Librarian of the Lost Sea

[fuuryoku]

Started this as a ChOW entry a few weeks back, but decided to take my time and do it as a full illo instead. Getting close to done, need to finish the figure rendering and tighten the bg elements a little bit, maybe add some more scroll cases poking out of the recesses in the near walls, but I have one area where I'm really shaky and would like help with, the sense of water.

As it stands it's not really feeling underwatery enough to me yet. Obviously I can add fish and the like but I'm looking more fore advice on implementing the effect via color or caustics (i think thats the right term?) rather than piling on more objects. Any ideas or approaches would be helpful.

108516
-Fuu

[nickmarshallvfx]

Well, there are a few things that come to mind when trying to make underwater elements really feel submerged.

- Bubbles and debris - In water there is often a lot of bubbles that rise from objects and the sea floor, and in murky water and clear water to a lesser extent there are small artefacts that float around.
- Light - You can get some cool light effects underwater like light streaming in and hitting the little artefacts and 'noise' in the water for some cool effects. It can look really good if you chose some selective important points to light like this and then have the rest of the scene a bit darker. Also with underwater light, the refraction creates those really cool moving hexagonal shaped light patterns. You could try incorporating that into the scene, although that tends to be most visible on the backs of creatures whose backs are exposed to the water surface, but we can't see much of that in your illustration, so maybe it won't apply.
- Sealife - You already mentioned it, and I don't think you should overdo it, but it will help it seem underwater and can help sell scale.

Hope that helps some?
Love the work so far!

Nick

[Forbidden Angel]

I really like this, but I'd like to add on to what Space-sprayer said also.

His hair has so much movement, but it doesn't even show any water disturbances.. I'd think little bubbles around some of the locks of hair coming through them would add more depth there, as well as around the paper/parchment.

There is something that is bugging me about this picture, and that is the dark fins that stick out on the side. They look flat and on top of the picture rather than part of it. I don't know how to tell you to go about correcting that, perhaps one of the others can - unless it's okay and I'm just seeing things I shouldn't be :P

Those are the only things I can add to what has already been said.

Otherwise, amazing job!