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TD-Vice β Prophet of Damnation
Published: 2010-02-12 19:25:24 +0000 UTC; Views: 53740; Favourites: 1137; Downloads: 1497
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Description
This veteran Word Bearer had seen a thousand wars. Enslaved dozens of weaker souls, wrecked havoc on the weakining, anti-human Imperium of Man - and defied his own mortality in the process. He is the Prophet of Damnation, the Herald of the Dark Powers, death incarnate.
Well, what can I say. This has been a long ride - I started this picture about a year ago, dropped it in a very raw state, and recently returned to it now.
This is the pinnacle, the apotheosis of my soulless technical skill at the moment. Am I happy? I'm pretty fucking happy. Now will suffer from carpal tunnel syndrom, but finally I've been able to achieve the quality of official Games Workshop artwork, as I see it. Maybe it's a delusion, but then, who knows.
There are flaws to the work that were inherit to it, but then, if there are no flaws, there is no improvement to them. It's also the first work where I used so many lightsources and tried to render them all realistically.
This is what I do. A signature work. Not funny, not entertaining, but a display of das qualitat.
Enjoy.
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Comments: 304
Right. Gonna just try out this whole "Critique" feature here, as I'm strapped now for writing anything else.
Anyway, have I ever told you how much I love this?
No seriously. Every time I mention you to a friend, this is the piece I show them to say "look at this guy. Yeah, I know the icon offends you, but look at that damn picture!"
I remember seeing the WIP you posted a while back, and having to pick up my jaw thereafter. Even then I knew I was looking at something really truly amazing.
First off, the most immediate thing a person looks at here is the guy's face: his expression, with that half-glazed look in his eyes, speaks of a wisdom far-beyond any mortal comprehension - like he's seen the very stuff the universe is composed of, and has come out missing a part of himself.
I cringe slightly every time I look at the myriad bits of metal which pierce his skull and bump up under his skin; every point of insertion is red with irritation, as it likely would be. The shading is absolutely astounding, as is the lighting... in fact, looking now at the creasing of his skin, I just now gained a new perspective on his face.
There is, nevertheless, something missing from the face... it is not entirely realistic, and I suspect it might be due to the nose: that is the one area where your shading seems to fail, as the bridge appears to be going somewhere entirely different from the tip, and meanwhile the lighting there is slightly contradictory, as though there were two simultaneous sources acting on the sides of his face, without affecting one-another.
Traveling away from the head - if we dare - we are then promptly taken along to meet with just about every detail on this guy's armor. The metal and the piping around his neck is, strangely enough, stunningly-rendered and shines so magnificently.
Venturing from the neck, one finds they are met by that impressively worn and battered collar, then the stained skull icon built into his old chest plate. Every dent looks superb; every scrape and cut awe-inspiring. The mantra papers strung from his pauldron are a very characteristic touch, and look neither out of place nor poorly-wrought.
There is also the pauldron itself: every one of the demented little forms sprouting up from its surface looks as animated as the Marine himself, and the fires burning in their mouths look absolutely marvelous.
The negative space of this image is remarkable in that there doesn't seem to be any. You utilize just about every part of this image for something, and the best part is that those details not even meant to draw attention still were painstakingly created anyway, and there is nothing to suggest you got lazy anywhere in this.
Talk about dedication.
There is one thing though: the angle of this is rather bland, coming from you, as your gallery has several examples of Space Marine close-up paintings. You even have a highly-stylized rendition of Lorgar, Papa Word Bearer himself, from a similar distance, even if it had a different perspective.
There is also, of course, the fact that this is a Marine. Chaos or not, they're essentially the face of 40K... whether GW forces them to be or not, as the internet is covered several leagues over by images of Space Marines.
What this is, though - it is a glorious take on what appears to be one of your favorite types of portrait. I will probably continue to pause over the course of the day and come to stare at the details of this masterpiece for a long, long time, I think.
Great work.
So there. Not sure how much use this'll be to you after so long, but there are my thoughts.
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Having watched your work for a year or more now, I must say that this may be one of the best work you've constructed so far. A piece does not have to be made up as an action scene to thrill the mind. There's so much detail in this piece that there doesn't seem to be an end to how long you can look at it and try to examine every little piece, without it getting annoying like many artists make.
Not to mention your practice at rendering texture and materials have really paid off, by the looks of it, from the rough, scarred texture of steel on the armour to the fleshy faces on the shoulderplate.
And finally, I am quite pleased with the way you've managed to show personally from the Marine with so simple a pose and apperance.
All in all, a fine work, nigh-perfect.
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I must argue with you when you say this piece is not entertaining. Perhaps not in the way you meant it, but it certainly entertains the eye, as well as the mind.
The time and effort put into this are strikingly apparently. The dimensions - the lines and shapes - of it are done amazingly well, it almost seems like you could reach out and feel the image as if it were real flesh and metal.
Again, here you show your mastery at creating realistic surfaces and textures. The etched and cracked metal, the glow of light on reflective surfaces, the gleam in the eyes of the demon creatures, all pulled off absolutely amazingly.
The only thing I find myself not quite amazed with is his face. There just seems to be something... missing. The rest of the image is just filled with impact and sheer raw visual power and then his face just seems to fall flat amidst it all. His skin is so smooth compared to all the other textures, perhaps more wrinkles or scars would be appropriate? Even the skull attached to his breast plate is still somehow more "alive" than his face.
I did score you quite low in Originality simply because this so much resembles the vast majority of your work in theme and visual aspect, if not in the actual quality of the work. That quality does, in this case, make up for the slight unoriginality of the subject.
This is filled with details and is proof of what a great artist can put out when effort and time are put into something they have desire to complete, and complete well. It is food for the eye, impossible to stop roving and absorbing the sheer detailed complexity of this amazing piece.
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First, thanks Cel, I love reading your critiques, youre ever as eloquent and fair)
Skipping all the odes to the detail, I'll go straight to the face issue.
You know, when I finished all the work on the armor and stuff, and began polishing the face, I had lots of stuff in mind. Scars, wrinklage, impossible tattoes all over, weathering and shit. But then I realised that if I did that, there would be no point of focus in the work. When you have such a massive amount of detail spread all over the piece, focus would fall on the less detailed/textured part of it.
So I went very easy on it. Plus yes, you're right, it's less alive than the skull. I wanted to put his unnaturally youthful - but still somewhat weathered face in contrast to the scratched armor and warped faces on the shoulderguard. And I think it works even if the viewer feels that something is missing. It's the inner conflict that such works requires, because otherwise they are static)
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Sorry, I can't help but sing praises when I see the effort put into things like this, heh.
Well it certainly draws attention, if not for quite the best reason. I think the pallor of his face would have drawn attention nonetheless though, wrinkles and scars added or not.
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i think what's most intriguing to me is his backstory
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He looks bored XD
'Oh boy, time to spread some damnation to the unwitting masses.'
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reminds me of that scene from a nightmare on elm street, where he reveals the victims, by ripping off his shirt and showing the faces of all of them!
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Man, I'd say this is pretty damn close to that quality. Kick-ass work! Keep it up!
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Otherwise really good work but his nose just looks too damn massive. No matter how much I admire all the other details in this picture I always end up staring and cursing that snout.
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This is beyond amazing, and deserves a daily deviation
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Π£ ΡΠ΅Π±Ρ ΡΠ°ΠΊΠΈΠ΅ ΠΎΡΠΈΠ³Π΅Π½Π½ΡΠ΅ Π²Π΅ΡΠΈ ΠΏΠΎ ΠΠ°Ρ Π΅, Π½ΠΎ, Π±Π»ΠΈΠ½, ΠΊΡΠΈΠ²ΠΎΠ²Π°ΡΠΎ Π²ΡΠ΅ ΠΆΠ΅.
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All the "essence" of the World Bearers is here. Just awesome as a dark apostle.
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One of the best warhammer-portrait I ever seen.
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All praises my brother. Let's have faith on the true powers.
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FUCKING AWESOME!!!!!!! FOR CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!!!!! FORRRRRRRR CHAOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I generally think the Word Bearers are rather boring when compared to other Chaos Legions, but this picture is simply damn awesome!
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Thank you for letting us feature your Amazing work!
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Always wondered who did this piece, as I found it on google with no trail back to its creator. Outstanding work, one of my favourite 40k pieces.
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wow! that is fuckin awesome! that looks totally professional, i have seen illustrations that look like a piece of crap next to this
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This Prophet somehow resembles the Despoiler to me... But thats probably just me.
"I've been able to achieve the quality of official Games Workshop artwork" - Definitely.
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I want to squish his face for some weird reason..
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I don't know what to say-I think you're the best Chaos Space Marine artiest of all time
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It is great, excellent, perfect, and gorgeous work)))) Awesome))))
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Astonishing!
It is not beautiful, as the subject could not be, but it has a wicked magnetism... you almost can find yourself lost in those eyes, filled with a millenia of the darkest deeds and knowledge.
Also, even though he's a huge marine in an even more huge armor, filled with fuckin' daemons n' shit, he is hieratic; he emanates an authority that comes from a superior mind, one that could crush your very soul uttering a single word.
It is gorgeous, that is all.
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I know it's pretty old by now, but this is, in my opinion, your masterpiece. The clear point of focus is his head, and the workings around it, but there is not a shortage of detail anywhere else. The tiny skulls in the backpack, the fire in the daemon mouths all over the pauldron, the light on the chest shining onto the corner of the other pauldron.
It's clear you put a lot of work into this, and I can say with sincerity that I am proud to have this piece in my favourites.
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Wow. This is amazing. The only thing I see is the skull on his breastplate: The plate of metal drilled into his forehead makes the skull seem flat. Also, the septum of the nose is sideways.
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In the light of this picture I'm only a weak heretic, I have to kneel in front of you, chosen.
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Magnificent.
This piece gets your attention and doesn't let go for a good long while. Beautiful artwork, and bonus points for a subject from my favourite Chaos legion.
Many have praised the textures in your work, and I'm going to echo them. I especially like the scripture draped over the egde of his left shoulder pad, and the skull on his breast plate.
Your signature work certainly reflects well on your skill as an artist and your work ethic. Keep it up!
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Thank you very much, I'm glad to hear you liked this)
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Love all the detail in this, really amazing.
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It's so...waaaaaa i'm so jealous , I want my figurines to be like that!!
lots of talent, I'm really fan!
O my god!
Andrew
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