Ice Islands

[DANKA]

Hi all
I want to share a final image for a matte paint challenge.
I spent about 12/15hrs for this image.
It's a paint based on a simply 3D rendering
For the 3D start image I used 3D Max7, and Photopaint for the 2D work.
I used various photo references for mountains, ice and other details,and pieces of photo as texture on the different surfaces.
I paint over the sky (a photo) to give more sense of drama The full size resolution is 2911x1693x300dpi's

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/9909/sunseticeiland1280sg6.jpg

You can find here some steps of the painting:

http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=54112

Comments, constructive criticisms, are very welcome! :teeth:

[ab4185]

wicked man

[ab4185]

Awsome work man really loving this. can you maybe highlight your process with some images that might explain how this image came about

[El Jeremie]

Lovely, the building with the figure look like the back of an old pirate ship.
Maybe you should put more snow on the mountains, 'cause they doesn't look very "artic", compare to the icebergs.
The "legs" of the bridge are confusing, you need to focus on them to understand how they are placed ( hard to see if they are aligned or not). The way they enter in the sea probably need more shades or waves.
(Hope you understand what i mean cause my school english had some limits)

[Burmak]

wow. looks very good!

[Thalion]

Awesome! really nice colors.

[dashinvaine]

Strewth

[HD design]

Nice Work!

[fragmentedchimp]

id luv a place like that for a pad! awesome stuff
i would not have guessed the process and steps you took to getting it done though - interesting stuff, its the whole concept/3d/skinning process in one piece.
iv been saying it a lot, but BRILLIANT.
thumbs up :}

[Mat Kaminski]

That's simply amazing work!

[SEVANS]

Very cool. I'm awestruck by some of you matte painters out there.

[jezelf]

I really like this! Nice colours , scale and quality. I find the ice in the foreground on the right a bit distracting, and I prefer the sweaping motion of the cloud in the photo you started with because it help guide my eye better in composition, but thats just me.

Also the architecture is great with the bow of a ship as inspiration, and the theme is reapeated very well through the piece. Its a shame you have those blocky flat roof ones down by the water. Unless you are portraying a culture that has adapted a previous culture's architecture, it distracts from the grandness (is that a word?) of most of the work, so it would had been great to see the those buildings with the curved roofs.

one final comment - sorry - is that this place looks isolated, but with a capacity for a huge population, nothing wrong with that, but I would had thought the harbour would have a few more and larger fleet of ships? Maybe they are all off to war - so a larger jetty/harbour that would show room for more ships, or do they stay put until the water freezes over? Or do they have dragons and eagles to get about? Also where would all the wood come from to build this stucture? how was it transported there? Maybe not that important, but these details or subtle clues to the background etc, can help the viewer become totally immersed into your wonderful world :)

thanks for showing the steps. great work!
Jez

[DANKA]

Thanx to all
jezelf : I agree with you on all the comments about the isolated effect and the sense of not much life on it.
I think it's caused by too short time to study a good "story" and "background" of the popolation who lives in the island :\ ... ... but it's not a good excuse... :[

Thanx again to all, for replies compliments and comments :)