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NightsongWS — Learning to Speak Digitally

Published: 2009-01-12 05:42:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 27100; Favourites: 362; Downloads: 423
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Description

Edited on 01/07/2023:

Both the category system and contest banners that once graced this deviation no longer appear to be functional anymore.  The copy of this image that was originally placed in the 3D category of the "Speak Visual, Design Digital" contest sponsored by NVIDIA was the 3D finalist.  This picture actually belongs to NVIDIA, now.



"Learning to Speak Digitally"

For thousands of years, humankind has used artwork as a means of visual communication. From the earliest cave paintings to the Statue of Liberty, artwork has been used to record history, tell stories, speak for a cause, and express the innermost thoughts and feelings of cultures throughout the whole world. Even today, there are symbols that are universally accepted through a wealth of countries, the building blocks of a universal language that surpass all barriers of dialect.

In modern times, the digital age has given artists new freedom to express their work. No longer do artists need to mix or purchase their own paints, for the use of digital tablets and paint simulation programs gives them the ability to paint on their computer just as they normally would in real life. Through three-dimensional modeling programs, whole worlds can be made to explore, with as much or as little detail as anyone could want, and filled with everything from atmosphere to wildlife. These same programs save hundreds of thousands of dollars, every year, by letting architects, doctors, scientists, and designers of all types build their projects virtually, and thus prepare for any eventually they may encounter, before bringing them to fruition.

As more and more of these tools become available to the public, soon everyone will be able to design digitally in order to speak visually. Even now, schools are teaching budding young artists how to turn their sketches into virtual realities, preparing them for a future where any concept can be communicated visually. A wealth of information is required, as each industry seeks expertise with different tools, but the community is coalescing around a core set of skills each digital designer will need. As each generation passes, this knowledge will fall upon increasingly younger shoulders, until a time comes when even small children will find themselves able to express themselves with digital tools.

The future holds untold possibilities, but one thing is certain. Our cultures will continue to grow, to learn and understand one an other, and doors of opportunity will continue to open for us so long as we keep striving to speak visually, by designing digitally.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As there appears to be a proliferation of concern in the 3D area as to whether the use of licensed resources falls under the heading of "stock," I have recorded some notes about the many elements used in the creation of this image:

- 3D:
- + Three-dimensional elements were created and rendered in Vue 6 Pro Studio.
- + Alpha maps used to control the dispersion of terrain elements were
- - - created by the artist.
- + The NVIDIA claw, used as an alpha map to alter the appearance of
- - - the terrain, is the property of NVIDIA and used only under the
- - - the guidelines of this contest.

- Photo:
- + Photograph of hand (colored elements under hand sketch) was taken
- - - by the artist; it is the artist's own hand.
- + Photograph of clouds (used to create brush for cloud effects) was
- - - taken by the artist; they were summer clouds over the artist's
- - - own home.

- Sketch:
- + Sketch of hand was drawn by the artist, based on a photograph
- - - taken by the artist; it is the artist's own hand.
- + Sketch of a portion of the NVIDIA logo was drawn by the artist, based
- - - upon the terrain in the 3D rendering.

- Paint:
- + Painting of flock of birds was created by the artist; no reference
- - - was used, save for personal experience.
- + Waterfalls and additional background elements were created by the
- - - artist; no reference was used, save for personal experience.
- + Hot air balloon was created by the artist; a rough three-dimensional
- - - model created by the artist, in Vue 6 Pro Studio, was used as a
- - - reference for shape and perspective. No other reference was used.

This artwork is wholly the creative, original creation of the artist and the artist holds all rights to this picture, save for the NVIDIA claw, which is used only under the permission and guidelines of the "Speak Visual: Design Digital" contest held in January 2009.

This picture has been uploaded at a higher resolution of 2550 x 3300 pixels, which may be downloaded by clicking the "Download" link to the left of this deviation.

Note: Because this Work features prominent amounts of both 3D elements and painting, it has been entered into both the "3D Art" and "Painting and Airbrushing" categories.

Hardware Credits: Created using an NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Motherboard and 256MBNVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS graphics processor.

There are no less than four NVIDIA claws in this picture. Can you find them all?

Related content
Comments: 98

Can-Cat [2016-01-19 02:18:18 +0000 UTC]

Well said/ illustrated. 

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Terrajaide [2011-11-02 21:29:25 +0000 UTC]

Whoah, this is really cool!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

tifi06 [2010-08-04 04:30:43 +0000 UTC]

fantastic

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

trufflebomb [2010-07-31 01:24:49 +0000 UTC]

The texture reminds me of clay and cardboard

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Jehoseph [2010-07-27 15:04:53 +0000 UTC]

featured facebook.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

One4You [2010-03-22 14:34:59 +0000 UTC]

cooooool

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

MrRcollins55 [2009-02-26 06:38:37 +0000 UTC]

Extremely creative use of the different medium to make a single whole. I shall try this one day, thanks

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to MrRcollins55 [2009-03-04 08:07:09 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for the feedback.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

MrRcollins55 In reply to NightsongWS [2009-04-03 08:05:16 +0000 UTC]

Any time

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

TrHaMo [2009-02-26 04:32:14 +0000 UTC]

o.O
wow

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to TrHaMo [2009-03-04 08:07:18 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

geek-of-jersey [2009-02-21 15:53:37 +0000 UTC]

That is REALLY cool o_o

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to geek-of-jersey [2009-03-04 08:07:31 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Emilyahedrick [2009-02-21 03:38:44 +0000 UTC]

I absolutely love this!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to Emilyahedrick [2009-03-04 08:07:42 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Emilyahedrick In reply to NightsongWS [2009-03-05 20:34:23 +0000 UTC]

welcome

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Azazel09 [2009-02-12 00:02:16 +0000 UTC]

niiiiiiiiice

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Fennikusu [2009-02-09 03:25:52 +0000 UTC]

This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Not to mention breathtaking!
Good to know that art has advanced over the centuries. Amen to the description that comes with this wonderful piece of work

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to Fennikusu [2009-02-10 00:41:32 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much!!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fennikusu In reply to NightsongWS [2009-02-11 02:04:19 +0000 UTC]

No problem!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Rosella-of-Daventry [2009-02-08 06:07:43 +0000 UTC]

Woooow! XD Makes me wanna jump down and play in the trees. I love it~!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to Rosella-of-Daventry [2009-02-10 00:41:44 +0000 UTC]

I know what you mean!!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

CLAWZ94 [2009-02-02 19:58:35 +0000 UTC]

Wow, that's about all I can say about this extravagant work of art, that, and I found all the claws.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to CLAWZ94 [2009-02-03 01:42:55 +0000 UTC]

Hee, awesome!!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

sythis [2009-02-01 13:22:09 +0000 UTC]

I would like to congratulate you for making the Nvidia Finals.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to sythis [2009-02-01 16:24:27 +0000 UTC]

Thank you hon!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Czathero [2009-01-31 23:05:11 +0000 UTC]

It's absolutely gorgeous!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to Czathero [2009-02-01 16:24:36 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

alphatroll [2009-01-31 21:58:54 +0000 UTC]

lovely work, but it's the "credits" that caught my eye.

Does anyone credit Windsor & Newton for making the brush they painted a picture with?

The whole issue strikes me as ridiculous. OK, the Nvidia logo belongs to them, but it's for their contest after all so that's no big deal.... but the software you used didn't contribute any more to this piece than the processor in your computer did. They're just tools, and deserve a good reputation if they work well, but that's about it.

It's a crying shame there's so much paranoia about intellectual property that you even had to *mention* that the hand was a photo of your own. And *nobody* owns the clouds, even if they happen to have been spewed from a privately owned smokestack.

There's definately something wrong when fear of lawsuits drives artists to bend over so far backward that their vision is overwhelmed by what might be "after" them.... looking over your shoulder is no way to see.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to alphatroll [2009-02-01 16:45:27 +0000 UTC]

You have no idea how much I want to give you a huge hug after reading this.

I'm not sure what to say in return, though. It's not a new topic I've run into; rather, it's a consistent source of headache that anything I make will eventually be picked apart by someone who denounces the use of external resources. Criticism of artistic techniques is perfectly fine. In fact, I welcome and look forward to such criticisms because I want to be a better artist. Having work I post policed for "fairness," even on personal pieces made for none but myself, is nothing short of depressing, however. The question of whether or not I made those resources does not even arise.

I wish we could all just create art for the sake of creating art, and not worry about such things!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

alphatroll In reply to NightsongWS [2009-02-01 21:13:01 +0000 UTC]

amen.

realizing that all those disclaimers, which should have been totally unneccesary, had distracted me from the artwork, in this case a finalist for a pretty prestigious contest, well, it just hurt. intellectual property laws have reached the point where they suppress the creativity they're supposed to be protecting. cryin' shame.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

rimete [2009-01-31 18:26:12 +0000 UTC]

Great creativity and implementation of the nVidia logo !

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to rimete [2009-02-01 16:48:25 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!!!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Miyuki--Chan [2009-01-31 17:04:15 +0000 UTC]

this picture is very creative! I love it!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to Miyuki--Chan [2009-01-31 17:16:25 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

MSCRACKY [2009-01-31 08:48:42 +0000 UTC]

Amazing job. I hope you win the laptop. Kudos to you.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to MSCRACKY [2009-01-31 09:11:17 +0000 UTC]

I didn't, but that's okay. Thank you for the kind words!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

0r4nos [2009-01-31 04:37:46 +0000 UTC]

This is awesome. I am in awe. As a but a humble writer, I have no hope of matching this...

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to 0r4nos [2009-01-31 09:13:04 +0000 UTC]

I beg to differ -- composing a scene, even a world, with words is no mean task. Writers have an advantage over artists in that whatever they write will be interpreted differently by every person that reads it. A single point can be made in a thousand ways. It is writers who wield some of the strongest power in the world.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

0r4nos In reply to NightsongWS [2009-01-31 19:23:49 +0000 UTC]

But what is made by artists will be interpreted differently by every person who views it as well.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

esshavoc [2009-01-31 04:19:14 +0000 UTC]

awesome, imo with the contest you should ahve got first, the general concept is amazingly good

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to esshavoc [2009-01-31 09:13:33 +0000 UTC]

Aww, you're too sweet!!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

esshavoc In reply to NightsongWS [2009-01-31 14:38:29 +0000 UTC]

just looks like that would have been a lil harder to do than the others i saw

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

super-illustrator0 [2009-01-31 02:02:19 +0000 UTC]

It's nice how they let a conventional painting win, huh? Must've been a pity thing...

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to super-illustrator0 [2009-01-31 02:30:49 +0000 UTC]

Dude, I am happy as it is to make it this far, and that painting was awesome. There was tons of detail and a certain polish that mine lacked -- and I knew mine wasn't as refined as many other entries, so I'm frankly surprised to have gotten as far as the semi-finals. I'm so, so happy for the painting that won, they totally deserved it!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

super-illustrator0 In reply to NightsongWS [2009-01-31 16:31:09 +0000 UTC]

Hmm... I'll stick to comic superiority... Art isn't straightforward anyways

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

CPJohn [2009-01-31 01:47:21 +0000 UTC]

Wow, this is exceptional work. Love everything about it, glad you were the winner in this category looks awesome! Print maybe, just maybe?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

NightsongWS In reply to CPJohn [2009-01-31 02:25:47 +0000 UTC]

I wish, I really would love a print of this, but as it uses the NVIDIA claw in it, I can't make prints of it, especially not to sell. Sorry.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

CPJohn In reply to NightsongWS [2009-01-31 02:45:59 +0000 UTC]

Awww dang nvidia copyrights, none the less awesome work.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Kay-Love [2009-01-31 00:28:21 +0000 UTC]

That really looks beautiful.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1


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