darwinia - ariosto furioso

[sparth]

two book covers.
should be released in france in october or something.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/arth/art/stock/sparth-darwinia-small.jpg
darwinia

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/arth/art/stock/sparth-ariosto-small.jpg
ariosto furioso

an alternate version for ariosto:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/arth/art/stock/sparth-ariosto-v2-small.jpg

hope you'll like these

sparth

[I.was.ink]

You bet I like these.

These are great Sparth, they remind me soooo much of Dinotopia. I like the first version of Ariosto better.

Would you mind telling us more about the story?

Oskar

[behemot5]

:eek: ...waow...it's great

[Nucleardan]

bravo, bravo. Dig the boat.

[foster]

hi sparth, i love the ship illustration! wonderful light and composition.

of the other two i like the second one best. i think it is purely the warm light that makes it more dynamic to me. but i would say that it is not finished yet. the griffin needs a little more work. i do not think that you need over render him but bring up some areas such as his feet and wings. perhaps it is that there is too much evidence of the computer brush in these areas.

hope this all right for me to say. i think they are all fantastic.

jon

[zeroe]

i really really dig the first one, especially the background, looks very ambient.

And i prefer the reddish griffin, where did you get referenece from, if at all?

[apb]

That's really cool. I read Darwinia a couple of years ago and I think you captured it perfectly :)

[pstraub]

well done

[thomasaurus]

Simply beautiful! The second book cover seems better IMO, the colors represent it very well.

[Ant4d]

awesome.
and your colors and lightening is amazingly good.
:alien3:

[sparth]

thanx my friends

I.was.ink: well, to be honest, i have a lot of stuff to read already, so they gave me briefs of a few pages in order to know what the books are about.
ariosto furioso was written in 1980 i think. and darwinia in 99. both books have already been released, at least in the US and Europe.
both novels belong to the uchrony type. (probably a bad spelling, dunno if the word even exists in english).
the concept is: within a given period, you try to rewrite history as if very important facts had never happened, replaced by even more important facts.
an exemple: imagine the world today if chris columbus had not discovered america, or, closer and more dramatic, if ww2 had been won by the axis.

jon: yea, i was a bit lost for this griffoon thing, and i had not enough time to finish the piece. the other complex fact is: what they like in my style is the fact that it's nervous, with apparent strokes. the fact that it's not too detailed.
on my side, i really wanted to go further, without listening too much to their advices, but i was forced too. and it shows in the illo.
for darwinia, i went straight to the point. when the sketch is good, all the rest follows. i should always try to listen to this signal: when you begin redoing stuff for hours, it's never a good sign.

zeroe: no reference for the griffoon, except maybe looking to a renaissance painting with clothings for a few minutes.
for darwinia, refs only for the boat, which is a huge mix between boats from admunsen and peary expeditions at the beginning of the century.

Ant4d, Jnorish, pstraub, apb, Nucleardan, behemot5: many thanks.

sparth

[Atmospheria]

These are really cool sparth....your classic stripes are again on the monster. Very cool...i love them...first is better than the alternate i think...and the first image is cool too...love the atmosphere...
want more!

[Theo]

Sparth you silly dog. you just keep on rockin.
I love that cove. sweet colors.

:chug:

theo

[chao]

OMG... this is great!! so inspirationall.. thx so much for sharing!:chug: :chug:

[MER]

Wow! Lucky france! What type of medium you used? It looks like maybe oil or acyrlic (sp?) unless you used a paint program...:confused:

But I love the 1st two pics. ^___^

[Smeagol71]

Hey Sparth, thanks for posting these. They are really fantastic. The first one really tells a story (what's around that bend?!?...ha ha) and who can resist any painting of a griffin. I agree with Jon though in his crit about the colors and detail. Just as a quick take on both, I like the first's backlighting on the legs and lower portion of the griffin which seem to bring out more detail in the legs, but the warmer colors in the second really make the whole image come alive. Maybe if you could combine them somehow.

But what do I know. These are great and it sounds to me from your previous reply that you were up against the wall time-wise. These are still nice pieces and I've really enjoyed looking at them! Thanks again for posting them!!!!

[bwkeough]

The image of the ship is quite excellent. It looks as believeable as if you were there in the grey light before dawn.

I also prefer the red griffin image. Part of it is the dynamism of the warm color pallette, but I also like the architecture in the background better. It's sharper. Was the change suggested by the art director? The dome in the blue image makes it look more mediterranean to my eyes.

fantastic.

[egerie]

They both are great. The first one is my favorite. It somehow reminded me of Loki (canyon bonanza) and Craig (texture / colour treatment).

[Forge]

this post just show to our detractors that sparth is not only good painting bots and future buildings....
you rule man

[Oblio]

uh... ah... no more words here. (okay... i like the first griphon, warm and cold... blah... blah)
Rock on, friend!

Ob

[khangle81]

:chug: those are great Sparth ! Have you just recently use switch to Photoshop? I especially like the first one.

[MindCandyMan]

amazing sparth!...these are really great. The griffin's are fantastic but I have to say that the ship image totally floored me...great job!

[Loga4]

Wonderful,wonderful!