"Starry Night" - with tutorial trilogy

[The M.h.p.e.]

"Starry Night"

High-res (1600x600 pixels)

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.
*********

[Flurp]

wow thats amazing, very 'pixar' feel to it



good work!

[Talking_Toaster]

Yes, looks fantastic! I've enjoyed watching the WIP thread too, look forward to seeing the tutorial.

[gallardo]

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!)

[MorMor]

Awsome. But why didnt you fix the reflection in the dudes eyes.

[BgDM]

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

[Yoeri]

awesome! really nice!

[The M.h.p.e.]

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.

[shaker]

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.]

Shaker: Yea, you've got a point. Will take a(nother) look at that...heh.

//The M.h.p.e.

[criss]

Wonderful style!

[The M.h.p.e.]

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.

[rhaados]

wow great work, i love the look on his face, how did you managed to get that expression?

[Felix_Kütt]

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]

Originally Posted by Felix_Kütt 5*s from me!

darn allmost fell for the Quick Reply-ing ok here comes the 5...

[The M.h.p.e.]

rhaados: Trial and failure - and always a mirror at hand.

//The M.h.p.e.

[Milky]

Looks great. Good job, looks kinda like some pixar/dreamworks stuff there dude.

[[Kothe]]

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]

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.

[BgDM]

Moved to the gallery. This really deserves to be here.

BgDM