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

Point Sentinel

In the early days, when I started to understand that I may be able to create some really neat pictures, I had my sources for inspiration and motivation. Like everyone who is trying to get somewhere in a certain field. There was and still is a guy I look up to. Even if we kinda lost contact. But anyway. The guy I’m talking about is Gary Tonge. Very kind and good person. Many of his works inspired me. But there was always that one piece he did, I wanted to pay homage to. Trying my own version of the idea. That piece was ‘Sentinel‘. It is a very simple picture. No detail where is doesn’t need to be. Well packaged. Yes, my version is very different. But still… the creative spark came from Gary Tonge’s Sentinel.

What can be said about the creation process. Lets just get one thing out of the way. Yes. The waterfall was a pain to create! I don’t have a lot of waterfall textures and had to use what I had. A ton of work went into that detail. All the integration and overpainting, to make it sit well in the render. took some good time. The landscape was created with Worldmachine. The overall scene was done with Vue. A mixture of standard and procedural terrains.

For the creation of the building I used my lame 3d skills to get some shapes done. Basically a lot of vector import going on. Also reused certain elements from previous projects. The detail I wanted to have from the beginning were the sails. I always wanted to do something with that kind of element. Don’t ask me what the purpose of it is. Maybe it’s also able to collect energy from the sunlight. Much like solar panels. Ultimately it doesn’t matter. It looks cool enough to justify its appearance. =D

For quite some time I had the picture pretty much done. But whenever I looked at it I felt it did not look done yet. I was wondering why and took me a hile to think about what I could do to make it work. After a long time leaving the pic behind, I decided to work something out for the foreground. I felt that I found the right trail for a solution. It still took me a while to find the right setup with the cave like rock formations. These finally built the right frame to make the picture work.

So yeah… thanks Gary for the inspiration. It just took almost 10yrs to get this homage done. :D

6000×2715 – Worldmachine – Vue – Photoshop

Plate 1

Plate 2

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FOUNDATION

What we have here is a picture that I would consider a quickie. A mashup of my earlier Scifi cityscape pictures. It still took a while to get it done but the general composition was set very early on and kept throughout the making. Normally I tend to sometimes drastically change elements of a picture even within the making. Always depending on how good things work out. Sometimes you have to work out things and look at them, to fully understand if something in a picture works or not. Had not to do this hassle for this one. Instead I did a lot of finetuning, especially in the front parts. The city I kept rather basic without investing too much time and detail on it. Just wanted to keep the background more rough. Slammed some textures and lights on it. Does the job and creates enough depth for what I wanted. Something that works really nice is the sense of business that a city like this would generate I think.

Technically it’s, as usual, Vue to create me a base picture to work on. In Photoshop I added quite a load of textures and made them fit somewhat nicely within the scene. I added masses of lights to suggest even more detail. The lights required some time to place them good in the scene. Then I tried to add a little more depth with some atmospheric glow and haze. Overall it works good enough for what I had in mind for the picture.

The docked ship in front was originally a concept drawing I did a while ago. My french Luminarium colleague Sebastien Hue managed to create a nice 3d model from my rough drawing. So a big thanks to him! Pay him a visit here. You’ll see some variations of that ship in future works soon, that’s for sure.

6000 wide – Vue – Photoshop

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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.

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Creation History

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety

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

ANCIENT MEMORIES

Holy cow, it’s been a while! Over the past weeks and months I was quite busy and did not have much time. Enough whining! Yes, here we have a new one. Finally. This one was actually done for the latest exhibit of The Luminarium. Its topic was ‘Gaia’, which makes it pretty much a nature theme. I also combined the creation process with a video workshop, that might be interesting for especially the germans. I’m not explaining the whole creation process… but how to implement atmosphere and certain elements into the scene. But more on that later.

I always wanted to try myself on a, by nature devoured, city. Overgrown by trees and plants of all sorts. The picture does not have a particular story. The message I wanted to get accross simply is, that we should be careful with what we do. Right now I have the feeling that mankind is straight on the edge of either ruining it all or finding a way to get it all together. Reading and watching the news says we’re closer to the fail than the success. The city in the pic is a symbol for a hard and painful learning process. Obviously there was a civilization that did not make it. But there is still hope, overall. And that’s the person. She may be a simple explorer or even more specific… an archeologist. Whatever she is, the sight of that city will fascinate her. Will make her go down and explore it. As long as someone is willing, to do the research that may help us to understand the failures of the past, there is a chance of learning. So much for the wishful thinking.

The truth is that the world, now more than ever, is filled with ignorance. But enough preachy talk.

The picture was created with Vue and heavily postworked with Photoshop. Especially within the city, a lot of overpainting and detailing happened. Several Vue renders helped me to extend the scene, even after I started with the post process. Overall the pic was fun to do. All the little details help it to come alive.

This picture is also part of The Luminarium’s 18th artpack release ‘Gaia’. Some pretty amazing and inspiring work there. Info can be found here.

4500px wide – Vue – Photoshop

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

Vue Plate
Print Detail

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety

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

SKYHIGH

My god I cannot even tell how old this picture already is. Now I guess it’s finally time to release it into the wild. The creation of it started late 2010 and even today I did a few smaller fixes on it.

Originally I just wanted to create another futuristic cityscape picture but soon thought that I already had done quite a bit in that field. The original intention was it to create yet another different perspective on my ‘Hadley’s Hope‘ cityscape series. When I finished the city part I left it alone for quite a while. Then I dug it out for an EvE Online Spaceship contest on Deviantart for this: ship. I needed a background for the presentation of that design and the city was perfect. Naturally I did not win anything on Deviantart. Later though I submitted the same entry to pretty much the same contest, with the difference that the contest was held by the EvE Online people themselves. There it was one of the winning designs. That was a surprise. And the presentation of the design surely did its part.

Now I did not want to waste that city and do something with it. So I sat down again and tried different ideas. The one that stuck then was something I wanted to do for a while. Adding some skywalk where people could look down to the city. Something that would really create a nice feel of scale. I couldn’t exactly tell if the pic now shows a viewing plattform from a building or a ship that is approaching the city. I leave that to your imagination. However, I like the idea of a ship.

Technically I recycled the city I used in Hadley’s Hope. Nonetheless I did quite some modifications on it since we’re looking at it from a totally different point of view. Creating the atmosphere wasn’t an easy task. Especially getting the clouds right. A lot of trial and error to get things right. The clouds in the render didn’t look very good in some parts to there was some Photoshop required to make it look right. Otherwise Vue did a nice job with the lighting and atmosphere and delivered a nice plate to work from.

Last but not least I must admit that it’s again one of the scenes I would love to see for real. Slowly gliding above that massive thing of a city. Watching the smaller transporters and gliders zipping through the clouds and canyons of buildings. Very StarWarsy but I find it cool.

Vue – Photoshop – 4000px wide

Plates and Parts — Print Detail

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ENDEAVOURS PART ONE

As a part of the Luminarium Artgroup I had the chance to try myself on an idea that was floating through my mind for a while now. To tell a story with pictures. Now the idea itself is old and absolutely nothing new of course. But I hadn’t done something like this before. The Luminarium topic was ‘Sequential‘. Now that could be interpreted any way you want. I chose a somewhat comic like approach. What I wanted to do right from the beginning was to show how spaceships depart from a planet surface into space. I did not know how to visualize that exactly. Soon I found that, of course, some sort of cityscape thing would be the best way to depart from. Soon enough I also had a nice little story in mind. About a guy who worked in that city. Never saw the sunlight and any joy living there and just wants to get away from there. He decides to begin a new life in the off world colonies. (You get the Blade Runner ref there? Very good! ;))

Technically it’s all done using Vue and Photoshop. In Photoshop I used several filters to achieve a certain comic like flavour. Not sure if that succeeded though. The end result was very satisfying and again I learned a few things while working on the different images.

By the end of the making process I realized that the tour from the surface into space could only be the first part of the adventure. The story needs a better finish and that’s why I decided to add a ‘Part One’ to the title. Now I cannot say when I will create the second half of the series. We’ll see when it’s done I guess. For now I’m happy with the results of part one. And maybe it’s a good thing to leave the actual destination of our two ships to the imagination of the viewers. At least for a while! =)

‘Excitement’

“Do you get that feeling too? That feeling of excitement when you know the next day will be great because you’ll be off into the holidays with the family or something? Now this is not much different. To finally leave this place, start over somewhere else and see your loved ones again. This is the first step of my endeavour and I’m so excited!”

‘Here We Go Again’

“There is surely one thing I will definitely not miss. Working in this heavy industrial environment was a pain. All day long in the shadows of these superstructure towers. Knowing there’s a warm sun… but never seeing it. I hope the colonies will offer a more peaceful working environment. It’ll be hard there too. No doubt. But it will be better! Not just because I won’t feel alone anymore.”

‘Wave Goodbye’

“That’s the dream. At least when you’re looking for it here. Living in the higher levels of these skytowers. I never was so high up but I saw pictures of the most amazing sunsets you can imagine. My dreams lie beyond these towers and this planet. Can’t wait to get there. Can’t wait to see my own sunsets.”

‘Leaving The Fields Of Steel’

“Looking down into this mess of a city it looks almost peaceful. A symbol of how far mankind came the last 500 years. All the magic we are able to do now and take for granted. All these amazing achievements. But we’re sill looking for the things we’ve always been looking for. Peace, family, hope, new goals and a better life.”

‘All These Worlds Are Yours’

“I travelled into space maybe three or four times and the sight is still the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. It must be the saddest thing to work up here. Seeing this grand view but not being able to appreciate it anymore. That’ll never happen to me!”

‘Begin A New Life’

“Oh, I almost forgot that funny prickling feeling when a ship enters the space dock and shifts gravity fields. That must be how true excitement really feels! Can’t wait to get through transition and board the ship to the colonies. I hope so much this endeavour will lead me somewhere good. For me it is quite a risk. I’m sure it will! Someone is waiting there for me.”

Regards

HOME HAVEN

This one originally was a concept art commission that didn’t exactly hit the taste of the client. I maintained the rougher look but still tried to polish it up a little more for my own gallery here. It was definitely something new to try and a typical ‘learning’ project. Target was it to create a place where some sort of sea nomads find a haven. The city itself is kinda modular and able to split up to move elsewhere. I personally am not the biggest fan of the pic but i still somehow like how it turned out. No question a worthy submission for my page anyway. Hope you guys like it!

Regards

STRANGE NEWS

Project name for this one was ‘assimilated’ until i found a title i had to use for this one. Now imagine mankind will make it some day… and meet other lifeforms (in peace!). How would a technological mix would visually break down the look of a city, that shares human as well as alien technology in its architecture? Of course this is all speculative and imaginary. The title i used is actually a 16min song that followed me through the making of this picture. “…And you will know us by the trail of dead” – Album: Tao Of The Dead. Awesome piece of music. My recommendation.

Now this one is a perfect example of a painter who has no idea what he’s doing. He’s letting guide himself from what the pic tells him. Excited like a little kid playing hide and seek. Well i basically just sat down and played with brushes and Photoshop. This time i used a plate i shot a few years ago in Berlin. I always knew this material could be useful someday. Now i finally found use for it. I’m pretty surprised what came off of it. Since pretty much nothing of the actual plate is left. Looking back at what i did so far, this pic surely has a unique approach and feel to it.

I think i got a little inspired by the style of concept guys like Sparth or Syd Mead. Everything Photoshop this time. No Vue or 3d elements in here. Well… not exactly. I created some brushes off of some of my scifi Vue buildings. That worked not bad here. The basic pic was done after 2 or 3 days. A lot of time went into (pretty much unnecessary) fine tuning. I had the time and used it to polish certain areas a little more than others. Just for fun.

I personally would say it’s one of my best pics. Really enjoyed making it. Hope you enjoy the view too!

Photoshop – 5000px wide – 1 week

Print Detail (Large File)

Progress/Plate (Large File)

Wallpapers: 1920×1200 – 1680×1050

Regards