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

Comcept 32 – Halo Over Sunset City

Welcome to SUNSET CITY! This one was a pure just for fun project. I was fiddling around in Vue when I stumbled over some atmosphere settings that created a solar eclipse kind of look. I thoroughly enjoyed that look and started to randomly add some buildings. That quickly turned into kitbashing all kinds of stuff into the scene… which lead to the results we can see in the final piece now. No specific story for this one. From what it looks like it appears to be some sort of space/port hub structure. Surely a place that could easily write its own stories – good and bad.

5000×2283 – Vue – Photoshop – Lightroom

Part of AURORA: AURORA Exhibit II

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – CGSociety

Regards

Shrine Of The Unknown Huntress

“Many tales, in all kinds of shapes, forms and variations, covered the deeds of this fine lady and ignited a revolutionary fire which the galaxy will tell tales that will echo through the ages – even in thousands of years.”

Cassandra’s Book, 3:29

Here we have something highly experimental (for me) again. Much like my “The Hidden” piece, this one was done with help of Mandelbulb3d. I found a neat scene whilep laying with it, rendered out several passes of it and did some Photoshop magic. I also used Vue to bring in these monumental statues. The look of it is really different compared to my usual stuff and I really enjoy how it turned out.

When working on this piece, I decided to make a loose series, that is based on my “The Unknown Huntress” artwork. What if the lady belongs to an ancient old collective or cult of warrior ladies that kind of work from the shadows and shape the civilizations of the universe. A variation on the Assassins Creed story of sorts and not superbly original, I admit. But more based in a fantasy related universe. I found it tempting and decided to go with it. =D The location we see in this pic definitely belongs to a Scifi setting. Something completely different from the first (The Unknown Huntress) picture. Maybe a gigantic temple, honoring highly decorated members of the past. A place for the members to visit and gather some spiritual energy for upcoming missions or events.

7000×2996 – Mandelbulb3d – Vue – Photoshop – Lightroom

Mandelbulb Plate

Part of AURORA: AURORA Exhibit II

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – CGSociety

Regards

Parsec City

Not too much to say about this one. Originally a commission, I did have some real fun with it. Earlier this year the rights fell back to me and so I decided to show it to the world! The pic is four years old and the cool thing is that it holds up. I still really enjoy this piece.

Vue – DAZStudio – Photoshop – Lightroom

Concepts

Atmosphere Study

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – CGSociety

Regards

Terminal

Mid last year I had the pleasure to create some work for “Seat 14c” – a scifi shortstory event, held by the XPrize folks. This particular image belongs to a short story by Kevin J. Anderson. Now this is very special to me since I’ve read and really enjoyed some of his books in the past. So his name was very familiar to me. Having the honour to grace one of his stories with an artwork of mine is amazing! At first I was a little overwhelmed but after reading the story I quickly kind of knew where I wanted to go with the cover image. A dream world kind of environment. Things started to fall into place and I got a scene that is very different from what I did so far. It definitely leaves a very abstract impression but in context of the story it does make sense. =)

8000×4500 – Vue – DAZStudio – Photoshop – Lightroom

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – CGSociety

Regards

The Unknown Huntress

I started this one ages ago. Originally just for fun to play and learn stuff. Especially in regards to texturing within Vue. I did learn quite a bit and was able to transport my knowledge into later pieces. The reason why I turned this into a fantasy kind of direction was simply because I don’t have much stuff going into that direction in my portfolio. So, time to diversify a little bit! Is there a story to the picture? Not really to be honest. Maybe our character belongs to a tribe of hunters and is returning home from a field trip.

From a technical point of view, beside playing with texturing in Vue, I also looked at Plant Factory a little more. Especially techniques to grow stuff on objects. Which can be seen on the pillars that go along the way in the scene. There is so much stuff you can do! It can drive you crazy sometimes!

Ultimately it’s not a piece I’m entirely happy with but for an exercise it’s good enough. As usual I lost myself in too many details no one will ever notice unless it’s a neat print they look at. =D

6000×2739 – Vue – Plant Factory – Photoshop – Lightroom

Plate 1

Plate 2

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – CGSociety

Regards

New Los Angeles 3019

Looking through my artwork collection you might have guessed that I am a Blade Runner fan. Like pretty much everyone working in my field, it’s almost a given. A very influential film on so many levels. I started this project over a year ago and just wanted to have some fun with it. Exploring some composition ideas. The ‘just for fun’ aspect comes also into play with where I decided to set the world in. 1000 years after the original Blade Runner on a different planet with a city kind of (but not really) similar to what we know from the film. Naturally I took me some liberties with the design and look but hope to have captured that dystopian feel at least.

Plate created and laid out in Vue. I started out with a much smaller scale for the project but decided to go for a bigger render when I found that the scene has some potential. Also originally didn’t have the bridges between the towers. When playing around I kind of liked the idea and kept them in. Rendered with multipass for best flexibility in the Photoshop post work stage. There I overpainted quite some elements, added lights and detail to make the city feel alive. Last but not least I used Lightroom to push the atmosphere and feel a little more.

6000px wide, Vue, C4D, Photoshop, Lightroom

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Behance – CGSociety

Regards

Comcept 23 – Let’s Take The Boat Out

I started this one quite a while ago. Early 2015 I think. I kept it laying around not really sure what to do with it. AURORA – a collaborational effort of both artgroups The Luminarium & The Cosmosys Collective to do a crossover exhibit, made me go back to it and add some final touches. I’m glad it got accepted into the exhibit and sits along some fantastic work by artists from around the world.

I don’t even remember anymore what exactly sparked the inspiration for this one. Well, it’s part of my Comcept series, so it wasn’t supposed to be a super refined piece and more something quick. No matter my intentions it (of course) turned out more detailed than planned though. I guess my love for exploring futuristic cities surely plays into it. Composition wise this piece is all over the place. Surely not perfect but somehow it doesn’t work too bad. At least in my eyes. =) The clear and obvious focus is the ship that blocks the sun, in the middle of the scene. I’m a little proud of the design of that little guy. The background shows a very industrial style city with a port facility built into the gigantic wall on the right. That one giant ship back there is in the process of docking. Huge holographic guides lead the ship into position to complete the procedure. And that was part of the original inspiration if I recall correctly. Really enjoy how that part turned out.

The scene itself is based on some rougher concepts I did earlier. 3 scenes showing places on a planet called Linestra. So here we have, a more detailed, fourth scene. Also on Linestra.

Technically it’s business as usual. The scene was composed and rendered in Vue. Various additional modelling happened in C4D. Beside own models I used some material from DAZ. Photoshop was used to bring multiple render passes together and add visual effects, overpaint and fix elements of the scene. Lightroom was used to push colours and atmosphere.

5000px wide, Vue, C4D, Photoshop

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety – Behance

Regards

Endeavours – I Shall Pass

“Almost there! Like giants protecting a treasure. My wife told me that every tower comes with a different pattern. They suspect that these patterns can even change, which must be quite a sight! I just spoke to her and she suggested not to forget to breathe when seeing the towers up close! A sight to behold. The shuttle needs at least 5 more minutes. Very long 5 minutes. Almost home!”

Now this one is a little special as it wasn’t part of the original second leg of artworks for the series and slipped in while I worked on something else and got inspired. I loved the look and scale and definitely wanted to add it to the series as an complementary piece. To show the towers a little more. I was creating a preview piece for my 8k heighfield terrain freebie when inspiration hit me. I liked how the lighting of the scene complimented the detail of the terrain and started playing around by adding the towers. A small stream of light suggests our small little planetary transport pod, zipping through the air. I really wanted to show the dimensions here and the scale works great. I’m also happy how uncomplicated (compared to my other stuff) the scene comes across.

Created, as usual, with Vue, to create a base to work from in Photoshop. I used my freebie The Ghost terrain and its materials and masks to create the landscape. Layout of the scene was done fairly quickly. Invested some detail work here and there nonetheless. In Photoshop I fixed some parts of the render, added some textures and atmospheric effects.

6000×2739 – Vue – World Machine – C4D – Photoshop – Lightroom

Plate

ENDEAVOURS Part One – Six

ENDEAVOURS Part Seven

ENDEAVOURS Part Eight

ENDEAVOURS Part Nine

ENDEAVOURS Part Ten

ENDEAVOURS Part Eleven

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety – Behance

Regards

Endeavours – Port Fenster

“This trip felt like it took 6 years or an eternity! Finally approaching Port Fenster and the town of Valley Call. Imagined it bigger. From what I can see this environment looks very close to what I know from old pictures of the old Earth – except the towers. Look at these towers! They’re gigantic!”

For the most part of our journey we’ve been either in up the air or in space. It’s time to get back to the ground! Here we see our ship in its last appearance during a landing procedure. We see a small town here, which could best be described as a colony. It’s safe to assume that this place is destined to grow quite a bit in the years to come. Therefore I aimed for an established look and not something too fresh. It’s also not the only place we left our mark on here on this planet. There are small settlements all over the place. But this little town is one of the main places, managing the colonization process and all that comes with it. Although not everyone is allowed to just apply for a home there. This planet demands a more selective process. At least for now.

For the scene I used Vue and some assets I bought via DAZ. I modified these assets so they helped me building this little town. It works good enough but I’m not super entirely happy with it. Which goes in line with the more experimental approach of the pieces in this series. Some things work better than others. =) The mountains/landscape was created via World Machine. “This alien planet looks kinda like Earth!”, you say? Yes, it does… there’s a reason for it I hope to explain in an upcoming series of images. For the foreground I used some HQ trees made by Aron Kamolz. Thanks buddy! =)

4500×2054 – Vue – World Machine – C4D – Photoshop – Lightroom

Plate

ENDEAVOURS Part One – Six

ENDEAVOURS Part Seven

ENDEAVOURS Part Eight

ENDEAVOURS Part Nine

ENDEAVOURS Part Ten

ENDEAVOURS Part Eleven

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety – Behance

Regards

Endeavours – Towers Of Entropy

“We started the descend and entered the outer atmosphere. I remember from history class how the first ‘Astronauts’ always had a pretty rough ride through the atmosphere, down to the good old Earth. Now it’s a smooth transition. We still have to fasten our seatbelts though. Must be a traditional thing. And there they are, the mysterious Towers of Entropy. Can’t wait to learn more about them!”

For this one I decided to go for a more loose style. Main objective was to visualize the ship approaching the lower parts of the atmosphere of this planet. As well as showing the celestial environment with the planets. It may be a little cliche but I wanted our planet/destination to not just be a random planet. Since I plan to continue this series at some point. So I decided to add these towers. At this point we know nothing about them and I haven’t even mentioned them in the previous parts. So I hope to spawn some more interest by the sudden reveal of this element. Even though I’m not entirely sure where I want to go with them yet, I plan to investigate them at some point for sure.

Technically it’s a very basic scene. In Vue I rendered a plate for the landscape and an additional plate for the clouds. I tried working without clouds but the pic felt off. With the added cloud elements it came together much better. Especially the scale started to look more impressive. Photo textures and painting enhanced the scene. In Lightroom I found a nice colour landscape to go with as well as adding a grain effect which I really liked for this one.

4000×2163 – Vue – C4D – Photoshop – Lightroom

Plate

ENDEAVOURS Part One – Six

ENDEAVOURS Part Seven

ENDEAVOURS Part Eight

ENDEAVOURS Part Nine

ENDEAVOURS Part Ten

The artwork on:
Deviantart – Artstation – Drawcrowd – CGSociety – Behance

Regards