memod on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/memod/art/A-Cold-Welcome-164112260memod

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A Cold Welcome

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Look at that, he still works digitally as well! :lmao:

This is a rather quick piece that I did this week. Should be about 10 - 11 hours. The whole painting was pretty much there after 7 hours, but I wanted to polish it a bit and add a few details. Whoever coined the phrase that the last 10% of a piece take 90% of the work time, was right on the money.

Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoy it. I got a nice matte print of the 7-hour state in front of me here, and I have to say it looks pretty nice. So treat yourself and check out the print, as soon as it is up! :D


Daniel :heart:
www.dancakes.com
Image size
1185x510px 425.3 KB
© 2010 - 2024 memod
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SkillZombie's avatar
:star::star::star::star-half::star-empty: Overall
:star::star::star::star::star-empty: Vision
:star::star::star::star-half::star-empty: Originality
:star::star::star::star-half::star-empty: Technique
:star::star::star::star::star-empty: Impact

You feel it all around you, the winter cold is upon you. The sharpening winds of the arctic tundra as it swipes mercilessly across your body, like frozen whips hidden in the icy wind. All you know is that the longer you are out in this hostile environment, the less time you have to live. The snowy landscape slowly begins to blend together about you, as if your walking through a constantly moving illusion or a lucid dream. You are unsure about which direction you should go as everything moves about you like the whirling sands of the desert. Eventually you make your way through the frozen wasteland in order to find something that you could use for shelter. A cave, an overhang, anything to keep the cold, frost encrusted fingers of death that much further from your neck. You know that moving about you is danger around every corner. Wolves, polar bears and various other creatures of the frost are more than ready to make a quick meal out of your cold cut corpse. Eventually, after your many toils and dreads, you manage to come across a settlement nestled within the very lands you've desperately hoped to avoid. A Cold Welcome, created by `memod, shows us such an environment in which survival is your only goal and making it through will never be a simple feat.

As I survey the wasteland in all its frozen glory, I keep finding more and more hidden details within it. The arching in some of the building windows have small patterns that are familiar with this form of architecture. The ice-licked walls of the settlement carry scratches from the powerful winds from the frozen environment. It all adds that slight addition of immersion to the image and further engross the attention of the viewer. The shades of white, gray and light blues perfectly add to the frozen atmosphere that the piece perfectly emulates from real world areas. A clear human and natural touch that really puts all of the compositional pieces together and brings it into a great piece of artwork that mixes natural beauty with human immersion.

One can almost image the icy gales climbing over your body in the frozen wasteland. The sun beating above you, yet it grants no warmth or safety in this harsh land. Snow covers every edge of the land like a pure white blanket has fallen to put the world to bed. You can hear the faint sounds of civilization behind the great stone walls of the settlement, hoping that someone is there that can help you and rather not your imagination playing games with your mind.

As nice as the piece looks, it could still go with a bit of improvement. The piece carries a great amount of potential but it still seems a bit unpolished in places. For instance the background rock face and even the the settlement walls in the lower left corner all carry a look as if they are in an unfinished state. Feel free to touch those elements of the pieces up as they really distract away from the overall beauty of the piece that stands. Another possible improvement could be within the use of minor detailing. As nice as some parts look in the piece (the settlement, the livestock and rock faces etc.), they could still use a bit of finer detailing. As I say to other artists, Do not be afraid to go that extra mile on your pieces. Add smaller details in the walls, create a focal point by perhaps adding a small depth-of-field effect on some of the foreground and background elements. Doing these changes are the formula of easily taking your piece from "good" to "great".

With minor flaws and a great level of potential, A Cold Welcome still grants us a very interesting look into a frozen wonderland that we have eagerly wished to revisit. The design style still looks as well as creating a rather nice portrait style to the piece, and the atmosphere and scaling of the piece still manages to entice viewers into looking deeper. Great work nonetheless `memod! <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/c/c…" width="20" height="20" alt=":clap:" title="Clap"/>