Santharian Development

No scenic landscape, no atmospheric  setup with cool people - just a floor.  

*stealing Seeker's way to introduce something*

This spring I went to Lorehaven, and when I came to  the bridge over the Griffin river, I saw, that a new one was under construction. While waiting for a ferry to set me over, the masterbuilder pulled me away to show me something amazing. During the earthworks, they had found the remnants of an old Baveras' shrine. Only the floor was left, but it was intact. Citizens from the nearby Lorehaven had cleaned and restored it. The wooden pillars which must have been between the big stoneslaps had  rotten away of course, and there were no remnants left from the roof either. The floor itself was beautiful though. What made me smile, was, that not a waterstar, the plant dedicated to Baveras, was depicted, but what is known as False Waterstar or Etherus' Smirk. A woman from Lorehaven, who had come along, asserted me, that the town would look after the lovely mosaic.

(http://www.stuff.santharia.com/talia/Shrine/Shrine_Boden_kl.jpg)

bigger version (http://www.stuff.santharia.com/talia/Shrine/Shrine_Boden_gr.jpg)

Only a few months later, I came back. The bridge had been finished meanwhile, the little shrine was situated only a few peds towards the coast. To my surprise, plants were growing in the niches, where the wooden pillars had been placed in former times. And guess, what for plant? The waterleaf of course, and two variations on top.  

(http://www.stuff.santharia.com/talia/Shrine/Shrine_Boden_Pflanzen_kl.jpg)

bigger version (http://www.stuff.santharia.com/talia/Shrine/Shrine_Boden_Pflanzen_gr.jpg)

When I was back in the great library, I searched for some information about this false waterstar, but to my surprise, I found nothing. So I did some research, and present it to you here (http://www.santharia.com/dev/index.php/topic,14687.new.html#new)


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I only wanted to have a floor for the shrine, looked at the old one in the entry about Toran's creek and found, that it was not fitting. So I decided to do a quick coloured one. It did of curse take much longer... However, I have to tilt it so strongly, that not much will be seen in the final shrine picture. I thought that's a pity and that we might use it in the Baveras' entry.
And then I reread my own waterstar and realised, that this picture looks different! So the false waterstar was born.

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Tools used:

PL32 (http://www.pl32.de/)
Background texture from CG textures (http://), run a filter over it.

This is beautiful! I love the colors and the addition of the waterlea.f I have been waiting for this pic. Any chance of the seeing the entire shrine? About how wide is it?

Thanks Azhira! :D

The walls are standing, the roof is under construction , the stairs around it are still missing. But I fear the part where I have to flood the floor, the water around it, and the lightning . Hope it will look like I imagine it now. Need to read some tuts about it first and play around. The rest, background and maybe some trees in the foreground are easy.

Well, I have promised to finish it till Christmas ;)

What do you mean with 'how wide'? Could be three peds only, but 6 as well.

I like this a lot as well.  I like the fact that we would put so much effort in describing and illustrating the floor of a shrine.  Really shows pride in the development of our world.  :thumbup:

Thanks Seeker!

It was fun doing the stones, at least halfway through. In the end, when I had to finish all these stones to fit the floor into the background I needed some musical distraction. But it is something you can do when you are tired and don't want to go to bed because the next day would be here too soon.

What I didn't achieve though was to give the whole the look as if you show through a clear water with tiny ripples on the surface, but without harming the underlying picture itself. I read a tutorial, but it did not turn out as I wanted it to. Any ideas?

Well, this current version I fear is not exactly how pictures we put up on the site should look like. There still needs a lot to done to make it fit to the rest of the pictures. Because right now its basically a very well done collage of textures - and the photorealism is apparent. So there needs to be some sort of drawing filter applied to make that work. Also the fact that there are no shadows in this picture (plants, stones that form the hexagon could be elevated and drop a slight shadow) makes it look very constructed. In general some sort of light filter would also be helpful to make corners dark and bathe parts of it in softer light etc. Such details are necessary to suggest a more painterly look.

Ehh?

 :lol:

Thank you, Art!

 I thought you liked it if pictures look kind of realistic.

I agree, that there could be/should be some shadows under the plants. I will add them. To the waterleaf-plant entry also. The hexagon is meant to lie flat in the ground, otherwise one would fall, if it is higher than the rest of the floor. I will add a tiny shadow also, but not much, as I said, these six stones should be on an even level with the rest of the mosaic.

Apart from that, this is NOT a collage of textures! As I have mentioned above, my tools are following:

The background is a texture and I have run many testfilters over it, till I decided this one is the best and blends with the painted stones around the hexagon. (Unfortunately you can still see, which ones are painted and which not. I was just to tired of painting stones to fill the corners.

All the rest is handpainted, every single stone, not one of the small ones copied. (The hexagon ones have a base of two or three, on which I used different filters afterwards.) On the white ones I did not ever use a filter.

So, did I do too much then?

I don't want to run filter over these stones, I worked too hard to let them look like this. If they don't fit to the site, then I can't help. It would be for me, as if I had to damage the picture.  Shadows will be added though.

I like it! (Although it's true that you can see that some of the grey pebbles are photographed ...).

Talia, to help convey the impression that the shrine is flooded, might it be an idea to have a little fish swim through the water over the pattern, with the fish's shadow showing up somewhat to one side of the actual fish (consistent with the angle of the light, whatever that will be in the final picture)?

Thanks Shaba!  :D

I can give the fish a try, or two, but I doubt, that this will  help. However,  that would bring some life into the pic as well. Hmm, I could add the  fish I already mentioned in the waterleaf :)

I tried to run an additional filter over the background, but then the background looked more painterly than the core of the pic, that was not a good idea.

I might try to find  a way to add those ripples which show, that you are looking in a streaming water. What I have tried so far makes the whole picture looking dull.

But not soon, I need to go packing!

This is really difficult Talia.  Here is what I came up with as an example.   :undecided: This required altering the original with dodging and shading.  And a layer on top for the water.

Thanks for looking in that problem, Seeker!  :hug:

It is a bit too rough, I think, the whole picture is distorted. The smaller white filaments though might be the way to take. For now I'm trying to use Shaba's proposal, have added shadows which helped a  lot, so let's see, how it will look when I'm finished. Maybe it is a very clear water with not much movement of the surface  :grin:

No problem Talia.  I actually wasn't a big fan of it either.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to show as an example.

  Good luck.  :thumbup:

I quite like Seeker's version, actually - the left side in particular. The idea of the concentric circles is good, I think. Maybe a fish tried to snatch an insect from the surface just a blink ago? Just an idea.

I think it adds too much and disturbs the peace the picture is emanating for me. Additional fish, shadows and softened plants need to suffice for now. When I've done these, I'll give the smaller filaments a chance. But first some cool fish! ;) I tried a single fish before I left home and it gives a good feeling of depth. But I'm glad you spent your time trying this out, Seeker, so I do not have to do it ;)  :heart:

Perhaps if the stream pebbles weren't so much one color, also the algae wouldn't grow just on the corners, try trailing it off in the other cracks as well, just little bits. Don't hide the design.  ;)

Thanks for popping in, Drucilla! :)

Maybe I should add some smaller plants as well. My idea was, that where the wooden pillars were the plants had a better, finer soil to grow in - or they were planted, when the shrine floor was excavated and tended for afterwards.

Another artist is back, hurrah!   :clap:

*rubs eyes* It indeed is Drucilla! The famous artist know among other things for her great pictures one the Fuzzle Mouse, the Iceland Wison or the Renegade Mage Raeis Boldsnout himself! And we haven't heard from you for... *checks* three years! Geeez!

So how are you doing? Planning on sticking around again? Would love to hear from you on a more regular basis and finally get you up on the site as an official member! :)

... and the beautiful rainbow serpent! It would be great for Santharia if you had time and inclination to contribute again, Drucilla!

Hello all, it's nice to be remembered. I'm afraid I don't often have the time to come here or contribute, but i do look in when I get the chance. Its nice also to see the excellent new artists and that the illustrations are not being neglected. :thumbup:. If I get the chance I will be very happy to come back and do a few more pics. Until then keep up the good work.