The Dark Tower

[vampeta]

Hi Folks

I´m very new in here and want to introduce myself.

My name is Alexander Preuss and i like doing 3D & 2D art.
Normaly i post my pics at cgsociety (or at my homepage www.abalakin.de) but i want to expand my horizont a bit ;) :D

Here is my latest work, a picture inspiered by the story from Stephen King :: THE DARK TOWER.

I used 3DSMAX for the buildings and the Tower, the landscape, skulls and the main character in the fornt are made with ZBrush.

So... i hope you like it
and i want massive feedback and critique ;) :D

Alex

http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/final1.jpg

[kiriniy]

hm... funy, nice, interesting, and cool in same time. great job, Alex. Welcome :)

[RockstarKate]

That's cool! I always liked those Gunslinger books.
I love the tower- awesome and unique looking design.
Problems- the texture on the shirt sleeve doesn't look right. It looks almost like finger prints near the shoulder.
The skulls are all too smooth or something. It would be good to have some with cracks or maybe bullet holes? Some broken ones.
Where the sidewalk on the right meets the water? mud? it looks strange. Almost like that section is floating.
Are the roses modelled? They are really cool looking.
Nice work!

[Mr.Sharky]

Impressive, skulls can use more breaks and cracks and dirtier texture though. I love the tower.

[Orkron]

That story went seriously bad starting with Wolves of the Calla and only got 100 times worse from there.

As for the scene: I like your concept, merging our world with his where the tower stands, very nice. The architecture is really good, the character on the other hand feels very cg.

Great job.

[agony]

I don't like the hand and the skulls very much, but the tower and the clouds are simply great.

[inveni0]

This is actually very, very good. I know some people are posting this and that, but don't let is discourage you. ALL art can be touched up.

I loved this series, and, while I agree that books 5-7 seemed a bit rushed, I loved this series.

I like how you incorporate parts of the tale into this: like how the clouds lead to the tower.

Great job.

[niki]

welcome aboard vampeta!
I saw the wip on cgtalkand I liked the concept a lot!
the render is great .. but I agree with rockstarKate about the skulls ..
for the rest .. all is really well done
5* from me ;)
hope to see more works of you

[Xeron3D]

Nice work on the atmosphere and concept...the modeling is quite nice also :D

[vampeta]

Thank you

This is realy a warm welcome :))

About the skulls:: I discovered this on some other forums also.. this was my first serious work with ZBrush but i see they can be improved... i will work on this i promise ;)

Here are some wip´s i have made during the work on this Pr.

http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/step-02.jpg
http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/step-05.jpg
http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/step-06.jpg
http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/tower66.jpg
http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/tower77.jpg
http://www.abalakin.de/wip/dt-char-hand.jpg
http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/step36.jpg
http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/step44.jpg
http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/step45.jpg
http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/step47.jpg

[gnome]

great work!

personally (completely subjective), I don't like the character not very much. on the other hand, the tower looks really great :) (is the array tool involved? ;P)

as it was already mentioned, a few cracks on the skulls would be nice.
another thing about them: the ground around the skulls is too flat atm ;)
there should be dirt & dust gathering around them, the ground and the skulls sort of grow together with the time....

[vampeta]

great work!

personally (completely subjective), I don't like the character not very much. on the other hand, the tower looks really great :) (is the array tool involved? ;P)

as it was already mentioned, a few cracks on the skulls would be nice.
another thing about them: the ground around the skulls is too flat atm ;)
there should be dirt & dust gathering around them, the ground and the skulls sort of grow together with the time....

Thank you!

Yea the skulls ... i will work on this ;) :D

To answer your question the tower is complete created by hand...
here is a short tut.

http://www.kira-network.com/darktower/towertut.jpg

Have fun
Alex

[gnome]

hey, thanks for that! it might come in handy if I should get back to modelling for abstract wallpapers.... :D

[tillaart36]

Hey Vampeta,

first of all...great great work...

I won't begin over the skulls, you know it already. The rest of the pic is very nice...I know you have given it your own interpretation but I have some questions or comments...

First of all...the hand of Roland Deschain...In my imagination, while reading the book, I would have guessed this hand was somewhat more rough...How do I put it...I thought it would be bigger, muscular, more roughness...just more 'a man's hand' if you know what I mean...concerning everything he went through to get to that tower I think the hand is to 'neat'....I hope you know what I'm talking about, on the other hand I don't even by far have the skills to create what you did so I'm not saying I could do it better...it's just an opinion...

Secondly...whaha this is in fact just an insider's joke, but you could change the Coca Cola sign to the "Nozz'a'La" brand...maybe if you can find textures for that...hehehe...

Here are some ideas of what I mean:

http://www.cafepress.com/dtcstore/1246768

I'm reading the books all over again now and I just finished the gunslinger and am now reading "the drawing of the three"...For anyone who passes by this thread...reading "The Dark Tower" is really an epic adventure and if you consider any book for reading, give this one a chance...

Anyway great work Vampeta...I definitely Love it!

BTW: Vampeta...is that your real name? I knew a soccer player from Brazil with the same name...he played for my favourite soccer team (PSV Eindhoven) years back ago... :smug:

Greets

[vampeta]

Hi, and thank you 4 your feedback,

I used the coke comercial because i thought more people would recognice this place as the times-square whitout knowing the books...
About the Hand... well... as an artist you have something in mind and hopefully the ability to to realize what you have in mind ;).....

This was my first serious workout with zbrush. The result looks stunning to me because until now i never get this kind of result.

Now the dors are open and i can improve my work. Thanks 4 your critique, and by the way i´m working on a sequel... here is a short preview:

http://www.kira-network.com/gunslinger/step-07.jpg

Thank you
Alex

[shikav4]

Hey very impressive work!! I specially like the tower and the clouds. your method of making the tower was brilliant. And the face is extraordinary. What references did you use? I just wana see it textured.

[vampeta]

Hey very impressive work!! I specially like the tower and the clouds. your method of making the tower was brilliant. And the face is extraordinary. What references did you use? I just wana see it textured.


Hi & Thanks,

i´ts a mix between Clint eastwood and Stephe MCQueen.
I want a very rough character... very dry and tough ;)
I love Clint and MCQueen they have burned into my mind ... thats mabe the reason why my character looks like them ;)

A textured version will come
Thank you
Alex