CG Challenge finished entry: Blood Siren(Updated)

[Lunatique]

Finished entry for cgtalk's CG Challenge entry.

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/blood_siren.jpg

Closeups:

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/blood_siren-closeup-1.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/blood_siren-closeup-2.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/blood_siren-closeup-3.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/blood_siren-closeup-4.jpg

Here's an alternate idea I played with, but decided against:

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/blood_demon.jpg

[Lunatique]

Here's the story for the Blood Siren:

Race: Blood Sirens. They are beautiful, alluring, deadly, and tragic changling creatures that roam the Middle Earth. They fall deeply and madly in love with every man they see, yet to consummate their love is to lead to tragedy.

Origin: According to ancient legend, a powerful witch who was in love with a man, tried everything to bewitch him and have him. She used all the spells she knew, and tried every trick in the book, but could not get him to love her back. Eventually she found out the reason he paid no attention to her was because he was already in love with another girl.

The girl he loved was heart-achingly beautiful, kind, gentle, and had a singing voice that can move grown men to tears.

The witch was driven to insanity by jealousy, as her own beauty paled next to the girl the man loved. Her rage, bitterness, and jealousy twisted her into a disfigured monster. The witch blamed the girl for her misfortunes, and exacted revenge.

A curse was put on the girl, and every beautiful girl with a lovely singing voice that crossed the path of the witch. As the result of the curse, the race of Blood Sirens was born.

The Curse: Blood Sirens are cursed to be forever falling in love with and longing for men they can't have and can't get close to. During the day, the Blood Sirens takes on the form of wolves, making them seemingly dangerous creatures to be around--despite the fact they do not have the mind and heart of a real wolf. This torturous form makes it impossible for the Blood Sirens to be near the men they love, as humans generally run away at the first sight of wolves. The Blood Sirens can only secretly watch the men they love from afar, while trying to survive against hunters. After sunset, they return to human form, but the curse doesn't end there. The cursed girls cannot speak, but can only express their emotions by singing. Men are drawn to these soulful, sad, and beautiful singing voices at night. If the Blood Sirens allowed themselves to consummate their love for a man during the night, their deadly instinct will take over, causing them to slaughter and feed on the one they love. Afterwards, their consciousness will return, and they will be horrified and tortured by the memory of what they had done to the man they love.

As if that wasn't enough of a revenge, the witch made sure that the horrible memory of the slaughter and feeding will fade soon, only to come back full force when the same tragedy happens. Each time, the forgotten memory will come back, one stacked on top of another, making the torture of guilt unbearable.

The worst part of this curse is, the Blood Sirens are immortal. They cannot commit suicide, so they are doomed to live an eternity in tragedy and pain--killing the ones they love over and over and over. The witch that cursed these beautiful girls had long been dead, and no one knows how many of these creatures she had created, or how to break the curse. All they know is that when you hear the beautifully haunting singing of one of them at night, you better run the other way. No matter how heartbreaking, lonely, and lovely the singing is, just run.

And what happened to the man that the witch loved? Why, he became the first victim of the woman he loved, of course.

How I came up with the idea: Tolkien's world is sorely short on female characters. It was the logical choice for me.

[Loga4]

Very nice atmosphere and piece in general,but
somehow I found that white highlight on her
lip off,to bright or white...also her eyes are strange
to me,looks like she didn`t close them,but in
same time like she is...huh now I sound insane,
hope you don`t mind my saying,I thing that
your piece is good.
Thx for info about blood siren!

[Prometheus|ANJ]

I'm not sure you can have that much saturation night time, and the red would probably appear to be almost blue if saturation was cranked up that high on a photo.

Made a PO. Darker, less saturation, new lightsourcing.

Fireplace fill light (red since blood is the theme) on the right one.

http://home.swipnet.se/zebes/lunar.jpg

[AfroLaxMan]

you know, prometheus, i don't even think you actually try this "art" thing...

I think it just happens with you.

you make me sick.

I appreciate you and your insight, where ever it comes from, and who ever it goes to.

[Vhy]

I dont know if the saturation bothers me, but the blood seems too red in relation to the environment. I reduced the value of reds and that's about it. I kinda like Prometheus's extra light source.

http://home.cardwell.tk:8080/usr/bencardwell/lunatique.jpg

[Lunatique]

Wow, those paintovers are awesome! They are different from what I wanted to achieve, but excellent alternatives. Thanks for the crits!

For this piece, I wasn't going for any kind of realism color-wise. I wanted vivid colors because they create the kind of ethereal mood I wanted, and the saturated blood is to drive the point home on the atrocity she's committed against the one she loves. I had tried to give it more realistic colors under the night light condition, but it didn't have the kind of look I wanted. Guess you can call it artistic license the way I sometimes use color. :D

I'll be making some fixes later, and work in some of the suggestion. :)

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Yeah, I kinda understood that you wanted that mystical foggy blue. I'm sorta making the PO's for myself to answer my 'what-if' questions :)

I'm not very good with enviroments and should probably make more studies. I've been doing far too many random pinups with white BG.

[Lunatique]

Prometheus|ANJ- You totally should! I've seen so many pieces with white background from you. I'm itching to see "fuller" pieces. :D

[Lunatique]

I went ahead and updated the piece. I just saved over the old ones.