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NocturnalSea — Archaeopteryx
Published: 2011-09-12 16:19:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 1325; Favourites: 40; Downloads: 15
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Description
A spot illustration created for Prehistoric Times magazine. A bunch of archaeopteryx having a bath in a shallow pool-- which is why they look all spikey and disheveled.It's far from my best work (I'm particularly displeased with the way the horsetails on the left came out-- can anyone even see them against the dark background?), but it was mostly an experiment to see how well I could do reflections on water. I find reflections particularly tricky since there are varying levels of transparency depending on the amount of light hitting the surface of the water.
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Comments: 4
A great concept and very realistic reflections, well done!
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Thanks. I actually wasn't too crazy about the overall color scheme. As I said, it was mostly an experiment at drawing reflections on water. I also wanted to try my hand at drawing wet feathers. And I wanted to do an action shot of birds bathing-- I always find that endlessly amusing.
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Wow, those reflections are expertly done! They aren't photorealistic, but they capture the salient features of reflection in such a way that they seem MORE convincing, if that makes sense. More interesting at any rate.
And good job doing what you always do, that is, putting ancient animals into unique situations.
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Hey thanks!
The most difficult part was trying to get the underlying pool bottom to show through part of the reflection, as you can see where the water meets the shore. In real life the darker parts of a reflection (tree trunks, dense bushes, etc)tend to look completely transparent, allowing whatever is below to show through. A good example of this is Escher's Three World's print. I don't think I quite captured the same effect, but I'll keep working at it.
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