A low-sampled, low-res WIP for the Blender Guru “Ancient Civilizations” competition. Went with a neolithic “Portal Tomb” ruin based on the Paulnabrone Dolan as the setting with Celtic sword and shield. A nice excuse to try cycles hair as grass. Also was able to improve the background clouds from the mountain lake scene.
Looks promising! Good luck in the competition :yes:
The one thing that sticks to my eye is the different color of the grass. The grass looks great (better then my first tries :)) the stones look amazing. I like the level of detail.
Actually I find the sword a bit disturbing. Why would there be something quite modern stick between something that is hundreds of years old? You could add something that is from the period, then you have the connection again.
Good point on the grass. Photoshop is getting a workout on these textures, one more isn’t going to hurt.
On the mix of neolithic and Celtic relics: From what I have gathered, these dolmens (not dolans - sorry) are the inner chambers of burials mounds that have since washed away, and were considered sacred places centuries after they were built. So, the 2500-year old sword and shield (slightly used) with the 7000-year old ruin.
This is nice; I’m not tooooo crazy about the displacement map on the rocks though; it seems a bit…smooth and flowy.
Thanks for the background information! I think that is important to know as it is no that obvious. Or at least to someone who is not that familiar with that. I am curious on updates 
Thanks for the feedback. It got me scrambling to see what I could do with the sword to make it an older style.
As far as the displacement map of the rocks, some of it might be the low-res bit, some of it the texture itself. I’ll give it another shot. Thanks.
Yes, that’s probably part of the problem; also look into weight painting as it relates to displacement. That could help.
New version of dolmen scene. Modified the sword to have bronze guards on the hilt, with a wooden pommel, making it more early iron age. The sword and shield were moved forward and camera moved towards the dolmen for effect, but had to move up the left hill a bit so its still visible. Camera focus is still on the sword. Brightened up the green in the grass textures to make it look less like bluegrass. Worked the rock texture a bit. Minor compositing tweaks. This version is still low-res, but up to 300 samples.
Maybe try a different composition; as it is, my eye is drawn mainly to the stones, and then after a while I notice a sword hanging out in the center right of the image; the composition would be stronger if you somehow consolidated both the focal points into one area of the image…I wonder how it would look if you moved the camera to the right, so that the sword was pretty much placed right in front of the rock monolith thing…Also bring it closer to the camera so that it’s more prominent.
Just my thoughts, you probably have better ideas!
I see what you mean; the sword gets lost in the sky. I’ll see what I can do. Thanks!
This is really cool now! The grass is awsome. Really nice job
Thanks. Note the new shadow on the left.