View Full Version : "Starry Night" - with tutorial trilogy
The M.h.p.e.
30-Jul-06, 18:57
"Starry Night"
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4605/boyeyes10renderoutput800df4.jpg
High-res (1600x600 pixels) (http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8195/boyeyes10renderoutput1600ch5.jpg)
Concept:
The image is based on the feeling of awe when one looks up into the big and
beautifull night sky, full of stars. The mystery and wonder of life's greatness.
The piece is starring this little redhaired boy, looking facinated up into the
huge sky - at that moment realizing how small we all are compared to the
world, and universe, around us.
I've experinced this myself, outside late at night, looking up into the big
starry and cloudless sky. It's beyound compare.
Technical stuff:
Rendertime for all render layers alltogether is on about ½ hour (with Blender's
Internal renderer). The native resolution is 2400x900 pixels, so this is not
bad at all.
A good amount of post-processing work has been done (in Photoshop) to
get the right look for the piece.
Plans:
I'm currently planning to write a tutorial/project walkthrough based on
this image (maybe just some aspects of it, or the project as a whole. Not sure yet).
Well, comments are more than welcome!
//The M.h.p.e.
EDIT:
*********
All three parts of my tutorial/project overview trilogy on this image published
at my site:
http://mathiaspedersen.com/
Please feel free to tell me what you think!
//The M.h.p.e.
*********
wow thats amazing, very 'pixar' feel to it
:) good work!
Talking_Toaster
30-Jul-06, 20:45
Yes, looks fantastic! I've enjoyed watching the WIP thread too, look forward to seeing the tutorial.
This rocks! Nice idea; nice composition; nice modelling, nice texturing, beautiful render... Like it very much!
Just like Flurp said: very pixar (and that's a compliment!)
Awsome. But why didnt you fix the reflection in the dudes eyes.
I have to agree woth MorMor, the reflection seems off in the eyes, which detracts from the great image.
The shaders, modelling, etc. of the image are perfect. Just beautifully done.
BgDM
The M.h.p.e.
31-Jul-06, 09:05
Thanks for the great feedback everybody!
MorMor & BgDM: The strong reflection in the eyes is there to emphasize what
the image is about. I expected that there would be a few crits on some things
when I post a final ;)
I might go back and revisit it to do the very last tweaks and touches. Tomorrow
maybe. Will probably go a little easier on the reflection there. Not much though,
since it is kind of a key feature in the image...
Keep posting!
//The M.h.p.e.
quick suggestion...
how about making the stars reflect in the black of the eye more and less in the white? That makes sense to me.
The M.h.p.e.
31-Jul-06, 11:29
Shaker: Yea, you've got a point. Will take a(nother) look at that...heh.
//The M.h.p.e.
The M.h.p.e.
31-Jul-06, 16:30
Okay. Here's the story: Was about to post a revised version, but realised
after a couple of hours work, that it actually was wasted. That version wasn't
any better at all.
So, I've decided to stick with the current version. Gotta be done sometime,
and can't please everybody.:)
Keep it up!
//The M.h.p.e.
wow great work, i love the look on his face:), how did you managed to get that expression?
Felix_Kütt
31-Jul-06, 18:30
actualy i like the reflection of the eyes especialy as you sayed it was one of the main things on the still... soooo... id say 5*s from me!
Felix_Kütt
31-Jul-06, 18:32
5*s from me! darn allmost fell for the Quick Reply-ing :o ok here comes the 5...
The M.h.p.e.
01-Aug-06, 02:57
rhaados: Trial and failure - and always a mirror at hand. :)
//The M.h.p.e.
Looks great. Good job, looks kinda like some pixar/dreamworks stuff there dude.
This is realy a 5 star from my. I realy love this pic. I'm glad you left your first thoughts behind (The earlier pics from the danish forum where he was in bed). This is just soo much better!
dodgydavec
01-Aug-06, 19:42
The reflection in his eyes is fine! You said it yourself, you can't please everybody. Someone posted a photograph of a lighter on here once. And they did state is was a photograph. And someone criticized it for being to reflective. Your piece is fantastic.
Moved to the gallery. This really deserves to be here.
BgDM
lovely piece, congrats man.
The reflection in his eyes is fine! You said it yourself, you can't please everybody. Someone posted a photograph of a lighter on here once. And they did state is was a photograph. And someone criticized it for being to reflective. Your piece is fantastic.
Nice one :D
Nice picture as well,
and please, make a tutorial, I'd like to model faces, but I can't get any further then a noseless lad with a potatoe head...
Gratulerer med at komme i galleriet Mathias, det er der sq itte mange der gør-
Congratulations on making it to the gallery Mathias, as you can see - only a very few does.
:)
Amazing work. I'm a big time astronomy hobbiest myself and I think you captured the moment perfectly. Brings back lots of memories when we used to lay on the roof of the house and watch the meteor showers. 5 stars from me.
Really nice finished piece! I'm glad this got into the forum gallery.
3dmedieval
02-Aug-06, 19:09
Your website is really nice, btw. Very clean and crisp.
Nice picture! YEs..that tutorial would be nice.. VERY NICE because I haven't found tutorials like how-to-model-this-picture. Those would be really teachful...
fizban
something's telling me this is going to be the next splash screen in Blender
The M.h.p.e.
04-Aug-06, 12:46
Woah! I go on holiday for 3 days, and everything just goes crazy...!
Thank you SO much for the extremely positive feedback, and the great
honor it is to get into the forum gallery - along with all those wonderful
pieces of art! You can't imagine how much I appreaciate it!!!
The tutorial will quite likely be finished soon. Not sure if it's usefull or not
(especially don't know if it's any use in the modeling part, since I'm not really
good at that), but I've at least had fun making it (still am). And when I'm
done, I'll still be willing to change some stuff/write something more, if anyone
would like more in-depth.
Wow... I'm blown away...
//The M.h.p.e.
The M.h.p.e.
04-Aug-06, 17:52
Okay, I'm pretty much done with the two first parts of my three-part project
overview. Hope it's useful to people out there! While you're there, please
do take time to have a look at the rest of my site.
MathiasPedersen.com (http://www.mathiaspedersen.com/)
Remember, I'm always happy to recieve suggestions on how to improve on the tutorials!
//The M.h.p.e.
Very good tutorials. I love the art even in those, thanks for writing this up, I really like to see how things all look before rendering/postpro.
fantastic work man !
this deserves 5*
looking original, keep it up
The M.h.p.e.
05-Aug-06, 14:34
Thanks for the good feedback once again!
Part 3 of the project overview now finished! Have a look at the whole trilogy
on my site below!
http://mathiaspedersen.com/
Hope it's useful. Always open to suggestions on how to improve it!
//The M.h.p.e.
Woodman5k
06-Aug-06, 00:41
Wow, really great tutorials Mathias. I learned a lot of great techniques! Definitely added to my favorites list.
great great great job man. i just noticed ooooone little thing though. the kid has no eyelashes. that would definitely add to the cute-i-tude. i doubt people will really notice it, but i thought i'd mention it. :)
awsome tutorial, well written.
The M.h.p.e.
08-Aug-06, 02:21
Thanks for the great feedback yet again!
MartyJ: C'mon man! He's a boy. Eyelashes are not essential when it's a toony
boy you're working with...heh. :p
Guess it could've been kinda cool... ;)
//The M.h.p.e.
MartyJ: C'mon man! He's a boy. Eyelashes are not essential when it's a toony
boy you're working with...heh. :p
welllll, yeah, i know, but it always adds to a character when they have those awesome mile-long eyelashes. like you said, it's not essential. awesome work. pixar's gonna sue you someday. :D
The M.h.p.e.
08-Aug-06, 02:38
awesome work. pixar's gonna sue you someday. :D
...hmm...gotta find a hideout...
;)
//The M.h.p.e.
Little boys usually do have noticeable eyelashes.
I think it's a lovely render and full of character, and since I studied astrophysics and I'm working on a Planetarium movie, I can relate to it very strongly :)
But part of me always thinks "why couldn't it be a girl, just for once?".
The M.h.p.e.
08-Aug-06, 02:59
Lisae: Girls are harder to do. Have to do eyelashes you know... ;)
...oh..ooh...and looong hair and stuff...!!!
Too complicated and beautiful to do right...
//The M.h.p.e.
super nice... den er sQ god... nice nice nice..
The M.h.p.e.
09-Aug-06, 16:47
Silverframe: Tak! Altid skægt at støde ind i en dansker sådan nogle steder her. ;)
Translation: "Thanks! Always fun to run into another dane in places like this."
//The M.h.p.e.
Very nice work:)
The piece and the tut are both very pro looking I like the in depth tut that goes with a great piece.
off topic--
I like that you translated that last post for us also a professional thing to do. To bad I don't have a graphics studio I might hire you. Keep It up and we all may learn something.
The M.h.p.e.
10-Aug-06, 01:28
shr1k: Well, thank you very much too! :)
I'm just blown away by all this positive feedback. Thanks once again everybody!
//The M.h.p.e.
This is just beautiful. The wide aspect ratio really draws you to the eyes, but I think a slight bit more breathing room above and below his face would help make it feel slightly less cramped there. But that's my only nitpick in an otherwise excellent concept and execution.
Nevermind...the more I stare at it the more I think the crop is just right...
The M.h.p.e.
11-Aug-06, 16:24
Now on the front page of BlenderNation.com...
http://www.blendernation.com/2006/08/11/mathias-pedersens-starry-night-tutorials/
I'm completely in shock here. I mean, wow! Don't know what went "wrong"...;)
Thanks for your support and great feedback everyone!
//Mathias
BleedForMe
11-Aug-06, 19:46
Damn, things like this really make me give up hope :P
THat looks awesome! I usally don't check the Forum Gallery, didn't notice the post before.
I just have one question, in the tutorial you show a wire image of the boy's head, is that the real vertices or is it subsurf-ed? If subsurf-ed, can you post an image of the true wire? (while in edit mode) :)
The M.h.p.e.
12-Aug-06, 04:30
Calvin: It is the subsurfed wire - but with "Optimal Draw" checked, so there
aren't really fewer vertices than this. It's not very good to have that many
vertices to pull around at a time, and gave me alot of headaches during the
project...:(
Keep you meshes clean! Don't go learn it the hard way as I did...
//The M.h.p.e.
Felix_Kütt
19-Aug-06, 12:26
actualy the only way to master it is to learn it the hard way >:- D
edit: and don't forget the good old place: http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com
The M.h.p.e.
19-Aug-06, 16:09
Great site Felix_Kütt! Thanks!
//Mathias
Lovely stuff. There's an instant mood that your lighting portrays which fits perfectly with your subject matter.
One tiny suggestion, he looks like he's focusing on something closer than the great beyond, I'd be interested to see what it would do if each eye was directed straight ahead or even just a tiny bit outwards. So he'd be looking past or through the camera so to speak. Might also add to that awestruck/stunned look on his face (which is brilliant already).
All in all though - one of my favourites. Looks like a still straight out of a great quality movie.
Powered by vBulletin™ Version 4.1.1 Copyright © 2012 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.