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Description
My first major project, complete!
First of all, I'd like to say that the only reason that this image doesn't have a big fat copyright on it is because I like it too much So please do not distribute this image. I give absolutely no one (except for my vis.comm teacher, hah) permission to distribute, claim or alter this image in any way.

All that aside, this was my final project for my Vis. Comm class for this semester. We needed to design our own clock from scratch. There was meant to be time for us to do the packaging for it too, but we never actually got around to that. This image took about two weeks, on and off.

The Idea
My first choice was not a phoenix - I've had previous experience with fire, and didn't feel quite up to it. Eventually though, I still felt like doing some kind of bird. When I searched the internet and found barely any decent sized, decent quality images of phoenixes, I decided to do one.

Elements
The Phoenix - I drew the phoenix completely from scratch, with some help from a fire tutorial I found on the internet. Altogether, about thirty layers (I think). I drew the body parts separately and then fused them together right at the end.
The Head - Completely coincidental. I was playing with the liquefy tool and all of a sudden there was not only the shape of the head, but a beak, and an eye as well!
The Background - Comprised of mainly three pictures blended together. The main reason I did not use a lot of dA stock was that I did a lot of this at school, and my school server blocked dA. But I'm fairly satisfied with the result.
The Comets - I took a rock off a landscape stock (shall go look for stocker later ), and just attached a trail of flame from the same stock pictures I used for the background.

Points I Dislike
- The joint that connects the phoenix's tail to its body really annoys me. Somehow, I just can't get that right, though I've tried completely remodeling the whole thing three times.
- The comets were originally not part of the picture, but I thought it looked too empty without anything in that top left corner. But I couldn't do anything proper to make it look right. I tried fiery planets, a flock of phoenixes... Out of all all the experiments, I think this one looked the best but the lighting on the rocks, and the flame trails are still bothering me slightly.

Points I Like
- Honestly, I think the phoenix itself is a rather large accomplishment, especially for someone like me who has struggled with fire pictures, much less drawing. Love to photoshop
- The fire that just creeps in from the bottom right corner. I don't know... I just like the shape. Along the same lines, I also like the 'fire stars'. Technically they are just sparks flying off a bonfire, but I think it looks nice like this too

I'll post a picture of the original phoenix, without the background up and put it in scraps.
And the title... just something random I cooked up at the last minute ^^" No particular significance.

EDIT: Closeup can be found here .

EDIT 2: It had always bugged me, so I changed the white backdrop to a black one.

Description
My first major project, complete!
First of all, I'd like to say that the only reason that this image doesn't have a big fat copyright on it is because I like it too much So please do not distribute this image. I give absolutely no one (except for my vis.comm teacher, hah) permission to distribute, claim or alter this image in any way.

All that aside, this was my final project for my Vis. Comm class for this semester. We needed to design our own clock from scratch. There was meant to be time for us to do the packaging for it too, but we never actually got around to that. This image took about two weeks, on and off.

The Idea
My first choice was not a phoenix - I've had previous experience with fire, and didn't feel quite up to it. Eventually though, I still felt like doing some kind of bird. When I searched the internet and found barely any decent sized, decent quality images of phoenixes, I decided to do one.

Elements
The Phoenix - I drew the phoenix completely from scratch, with some help from a fire tutorial I found on the internet. Altogether, about thirty layers (I think). I drew the body parts separately and then fused them together right at the end.
The Head - Completely coincidental. I was playing with the liquefy tool and all of a sudden there was not only the shape of the head, but a beak, and an eye as well!
The Background - Comprised of mainly three pictures blended together. The main reason I did not use a lot of dA stock was that I did a lot of this at school, and my school server blocked dA. But I'm fairly satisfied with the result.
The Comets - I took a rock off a landscape stock (shall go look for stocker later ), and just attached a trail of flame from the same stock pictures I used for the background.

Points I Dislike
- The joint that connects the phoenix's tail to its body really annoys me. Somehow, I just can't get that right, though I've tried completely remodeling the whole thing three times.
- The comets were originally not part of the picture, but I thought it looked too empty without anything in that top left corner. But I couldn't do anything proper to make it look right. I tried fiery planets, a flock of phoenixes... Out of all all the experiments, I think this one looked the best but the lighting on the rocks, and the flame trails are still bothering me slightly.

Points I Like
- Honestly, I think the phoenix itself is a rather large accomplishment, especially for someone like me who has struggled with fire pictures, much less drawing. Love to photoshop
- The fire that just creeps in from the bottom right corner. I don't know... I just like the shape. Along the same lines, I also like the 'fire stars'. Technically they are just sparks flying off a bonfire, but I think it looks nice like this too

I'll post a picture of the original phoenix, without the background up and put it in scraps.
And the title... just something random I cooked up at the last minute ^^" No particular significance.

EDIT: Closeup can be found here .

EDIT 2: It had always bugged me, so I changed the white backdrop to a black one.