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Darkmir — JADE SCEPTOR FINAL
Published: 2008-03-11 03:51:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 1468; Favourites: 16; Downloads: 0
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Description
UPDATE:AFTER READING SEVERAL OF THE VERY HELPFULL SUGGESTIONS HERE, THIS PIECE HAS AGAIN BEEN REVISED.
FOR BETTER OR WORSE, THE IMAGE SHOWN IS THE FINAL-FINAL FOR THIS PIECE.
MY DEEP APRECIATION TO THOSE THAT OFFERRED SERIOUS CRITIQUES. BECAUSE OF YOU, THIS WORK IS BETTER THAN IT WOULD HAVE BEEN.
Well.
I am not sure where to begin.
First, I want to most sincerely thank everyone who has encouraged me with their gentle support and useful critiques to complete this work. There were times I thought I might not.
You guys all got me through.
I did cut just a few small corners in finishing this piece. An example would be, if you look closely, that the wood textures in the stand are not contoured correctly. I just didn't see the need to spend one more minute than was neccesary to finish this piece.
I still think it is a strong piece, especially for it being the first of it's kind in a long, long while.
Hope you guys like it.
I am dedicating this piece to everyone who had a kind word for me during what was a very rough time to go through.
You know who you are.
This piece is for you.
"The Theft Of The Jade Sceptor" copyright 2008 by Darkmir Art Studios, all rights reserved.
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Comments: 67
I brought out the green tint from the sceptor on Darkmir.
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boy did that do the trick, really gives it that finishing touch
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it was a amazing piece to begin with, but this little added touch sure kicks it up to the next level, all you need now is a bit of type and it's good to go as cover art
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Now that I understand where this picture comes from, I can fully appreciate it. Absolutely great work.
And...uh...HOW many layers?
I get lost after 20.
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Lol.... I dunno.... a good guess would be 700.
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What the hell size of a .PSD file would that generate?
And what kind of specs does your system have to support that kind of thing
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135 150 closed... maybe half a gig open. My system has I dunno... 4 gigs mem?... something like that. Most of the open file information is kept in a virtual memory file on the hard drive anyway. This is the part of the file that gets so big when the document is open... not the pixel information, or even the layers, although they drive up the size also.
I have a decent system. About 6 months old... and I'm fairly good with computers... so it runs well.
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OK...even my 'new' dedicated graphics machine would crumble under that kind of abuse. My latest work has been pushing 40-60 MB closed, which is as big as I've ever been able to work. And that's with 12-20 or so layers, maximum.
You got a damn good set-up, bud
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I do simple commercial work in PSCSIII that is that big closed. All the time. Not all my work is as big as Jade Scepter was. But my machine is pretty good. I waited a while to get it...nursed and old 566MHZ machine for a long time before upgrading.
Now there was a real mule of a computer. Just trudged along... chewing methodicly, eventually getting you where you needed to go, but with damn little grace and style...lol.
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Serious hardware
I think myself advanced now with my friend's old system - 110GB H/drive, 1 GB RAM and a 2 GHz processor. That handles nicely the art stuff I do now. In the future, when I have spare money, I'll probably invest in something more advanced but right now, that runs Photoshop, my tablet, scanner and not much else.
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I really like that. The details are really in depth, and the chain mail is amazing. The glare on the chain mail, I really like it. The small cloth is really detailed, although most would shrug it off and not pay attention to it.
Keep it up!!
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Whoa! It's finally finished! I especially like how the candlesticks turned out.
Something about it all, though...I love the textures and all, but they seem so...separate, I suppose, from the rest of the piece. Like this is on a layer, and that's on that layer, not really giving a unified look at least in close view. For example the texture for the leather on the belt is so different from what's used on the knife that it looks like the knife is hovering in front of him. I'm not sure if that's the intent, since I'm used to looking at pictures that are more painterly in nature, but that's just my opinion
At any rate, kudos for getting it done! It's quite an accomplishment.
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Thx 42... I apprecaiet the comments.
Yep, some probs with cohesion...it's not just you.
Something to aspire to improve on the next one...neh?
:-P
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It does look good, but as someone has already said, the different elements don't seem to fit together.
Just going by feeling, the checkerboard tiles don't feel like they are positioned such that the character's feet touch the at the correct spot somewhere below the picture.
Also, the level of detail in each element are a little too different. That makes it look more like a collage of separate pictures.
The only thing which I don't really like about his face is his right eye which isn't coordinated with his left. It's facing the viewer, when his focus should be on the all-important scepter in his hands. His left eye got it right, and is looking in the direction of the said scepter.
As for the good, there are some parts of it which I really love. For one, the musculature, structure and folds of his face are really well done and realistic. The shading done there is also very detailed, the best in the picture. Another part that I like is the detail on and design of the curved knife. However, I don't like the way it seems to float off his hip. The angle isn't right. It's point should be angled more towards the front so as to be in line with the position of his hips as suggested by the position of his thighs.
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There has been a distinct difference between the comments I have gotten on this iece. They have either been pure gushing, or helpful critiques. I consider your post to be helpful.
I pushed too far on this piece. Asked too much of a technique I need ot practice on a much more limited scale before trying something this extensive. Same commetns form everyone who bothered to do more than gush.
I see it, my freind. And I appreciate anyone who actually points out what they see, also. It's what I needed ot hear.
Plan to scale back, and do some works that are more traditional media. Get my chops back. I'm gonna stay away from textures for a while, and do some pieces that are either B&W, or colored by hand.
I'll look forward to your comments on anything I post in the future.
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np... glad to be of help. I'll definitely take a look at your future work!
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At first glance it's really good but looking at it longer makes me think of some issues. First of all the whole image looks not really blended if you know what I mean. It looks as if every part of it was separate. Background is not shaded really, looks flat. The figure looks like pasted on it. As for me it looks all like some 3D renders put together without attention to light source, color scheme, texture type. Not that I say there are 3D renders, it's just common mistake in many digital drawings - so sharp edges, without any shadow on them make the image look flat. Every item casts shadow, everything reflects light and in your drawing there are no such things. Candles give the light that is reflected nowhere in fact that makes them look like pasted. The shadow on this thing in front of the figure (sorry, bad English 
Overall, I'd suggest much more work on shading and blending elements of the image together but it's up to you. This could be very interesting image, the facial expression of the man is really telling something but from the surroundings I cannot say what it's all about. Main problem is lack of strong light and defined shadows. Maybe try to look at simple ball when the light is coming from various directions, the ball casts shadow on the surface but at the same time the surface reflects the light and put some light on the ball, not as strong though as direct light, something like that to put it simple. Also light has its color depending on the surface that reflects it. Well, there are many tutorials and articles in internet about it so I won't write more.
Just sharing some thoughts on this. It is now promising in my opinion
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Absolutely gorgeous, you really must feel very proud of yourself. You have finished this piece off beautifully!
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Thanks Alma.
Well, yeah, I guess I am pretty happy its done. A lot of work, done while going through a pretty difficult period of my life.
You should try to avoid ever having to undergo major surgery...lol! I can tell you from experience it sucks on ice.
I appreciate the kind words.
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Ugh Major surgury does indeed suck! Hope all is better now.
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I remember talking to you a while ago and you were just working on the Jade scepter piece. I see its finished now. It really came out nicely. You did a great job with the textures, its tough using those sometimes.
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Thx, Shir.
I really appreciate you taking a look.
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Hey, no problem, I just had to say something about the finished product, its awesome.
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The detail in this piece just amazes me. the chainmail and the rug he is kneeling on are my favorite parts. Wonderful job, hon!
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Thanks kindly, Isollde.
If not one of the most difficult pieces I've ever done, then certainly the one which was done durng the most difficult time of my life.
And one I am glad I saw through to the finish.
They all get easier from this point forward.
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I actually gasped when I saw this was finally finished. It's so beautifully done o_o Your attention to detail is really fascinating, the colouring looks realistic (in my opinion) and oh dear god it's just so frikkin' awesome 
I'm speechless, really just speechless, otherwise I'd have given a long rant about how amazing this piece looks. Seriously, it's amazing <3
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Wow. I'm not sure what to say to that.
Thank you, very much.
However: you know I repspect your work, my freind. Please believe me when I say I want you to tell me what you don't like about any piece I show here. You don't have to worry about correcting me on technique or process. Just tell me your impressions. If you find a detail, or color scheme, texture, or shadow or light structure you think looks off or incorrect, let me know.
I can handle the technique side. You and everyone else can tell me your "feelings" on the work, and I promise I will listen and use oyur advice to help my work get even better.
Believe me when I tell you that the last round of revisions on this piece were taken straight from the first round of comments I got on it after it was basicly completed.
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I honestly don't see anything wrong with this artwork, maybe except for the smoke coming from the lights, it looks a bit too thick to be from such small candles, but besides that then I think this really is pretty damn close to what I'd call perfection. Though, I do think the 'colouring' on the two boulders(?) behind him looks a bit unnatural, but they still look damn good :/
If you want great critique, I'd suggest you go join conceptart.org , there you'll get all the critique you want from pro artists on the same level of skill and above
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Thanks for the suggestion. I'll go check it out.
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amazing work
good fx
nice palette
you are a great artist, c you
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You are pretty good yourself, my freind.
Thank you very much for the kind words.
Drop by my gallery anytime...:-P
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my first though seems to have allready been brought up by mongo-glows are glowy! (laughs)...would be nice just to have a light colour filter placed in gradient form over that chainmail nearest the scepter...
it's really an interesting peice...if it has a flaw-it's in the variance of detail. take the pedestal for instance-the wood is a high detail texture, so is the carpet, but the actual holder is basic gradients...your use of textures is exquisite- but a little more love for the non-texture stuff would have been nice. for the holder, for example, perhaps a little bit of reflected glow from the scepter-maybe some alternate or reflected light sources...if you really wanted to go all-out you could work in something like 3DS max and render the form out in 3D-using their materials to give you a really detailed looking metal form.
the face is marvelous, such a depth of colour values...
i think the problem mentioned before with the pillars is that if you look only at the very top where the spirals intersect with the roof-they seem to indicate a depression in the stone, but if you follow the spiral down to the edge of the pillar, you see that it is infact a swelling.
i think this is marvellous, i know OF very few artists who can use this level of detail. you have every right to be proud of your work on this peice.
also-750 LAYERS?!? ARGH! you...are...INSANE! that's...that's...that's crazy talk! i thought I was layer hungry!...(faints)
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Well, yeah... when you add them all up. But to be honest, I don't think I ever let the active layer count get above 300 or so. After that, it just takes forever to find a specific layer, even with everything in groups. So at least 6 or 7 times as I was working on this, I went through and flattened various stuff, when I knew it was pretty much in a finished state.
I don't work at all in 3D... it's all PSCS for me.
I'll tell you: What I love best about the crits and suggestions I've gotten on this is thinking how I can improve all the work I do in the future by remembering the ideas I got from you guys on this piece. Almost every crit included at least one great idea... all of which would improve this piece.
But, I honestly do think it's pretty strong work even with a few flaws. I can see where lots of things will improve.. not the least of which will be HOW FRICKIN LONG it takes me to do a piece like this... but it'll have to be future works that I make the improvements on...
-cuz this one is DONE!...lol...:-P
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300 is still insane. 100 is insane!
most people avoid 3D editors like the plague...i think a great number of digital artists could benefit from the easy insertion of such complex composite elements into parts of their images-but that's me...mebbe i'll be the one to start the revolution...(grin)
i know what you mean about it being 'done'......"i'd like crit, but i'm FINISHED with this 'orrible monster!"
(not, of course, to imply that this peice is at all horrible-simply inferring that the time and energy consumed in the construction of such a peice is taxing...)
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Maybe... I sometimes think my experience with texture work in PS would serve me well working with surface textures in 3D...but, I dunno. My biggest prob is the learning curve... I know Photoshop well enough to teach pro artists... been there, done that.... plus I know how to work in vector really well as well. My experience with Freehand, Illustratyor and CorelDRAW! goes back to 1991.
I just don' work in vector anymore cuz I love PS so much...
But learning a new prog from scratch? About the only way I can see that happening is if I could spend a couple of weeks, one on one, with someone who can get me past the initial learning drag... and into the program on a power user level, with a quickness.
Making that happen in real life is a lot easier said than done, unfortunately.
And don't worry. I know EXACTLY what you mean about being finished with a piece... I cut the cord on this one knowing a few things still weren't quite right... but it was more than time to move on, and besides; seeing as how it wa splanned form jump street as a PRACTICE piece, I really had already accomplished everything I wanted to with the piece. Could have stopped even before I actually finished and moved on to an actual planned work.
But then again, after all that bloody time I had invested, if I hadn't finished it, I might never have gotten it out of my head.
And in the end, I think the piece has got real value as an example of what I am capable of, even if there are a few mistakes.
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mmm...i dunno. i don't mean learn 3DSmax to be used as a standalone art medium, just to add a little shiny to your 2D stuff...something i always meant to try, but never got around to it...so a theory only.
(sighs) as for finishing, i find that difficult...i allways lose interest...or trail off...or start something new...i lack the stamina for a finished peice like this.
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Nice artwork! Nice job with the detail on his face and his chainmail is also great.There are several things that bothers me..I think that his mouth is slightly off-center(and also his mustache).Secondly the 'shadow' on the leaves look odd(why is the leaves at the center looks really dark than the leaves on the left and the right side?)
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There are no leaves in the center. It is open sky. It's a nightime scene, and the background has been darkend several times. Also, some computers display color differently, so I might need to adjust this image a bit. My computer may be showing the color toolightly, which would make it darker on other computers.
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Amazing work Robert
Must have taken quite some time to do all those textures and get them just right! I can't imagine the amount of masks used for this piece 
Nice rendering work on his face and hands.. good to be able to see this one in full version now!
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Thanks Grim.
I reduced the layer count at least 8 times during the course of doing this piece, so I can't actually offer a total layer count. However; the design file is 10 inches by 14 inches at 400DPI. The final file size, with about 50 active layers, was about 120 megs when I signed the work.
My guess is, over the total life of the job, there were maybe.... 750 layers? Not to mention some 20-30 temporary masks created using channels, to boot.
Lots of textures and masks. But also a ton of hand work. No texture was left un-molested. I tweaked, air-brushed, filterized, and generally screwed with every single texture used. Also, almost every texture had a sepaprate color layer which was fully airbrushed.
I do not consider this just a simple "texture" piece, but more a digital painting. I did use a lot of reference material to create textures, but only as a base.
Maybe it's wrong for me to see it that way, but I know what was involved in doing the work. Not just a matter of dropping a texture in a mask, by any means.
I appreciate the compliment, bro.
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well you certainly put a lot of love into this one... and time !
I didn't think it was just a "cut&
Which is what I get a lot when I get lazy and don't take the time to mask off areas that should be... right now a lot of my work will be that way because of the fact I'm using OpenCanvas (only program I can get to run on Windows Vista right now) and have not figured out how to use it's masking tools to good effect.. it works differently then Photoshop and is limited in it's editing tools for masks.. plus no help files for it, so I'm working blind with it.. any how.. 750 layers! 
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I appreciate that, Grim. The source texture I started with on the armor was a low res greyscale that gave me enough yseable material for an area about one tenth of the total armor area. So a lot of cloning was required. Then, yes... it took perhaps 30 steps, including multiple layers of color and filtering, to get it to look both high enough detail and still sort of hand drawn.
Was a lot of work.
How goes the trucking biz?
I haven't mentioned it before, but I did the Carny bit for a while. From an owner's level, not as a ruffie. In any case, did 6000 miles in 10 months, 20, 2 week shows, with Rheithoffer Amusements. Jumping out Sunday night at 1AM or later, drive 10 hours and then set the show back up again before getting any real rest...lol. A crazy ass life, for sure. Had a 28 foot tag along, F350 duelly with a Cummings 750 diesel... was actually a pretty good standard of living for that life. Got t-boned about a year and a half ago and lost everything in a fire that destroyed all three vehicles. Carnys don't, as a rule, carry insurance. Well, at least it was all paid for.
Not the same as long haul, but I do know a bit about putting back some miles.
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Ah ya, never used the cloner to that extent, more just blending and seams. I would scrap a file that's to low res and go looking for a higher res or make my own by hand and use multiple layers and a lots of mode changes and filters to get the results I'm looking for.. not always successful with it mind you.. I'll have to keep this trick you use in mind and try it more often.
As to the tucking Job? seems to have fallen through.. was suppose to get a call on Monday.. never happened! So I can only surmise they found someone else better? ah well! no love loss there 
Ah the Life of a Carny.. never done that.. not an easy life by any stretch, but by the sounds of it, you did it in style.. nice Rig setup.. to bad about the T-bone, good to see you walked away from it. Myself I've had a bad one..
If I can dig up the file I'll show you the results of a 4 point roll over I walked away from back in 02 in a 84 GMC General with a 4000 gallon non-baffled water tanker trailer hooked to the back.. was cut off by a pickup truck that pulled out in front of me coming into a tight corner with half a load on. I had to hammer the spike and try and go around him .. when I did the water in the tank came up all at once and slammed into front of the tank( no baffle to slow it down), to much pressure on tires that should have been changed many many miles ago and she blew out the rear rightside tandems on the tractor and kicked the back end lose. she jacked and pitched the truck over and rolled over once on the road, then went down into a deep ditch up the other side and rolled over 3 more times to come up on her wheels facing backwards to the way I was going... I was lucky.. I was not belted in so I was able to hit the floor. If I'd been belted in I'd be dead. The cab roof of the tractor was crushed down into the dashboard.. the drivers seat back rest was pushed through the bunk wall behind it and flattened out into the sleeper berth crushing the bunk frame under it in the process, so I'd have been crushed by the roof as it impacted with the ground. I've got photos of it afterwards, if I can find them I'll send you a E-mail of them.
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Christ Jeezus, brother.
Talk about creating perspective. makes my little t-bone incident sound like a fender-bender....
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oh being T-Bone is no walk in the park either!
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I walked away from it, same as you...
...biggest thing for me was the loss.
All my photos and mementos...my entire life history, basicly. My cat Clyde.... who was my best little guy ever.... died in the fire. My dad's flag from when he was honored by the Army upon his death... keepsake figurines I inherited when my mom died at age 54 from lung cancer... all the pics of my mom and pop. Eveything that said I was here for 46 years... not to mention all my art. I managed to save maybe a 10th of what I had... 30 years of work. Boxes of shit going back to when I was 6 or 8 years old...
Gone.
I swear to god, Grim. I wanted to kill. It was a bad scene.
About 3 months after the fire, I found (by purest luck) an old, totally forgotten archive of images I uploaded into a free online account about a hundred years ago... something like 200-250 fairly decent jpeg images mostly of my commercial work, covering about 15 years of my career... a lot of it images where the orginals had been lost in the fire.
Just between you and me, I came completely unglued. Cried like a child in pain. I think the whole "depth of my loss" thing hit me right then and there.
I was, needlees to say, grateful to have stumbled across the old archive. Because of something I did fairly thoughtlessly years ago and then totally forgot about, I still have a portfolio. Many of the older images you can see in my gallery here are from that archive.
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Man that's tragic, it's hard to lose so much of what is our lives to something like that, in a small way I can kind of relate to it.. when some broke into our house and stoled a lot of our personal belongings, it was such a feeling of violations and yes I can relate to the "wanting to kill" ... If I had ever found out who had done it..I would have done just that.. They took a lot of old family items( hundred year old silverware, etc) things that can not be replaced, that my mother and father had passed down to them over the years.
I lost some personal stuff myself, but nothing that I could not replace if I wanted to.. It was hardest on my mother for they took all of her personal stuff.. and that is what hurt me the most..I would paid the thieves back in their own blood for what they did to her, if I could ever find out who they are. Well at lest you managed to retain and find some of your work.. so not a total loss in a way, but I sure it does not compare to what you did lose.
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