Vadon: Thank you very very much for your (somewhat personal) post! I’m happy
that you enjoy my work and find some sort of meaning and inspiration in it. Good
hearing that I don’t spend all my time completely in vain. Always is.
Welcome to the forums! Hope you’ll enjoy hanging out here!
//Mathias
Well you can add another name to your fanbase. I first saw your wise men picture on blender3d.org, and I was so impressed that I tried to visit your website, but it wasn’t up yet (I’ve been back since you got it up, though). I must say, you are my favorite artist on this forum. Others may occassionally post a more skillfully rendered piece, yet they usually do not capture the thought behind it the way you do. You’re still in school, right? This is impressive work. You definitely have a future in the field.
(P.S. - I would be interested to see you try your hand at animation sometime.)
blendenzo: Thank you! Yep, I’m still in school. Only 15 you know (will be 16
this december…)
Have actually thought of doing some character animation lately. Haven’t done
that since my old poser days (when I say old, I mean like 2-3 years ago, heh).
Might take the challenge. We’ll see…
//Mathias
Wow, you are only 15? I didn’t know that… btw I love all your artwork. But then again, I don’t actually know anybody on this forum, so maybe everyone is 15 0.o
Just been away on a school trip this week (to Czech Republic). New publicity
stuff coming up soon on this image. While being away, I got a mail from the
online french and english magazine “IT’S ART magazine”.
Further details will come this monday when I myself see exactly what it turns
out to be. Don’t know if it’ll be good or bad, but hope for the best.
Stay tuned…keep commenting!
//Mathias
You’re creating some good artwork considering your age (or even not considering it :)). Are there any websites or books you’ve used and could recommend as good resources?
About the rendering artifacts, I wasn’t really referring to the painted look. That’s nice and look good. If you look at the two heads that are to the right and down from the “O” head, you can see a couple spots of the edges, but maybe I’m wrong and it’s just more of the painted style.
Cool news about the magezine. Hope it turns out well.
Clean3D: There aren’t really any specific sites or tutorials I’ve used. Mainly just
googled on and on and read and searched through various forums. My “philosophy”
is to learn as much as I can by myself. No need to overflood forums like this one
with questions answered thousand times before…
The spots are just more of the painted style (shows how the size of the brush
is a bit too big to do the sharp edges 100% right).
I’m too hoping this magazine stuff will turn out well. While you’re at it, be sure
to check out the earlier issue at http://www.itsartmag.com/
//Mathias
Very nice work.
My first interpretation is this guy is gonna have a helluva time winning a game of tic-tac-toe…just kidding.
Actually several ways for me to interpret this.
If you looked at the X’s and O’s as windows to the soul instead of literal X’s and O’s you could say much about the alienation of “the different” from societies “normals”. The tear represents the feelings of being alone in a world where your never sure of your place and your ability to find a mate such as yourself. These are definitely feelings that I’m sure a lot of 15 year olds and former 15 year olds including myself felt at those stages of life (and a lot of times still do). Not to disparage your age, but lets face it with talent like this I’m sure you have felt “different” at times. We all inherently make ourselves into a centrally unique image that others fail to understand.
Another interpretation. If the X’s and O’s were removed you would have a generic form that no one could distinguish. This greatly enhances the importance of those symbols and actually better conveys your title for me. What could be more altruistic for any race than to maintain a “difference” despite the ease with which it would take to just “blend in”. Society, in general, benefits greatly from those who take chances at great risk to themselves.
With the dream-like qualities and the generic characters the piece for some reason reminds me of a Joseph Conrad quote in “Heart of Darkness”…“We live as we dream, alone.”.
Very nice work and I’m glad you’ve shared it with us.
Actually I was referring to tutorials that are more geared towards the artistic side. You’re right, though, there are a lot of tutorials made for Blender.
Of course, maybe there are many art tutorials as well, and I just haven’t found them.
Clean3D: Actually, coming to think of it, there is one tutorial describing well-
known traditional art compositing techniques, I’ve found useful. Things like that
is kinda what I tend to read, if I read anything. At least, it’s good knowing the
rules before you break 'em (so that you can do it properly) 
It was featured on CGSociety about a year ago. Gives a pretty detailed look at
some techniques. Search on some of the terms on Google and you’ll get even
more info.
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=3275
Hope it’s useful…
//Mathias
Moved to the gallery section.
BgDM
Thanks for the link! I’ve seen that tutorial before but had kind of forgotten it existed, and I can certainly learn more by reading it again.
Congradulations on getting this in the Forum Gallery!
Clean3D: Happy to help. Just had a quick look at it again when I posted the
link. I’d forgotten how great a tutorial it really is. More tutorials focused on art
rather than technique in the future would be nice…
Wow, thanks BgDM!
Awesome really. I’m very very grateful!
//Mathias
Aint that cool, I will turn 18 in December 5
Mathias,
You have worked really hard on this one. You have taken much critique, and
made many decisions, heard many opinions. I bet you cannot count how many
hours you’ve been working with this. And the result is as might have been
expected: excellent!
You are very gifted, I hope you know that. I’m looking forward to your next
project (christmas-competition on 3dmaxer? :D)
Marve
In the gallery, of course
Can we have a tutorial?
Image of the week at IT’S ART magazine now…
http://www.itsartmag.com/news/
Thanks for the nice posts guys!
Marve: 3dmaxer.dk’s christmas compition will defidently include me once again,
if nothing comes in the way. Was very fun last time!
Cowdude: Don’t think I have enough new stuff in this image to make a tutorial
like the one I did with Starry Night (wrote about 12 A4 pages of text and images
in about 2 weeks - man, I just suddenly had the feel for it…HAD to write!)
We’ll see about it this time around. Might do something covering specific techniques
if I can find something that I feel hasn’t been written elsewhere, or could need
an extra point of view on it. Atm nothing really “clicks” enough for me to wanna
make a tutorial. If I find something though, it’ll defidently be considered…
Thanks again!
//Mathias