140 hours of work " Hope "

[ChrisMayernik]

-( all this I wrote 1 year ago ) -

Finally after 4 months ( 142 hours of hard work ) I have completed my latest artwork. I ran into many troubles along the way, but I got up and just blew by them. Just a month ago I completely lost all the thorns on the ground. I thought I could never do it again, but after 44 more hours of hard work I got it finished. So I guess the lesson I learned is patience... or maybe just don't give up. Any ways I hope you enjoy this wonderful artwork.

---------------------------The meaning---------------
I had this idea about 5 months ago. It was during some bad times and I wanted to show that even in the worst times, worst situations there is always hope. This artwork is a story about a girl who was afraid of something. She was so afraid, that she could not be herself. she was always worrying about things. Soon she was not even in control. She was like a robot because her fear ( the thorns ) had taken control of her life. Any ways... during her struggle she came to realize there is always hope. Hope for a better life, Hope for tomorrow. She reached out and grabbed that hope ( the blue angel ) and felt a comfort and joy that she had not experienced before. She overcame her struggle and tore from the thorns of fear that grabbed her so tightly. She is free now and looks forward to each new day.

----------------------- the making ---------------------
Artwork size = 12000 x 8000 pixels
DPI = 400
final file size = 8.2 gigs
layers = 1453
Time it took = 142 hours
Bags of gummy bears ate during the making = 4
programs used = Photoshop 7, Painter 5


This was my first full cg painting. It's got lighting problems and stuff but I am still happy with it. I love loooking back and seeing how I have improved. Enjoy.



Larger and sharper image
http://www.deviantart.com/view/1876559/

http://img20.photobucket.com/albums/v59/designnrg/Hope_-_Final_Version.jpg

Buy prints of my artworks (http://www.deviantprints.com/affiliates/designnrg/)

[Malice X]

.... you have way to much time on your hands :p

Awesome stuff man, damn thats alot of detail.

[Drumwhore]

Impressive work :)

May I ask you what are the specs of your computer, to handle a 12000x8000 pic @ 400dpi (and 1453 layers)?? :)
And how much time to open or save the file? :)

[ChrisMayernik]

I got a amd althon 1800 xp, 512 ddr pc 2100 , 120 gigs, geforce ti 200. It took about 3 hours to open and 3 hours to save. When working on it I would leave it open all day and only save at night, or when I leave.

[Drumwhore]

lol :)
As I said.. very impressive :)

[jca]

im sorry to say this, but the final details (which are awesome) could probably be more effective if it was on a smaller scale... there's too much color trying to fit into a lil frame and it gets me all confuzed...

[azjohnl]

wow, thats a lot of work! Looking good and I admire the dedication!

[sparth]

well, to be honest i can't really see any interest in using photoshop as a 3d program. using a digital tool, it's not about the amount, not even about giving an extra text to explain a piece. only the result counts.

peeps have to remain more humble about their pieces, even though it's always a pleasure to finish such a painting after days of hard work. for now, it remains an interesting concept, but you'll admit yourself that there is a lot to add in there, not in terms of details, but in terms of composition, values, and colors.

you know, do not lose to much energy on elements that will never bring your piece to a upper level. concentrate ONLY on useful visible elements. forget about the pleasing aspects of details, and look at how to improve such a piece by examining reality in order to retranslate it even better, within the filter of your own vision and personality.

keep it up

sparth

[J.Mac]

Sparth speaks the truth. those are important words that everyone should hear.

-Jesse

[Boris]

DUDE!

8 gigs??? isn that a bit too much.

is that what u get when u create a 12000 by 8000 image? holy smokes

[jasonpuppy]

Hey Chris,
Great job. Just a few tips on time-saving: Unless you plan on printing this poster the size of a two story building keep the dimentions to that of a standard magazine, say, and no more than 300dpi. Also, you can murge layers in Potatoshop which will trim down your file size and save times conciderably. Good job, though.

[-The Swift-]

i admire, the fact that you've given this piece a meaning and a reason. it's something i can relate too and i'm pretty sure i'm not alone in that.

it'a a great piece. big.............but beautiful

not all art has to mean something, but who cares if other people don't apprieciate your personal meanings.

great work:)

[Aikisean]

Awesome work. But I enjoy the fact that I can save my stuff every 5 minutes. I would be sweating platinum bullets waiting for that to save.

[Palm]

Ur a nutter!
But I like the painting, so maybe thats a good thing.=)

/Palm

[LadyWolf]

Awsome picture Chris. You did a great job. :D

[Nadim]

Chris - this is awesome .
1453 layers - 4 bags of gummy bears . I do not buy it :D

Thanks fopr sharing .

[dfacto]

*hums* insane in the membrane, insane in the brain.

well, you are man, thats a really outtrageous amount of layers. Not to mention the dpi, size and file size. yowza!

Well, I can definitely say that the final result is really cool, though I'm sure it would be better if it wasn't so compressed. I think you should post a larger res version.

[dfacto]

BTW, I have to bash you on your use of layers. That is insane and uneccesary, not to mention that is what caused the filesize to get so incredibly high. I figure the most you should have even with all those vines is around 100, but that still makes you nuts.

Seriously, try to use WAY less layers.

[HugeHarHar]

An awesoe picture, but it seems like you got way more into the thorns and all then the woman. Just my thought.

[MrMojo]

Holy crap. Just awesome.

[Shadowkiller]

Thats a pretty bomb angel mechanical character trying to fight its way out out of the vines cool concept man. Really like it

[yelahttam]

Yeah, it's a damn nice piece, I won't belabor what others have said re: use of way too many layers. I will say that there's so much fine detail going on in the piece that it's a bit hard to understand what's going on, I couldn't tell where to rest my eyes. LOve the use of color, tho'! - mh

http://www.matthaley.com

[smellybug]

What's with all these "awesome" "amazing" "wow" comments? You guys either have no idea about what your talking about, or you're just being cruel. Giving a person like this wishy washy praise will not help them. Ignore everything but what Sparth said. 1453 layers? And you're actually willing to admit that? Dude....

[pogonip]

Whats with the JPEG compression also ...should be able to have a version without so much artifacts...but yes Sparth is dead on . Don't let this get you down just grow from it :chug:

[ChrisMayernik]

It's all good. I know sparth is right. THis was the first painting I ever did. It's not like I don't notice the problem, and I certainly won't be fixing any of them. I just wanted to show you all for the fun of it. I don't think it's so wrong to use so many layers. Some people may not like using that many but I wanted to try it and be organized. I use about 300 average now. So it's a lot less. I do that because I want complete control when I am painting. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. bye!

[Jason Manley]

your use of layers...rather than painting alla prima in a digital sort of way...on one layer...is causing your images to look pieced together.

regardless, you are working hard and doing so will pay off.

full control of your image is the ability to paint it in by hand at any point exactly as you want it. regardless of any layers.
j

[talmir]

I must say I respect your dedication to your picture and its a hell of a lot better than my art-sketches :P actually its really kick ass good except for the things detailed below.

But as people have said I think the amount of layers you use is not relative to the piece itself.. What I'm impressed with is the time you spent on it, not the amount of layers or what tools you used or the size.. 8 gigs seem too much for something that really should only be somewhere around 1 gig at most. I think the theres too much going on in the pic for the eye to grasp whats going on.. at first glance it looked a bit like a overly detailed guns n roses album cover..

The presentation of art in my opinion is not telling how much time went into it. or what was used.. or anything really.. I think even naming your artwork can be a bad idea as even the name can take something out of your picture.. show the piece and let the viewer enjoy the piece.. after all, art is in the eyes of the beholder :)

but hey.. keep it up.

[ChrisMayernik]

I wrote that it took 140 hours not to impress people, but to help people understand this was not created over night. A lot of new beginning artist think cool looking pictures are created in a short amount of time. Sometimes that is true. I just didn't want anyone feeling like they could never do something like this. Anyone could do this if they put their mind to it and put time into it. when I first started I looked all over the web and I saw amazing artworks that I thought the artists created in 5-6 hours, but then I relized it takes far more time for something special to come together. And I listen all the other details like picture size so people can understand what is a good size to work on. haha I will never work at 12000 x 8000 again. Painter 8 maybe, but not photoshop.

Chris

[DragonGX]

Jesus tap-dancing Christ!


Listen to Sparth.. sometimes (and usually!) less is better.

[Wacom Knight]

Hmmmmm, well I average 80 to 160 hours on novel cover paintings in Painter. Most at like 8 layers, and usually 11 x 14 @ 450 dpi (so i can make prints). But those never go above 250 MB at the most.

OVERKILL is the word here, Sparth is right, also the composition needs some serious work. Thorns....lotsa thorns, you do know where the stamp tool in photoshop is right? :)

[ChrisMayernik]

nope. Never used the stamp tool. I guess I should check it out.

[ChrisMayernik]

saying the composition needs serious work is not really telling me anything. If it is so obvious to you what is wrong why not just tell me. It's all good buddy. Just blurt it out. Tell me what sucks. The more I know of what I did wrong will help me not make those mistakes again.

[The TODDLER]

Thats an incredible amount of work and dedication... But i would have to agree that it could be described as "overkill"
anyhow it evokes an uncommon feeling for me. welldone.

[Presence]

The piece is insane Chris, seriously your work ethic is amazing, don't ever let go of that. The only crit I have outside of what has been discussed is the story, if you have put this much time into the piece visually and it is trying to communicate a specific story I think we should all hear it...in detail. 142 hours deserves more than "a girl who was afraid of something"

Anyhoo Chris keep it up.

[madpencil]

I agree with Sparth. But to give my own opinion I'll say...
( and mind you, I'm not here to offend anyone but to merely give my opinion.) There's no reason in this world that this particular piece should be that big in file size or for that matter take that long to execute. I've worked as an illustrator and graphic designer for 7 years and if a client asked to do a piece like this one I'd give him a estimate of 8 hours of work. with the following specs. 300dpi, 60 to 70 mb at the most. I think it's ridiculous to spend that much time on something that doesnt take more than 8 hours to do. This is just my opinion. By the way, I wouldn't need more than 10 to 12 layers for this, maybe less.

[Wacom Knight]

Blurt it out! lol, ok. Basically what catches me immediatley is the lighting is too even, there is an even sweep of attention to, to many light sources (reflections included). The shape itself of the reaching figure is perfectly parallel and centralized, no real feeling of movement, what also stablizes the picture to almost a static feel, would be the thorns pointing in every direction (with backlighting and reflections). Plus I feel the iconic figure (thorned) is too top heavy compared to the thin-ness of the vines below. Now this is just my opnion, and no two artists would approach the piece the same way. Its just meant as a different facet of observation. AND you asked :D

[giusep]

:dead:
I think that the size and number of layers are not importent in a job.
It's not a competition...
Personally, i look the quality and the fun of work.
Did you have fun to the end with it?I hope...

good work
;)

[ChrisMayernik]

Yea I had fun with it! I learned so much. And I got a super high res pic of it. 60 x 40 inch is cool! Thank you all for commenting. You all have been very helpful. THANKS!

[jett]

IMO i think that you need to have a focus, you have way too many thorns, well the number isn't that important, but i think you could have maybe colored them lighter or made them more blurry to bring some focus to the girl and the blue angel that way-when someone sees this piece they'll see two people instead of a whole bunch of thorns

and besides the program photoshop itself is only approx 300MB, that's roughly 1/27 the size of your file..