious [2012-11-12 10:33:01 +0000 UTC]

Stunning spaceship. An excellent scene.

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KellyDelRosso [2012-11-03 17:05:43 +0000 UTC]

Great job...congrats on DD

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Romanoost [2012-10-05 19:31:09 +0000 UTC]

I made an account at devianart just to favourite this, I love it, it's wonderful! I really like the atmosphere of this picture; the massiveness of the ship in contrast to that ordinary barn..

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JohnnysDream [2012-09-09 21:22:44 +0000 UTC]

you failed horribly at happiness with this.lol.i feel scared just looking at it.looks like a huge whale coming at me out of the sky!"Oh shit!What is that?Ruuun!"I cant believe the background is not a picture!This whole thing is just outrageous!You have a gift.Im on my way over to look at more of your stuf right now.

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joeltonongkh [2012-08-25 07:08:28 +0000 UTC]

love the foggy effect...anyhow the invasion looks scary too..

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YTheJoshuaTreeY [2012-08-11 22:12:31 +0000 UTC]

That is quite an amazing scale there. Great job.

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dpny [2012-08-09 04:41:40 +0000 UTC]

Love this picture.

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Rodo97 [2012-07-18 13:20:55 +0000 UTC]

O MY GOD D; is EWESOME

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ElliotGrey [2012-06-21 19:50:29 +0000 UTC]

The great thing is that 98% of people would never see it because no one looks up at the sky anymore. 98% of people would be completely oblivious to the ginormous ship hovering directly above them, easily massive enough to contain the whole city of St. Louis, MO.

Actually, maybe that's exactly what they stopped by to pick up.

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MisterSanitz [2012-04-23 23:28:28 +0000 UTC]

Amazing picture!!!

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m0zch0ps [2012-04-13 05:20:14 +0000 UTC]

great image, the scale of this is nuts, very blimp-like,
I dont think we should be worried about this invading us, we just need to shoot something sharp at it, and then collapse in a laughing fit as it farts off in random directions.

wicked gallery btw Mr Burg

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Herakleides [2012-03-16 22:05:44 +0000 UTC]

Great work!
Clouds, grass... and obviously the ship itself!

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rooosti [2012-03-13 14:28:35 +0000 UTC]

wow
it looks so ...dominating

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funkitty [2012-03-13 04:19:15 +0000 UTC]

to beautiful im just speechless

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art-mely [2012-02-24 04:04:48 +0000 UTC]

This is so beautiful !!!!! I really love it

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steve-burg In reply to art-mely [2012-02-24 17:40:48 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much!

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MysticMachine [2012-02-06 04:22:30 +0000 UTC]

Excellent work. You should be very proud!

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steve-burg In reply to MysticMachine [2012-02-06 15:30:14 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much!

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bigton [2011-12-29 20:46:45 +0000 UTC]

*wakes up* *goes outside to stretch..* *sees that giant thing....* "well we are utterly and officially fucked..." yep!

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steve-burg In reply to bigton [2011-12-29 20:53:34 +0000 UTC]

But... maybe they're here to help?
No, I doubt it!

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bigton In reply to steve-burg [2011-12-29 20:55:45 +0000 UTC]

showing up in what appears to be a warship? hmm....nah lol

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steve-burg In reply to bigton [2011-12-29 21:27:30 +0000 UTC]

That's their plan - they won't need to fire a single shot!

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bigton In reply to steve-burg [2011-12-29 23:32:09 +0000 UTC]

lmao. you know what the nose and body remind me of? CIS carriers from starwars o.o the troop carriers and such lol

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steve-burg In reply to bigton [2011-12-29 23:36:19 +0000 UTC]

Are those the ones that had the robots in them on racks?

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bigton In reply to steve-burg [2011-12-29 23:39:44 +0000 UTC]

yup

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steve-burg In reply to bigton [2011-12-29 23:45:56 +0000 UTC]

Well, this ship is probably loaded with massive robots then!

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bigton In reply to steve-burg [2011-12-29 23:58:44 +0000 UTC]

WE'RE FUCKED!

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steve-burg In reply to bigton [2011-12-30 00:19:25 +0000 UTC]

Unless they have some weakness, like they're allergic to something, or...
Forget it - RUN!!!

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bigton In reply to steve-burg [2011-12-30 16:12:51 +0000 UTC]

*is alread drilling into the ground to make a impenetrable bunker* ._.

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bigton In reply to bigton [2011-12-29 20:47:12 +0000 UTC]

amazing job you did on this Steve-burg

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shanesemler [2011-10-10 01:23:39 +0000 UTC]

This reminds me of Chris Foss' work.

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steve-burg In reply to shanesemler [2011-10-10 01:26:06 +0000 UTC]

I'm pretty sure it's 100% intentional!

Foss is a great inspiration - the great "Chris Foss style sci-fi epic movie" is still waiting to be made!

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BozAndPhiz [2011-09-26 22:58:15 +0000 UTC]

What a magnificent sense of scale.

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steve-burg In reply to BozAndPhiz [2011-09-27 04:16:15 +0000 UTC]

Thanks - I appreciate it!

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Hydraforge [2011-09-23 19:45:06 +0000 UTC]

That picture is too cool!

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steve-burg In reply to Hydraforge [2011-09-25 15:36:10 +0000 UTC]

Thanks - I appreciate it!

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mac2010 [2011-09-18 14:53:28 +0000 UTC]

First class, so photo realistic, good job

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steve-burg In reply to mac2010 [2011-09-25 15:36:21 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much!

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1Talent1 [2011-09-18 13:24:49 +0000 UTC]

This looks like the spacecraft in Lilo & Stitch! LOL. Childhood memories. <3


Good one man. Favourited.

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steve-burg In reply to 1Talent1 [2011-09-25 15:37:10 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for the fave - I'm glad you like it!

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DSil [2011-09-17 00:34:35 +0000 UTC]

Cooool! I love those colorful patterns on the ship, so much more interesting than plain ol' silver gray. Reminds me of Chris Foss.

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steve-burg In reply to DSil [2011-09-17 13:41:39 +0000 UTC]

Chris Foss is definitely one of my lifelong inspirations - still one of the most original sci-fi artists ever

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DSil In reply to steve-burg [2011-09-17 17:33:00 +0000 UTC]

It saddens me deeply that the adaptation of Dune he worked on never came to fruition.

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steve-burg In reply to DSil [2011-09-18 14:25:56 +0000 UTC]

It is one of those "great legendary unmade films" - the art for it is outrageous. Foss' stuff seems timeless to me - those designs made in 1975 would be cutting edge for 2011!

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DSil In reply to steve-burg [2011-09-18 21:55:52 +0000 UTC]

Exactly! Someone could still use 'em!

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