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SteveArgyle — Celestial Mantle
Published: 2009-09-29 15:45:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 66324; Favourites: 1686; Downloads: 3896
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Description
BLING.This was a terrific technical challenge. The entirety of this armor mantle was to look like brilliant shards of diamond. I dig rendering challenges, like water, fire, metals, and special effects. Keeps me thinking.
These technical excersizes will almost always be coupled with a pretty girl, since they're my other favorite challenging subject. I also like to paint them. HAHAHA! Double entendre.
Copyright WotC, Magic the Gathering.
Art Directed by Jeremy Jarvis.
Diamond armor by "F*** Greedy F***ing De Beers, LLC."
Wallpaper, prints, and paraphenalia on my website [link] .
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Comments: 132
reminds me of siegfried from Soul Calibur IV
nice job
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A challenge indeed, and one which you seemed to be well up to.
What did you use for reference material for the diamonds? (I'm assuming you used references... just because inventing all those facets and refracting surfaces would be unthinkable! If you did totally invent them, then you should have a town in Pennsylvania renamed in your honor.)
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Actually, I built all the diamond bits in 3D (Maya,) built a mock-up of the character and the background, and rendered my own reference. (In Mental Ray.) So it's not totally invented, but I also didn't have any photo-scrap type reference.
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Sounds like your 3D elements are pretty useful, while not being too obvious. Maybe I should get into that.
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I find it invaluable. Alot of the particularly tricky artistic concepts are simple in 3D. (And vice-versa.) Like repetitive patterns in perspective, for example. Or symmetry beyond basic mirroring.
The only caveat is that 3D has a bit of a learning curve. It gets easier with the advances in software, but it can still be daunting.
If you decide to do it, I'd be happy to help out!
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Cool, that would be really nice. I'm at graduate school right now, but I don't know that there would be any basic "3D for Illustrators" classes. Are those programs fairly pricey?
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They can be expensive, yes. As a student, you can likely get the educational versions cheap. Retail, the good packages are in the 3K range.
Depending on the school, you may be better off teaching yourself. 3D is growing, and there's a fair number of schools and professors that can teach it well. But, it's still a young enough skill that many of the folks who know it well enough to teach it, are out there working. So it's hard to say what you'll get at any given school.
Digital Tutors [link] are quite good. The Gnomon Workshop [link] is /often/ good. (They have different instructors for practically every video, so they vary.) And actually, the tutorial manual that comes with Maya is pretty thorough. That's how I learned Maya. And before that, 3DS Max.
Just keep in mind that they're deeper programs than say, Photoshop or Painter. You really won't get far just fiddling around. You have to take time to go through the manual, or some sort of lesson book, step by step.
I'm usually on gChat, if you have questions. And it's a much faster way to get ahold of me than DA.
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Thanks very much for the tips! That's way out of my price range, but I'll keep my eyes open.
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They've also got the Personal Learning Editions, which are way cheaper. I think they're limited in the resolution you can render, and they may have a watermark. Still, they'd work for a lot of purposes.
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This card was nuts at my draft.
I love getting to see all the details they end up shrinking to a one-and-a-half square inch frame.
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i LOVE it! nother card i need just for the art hopefully foil too!
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*Gosh*
Use the white-shine effect in a draw is more difficoult then use shadows(for me,either).
Speachless,as usual.
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Me too. I usually paint from dark to light. (Often ending up with dark-ish paintings.) So this was a little different.
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I can say that you managed it very well
I'm waithing for the next pic!
Have a nice day
Lily
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That is incredibly beautiful. I love the detail of all the tiny bits of diamond floating together to form a truly divine suit of armor. Stunning work.
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Holy...wow...I am utterly speechless.
You, sir, are an epic human being.
This is a glorious piece of artwork.
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There is no emoticon gleeful enough for my reaction.
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Glad to be of service...your work never fails to astound me. As an art student, I hope I can one day produce the same quality of work.
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Just takes practice, study, and a little bit of caring about what you're doing. Like anything else. Looks like you're well on your way to me.
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Wow! Thank you so much for the gallery visit!
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So beautiful i must say!!
This and the angel made by Jason Chan were the best images in the entire set!
Great job!
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*Runs off to see if he can find Jason's angel...*
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Wow, what a challenging subject. Fantastic work!
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And part of her defensive strategy is to blind her opponents with refracted and reflected light. Great job in painting the diamonds! It looks fantastic, magical and actually rather effective (and freakin' expensive 
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Yeah, she could retire and buy her own island just by selling half a shoulder pad.
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Great work! The armor brings to mind the Naaru (from WoW [link] ) Very cool armor, wonderful ethereal effects.
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