Stonehenge - Ancient Civilization (BG contest)

Hey guys,
This is my BG entry. I posted this on finished projects as well. But i`ll post it here too for getting some nice feedback. I hope is not a problem. (that i posted the same artwork in two threads)

Feel free to tell your opinion and perhaps give some constructive feedback. Thanks


Higher Res


It looks like there’s a lot of people doing Stonehenge for BG contest. But tbh, yours is the most impressive I’ve seen yet. I really like it. The only thing I can see right now that you could improve is the grass: it could use a bit more of variation. Other than that, great work man!
#edit: Idk if you’re willing to change that, but the women on the right are drawing too much attention, and that makes you be not sure of where to look on: the Stonehenge itself, or the women in white. Not really sure how you could change that tho. Sorry :x

The modeling is good enough that it’s hard to find fault in it. The rocks might need more surface detail though, some roughness.

The dramatic impression is slightly flat. Perhaps try stronger and more varied shadow/light contrasts. Decide what to focus on (the ghosts and the apparent light in the middle, for example), and cast more light on them, leaving other parts darker, even black. Adding some glow around the ghosts might work.

Alright guys, thanks for the fresh perspective.
-I`ll move the monks in the middle
-Work on the grass shader more
-Play with the rock disp and shader
-Add a spot light on the rocks-monks for more dramatic lighting & reduce the other light sources.

So ill post a update in the next days and well see how it`ll look like. Thanks again.

Alright, here are some shots.
I moved to monks so that your attention is directed towards the stones. I hope so at least…
And I added more contrast… but I don`t really like it more…



Very good… now, give us a front-light to illuminate the front of the stones and the foreground.

As things stand now, these areas are “opaque black.”

I call it done. Could someone help me decide?
Which one to post for the contest? - The first original one without changes or the last one?



I like the brighter sun glare but the Druids walking away from the camera, sorry.

Great job all around.

Well, although I have said that the monks were improperly taking the attention away from the center in my first post, I still prefer the original render. Also, I prefer the darker sun glare.

I like the version on the #5, but i agree with the fact that the rock are too dark, but you changed that, and i think you bright them up too much…
They should be dark, but not solid black… Maybe try to decrease the power of the front light…

You should also add a glare on the entire render to give it a “gloom” effect, but not too much…

I think, shadow needs also more work on it… But it’s not difficult, because the sun is down, al the horizon line light the scene, and so, the shadow should be soften… If it’s a sun lamp lighting the back of the scene, try to increase it’s size… Something like 0.5 or 0.6 could be better for this kind of scene…But experiment with this value until you obtain soften shadows.

But i like it, that’s great ! Remenber that the rocks are way better if they are dark, but not too much, enough that we can’t see the little details on it. (But that’s my oppinion)

Hey! Thanks guys for further critiques.
Here is a list with what I should change thanks to Heol and andre1204. I`m still not sure about the monks…(front or away from the camera)

  • medium sun glare (between the last 2 posts)
  • softer sun shadows
  • more lends distortion
  • darker rocks - compositor + decreasing the front light
  • the small rock in foreground need to be in the rocks render layer.

No one noticed the scale?
Right now, it’s only slightly larger than the set piece in a Spinal Tap concert. Unless, of course, the characters are giant.
Not to miff you or anything, but I’d just do away with the clothed figures: They contribute nothing to the image; They’re out of place; And, they distract the eye from the rest of the render (which is beautiful, might I add).

the scale is good. It may not look so but it is. I use metric measure in blender. The monks are 1.60-1.70 and the rocks are around 3 m.
Wiki: " Each standing stone was around 4.1 metres (13 ft) high, 2.1 metres (6 ft 11 in) wide and weighed "

OK, here is the update:

Over bloomed version:


Normal version- after update.


(I personally liked the last 2 before this update but I`m not sure of where to place the monks)

One more thing- here is the render without composite (just the render layers combined) just to notice the difference:


Pretty ugly isn`t it?

I don’t like the amount of bloom in the 1st image on #14, but I like the increased color saturation. The second one exhibits the right amount of bloom, in my opinion.

I prefer the monks walking towards the front, without a doubt. This is something you might find worth watching- I found it fairly useful.

I think there’s something a bit off with the grass as well. It looks best in the first picture of #14, and seems to look progressively more computer generated in the next two images. I’m using this image for comparison right now, so the colors are a little different, but I suspect the problem is in the way the grass is distributed or sized, although I may be wrong there.

My favorite version has been the first image on #5, which only really needs a grass fix, I think.

This whole post probably sounds a bit negative, but that’s because it’s just criticizing stuff. There’s a lot in this image done very nicely that I’m not mentioning. Good luck with the contest.

Thank very much my friend for your long critique and help.
It was really nice…
Firstly, thank you for your composition video - it was truly amazing. It something that most of 3d artists dont really care and Im talking about the subtle things.
I agree with the grass. There is a issue with the color… Im trying to get it right. Also the main thing is that I cant afford using too many particles to get a decent render because of the cycles GPU render memory limitations.
Thank you for your comment ones again.

Not bad but I am totally confused by the camera angle. Historians maintain that Stonehenge was arrayed in such a way that the sun passed through a set of pillars during particular seasons and sunset - it’s one of the more popular photograph versions - not the way that you have it.

As it is, the way you have the camera and monoliths arranged it’s very artificial.

I kinda like the opague look. The sun is shining in front of the stones and the darkness from behind giving avery real effect. The back of the stones are in shadow, so naturally, these would be black. Anyway, this looks good.

Improve the lighting.