N D Hill
February 6th, 2004, 09:37 PM
These were done for the Thunderdome7, check out the link in my sig to see the details. I thought 'd post these here too as I did spend quite a bit of time on them and would like hear any feedback you might have.
enjoy
-N. D. Hill
I wrote a brief setting that all of my mutants will be designed for:
The planet Irth had seen it’s inhabitants murder each other for countless millennium until the violence had escalated to a near apocalypse. The surface was scorched and cleansed as 99.9999998 percent of all life had been incinerated and nearly every artificial structure had been leveled. The few who survived had no hope of resurrecting their past and were forced to forge a new path and adapt. Their traditions, methods and even their physiology were all discarded as their fragile dream of new life was ascending from the ashes of the deceased. For three thousand years, the new mutated ecology and civilizations of Irth slowly established itself. These mutant forms of life and society were incredibly adaptive, calculating and resilient, a polar opposite from murderers who had destroyed nearly everything. They only inherited one memory from these murderers, indiscriminate killing leads to self damnation.
The new societies were by no means perfect or without their own conflicts but all agreed to one fundamental commandment; “any attempt to resurrect ways of the past is equivalent to forfeit of all life”. Why endure a second self-destructive and torturous existence? Death was preferable. It was a suicide pact who all were honor-bound to. These established conventions lead to a greatly simplified and elegant form of war where close quarters combat between willing combatants was not only considered honorable but more efficient, fit for the new warriors. Time passed and empires and republics rose and fell while maintaining these standards and traditions...
...There were those who did not appreciate life in it’s new form, however. A new faction rose from the depths of a great crater and erected a great city and and at the center, a citadel devoted to the prospect of ultimate genetic purity was built. The new faction, the “pioneers” prepared to use whatever means necessary to monopolize the gene pool. They engineered their own flesh through selective breeding, gene manipulation and self mutilation. They also worshiped being known only as the bishop who may or may not really exist. Little is known internally about their culture or herritage in relation to the ‘honor bound’ peoples; only that they believe that killing and self sacrifice is a small price to pay for the future they desire.
This creature represents the backbone of the pioneer cavalry. It's a tortured mutated creature whose cruelty is only surpassed by it's rider, who steers it with hooks imbedded into it's flesh.
Basically, I wanted a really agressive looking predatory animal that was part shark, part bear, part aligator, part domestid beetle etc. It had to look scarred as if it had been tortured to a point where it could no longer feel pain. I was experimenting with my coloring technique quite a bit on this one. Basically, my big concern is that my colors had always seemed dull to me, partly because of the same'ol white lighting and because saturation usually scares me.
http://art-of-ndhill.neoartists.net/images/mutant1.jpg
The mastermind of the pioneer movement, Bishop, is not a sentient creature but a biological force which threatens to infest and infect all life with his seed. He will consume the world untill all things are made into his likeness.
This one is an example of what I was talking in terms of weak color. I tend to do most of my work in grayscale as it more closely emulates what I'm use to with markers before i apply my aqua monolith washes. Since I don't want just any plain wash, especially on a digitally painted piece, I use colorise and overlay layers a lot. I've found that an interesting way use these it to manipulate painter's "apply lighting effect. Basically, I arrange a fairly complex scheme of colored lights on this layer to achieve a saturated but reletively monochromatic scheme to act as my basis. I did this with my first and third. this one, I had a hard time with.
http://art-of-ndhill.neoartists.net/images/mutant3.jpg
The creature known as Gabriel has plagued the Irth for nearly two thousand years. Despite many attempts to kill him (some of which seemingly succeeded) he always returns to claim the spoils of battlefeilds. He does not takes sides. He's an merely an opportunistic predator despite his humanoid appearance.
I probably would have to say that this one is what I'm most pleased with as far as rendering is concerned. I wish I could've centered the image more though but since it's primarily a design piece, it's okay. I like to keep my designs fairly nuetral as far as composition and movement and instead favor clarity.
http://art-of-ndhill.neoartists.net/images/mutant2.jpg
enjoy
-N. D. Hill
I wrote a brief setting that all of my mutants will be designed for:
The planet Irth had seen it’s inhabitants murder each other for countless millennium until the violence had escalated to a near apocalypse. The surface was scorched and cleansed as 99.9999998 percent of all life had been incinerated and nearly every artificial structure had been leveled. The few who survived had no hope of resurrecting their past and were forced to forge a new path and adapt. Their traditions, methods and even their physiology were all discarded as their fragile dream of new life was ascending from the ashes of the deceased. For three thousand years, the new mutated ecology and civilizations of Irth slowly established itself. These mutant forms of life and society were incredibly adaptive, calculating and resilient, a polar opposite from murderers who had destroyed nearly everything. They only inherited one memory from these murderers, indiscriminate killing leads to self damnation.
The new societies were by no means perfect or without their own conflicts but all agreed to one fundamental commandment; “any attempt to resurrect ways of the past is equivalent to forfeit of all life”. Why endure a second self-destructive and torturous existence? Death was preferable. It was a suicide pact who all were honor-bound to. These established conventions lead to a greatly simplified and elegant form of war where close quarters combat between willing combatants was not only considered honorable but more efficient, fit for the new warriors. Time passed and empires and republics rose and fell while maintaining these standards and traditions...
...There were those who did not appreciate life in it’s new form, however. A new faction rose from the depths of a great crater and erected a great city and and at the center, a citadel devoted to the prospect of ultimate genetic purity was built. The new faction, the “pioneers” prepared to use whatever means necessary to monopolize the gene pool. They engineered their own flesh through selective breeding, gene manipulation and self mutilation. They also worshiped being known only as the bishop who may or may not really exist. Little is known internally about their culture or herritage in relation to the ‘honor bound’ peoples; only that they believe that killing and self sacrifice is a small price to pay for the future they desire.
This creature represents the backbone of the pioneer cavalry. It's a tortured mutated creature whose cruelty is only surpassed by it's rider, who steers it with hooks imbedded into it's flesh.
Basically, I wanted a really agressive looking predatory animal that was part shark, part bear, part aligator, part domestid beetle etc. It had to look scarred as if it had been tortured to a point where it could no longer feel pain. I was experimenting with my coloring technique quite a bit on this one. Basically, my big concern is that my colors had always seemed dull to me, partly because of the same'ol white lighting and because saturation usually scares me.
http://art-of-ndhill.neoartists.net/images/mutant1.jpg
The mastermind of the pioneer movement, Bishop, is not a sentient creature but a biological force which threatens to infest and infect all life with his seed. He will consume the world untill all things are made into his likeness.
This one is an example of what I was talking in terms of weak color. I tend to do most of my work in grayscale as it more closely emulates what I'm use to with markers before i apply my aqua monolith washes. Since I don't want just any plain wash, especially on a digitally painted piece, I use colorise and overlay layers a lot. I've found that an interesting way use these it to manipulate painter's "apply lighting effect. Basically, I arrange a fairly complex scheme of colored lights on this layer to achieve a saturated but reletively monochromatic scheme to act as my basis. I did this with my first and third. this one, I had a hard time with.
http://art-of-ndhill.neoartists.net/images/mutant3.jpg
The creature known as Gabriel has plagued the Irth for nearly two thousand years. Despite many attempts to kill him (some of which seemingly succeeded) he always returns to claim the spoils of battlefeilds. He does not takes sides. He's an merely an opportunistic predator despite his humanoid appearance.
I probably would have to say that this one is what I'm most pleased with as far as rendering is concerned. I wish I could've centered the image more though but since it's primarily a design piece, it's okay. I like to keep my designs fairly nuetral as far as composition and movement and instead favor clarity.
http://art-of-ndhill.neoartists.net/images/mutant2.jpg