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TigRaidoXXX β Winter's Gate
#wintersgate #cold #conceptart #fantasy #mythology #snowstorm #vikings #winter #inspiredbymusic
Published: 2017-10-21 22:50:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 1702; Favourites: 47; Downloads: 5
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Description
Inspired by magnificent album "Winter's Gate" by Insomnium.The album tells a single story: it's a story of vikings, who traveled to a distant island in search of riches. But instead they came to the Gates of winter... the Gates opened, their fire died and winter devoured them all.
Lyrics below belong to Insomnium:
(...)
And on the mountain's side
Grim-looking gate lies
Staring towards the north
Waiting in solitude
Barring the way inside
The giant doors of stone
Not built for mortal men
Not made for us to pass
(...)
Hear the sound resonate
Through your flesh
Through the ground, across the skies
Cracking roar, a thunder's bark
Echoes here, the voice of doom
Blackened clouds now seize the welkin
Wielding all of winter's ire
And it will rise with a white voiceless face
From the heart of the earth
From under the mountain
Devouring the sun and the earth, forest and sea
Devouring us all...
-----
A sad story and wonderfully told. If you're into melodic death metal (or just into heavy music), you have to listen to it, totally worth it!
Update: and again, many thanks to my friend, who helped me with final color and tone balance of the picture (and introduced me to this awesome album btw too Β ). Sorry, dear, should have mentioned that right from the beginning! Β
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Comments: 22
"The storm wind engulfs us
The whirl of white and grey
The downfall is upon us
The reprisal of wanton gods"
And, of course, this one:
"Stumbling forward in knee-deep snow
The wind is whipping my face in frozen slashes
Void of direction... void of hope...
I call her name... in the whiteout...
There amidst the raging coldness, I catch her figure
The fear of death is staring at me through her eyes"
...and now I want to listen to this album again. Of course. Will it be tenth time? Or twentieth?
P.S.: Day is better than night, right?
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Now I have to listen to it too... Damn, the spring season does not go well with this one 
But thanks for introducing me to this album. Hopefully the pic adds a little to Insomnium promotionΒ Β
P.S. Yep, that's trueΒ Β
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If you listen to it during the spring season the winter will return! Or maybe not. I'll listen to it, and we'll see. I think it will definitely work. The bird-cherry is yet to bloom.
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Don't bring winter back! XD Especially not the one Winter's Gate is about...Β
...if it does return, I will know who to blame for that XD
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Hi there, I am from
First of all I feel like you really captured well the ambiance of this scene. It looks cold and forgotten, you can feel the bite of the cold and the snow floating.
You really did a great job depicting the snow and the tempest. But even a little bit too much I think, it can be hard to see the rest of the image.
This is my main problem with what you did there : it is hard to see clearly what happen. I think reducing a little bit the snow in some part of the image could help the viewer understanding more the scene. For exemple if we saw more the caracters It would be easier to imagine their journey and how could and forgotten this place is.
Just using less effects on them would work or making their silouhette pop up (not too much of course but enough to see them).
I rode in the comments below that you wanted them to look insignificant in front of the winter, so maybe just making one easy to see would help, as he was the last one standing when all the other felt, ready to fail like the others. Also reducing this men as silouhette already make them feel insignificant.
Also I really like how the black gate make you able to see the snow and the wind coming out of it. As it was breathing winter itself. Maybe darkening the ice near the gate or making some others structure around it could have helped dragging the viewer attention more on it.
Still on the gate did you tryed using different color for wind coming out of it (a little bi bluer or just another tint of blue). It could help giving a focus point for whoever is looking at this piece.
Your use of the wind flow is really great, it helps to guide the viewer attention but I feel like your composition would have won if you centered a little bit more the gate. Because it is so far in the right part of the image and so fin that it is not as imposant at it could be.
So there are my thoughs, I hope they were usefull to you, if you have any question don't hesitate to ask them.
Sorry if my english looks bad.
Anyway have a nice day !
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Hi!
Thank you for your detailed explanation!
Your suggestions about composition are reasonable (and very thoughtful of you to check the previous discussion first!). Yes, I did make the men vague and hard to see ion purpose, but having several people mention this as a problem, that it's getting in the way... That's important to keep in mind for my next pictures (because I'm not planning on changing things here).
Do you suggest to make a single character stand out more, so that the viewer would have some POV here? Someone to associate yourself to, to feel the scene better? Actually, the song even had some sort of protagonist, so I could have done that... Well, anyway, good that you pointed this out! I'll have to pay attention to this aspect I guess.
About the gates place on the picture - I didn't pay enough attention to objects' positions probably... Maybe it could be changed somewhere on earlier stages. I feel like there was some vague reason behind it (like putting the gates on the edge like a barrier, end of the path, or something), but there wasn't much sensible thought here anyway ^^" I mostly cared about making the gates' colossal size visible. So you're probably right and shifting the picture center closer to them would look better after all.
Blue color was something that I tried to make less vibrant after discussing the piece and the album lyrics with my friend. The whole piece originally had much cyan... We shifted it closer to gray and white look. The point was to make this look like cruel, merciless winter, not fantasy and cinematic one. The song gave this feeling of gloom, so even a fully grayscale image would probably suit it. Maybe, since I went for a little magical surrounding still, I should have left more cyan around the gate, like you say... But again, can't fully agree here, at least for now, 'cause this was a conscious desision.
About too much effects overall - well, I must have gotten carried away
And thank you for pointing out the strong sides too - I'm glad that the gates and wind, coming out of them, attract attention, and that the tempest looks good (even if it covers much of the objects
All in all you've shared many interesting observations, that's great! Even if some of them I do not fully accept, this may change after time, when I see my own picture with fresh eyes - so having feedback from a fresh eyes of another person is very useful!
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Reminds me of the gate at the Great Wall from GoT. In fact, without your description, I'd have assumed it to be that.
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Well, I can see your point 
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To be honest, I'm not sure.
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Hello,
I found your art in my inbox via ProjectComment, and even when Im fairly new here, it interested me. I like music inspired art (even when I cannot do it...) And when I looked on your art properly and read the lyrics, I was anmazed how good they fit...the cold, exhausted expedition, draging themselves along the long way only to find odd gate...which opens and devour them all... Its sad story, but the viking legends all are like that. I heard what I belive was Irish sying: Happy ending are stories that had not ended yet...
And back to your artwork: you captured the frosty atmosphere excelently, so far that Im feeling cold now! The only think that maybe could be better is that the people and sleigh are too hard to see, but this is maybe only my PC or bad eyes...
Overall, it is a great work! Carry on!
(and sorry for any mistakes, Im non native speaker)
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Thank you for commenting!
I'm happy that you can feel the atmosphere of the picture, I tried (with help of my friend
It's interesting what you say about Irish: I haven't heard that, but it sounds very true. When it comes to many old legends...
I don't know if Insomnium took a real legend or imagined it... but still their lyrics were breathtaking, and very sad to listen to the part, where vikings die there in the snow, far from home.
I admit that the people are hard to see (and they are not very detailed). I did it on purpose, to show difference between mortal men and fury of the winter behind these gates. But maybe it would look better, if the figures were more clear...
Anyway, thanks for your feedback!
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I love hearing the stories behind pictures, whether inspired by writing, songs, or anything else. The picture captures the feel of the song beautifully
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It's great to hear that! I rarely draw things inspired by songs, but this one gave a really strong inpression, a visual one.
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I can relate to that feeling, only somewhat in reverse. I've written some poems based on paintings I've seen before. Trying to capture a work of art in an entirely different medium is challenging, but very rewarding when it works out
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I'm sold.Β First, the picture is gorgeous.Β I absolutely want to listen to the music that inspired it.Β Secondly, you have such perfect line work, I can practically feel the cold air whipping over me as I stare into the gloom and desolation and sheer beauty of the moment.
Third:Β Just wow.
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Thanks!Β Β Endless snow and the looming gate were the main point here, so that people look small and insignificant compared to them...
I will be happy if you give the album a chance - but, again, it's a heavy music, with hard to distinguish vocal part and heavy guitars. Still, once you get into it, it's amazing
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I will definitely let you know if/when I get a chance to listen.
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Cool! I'd love to know
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Two months later... and I listened to the album!Β And to the "Shadows of the Dying Sun" album.Β I loved them, thank you for the suggestion and it gives the artwork just even more intensity.
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That's so great! Thanks for sharing your opinion - I'm happy to hear that you like them. And it's good to know that my artwork suits the music
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