Posted on January 8, 2013

Added “Valinor” to the Members Gallery this morning. I’ve also posted a free 1024 x 1024 iPad version on Reddit.

If you read J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” you will see references made to the long history of the Middle Earth. This history is laid out in a book called “The Silmarillion”.

Here’s the short version:

The first beings were the “Valar“, and were analagous to the demi-gods of Earth mythology. They walked under dark skies without Sun or Moon however.

Iluvatar (the Supreme Being) and the Valar made many attempts to illuminate the world, but these were opposed by Melkor (who was the forebearer of Sauron). The first light was made by two massive lamps on either end of the world, but these were cast down and destroyed by Melkor.

The second attempt came in the form of two brilliant trees which shone over the Valinor. The silver tree was called “Telperion” and seeds taken from it eventually grew into the White Tree of Gondor. The gold tree was called Laurelin. A shining dew fell from the each tree which the Valar collected in wells.

The light of the Two Trees was captured in three brilliant jewels called “Silmarils” which afterwards became the source of much fighting and discord. Frodo is given the Phial of Galadriel , which contains the captured light of a Silmaril (and by extenstion the Trees).

The Two Trees were eventually poisoned and destroyed by Melkor with the help of a massive spider (an ancestor of Shelob). The Sun and Moon were the last attempt and were set in the sky beyond the reach of evil. The Silmarillion describes the trees each waxing and waning in brightness over their own 7 hour period:

In seven hours the glory of each tree waxed to full and waned again to naught; and each awoke once more to life an hour before the other ceased to shine. Thus in Valinor twice every day there came a gentle hour of softer light when both trees were faint and their gold and silver beams were mingled.

This first render depicts the “gentle hour” above. My final goal is to render each hour in the cycle and folks can then use “ChronoWall” to set their desktop to a day in Valinor…

The Two Trees have always captured my imagination and I’ve been meaning to render this scene for a long time. I’m glad to finally get it started!

As always, I took quite a few liberties with this piece but I hope it is enjoyable even if you aren’t familiar with the history of Middle-Earth.

Posted on December 27, 2012

I’ve added an updated version of “Campfires” to the Members Gallery this evening. I’ve tried to capture a bit of the aurora around the poles with this latest version, which I rendered using Lightwave 11.

I’ve also used a much higher resolution map for the city lights, so they should show a lot more detail on today’s larger displays. I can see my hometown in the 2560 x 1600 version.

You can check out my renders from 2002 and my original 1999 version for comparison.

Whichever part of our globe you call home, I hope you all have a wonderful 2013!

 

Posted on December 21, 2012

Like most of you, I was heartbroken by the tragedy in Newtown, CT last Friday. I have been hugging my own first grader extra tight ever since.

Here is my meager tribute to the 27 victims.

The render has 20 (young) blue stars and 7 (older) red/yellow stars forming a new constellation in the heavens.

If you would like to download the wallpaper it is available in the free gallery. There are more resolutions available to my Members in the here.

May the victims rest in peace and smile down on the loved ones they left behind.

Posted on December 14, 2012

Vue 11’s new “360 Ecosystems” (populating instances on all sides of an object, rather than just the “top”) opens the door to a lot of interesting effects, but the first one that came to my mind was Christmas lights. After bedecking “Sleepwalker Wood” and “Gotham Garden” the next scene that cried out to me was “At World’s Edge”.

I hope you enjoy it!!

I have also added a version with white-lights to the Pickle Jar. Let me know which version you guys prefer (by leaving a rating) and I will feature that one in the gallery.

I also wanted to mention that my friends at Zimnix has produced a free Android Live Wallpaper (with blinking lights and snowfall!) based on my “Sleepwalker Wood” wallpaper.

Please leave a review if you enjoy it!!

Posted on December 7, 2012

 

I thought I would take a break from the Christmas/seasonal wallpapers for a moment and do something a bit different.

I’ve added “Unchained” to the Members Gallery this morning (dual and triple-screen versions available). I created this project to illustrate how I feel creating art on my main machine (Bucephalus) after only being able to work on my laptop for a long time.

You are, of course, welcome to make up your own story. I hope you enjoy it!!