TIGAER-DESIGN.COM_.v5 – Digital Art by Christian Hecker

Fallen Sanctuary

The best description for this one would be just two words: happy accident. I had a nice conversation with a fellow artist about 3d stuff, modeling and sculpting. We came to our current projects and I saw a screenshot of a model she worked on for an exercise. She had no further use for it and I asked if she could send me the model so I could play a little with it. I immediately had some fun with that model playing in Vue, which made clear that we got something nice there. So then we decided to do a collaboration piece.

I’m not a big collab artist since I have a very specific set of tools I work with. And combining that with the workflow of a fellow artist can get messy fast. Nonetheless we agreed to try it. I was able to find a good composition and a working scene very fast. It even surprised me how fast I had something that really worked. We decided to keep that and I started render out my usual load of plate material for Photoshop.

I started and combined the different plates, began with adding effects and details. Then I sent it over to my friend and she added her creative magic. She sent it back to me and I did finalizing touches. The result works really well and we’re both pretty happy how it turned out. What does it show? Well, not sure. But it could be some giant ancient mysterious alien ruins of sorts.

Vue, Worldmachine, ZBrush, Photoshop, 3500px wide

Find my colleague here…
Nora Nirvaluce on Behance
Nora Nirvaluce on Artstation

3d model fun render #1 // 3d model fun render #2

Quick Concept

Plate

Regards

Come A Little Closer (if you like)

Here we have a pic that is near and dear to my heart. Sometimes you work on a project and it’s your one and only baby for that time. When the project is done it’s time to move on and you kinda lose a bit of that passion you originally had for it. For this particular one that’s not the case. I still enjoy this one a lot. It’s certainly not perfect and has its flaws. But it has so many elements that I really enjoy when it comes to pictures.

The original idea for it came (like many ideas) in a sleepless night. You know, these nights where your brain can’t turn off and can’t stop think about stuff. The first spark and image I had in mind where simple shapes and these two specific walls on the left and right. Basic but interesting architecture. The rest fell into place as soon as I started the creation process. Some very extensive extra time went into the scifi complex in the background. The hero building in the far back spawned the idea to play with it and ultimately resulted in the creation of my (earlier released) “The Eternals” artwork. Yes, “Come A Little Closer” actually pre-dates “The Eternals“. So now it’s seriously about time to really go public with it.

Technically it’s Vue again. Basic vector modeling to create details for the front room and some specifics in the background. For the two rocks that are implemented in the walls I used a Worldmachine created terrain. Worldmachine added a lot of fantastic detail to make that part look petty awesome and realistic. The lady was done with DAZ Studio and refined in Photoshop. The outside complex contains heavily modified models I previously used and the far mountain background are photos.

Hope you enjoy this one as much as I do.

Vue – Worldmachine – Photoshop – 7000×5053

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – CGSociety

Creative Process Video Breakdown

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Worlds We Know

This one was actually finished a couple of months ago. I started it late 2013 I think and I don’t really know anymore why. I guess there was no specific reason other than experimenting with Vue. As usual a sudden, unexpected creative spark fired up and I continued to work on it.

As usual I started with a simple setup in mind and ended up with more detail than I actually wanted. Even though it’s still pretty reduced to the basics. I guess I also wanted to play more with what DAZ characters can do. For the pose of our lady I started with a preset and invested quite some extra time to work on smaller details. Also wanted to streamline the process of using DAZ characters in my work. So it’s ultimately a learning piece I guess. In between testrenders I even had one atmosphere that was much darker but still kind of cool looking. I stepped away from it because the darker atmosphere and the highlights it created didn’t point to the spots in the pic that I wanted the viewer to see. That’s when I decided to stay daytime with some popping colours.

Technically it’s Vue, DAZ Studio and Photoshop for this one. Business as usual, I worked out a plate in Vue for later detail work in Photoshop. A lot of fixing of elements, overpainting and creating mood. I also worked with some displacement mapping in Vue, to get some waves into the pool to suggest that our lovely lady is walking, instead of just standing there. That process turned out to be a little tricky, but again… learning by doing. The result works I think. I definitely wanted this to be colourful and popping. The result certainly is colourful and I’m not sure if it’s really my taste because I usually enjoy a more balanced colourpalette. That’s ok though. Trying new stuff and playing around can’t be wrong if something a little decent comes from it.

Vue – DAZ Studio – Photoshop – 5000x2283px

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Escape

This one started out as a commission. I just had done and finished up another one for that client but with my attempts on a second one I didn’t manage to hit the right look that they wanted. We decided to leave it be and I asked if I could use one of my attempts for a personal approach. We agreed, parted ways and I carried on working on my idea since I felt that I was on to something with that picture.

It surely paid off when I look at the final version now. I always wanted to try myself on some kind of park area. A bright, peaceful and not too stressy picture setup with some nice depth. Not sure if I succeeded with the ‘stressy’ part but the depth works really well I think. Again there’s not much of a story behind it but I sorta imagine this huge park area as some sort of point of escape for all the people living in the city that is lurking in the background. It must be a great place to relax your mind and body a bit. The lady we see even got out of her shoes and walks around barefoot. So I’m sure it’s a great place to find peace of mind and such.

Technically it’s my usual Vue & Photoshop combo. The terrains were done with Worldmachine and the big rocks with Sculptris. Sculptris is a neat tool by the zBrush people. It’s basically a reduced version of zBrush and ideal for 3d sculpting beginners. It was more than sufficient for what I needed it for in this project. I also worked with a lot of masks to align the trees for the park. There went a lot of fine tuning into it. Mainly to get the positions, order and number right. In Photoshop the usual fixing, overpainting and additional texturing happened. Ultimately the overall result is satisfying. It’s not perfect but at some point you have to stop working on a picture. I, in fact, stopped working on it an hour ago. After a longer break where I considered the picture final. But you can always find something to tune and fix. I basically force myself to stop working on it by releasing it to the public. =D

Enough babble… I hope you like this one and enjoy the view!

6000×2550 – Vue – Worldmachine – Sculptris – Photoshop

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History

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The Cities Of Linestra Part I

I have neglected my Comcept series for quite some time now. I started this series to play around with some things and create quick pictures to try out some things. It brought out some cool results every now and then. So here we have three Scifi cityscapes that are located on a Planet called Linestra. It’s one of the techologically most advanced places in its known universe. Well, I enjoy creating futuristic canyons of city and had some fun here. Smashed some scenes together in Vue to render out some plates to work from and refine in Photoshop. I wanted it all done very quickly and the rough look of the pics is absolutely intended. Playing around with styles.

A wallpaper pack with 1920×1200 & 1680×1050 versions of each pic can be found here.

Regards

Lightroom

Much like ‘Sanctuary’, my last project, I had no specific plan in mind when I started this one. I wanted to do a different kind of Scifi interior and just started to play around with shapes. This time I heavily used into Vue imported vector shapes to create the room and most of its contents. I also wanted to play with daylight/artificial light combinations inside the room. That part was interesting and fun. I don’t know if I would like to live with an architecture like the one in the picture. It has a certain flow that my eyes seem to appreciate though.

Technically it’s business as usual. In my recent projects I use a lot of vector shapes for some rudimentary/basic 3d modeling. I create these in Photoshop and save the shapes as a *.bmp. Then I load the *.bmp into Inkscape to create a vector shape with Inkscape’s tracing plugin to save it then as a *.eps file. Somehow it’s not possible to get Vue compatible vectors created with Photoshop. That’s why I always have to go through Inkscape. It’s very annoying. But it works and gets the right results. The lady is done with DAZ tools but modified in Vue and Photoshop.

This picture is also part of the KIBERNETIK Exhibit by The Luminarium. Thanks to all the members who voted it in! Very appreciated guys! And everyone else… please feel invited to check out this great collection of inspiring digital art! =)

It’s also the first picture I did on my new PC setup and I think it’s a great start. Hope there’s much more to come! =) For now enyjoy the view!

Vue – Inkscape – Photoshop – 6000px wide

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Sanctuary

I started this one without having a specific plan. Except that I wanted to try myself on something similar to my Room With A View piece. And I wanted to do a night scene. Well, it looks like I had a plan… sorta.

I used this one to dig a little deeper into using Vue and vector shapes to create some architecture. The lady was implemented with help of DAZ3d tools. A lot of planning went into the look of the room and the balkony. Of course I wanted it futuristic and a little shiny. I had some fun playing with lights and creating the mood. Again the creation and rendering of the scene basically happened in two parts. On step for the city background and one step for the front. In Photoshop I brought it all together and did some major refinements to the room and city. Beside general fixes, refining and overpainting I also tried to add more detail to the dress our lady here is wearing. I also played with an idea I always wanted to try. A hologram display implemented into the windows. In this scene it’s basically turned off and only shows the name of the building complex. I enjoyed playing with that part.

Is there a larger story behind this one? Not this time to be honest. What’s the character doing? No idea. It looks as if she just came home from shopping and is calling a friend to tell about the newest stuff she was able to hunt down. Maybe her boyfriend is calling to take her out for dinner. I have no idea. =) Let your imagination decide.

Vue – Inkscape – Photoshop – 6000px wide

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – CGSociety

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Regards

Echoes

With this one we have another more experimental piece. After doing my Arcady’s Epiphany piece I still wanted to do something with the fractal 3d object I made with Xenodream. The Scifi nut that I am, it went into that realm again. The initial idea to the pic came when I had a sleepless night. You know these nights, when too many things go around in your head. The first pic I had in my head was just a hole in the ground with some structure in the middle of it. Later then came the idea making the structure some sort of scientific expedition, looking for something or investigating weird rock formations. I even started to write a short story but decided to post it later on my site. That story really needs polishing and who knows if I can find the time for it.

From a technical viewpoint this one was a monster. Sometimes I wonder how my computer manages to handle the stuff I throw at it. The pic was created through several separate Vue scene files. Basically separate files for the building and landscape. And one big file that contained all objects and was used for the render. The big one had 3gb size in the end. That’s huge even for my standards. A separate cloud pass (took almost 44hrs to render) was rendered to enhance the atmosphere on the surface. This pic was also the first one where I heavily used 3d lights directly in the scene. Normally I tend to add this stuff via Photoshop. First testrenders indicated that it wouldn’t work for this one and the look I was going for. The terrain was created with Worldmachine and did a nice job with the overall detail. Speaking of detail… there is a crazy load of it in there. I don’t know what was going on with me. Especially considering how painful it can be to implement certain details. I even tracked down the font that was used on the USS Sulaco in the movie Aliens. I wanted that for the names of my stations as well. Check out the print detail preview on the bottom of the post to see what I mean. Crazy, right? Last but not least of course Photoshop was used to basically pimp up the render with some postwork, effects and slight overpainting here and there.

6000×2739 – Vue – Photoshop – Xenodream – Worldmachine

Plate 1

Plate 2

Plate 2

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Regards

Arnou – The Royal Palace District

This one was a commission a couple of weeks ago for New Worlds Project (rpgnewworlds.net). A site about Scifi writing and roleplaying. The site gathered some very creative folks to give life to all the ideas of the world they are trying to create and visualize. May it be environments, places, cities, races and spaceships. My mission was it to show parts of Arnou. The capital city of the Rosebourg Monarchy (Info).

I’m glad the pic works, since I tried some new approaches in regards of city creation. Especially when you have to create a picture that demands to show the size of the place. The base was created with Vue along with quite some technical difficulties. But I managed to keep these under control. A lof of painting and refining in Photoshop to make it all as moody and accurate (to the descriptions) as possible.

Arnou – Creation Process.

Hope you like what you see and check out their site (mentioned above) and facebook page.

Another shameless plug… I’m now on facebook as well. Likes and the usual “spread the word!” are always welcome and appreciated! =)

Find me here: Tigaer-Design.com Facebook Page

And now I hope you enjoy the view!

Regards

Room With A View

This one earned a special place in my heart. I wanted to try myself on something new. Well, not entirely new… but at least something different. I was always a fan of these clean and nice looking architectural visualization artworks. These artworks always have a certain look and especially a great lighting going on. I also wanted to have a picture that earned some merits before it even got officially published on my site or art communities. So I submitted it as an entry for Volume 11 of the Ballistic Publishing Expose artbook series. I expected other submissions to make it into the book but not really this one. Especially since it’s my first serious try in doing something like it. Dear lord… a lot of work and revisions went into this picture before I was somewhat happy with it.

I started to play with vector import in Vue quite some time ago. Soon after creating ‘Halcyon Awaits’, (which used a lot of vector imported shapes) I thought that the technique would also wonderfully work to play around with some clean cut scifi architecture design. Yet again I had to go through quite learning curve to get the results I wanted. And all that by going the most efficient way possible. I did not model all of the contents in the scene. I used models from DAZ and Archive3D.net. A lot of the models needed additional texturing which ate a lot of time. The result however was completely worth it. The flat itself is created with vector shapes and Vue’s Texttool. It’s funny what interesting results it can give you. It’s really fun to play with.

In the end it turned out that the pic got selected for inclusion into Expose Vol. 11. That blew me away. Very unexpected and an amazing motivational boost. I did something right. And to make good things better… it even got selected for inclusion into the next d’artiste: Matte Painting 3 book as well. At that point I was flattened. And that’s why this particular pic is very special for me.

If there is a particular story for it? Well. Lets just say it’s a wonderful friday morning. A glorious weekend ahead. A good motivation to welcome the last workday of the week! Fresh clean morning air in the room and soft warm sunlight on the skin to welcome you to a new day.

6571×3000 – Vue – Photoshop

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety

Plate 1

Plate 2

Print Detail

Regards