Description
“The weirwood’s bark was white as bone, its leaves dark red, like a thousand bloodstained hands. A face had been carved in the trunk of the great tree, its features long and melancholy, the deep-cut eyes red with dried sap and strangely watchful.” — A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
I’m a huge “Song of Ice and Fire” fan and I’ve wanted to do a render of a “heart tree” for a long time. I’ve posted a series of “making of” photos on my Instagram account if anyone is interested.
KrisG [lifer] –
I love the sharp contrast in colors. It reminds me of the most recent Star Trek movie (with Khan) in the opening scene. I also enjoy the detail in the grass and wild flowers. Nice one!
David –
That was all i could say when i saw this one!
Susan –
I like all the detail although I don’t watch Game of Thrones and haven’t as yet read the books. so I don’t have any pre-conceived mental image to fall back on. I didn’t really notice the face until I read the earlier comments. My only complaint is that I would have liked to see all the tree – not cut off at the top.
JM –
Kind of reminds me of the cover of Red’s newest album, “Of Beauty and Rage,” and Red’s one of my favorite bands, but I’m fairly positive I’d still be in love with this either way.
Bill –
One of my own favorite book series! Glad you’ve decided to start rendering about it!
Just a couple of things I noticed. I expected there to be a little bit of red in the water reflection and the trees to the right seem a little off to me.
Good work though!
Luke –
Are the dual-screen images here works-in-progress? Most of the foliage is cut off in the 3840×1080 render.
Marlowe –
I love the details of the roots, grass, and mushrooms. I wish I could go lay under that tree. Also, your water renders are spot-onâcould be a photograph!
Corbey –
From reading the Game of Thrones books, we probably all have our own mental images of how the Weirwood trees should look. In my mind, the trees were taller and more stately, and the faces were more finely carved. Be that as it may, I hope you will do more renders inspired by GoT.
Alex –
The concept is amazing, I just love that. The leaves and grass and water are incredible. I find the bark too bright, and the face seems lost. I particularly have a hard time looking at the wallpaper in a dark room (where I often use my computer at night) because of the very stark (no pun intended) contrast between the bright white, almost shiney bark and other dark elements; it’s hard on the eyes.
jlpilkin –
I really enjoy this one. I actually like the glowing bark – it adds to the mysterious nature of the scene, especially when combined with the crimson-red leaves. The face in the tree definitely makes it for me!
slackeeed –
i want to love this. The bark is seems to have too much going on, like its glowing and also reflecting? Not sure. I see the face yet it’s hard to make out the features because everything is so busy.
The grass and leaves are a great example of how something can be high detail yet not noisy. Do that more! 🙂
Riju –
Dear Ryan,
I love your wallpapers, but as of late (past couple of years) I’ve been getting the feeling that your wallpapers are tending to be more washed out / overexposed. I went through the past few years and noticed that my favorite wallpapers were all from 2010-2011, some 2012. After 2013-2014 or so, the colors started to connect with me a little less emotionally, and there seemed to be many glaring highlights.
The highlights in Highland Spring, Heliocentric, and Sierra Autumn, for example, are well done. And I love the color palettes. But the highlights (and color palette) in Fire Below Ice, the 2015 Promise of Spring, and Weirwood seem overexposed and hence seems to wash out the colors.
Is this perhaps an evolution of your style, something you’re doing on purpose, or did you get some new monitors or something around that time?
Just my thoughts. You’re still the best wallpaper artists around.
BobC –
I was hoping this would be the new render! The atmosphere is wonderful. Makes me want to spend some quiet, contemplative time out there on the grass behind that tree and watch how the light and mist evolve. I like how the (amanita?) mushrooms echo the red of the leaves.
Nimloth –
I really don’t care for the shiny bark. Otherwise, great.