It was a lot of hard work (12 hours straight!) and of course it’s not perfect. Although I do think this would make a nice cover for a fantasy novel or some such…
Here it is. Quite hefty at about 200k, if that’s too much let me know, I’ll post a lower-quality jpg.
If you wonder what the hell this is supposed to be, go here.
Thanks to Alltaken for the inspiring pic. Keep up the good work. 
And, as always, C&C would be greatly appreciated.
-Raseri
uhh i was working on it too 
2 hour know, lot of work to do
here my wip
great modelling raseri
only crit is the lighting in the scene doesn’t seem considered.
putting in a directional light at the bottom could be pretty effective.
lighting the tree slightly to see the details might bring things out.
and some kind of halo or glowing effect behind the tree to emphasis its silhouette once that is done would give it that glowing effect.
but yeah its a very accurate model of my concept.
great work.
Alltaken
Hey, nice model. The well and the chains are well done. The tree is too dark though, it’s hard to tell what it is. Also agree with Alltaken about the lighting: it need work, stronger spot lights maybe…and maybe some reddish light coming from the bottom of the well to provide a little light from below so the whole model can be seen well.
actually, I happen to be doing the same picture… I’ve gotten most of the modelling done but I’m not sure how to give the tree leaves…lol. I’ll do the texturing later. No image yet, btw.
Thanks for the comments. 8)
After spending a few more hours trying to tweak the lighting, this is what I’ve ended up with:
http://apieceofstring.com/blender/Raseri-TreeRedux.jpg (800x1000 jpeg, 344kB)
Apparently, if you have a halo-lamp behind something, you can’t really illuminate the front of it very well (or I can’t, anyway). Since this is taking approximately 20 minutes per test render, I’m calling this finished. Again.
Any comments, questions, concerns, complaints and so on regarding this version of the tree are more than welcome.
Note to kaosone: It looks really good, but you should put it in its own thread in the WIP forum if you want more people to give you feedback on it.
-Raseri
well, the leaves need much work still…
.b
I’d like to comment on your modelling and texturing, however …
I can bearly see it.
I probably haven’t been using blender for as long as you have, but I’m sure that there are more ways of achieving mood, than leaving the viewer squinting to make out a shape.
Please don’t take this the wrong way. I think that what you are modelling is a great idea, however I would really like to see it in the light.
Look forward to an updated version.
Edited to remove shameless plug
Raseri your tree itself isn’t nearly as good as the rest of your work. Your grass, for example, is pretty darn good, as is your stone, but the tree maybe could’ve used a different approach. I have to applaud Alltaken for putting this inspiration together for everyone because everyone who has participated has unwittingly been taking a class about modeling! This is the equivalent of those still life studies you do in art class where the teacher asks you to paint some fruit! Only this is a study about light, shadow, and organic shapes in contrast with man-made materials (the chains and stones).
Anyway… perhaps it would be worth the effort to produce some sort of reference image that people can practice on each week so that everyone is concentrating on the same subject matter with a true reference image. That way they can more accurately trade tips and technique about modeling, lighting, and texturing.
Raseri - if I were you I would concentrate on the tree trunk itself and not worry about the leaves. I would focus on the branches and perhaps, if you felt like it, add leaves afterward. Right now you’ve modeled this tree from the leaves inward, and that makes it difficult to get a detailed representation of “tree-ness”. I hope this approach helps in the future with your modeling. If you think I’m barking up the wrong tree (forgive the expression), let me know.
P.S. Isn’t it considered impolite on Elysiun to post your work in someone else’s thread?
Thanks for the comments, once again. I’ve scrapped the first tree as Desoto suggested and redid it, this time without leaves. I’ve also further tweaked the lighting as redbyte suggested; I even got a somewhat decent halo behind the tree :P. It’s still a bit dark, but that’s to be expected in a scene set at night, apparently far from any streetlights:
Comments about further refinement would be greatly appreciated. 8)
-Raseri
P.S. I’m doing this in reverse of course, most projects start as WIPs and become finished; however, this one started out finished and has become a WIP. Heh…oh, well.
P.P.S. Desoto: Yeah, I’d consider it to be rather rude and tasteless, but I’m not one to dwell on infractions by n00bs 8)
hmmmm
well to me it seems realyl dark on my screen, however i have calibrated my screen to that of a printed item (what i see is what i get most of the time). so i think mine is a bit darker than most.
if you want to see what the crits might be of your work, and be able to critique your own work (very good skill to have) thn you coul try to look at my concept artwork, and see what elements make it successfull.
not necisarily think, there is lihght here there must be on mine to. (that is just an imitation type deal)
but what mood is the image trying to portray, and why is that mood achived… then work out what you are trying to portray from your work and think of how that can be done.
it is about communication. somthing with feeling communicates well.
you could make the scene
sacred
ominous
scary
sad
happy
lonely…
things like colours can effect this, a lush scene with lush grass, a lush tree, a blue light coming from the hole might work really well. it would change the feeling of the original concept a lot. but it would be making the work your own, portray your own personality. if you are a fan of cartoon style things, then perhaps make it all cartoonish.
i am open for anything, its about making an image you are proud of.
Alltaken
p.s. that last post applies to evryone doing any of my concepts, now or in the future.
sometimes the thing you want to do is learn how to model, sometimes it is to express yourself, others its to do it better than the rest and win. but from my POV its just an excersise, there is no right or wrong. only successfull and not. intuition plays a huge part.
Alltaken
Yeah, I kind of figured that you weren’t necessarily looking for dead-on interpretations of your drawings. Therefore, I’ve done two daytime renders, one with a blue light, as you mentioned (the red one looked like crap with a daylight backdrop), and one with no light in the well. You’re right, of course, the blue light does lend the scene a different feel. The one without the light in the well looks good, too, but I can’t decide which one I like better…
Here they are:
Enjoy. 8) Comments & crits welcome (of course).
-Raseri
Dang, you’re right Desoto, that was pretty rude of me. Posting my own work on someone else’s topic, and I didn’t even crit, and I’m not really a newbie either. My bad. Sorry.
Raseri: I really like your grass. Good job on that, I just slapped a texture on a flat surface. The dirt texture though, on the floating bit, I think needs to be softer. Try turning down the Col: slider in the Map to: pane in material buttons, that’s what I did for my texture.
What are your texture settings for the tree bark?
-Alex
I dare say this is vastly improved over your original. Congratulations on sticking with it 
Your tree trunk is VERY much better now, and if you wanted you could add those leaves. I’m very happy I helped you out and I’m impressed that you went with a daylight scene. Thats a very creative spin on it. Right now the only thing that detracts from this is the fact that the environment is so bright but your tree is so dark. It doesn’t quite fit in. Also, your background is nice but the grass just ENDS like its the edge of the world at that point. Maybe you should try faking some kind of hills or something in the distance with a texture? Just some thoughts Very good improvement though Don’t give up!
Damn, you guys are pushy! 
Here I’ve added some water, to make it look like it’s at the edge of a cliff. I’ve also improved the tree bark. No leaves yet, though (gotta go to work in a bit). Thanks for the suggestions, guys. 8)
Let me know what you think.
-Raseri
