"Opera Tree" and "The Garden"

[Nivbed]

The Opera Tree

http://www.nivbed.com/images/operatreefinal.jpg

{edit} oops, forgot this {/edit}

"Lo, the horse's trot caused such a ruckus that the tree began to sing opera!
The foul ghosts, unnerved from their slumber, dashed and scowled, and grimaced and gnashed to scare the newcomer away . . .

But alas, his blindness rendered their efforts useless."

Details.

http://www.nivbed.com/images/operadetails.jpg

And this picture was inspired by "The Garden", by P.J. Harvey.

It's a song about two male angels that fall in love and are cast into hell because of such.

It's probably my favorite love song.

http://www.nivbed.com/images/gardenfinal.jpg

[davi]

best artist in the world!!!! i vote 5 stars :)

[mtw]

Originally posted by winjer
p.s. i thought angels had no sex.
I think everyone has their own idea of what an angel is. Even people of the same faith will have different ideas. Same thing with orcs and trolls and whatnot.

About the paintings:
Wow! Very well done. The only crit I can think of is making the shadows on the red robes darker.

[Ankh]

As always, man. Incredible, inspirational work. Keep it up.

...and... Actually, according to the Bible, probably the most popular source for angel lore, angels do have gender. At least, sexual capability, in functioning as a male. Anak was the son of an angel and a human female, producing giants with six toes and the sort. ...and the birth of the Aryan race, according to various sources.

[Nivbed]

Originally posted by winjer
p.s. i thought angels had no sex.

Well, neither I nor the song mentions anything about sex. It is about falling in love. Just clearing that up before this thread turns into an angel discussion thread. :)

I mean, I'm all for discussions galore about neat things like angels, but I hope that such a discussion will not take away from the original intent of the picture. Which was a sad look at true love. Not about angel sex or androgyny. :)

[wes9000]

really nice paintings
the first one has a real odd nerdrum and tarsem singh feel too it...
i love the way the horses head is rendered...the proportions of the body and the legs kind of bother me though, im not really sure if it was intentional or not to make them so "cone" like

the second one is great, i really like this one alot
the colors and technique of modeling the wings is awesome...id almost like to see a little more contrast in the figures though...i dunno. it works

always happy to see new work from you

[oglzogl]

Very nice!

The horse looks a little weird but I am sure that is your intent. I think the only thing I would crit is that the jaw (or maybe its the position of the head) doesn't seem to jive with the perspective on the mouth (shrinking legs dont bother me at all :D ). It could be that I am being distracted by the blinder (is that what the thing over the eyes is called?) and that is why I percieve it as a little off. I still like the horse.. don't mean to imply that I don't. I like it a lot. You've done a great job on it's coat. The picture is even more disturbing because the horse is not reacting at all to the touch of those creatures. Looks very good!

The second is great too. It is almost as though you captured the moment they were thrown out of heaven.. because the angels wings are burning off right in front of your eyes... even that shows the depth of their feeling because neither appear to be distracted by that.

Very nice! I'll say it again.. Very nice!

I too have always appreciated your work. Maybe more with each picture...

[Deth Jester]

cool!

Yeah I like the stylism of the first one.. The legs of the horse really bother me, but in a good way, I like how they bring a weird emotion about the horse. like it is almost eerier then the creatures on the ground and the tree.. love the colors.. that red.. so peircing!

I really like the 2nd one.. Though I think I would like to see the two angles pop out more, almost have them jump out of the painting at you.. maybe use more contrast.. and pull that guys arm of the the one facing away, out.. great work though..

You guys did pretty good at E3.. Loved the booth babe.. it was cool to put a face to the artist too..

keep em coming

peace.

[the good war]

hi nivbed i saw your some of your digital work and i was wondering if you could write a tutorial describing the way you conceptualize the lighting on clouds i find your clouds fascinating. great work :D
p.s. love the clouds
the clouds :yummy:

[deluxepaint]

First one is great, I liked the concept, colors and lighting, I really liked the empty areas on the right and left corners..
I agree the "winjer" horse remind me the cell, but it's still really good..

but the "gay angels" just ordinary, it's looks like a photoshop effect on real photo.. I think you can do better than this...

[Nivbed]

Thanks everyone!!

wes9000: Yeah, the proportions were editted on purpose, and I have received mix views on them. Personally, I like them and think that they add to the picture, but for some it seems that they are a bit of a distraction.

You are the second person to mention Odd Nerdrum to me. So I checked him out and I'm surprised at the similarities of this picture to his work. Though, he seems much more masterful.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

oglzogl: Right now I cannot see the problem about the perspective on the horses face, but we all know how that goes. I'm sure in like a week or two I will look at it and go, "you know, oglzogl was right!". But for now I will decline. :) Though I have already run into errors twice on the picture, once with the tail (which I went back and fixed), and now I'm seeing one near the tree. I doubt I will fix it, as I'm not in the habit of editting pictures after I have deemed them complete, but it will definitely help me learn for next time.

Deth Jester: Hahah, awesome! Those boothbabes kept hitting me with their whips on accident and I got kind of annoyed. But all in all I'm glad our game did well, and I had a blast there too!

the good war: I believe that I have a mini tutorial on another forum somewhere that I could try and find. It's not much, but it has a couple of pointers that might help. I think the main thing is just paying attention to the main forms before you start your lighting on them. That's where people usually go wrong.

deluxepaint: Well, as mentioned, it looks like Odd Nerdrum, and his stuff heavily influenced "The Cell", so that's probably the comparison you're seeing.

I don't know what to say about the second one, other than I'm sorry it's not up to par with what you think I should be doing. :/

Once again thanks everyone for the replies! :)

{edit} Oh, and why does the thread have stars next to it? I've never seen that before. {/edit}

[MindCandyMan]

awesome nivbed! Looks fantastic man...yeah definitely nerdrum on the first pic...it looks awesome. I love the palette you used for both of these. Quick question: Did you use a photo reference for the horse or did you just do it out of your head?

[sheepchase]

Wow! I love the tiny feet on the horse...it almost looks like you might have referenced other paintings of horses? It has kind of a classic look to it, if you know what I mean:D

[foster]

those... are just amazing!

i would say more but i am struck dumb by how much i enjoy these paintings.

jon

[behemot5]

love it :evilbat:

[blackhand]

It's interesting to see the shift in your style and subject matter from your earlier work--from white, long eared animals to strange, cthuloid women.

This wouldn't have anything to do with working at Troika, would it?

Excellent stuff.

[Zaphod]

I add my voice to the chorus! Beautiful!

I really like the symbolism of the first pic. Clever.

The only thing that looks wierd would be the shadows in the red dresses, as someone mentioned. If not darker then more purple shadows would help I think.

Keep it up! :chug:

[chriswahl]

Great work!

The ghosts remind me of the little girl from 'The Ring' movies.

[sumtinsumtin]

great work, i really dig the secondone, i like that song too

[krayz]

Awesome stuff!

The first one is very spooky. I feel weird looking at it. I think those creatures would look scary as fuck in a movie.

The second one... amazing colours.

[tyboogie]

beautiful painting NIV

feels like some of odd nerdrums stuff
and consequently some stuff in "the CEll" and "the ring"

i absolutly love the mood this evokes--feels like those nightmares i have that are so scary but so cool cus theyre original and new

keep it up!!!!!!

[Hitsys]

:jawdrop: That firts pictures is impressive, and I feel very, very scary looking at it. It remember me a terror movie, like "The Rign" (the Japanese one).

The second image is amazing. I really like the love storys beetween men.
Recently I found one japanese artist that I love because his work. He does "manga yaoi", it is man to man, and I think it is really cool :D
His name is Kazusa Takashima is anyone is interesting in.

Keep going !!!You work is so good!!!!!

PD: I am a girl :p

[Foxglove]

Both are so nicely done, they make me happy inside. ^_^

[//SGT.SKINNER\\]

The Opera Tree = AWESOME!


I LOVE that painting. I would hang that in my house. The focal point in the painting demands your attention and really draws you in. The color scheme is awesome.

I really, really like that painting man.


Btw, great web site.

[doc rob]

nivbed,

Have you sent that second image to PJ? If you could track down a way to get it to her I'm sure she would appreciate it, it is truly beautiful.

As always, your stuff is amazing at first and even more amazing upon further consideration.

[Nivbed]

Wow, thanks a lot everyone!!

MindcandyMan: I used a photoreference for the horse. :)

blackhand: Hahahha, no. Troika is rather great though! I just wanted to mature more in my artwork, and do things that meant more to myself.

Zaphod: Yeah, it seems that what I intended for the dresses isn't coming across well. I wanted like a sheen of a satiny-velvet red dress with coral green undertones. Like if the ghosts were in a room that had aqua green walls and their dresses were bright red. But, I learned, and next time, it will hopefully work out!

Hitsys: Thank you very much. Though, I don't like yaoi too much, so I probably won't look into him. :)

doc rob: I thought about sending it to her, but I have absolutely NO idea of how to do that . . . like if I sent it to her record label, or found some fansite that maybe she goes to, I dunno? So for now, I will just hold on to it. If you have any ideas, let me know and I will heavily appreciate it!

[Nordstrand, T]

Opera Tree is is more digital fine art than anything I've seen before, methinks. Fantastic work. I too see "The Ring" in the bodies. And I like the distortions on the horse anatomy, it adds to the eeriness and I think it made the horse feel less cut n' paste than otherwise.

Great art!

[Dan.v.D.]

MAN!

the opera tree is sorta like... u know... omg... lets say art that´s larger than life itself

[Forge]

Strange style... It's change to mechs and super-hyper-devil-dark-elves!!!
a really good job