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

THE ELLENSHAW CORRIDOR

This one could be seen as a sister project to my ‘From Here I Can Almost See The Stars‘. I basically used the same city scene, along with a few changes. Originally the picture was created to work out some material, I could use for chapters on a German workshop DVD (more info), I got invited to do. The energy spheres and ship engine trails for example. I previously used energy spheres, as a detail in my work, and really liked how it turned out. On the other hand I wanted to experiment with a darker toned atmosphere. Work with harder contrasts. Which turned out rather good in this picture.

You could say it’s another generic scifi cityscape scene. Nonetheless I hope the lighting and perspective is at least something that stands out in this one. As usual I used Vue to create a base of operation. Several separated renders helped me to get in all the elements I wanted. A lot of Photoshop then helped to get in the details, that make this picture look alive.

It does look like a place you can easily get lost in. And our guy there is probably thinking the same. But I’m sure he knows his ways around this place.

5000 wide – Vue – Photoshop

If the German language is in your skillset, here is some info about the workshop.

Print Detail

Creation History

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety

Regards

Yet again I have to announce something that makes me proud. For the past year I sat down and created a neat little art book. This book contains 9 of my personal portfolio favourites on a very high quality 30×30 cm / 12×12 inches paper. All of them on two-page spreads. So basically 60cm wide. That gives some amazing detail! Additionally it’s packaged in a very well produced and manufactured binding. For details feel free to check this page. There you can find all necessary info about the book as well as detailed photos.

Check The Preview – Here

Buy The Book – Here

Regards

THE MOEBIUS PASSAGE

This is a picture I started a long time ago. It started as a little experiment and turned into something bigger than I intended. I also wanted to use this picture for a little training exercise, working in that format/aspect ratio. I haven’t done so in quite a while. I must admit that I did myself hard finding a good enough composition. First when I played around with tilted camera views I found a suitable setup. That made the pic come to life for me. Added quite a nice and dynamic feel.

Technically it’s less a digital matte painting approach than a digital painting style. I did not want to strangle myself with trying to go as photoreal as possible. I just wanted to play with this one. Again the layout of the scene was done with Vue. In Photoshop I reworked quite some parts and added textures here and there. The overpainting was fun to do. Additional renders helped to implement more ships and the foreground elements. I really enjoy the view here but I doubt it is something for people with fear of heights.

When I was in the last stages of the creative process I heard that the fabulous Jean Giraud aka Moebius passed away. I admit that I don’t know too much about the person, but I can clearly see how his art influenced tons of Scifi movies. And me… well I’m influenced by these movies. That’s for sure. So I did not have a title for the pic and decided to dedicate this one to Jean Giraud. His art will definitely live on and keep the memory alive.

5000×3333 – 300dpi – Vue – Photoshop

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety

Wallpaper Pack contains two wallpaper versions in 1920×1200 and 1680×1050.

Regards

FROM HERE I CAN ALMOST SEE THE STARS

For a long time now I have a certain image in my head that I still/yet have to make. The picture we have here brought me a little closer to the image I have in my head. The pic I have in mind is something with a giant huge space port/dock structure. And yes, other artists already have made very awesome attempts on that. But hey, I want my own super cool space port! =D

What we have here is indeed a cool space port kind of thing and I really honestly like the result of my attempt here. I really had some fun playing with the colours. I wanted to go for colours I rarely used so far. So this pic will make a nice addition to my portfolio. I’m still undecided if we have a morning or evening scene in this pic. That’s what I leave to the viewers. Yes the scene is artistically nothing entirely new but I think it just looks sort of soothing.

Technically it’s heavy Vue work again. It started, like so often, playing around with objects and atmospheres. Originally I was thinking about creating a space scene. Then I had this great atmosphere that reacted so nicely with my objects that I couldn’t resist to make it another Scifi cityscape. The rendering happened in various steps again. First the city. Then the clouds. And last but not least the flying little ships. Throughout the Photoshop phase I continued rendering out smaller parts to replace some others I wasn’t to happy with. I still love the Multipass options in Vue. This makes it rather easy to exchange elements.

In Photoshop then happened the compositing of all the different elements Vue gave me with it’s renders. A lot of fixing, texturing and overpainting happened in the next stage. The atmosphere got some pushes too. The final result then really became a moody Scifi scene that allows the viewer to dive into.

This picture is also part of The Luminarium’s 17th artpack release ‘Illuminate IV’. Some pretty amazing and inspiring work there. Info can be found here.

I really had some fun with this one and hope you people dig the view as much as I do!

5000px wide – Vue – Photoshop

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – CGSociety

Creation Progress Plate
Print Detail

Regards

LAETITIA CAELIA

We previously discovered this world with ‘The Undiscovered Country‘. Laetitia Caelia, what means something like ‘joyful heaven’, demanded to be explored a little deeper though.

By exploration I mean the creative process. Originally this was an attempt at participating at this years E-On Software Environment Competition 2011. So I seriously invested a ton of time into creating a scene that looks like something. All Vue… no post work allowed. I had a really hard time being restricted to Vue alone. The resulting scene was ‘something’. But ultimately nothing with a chance to win. However… I learned a few more things when doing this scene. Especially technical aspects of Vue.

No matter how the results of the contest were, I created the pic with the plan to do my usual Photoshop stuff on it anyway. Now I know the winners were much better than my attempt. However… can’t throw all the work and render time away, right? And there was some render time. Phew. At the hottest time of the year. They should seriously consider holding that contest in the winter months. Seriously. I mean my machine was stable all the time! (Which is a true wonder!) But the temperatures it created in my room here were beyond… there’s no word for it. Evil it was. The final render took probably 40hrs.

For the weird rock formations I used Zbrush. These were fun to create. Less fun was it to import them into Vue. Very heavy models. And yeah, absolutely… I’m no modeling expert and don’t know anything about efficient modeling. These models put my machine on the edge but it worked out. Good enough for me. Like I previously said the rendering phase was a pain. In Photoshop then I had quite some fun adding additional textures. The scene already had a great depth and Photoshop helped me to push that even more. The lighting received a nice push as well. Overpainting helped me fixing and extending certain elements.

I had a real hard time finding the right color grading for it. I, in fact, have tons of test versions lying around here. Even with this final one I’m not 100% happy. At some point you have to mentally stop thinking about it though. Or you’re going George Lucas about it… never stopping to change stuff. (Stop to ruin your movies George!)

Again I imagine this picture is showing a world/planet that was just discovered and is now being explored. It must be a great feeling sitting in one of these jets there… just having fun with the environment. Diving through the canyons and enjoying the views no one has ever seen before.

A camera mapping try on this was not planned but done anyway. Quite some time that went into this too. But I refreshed my knowledge about the techniques and again learned a few new things there.

Hope you can gain some inspiration from it all.

Vue – Zbrush – Photoshop – After Effects – 5000px wide

Exploring Laetitia Caelia – 720p/Sound – Video – On Vimeo

Exploring Laetitia Caelia – 720p/Sound – Video – On Youtube

Laetitia Caelia – Quicktime/720p/Sound – Video (50mb)

Regards

LAKE FIREFLY

This picture was a submission for ‘The Luminarium‘ Artgroup. Their topic was ‘Asylum‘. My interpretation of the meaning can pretty much be seen in this picture. It’s a more peaceful approach. Here we have two people on a field trip to find some peace. But the environment looks a little different don’t you think? Of course I wanted to put in a little Fantasy/Scifi component. So our two friends here are either in the future on a distant planet or in an alternate universe. But that’s a taste thing. =D

Technically this picture was the first one I created with the Vue10 release. The random rock creator works really nice and is a good addition to the tool. The huge wing like mountain thingies were created with XenoDream. A very interesting tool that I might explore a little more in fhe future. Of course a lot of post work with Photoshop again. I even played around with creating some alien looking trees there. Maybe that was the christmas spirit coming through a bit. Just a little bit. =D This may also be the last piece of art for 2011 and I think it gives a nice conclusion with its mood.

Vue – Photoshop – 5000px wide

Print Detail
Plates and Parts

Regards

A few weeks ago I got asked to write a short tutorial on how to insert/replace sky elements in pictures. No matter if photo or painting. It was on rather short notice and a tight deadline. Especially when there were other things planned already. Nonetheless I sat down and tried myself on it. I used the render plate I had from my “Hadley’s Hope” project. So it ultimately became sort of an alternative take on my original project. I worked pretty rough though since there wasn’t much time for a too detailed approach. Anyways… the short tutorial in the magazine covers how to place a nice sky, that complements the cityscape, into the scene. It’s partly manipulated with photos and partly painted. I had a more photo manipulated approach at first but the magazine requested more painted parts. I hope I managed to cover the basics about it. At this point I also have to thank Adam Smith who had the bad luck to edit my gibberish. =D He was quite a help.

Advanced Photoshop Issue #90 is available now! Check it out!

Regards

It’s been a long while but here is the final part of the list. All these films have inspired me in one or another way and helped me to come up with certain ideas for projects. Beside that it’s also a collection of movies that give you some nice stories and characters that may help you if you plan to write something in the field of SciFi. Let me know what you think about the movies and what may have inspired you.

*Not listed by favourites.

Batteries Not Included

I really like this one since it shows pretty good how we humans actually are. It shows the full spectrum of human behaviour. Greed, violence, hate, hope, love… all these things that make us… human I think. I really dig the concept of these little alien kinda robot/spaceships. Especially when they give birth! Yes! It’s one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen! How they show the process of learning. How the collaboration of humans and aliens results in something great that has a chance to live on. How much different species with different backgrounds can have in common. How much we sometimes depend on each other. This one is a recommendation… especially if you’re a R2, Wall-E or generally a robots fan.

Batteries Not Included on IMDb

The Thing From Another World & The Thing

While the old movie seems a little harmless (with a large portion of charme), it’s the newer one that really shows how alien (space)Aliens can actually be and look. Both movies are considered scifi classics and should definitely exist on every scifi movies list. Especially the creature in John Carpenter’s The Thing is almost a piece of abstract modern art. Disgusting and fascinating at the same time. I just saw the Bluray that has a nice documentary on it. The practical creature FX worked so well that I don’t understand why they used so much CG in the 2011. It all looks fake. Anyway… the 51 and 82 version are the way to go!

The Thing From Another World (1951) on IMDb
The Thing (1982) on IMDb

Predator Series (not AvP)

Oh lord what can I say about this one that hasen’t been mentioned somewhere else already. To me these weird AVP movies don’t count. THat’s for sure. The games were better. The newer ‘Predators’ movie was good too. Even if I hoped for a more exotic alien jungle and environment. The old movies, part one and two, are awesome! The first one is a classic. The second one is very very good too and also pretty underrated if you ask me. It’s cool to see Danny Glover being a complete badass cop. Especially in that one chase scene at the end of the movie. Just great action. Also… the guy who had this idea with placing an Alien skull in the trophy chamber of the Predator ship… GENIUS! Interlinking these two universes made sense. Both are dark, gritty and violent. It all falls into place so well. It’s also stimultes your own fantasy and imagination.

Predator (1987) on IMDb
Predator 2 (1990) on IMDb
Predators (2010) on IMDb

Serenity

Now there was this tv production called ‘Firefly’. It was a great season! Excellent cast! Some serious fun to have! And it got canceled. And the people who canceled it didn’t even care. A true shame. However… the dvd box was such a success that they decided to make a movie to round up the existing episodes. Unfortunately the movie really closes the story. But that doesn’t make the movie a bad movie. No no! This movie has some really awesome moments! The cast, the mixture and the design works pretty much on every level! Even if you haven’t seen the tv episodes. I saw the movie before the tv episodes. The cast, story and the characters within that storyline are so unique and interesting that it is really sad that we did not get more of this production.

Firefly on IMDb
Serenity on IMDb

Silent Running (1972)

While this one might not be the most actiony film it still delivers a nice concept and some good acting. It’s basically about some huuuuuuge transport ships that are used to preserve the last bits of nature that is left from planet earth. When suddenly the order arrives to destroy the cargo to get the ships back to commercial duties. One member of the crew then takes matters into his own hands to keep that little piece of nature alive. Yes it’s a very hippie’ish plot, but nicely written. I like the overall design and look of it all. Surely one of the smaller SciFi gems out there.

Silent Running on IMDb

End of part 7. And the last part for now. I think the movies listed in all the parts deliver a great inspirational foundation if you want to go into SciFi art direction. The movies not only deliver visual inspiration but also some very memorable stories and characters. Something writers struggle so much with nowadays. But that’s a different thing. Also I want to say that the movies listed are films that inspired me. It’s not a SciFi best of list or something. So of course there are a lot more movies out there. ‘Outland’ with Sean Connery for example is a nice one too. So yeah, for now I hope you found some movies you haven’t already seen. Seek them out and maybe the creativity in these movies will spawn some ideas and concepts for your own work too.

Regards

It’s time for a short plug of my Science Fiction Calendar 2011. This time the included collection of art mainly focusses on SciFi pieces. Among them are personal favourites and awarded pieces like ‘Red Canyon’, ‘Phoenix Rising’, ‘Hadley’s Hope’ and ‘Gates To Elysium’. There are also some new pics in there I released this year.

It always creates a fuzzy feeling seeing these worlds on paper. Somehow it makes you want to explore these places even more deeply. Must be a good thing huh? =) So, if you don’t believe in the end of the world in 2012… BUY IT! =D

Enough talk!

For a preview of the Calendar please check here:
Sci-Fi Calendar 2012 Preview

You can buy this calendar on deviantart for:
$27.95 -> Find it here: Sci-Fi Calendar 2012

Regards

THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

“I’m 29 years old and was born on board of a colony ship that is now on its course for 75 years. It’s heading to a planet that we think is inhabitable. It must be. There is no turning back since our homeworld is dying. No, it’s not our fault. It’s just nature’s course. And our species… in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was the biggest endeavour ever taken to create the biggest colony ships to date. I’m one of 25.000 people on board of one of these ships. A lot of precious resources went into these ships. Not everyone was for it. It caused a lot of uprising. But it was important to keep the hope of our species alive. There are more ships. But all heading to different destinations.

We just now reached a good enough distance to our target planet to efficiently probe it. One of the first probes we sent took about 5 years to reach the planet. When they ship wide published the results my first thought was ‘We’re Home!’. All the readings looked perfect. There even was a photo. Man! I can’t wait to get there! It looks like paradise! It looks like heaven!”

This pic was originally a concept art commission I did a few months ago. It got rejected for reasons I can’t exactly understand… since I followed instructions from the Art Director. Weird weird thing. However. Instead of leaving this nice piece to slowly fall apart on my hdd, I decided to do something with it. Much like my ‘Hades’ duo from 2008, this is the first of two pics showing pretty much the same place. This pic was fun to do and certainly looks cool… that’s at least what I think.

Technically it’s a Vue 3d render for the base and some Photoshop to get details and atmosphere right. The weird rock formations were done with Zbrush. Experimenting with that stuff lately. Creating rocks and alien looking formations is pretty easy with Zbrush. And that’s all I’m able to do with it. It can do so much more. However. This Zbrush excursion helped me to learn a few things and will hopefully lead into some more exotic looking landscape pics in the future. We’ll see that…

for now I hope you enjoy the view as much as I do.

Vue – Photoshop – 5000px wide

Plates and Parts

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety

Regards