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ErikShoemaker —
Shai-Hulud and the God Emperor
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#arrakis #desert #dune #emperor #erik #frank #giant #god #herbert #hulud #kire #leto #monster #sand #sandworm #schumacher #scifi #shai #kire1987 #sandtrout #xkire
Published: 2015-07-10 08:00:10 +0000 UTC; Views: 211889; Favourites: 9065; Downloads: 2473
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EDIT 10/14/17: WOW, I had always hoped for a DD on this, but didn't think I'd get it after all this time lol. Thanks so much to cosmicbound for suggesting and TsaoShin for featuring it!Unfortunately I still haven't gotten around to fixing the 'thopters' and adjusting the worm design. Here's an alternate version that might please the die-hard Dune fans a bit more
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My tribute to the inspiring scifi saga 'Dune' created by Frank Herbert. This is a fictional setting not depicting any specific scene from the books. The foreground shows one of my favorite and for me most inspiring characters of the series, the God Emperor Leto II.
Creating the worm turned out to be a really challenging exercise. I went through so many stages, completely overhauling the worm's design several times with new textures and poses. My first idea was to use a caterpillar as a reference, which turned out to be horrible. I even considered a seashell in between. Can you guess the reference animals of the final version? It's a mix of three if you count the teeth as well.
Stock credits:
model: vishstudio
Grinmir-stock | FairieGoodMother | GloomWriter | darkrose42-stock | Parides | AJK-Original-Stock | naradjou14 | demontroll | cgtextures.com
Thanks a lot for stopping by!
© Erik Schumacher
This is no stock image, so don't use, copy or manipulate the original artwork without my written permission.
Visit my website: www.xkire.de
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Narrative is one thing, framing is another.
What I love about this piece is that it has been framed to give a sense of the impressive scale of this giant creature - perhaps it could play on the scale a little more - although it's nice to see the artist taking framing seriously.
With that being said, you might be thinking that the frame is a little wide - it isn't. It's angled upwards for sense of scale, and it is wide so that you can see the ground, and can use the characters standing or walking in the sand under the creature just to emphasize the scale a little further.
What else makes this picture amazing is the use of compelling and photo-real textures in the sand, rocks, the creature's scales, and of course, the clouds.
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I don't like :
1. the Stillsuit dune costume (because it does not look like a life-saving outfit) ;
2. the crowbar (nonsensical) in the story of Dune;
3. is Ornithopter not helicopter
4. clouds on Dune from where ? is just dew morning .
Anyway . Good idea to revive a page from a book that won a science fiction award.
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The clouds are in the sky, not on the dunes.
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thank you for the critique and appreciateing the composition! I'm glad you like it
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I don't just like it - I love it.
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The piece overall is beautifully rendered and laid out, but could be improved with some small tweaks.
The scale doesn't seem quite right. The helicopter nearest the camera seems too small as compared with the body of the figure. The rocks by the figure are rendered extremely sharply, with high contrast, which draws the eye out of the edge of the frame. The shadows in these rocks seem to be going in a different direction than that of the main figure and the creature. All of the shadows are pretty soft within the landscapes, which makes the harsh shadows feel awkward.
Likewise, because everything is in focus, there's no sense of distance. A little more aerial diffusion and some cheating to blur a little bit of the details in the less relevant areas of frame (including the sky) would make it look more realistic.
Finally the horizon is dutch, which makes it look like everything is falling to the left slightly. Because you've got good weight on either end of the frame, the image would probably be well served by just slightly rotating it.
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Thanks for the great critique, it's really helpful!
I tilted the frame intentionally at the end to make the scene more dynamic. The equal weight on the ends as you pointed out, bothered me a little actually.
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As I'm not an artist myself I always find that I feel a little under-qualified to critique so I will keep it short and sweet.
Overall I think this work is great and for the most of it, the scale and grandeur of the worm is really spectacular and makes you stop in awe of the size of the beast! The texture of it scales is excellent.
Love the muted coloured skies that another DA critique has mentioned as this balances nicely with the sand and the tone of the worm itself - nothing bright and glaring that could have easily spoilt this work.
My only suggested feedback is that for such a huge beast I would have expected a little more of a dust storm arising from it thrashing about than what is shown - the dust and debris would be everywhere!
Also I think the helicopter that is flying in on the left hand side to me appears out of perspective with the character on the rocks and the people on the sand.
Only small points but thanks for sharing and keep up the amazing work!
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thank you for taking the time to write this nice critique! You're right, it could be a bit more dusty.
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This is the first deviation that I've wrote a critique on during my time here, so I'll try and make it the best I can - from a fellow artist's perspective that is.
In a previous critique for this piece, the member was puzzled about the artists use of clouds; whether you have watched the film directed by David Lynch or read the novels, you'll know that Paul Muah'Dib did in fact use his godlike powers to restore the habitat on Arrakis. However, if I remember correctly, Arrakis did eventually return to its desert habitat. To me, the clouds and cerulean colored sky do a good job of contrasting the harsh desert environment.
Another element which I felt really brings this piece home is the contrasting of technology (ornithopters) to that of previous inhabitants (destroyed ruins). Shai-Hulud has also been beautifully depicted in this piece, my only criticism of this is the way it was drawn. It could be that I'm only familiar with the sandworms depicted in the film, but I thought the scales Shai-Hulud should have been rounded out a little more. This is just my opinion and it doesn't really detract from what is going on in this image.
The God Emperor which you've depicted in the lower corner of this piece is really awesome too! I'm not certain if he is wearing some sort of desert suit or if this is just some other piece of armor, but it looks fantastic. The way you have modeled the rocky environment on which the God Emperor stands really blends nicely with the character as well as the surrounding environment.
Finally, perspective in this piece is on point. When examining the ornithopters and other inhabitants in the distance, it really shows just how large these sandworms can get - almost godlike in their own right.
Great piece overall! I've made this piece my laptop background until you create something just as great or better to replace it.
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Thank you for the nice critique. I'm honored that you picked my work for your very first critique on dA!
You are certainly right about the worm's scales. In particular the method the fremen use to tame the worms probably wouldn't even work on these. I was just looking for something that would still be impressive seen from that distance. I think the entire worm could use some finetuning to make it fit the original concepts better - something to improve for the next piece maybe.
Thank you once again and I'm glad you like it!
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This is a masterpiece, I love it. Thus, this is short. I am not the good one to write a critique about technique, because this is far too high level for me, but i can talk about colours : this gold-sand-yellow, with that summer-sky-blue, are definetly awesome. I can see clouds moving across the sky while Shaï-Hulud tries to escape...
The only things i could notice are on the vision of the scene. in my old memories of the books, several clues are strange in that scene. Arrakis is a desert : even if these clouds are really beautiful, i wonder if there could be so many on a "desertic" planet. I am not really fond of helicopters, i had pictured them as "mechanic birds" (maybe thanks to the Cryo game, huh).
Anyway, i really feel Shai-Hulud's power on this pic. Great
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You are right about the thopters, the helicopters are silly! I will fix this when I have time and think about a proper design.
If I remember correctly the author sometimes described clouds in his books, and if you consider that the planet is slowly transforming with vegetation and occasional rain then it might even make sense. I do get your point though!
Thank you for your great critique, I appreciate it!
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You're right about clouds, definetly. It's soooo long since i last read the books !!
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tell me about it, it's only a few months for me and I barely remember.
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Dude this is absolutely fantastic, incredible work!
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Thanks Jordan, glad you like it! (seeing you're a fan of Dune
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thanks so much, I'm glad to hear it from a Dune fan!
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I never knew you created this... omg, I'm an epic fan of the series... read the book back when I was about 18 or so and I'm 50 now. I've reread them over the years too! Herbert is/was amazing. I'm not such a fan of his son's works, using his dad's notes to continue the series with a co author though. Artists in their genres are 1 in a million. 
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