ethereal smile in dying sleep

this was my offering to the CGchallenge ..
-- uplift universe --

it's about two distinct species ... who fall in love with each other, but with a bitter end!
furious with their affair and failing to realise any good about a new, lasting relationship between their species, she is banished by her human kind without hesitation!

to inflict more pain, she is stripped of her clothes, shaved of her hair and finally poisoned...all this, in the hope that her alien lover would be disgusted by her appearance and leave their world forever, never to return back ...

but, no ... their love was far too strong for such an act ...
in his arms, for one final moment, she's ever grateful for being loved, for completing each other ...




into the darkest regions of the heart...




into a dying sleep ...





she smiles ...




many thanks to all the artists who helped take this piece to a new level.. my utmost thanks to Jerome (jeromoo), Gerardo (GaeasHerald), Michael (walrus), Axel (AxelAlonso), Torsten (Russel nash), Fernando (Ferx) ... for their advice & suggestions!

without their inputs, i wouldn't have been able to add those extra, subtle details like skin pores and alien texture (Jerome), forehead wrinkles and folds (Micheal), specular focusing and light concentration (Gerado), fixing the head shape in its earlier steps ( Axel & Torsten ) and finally fixing the shades on her shoulders, alien biceps coz it was looking flat (Fernando)

owe it to vivek, my buddy for kicking my butt to finish this entry and to stop whining about it


here's the link to my wip thread ...
[link]age=1&p=15

also, a 'quick specular effect' screenshot ...
[link]age=11&p=15

problems i faced;
referring a low res image to create a 3k resolution artwork,
everything was mostly/slightly pixelated, so i had to search for other images for details but still keep in mind about the lighting,shadows & specularity ... very tricky

CREDITS go to these sites and images i used for reference :

>> for basic lighting, shadows and characters (only female was used, for the alien male i had to conjure something in reference to other images below in terms of features and texture)
[link]

>> for alien texture; tiger shark
[link]

>> for fins and other features, dolphin
[link]
[link]

>> finally ... the dramatic touch ... tear drop
[link]


that's it buddies .... it was fun and tough the same time, but well worth it! ...

cheers to you all!