E.O.W. Round 156: Temple at Uppsala

[Vulgar`]

E.O.W. Round 156: Temple at Uppsala

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/EOW.jpg

Round 156:
Topic suggested by JanJager:
Temple at Uppsala

Taken from Wikipedia:

The Temple at Uppsala was a religious center in Norse paganism once located at what is now Gamla Uppsala. Sweden attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th century work Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum and in Heimskringla, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century. Theories have been proposed about the implications of the descriptions of the temple and the findings (or lack thereof) of the archaeological excavations in the area.

In Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, Adam of Bremen provides a description of the temple. Adam records that a "very famous temple called Ubsola" exists in a town close to Sigtuna. Adam details that the temple is "adorned with gold" and that the people there worship statues of three specific gods that sit on a triple throne. Adam describes that near the temple stands a massive tree with far-spreading branches, which is evergreen both in summer and winter. At the tree is also a spring where sacrifices are also held. According to Adam, a custom exists where a man, alive, is thrown into the spring, and if he fails to return to the surface, "the wish of the people will be fulfilled."

The existence of the temple disputed, and there's no historically factual details of what it looked like. There are just two written records - none of the writers ever saw the temple and there are few archaeological records. You can choose to follow the wikipedia briefing or just have at it loosely. :)

go!

:android:


Due Date EXTENDED: Monday, January 31st

[Cyberman]

K, I am in. Great Topic Vulgar:), I will get some thumbnails up soon.

soon...k here is my start at some thumbs we will see, I may do some more thumbs,

[+oas+]

very inspiring, hopefully ill get something cool outa this

[Benza]

I gotta give this a try, since living in sweden and all.
May take a field trip to some similar location around my parts..
Now of to bed and think..

[Urötskidoji]

Awesome topic, I read about it a while back and it seems cool.

This will be my first E.O.W!

[android411]

great topic, here is my try, want to go with a nordic kind of architecture, but does not look like a temple right now, will try to fix that

[Jaunay]

The subject matter is really dark and eerie, so i wanted to try and paint the setting at day time but still give the uneasy feeling that people portrayed in the writings. Subtle dead bodies in the trees people casually sitting at the waters edge, a decayed arm floats to the top...

Nice pics.

i am just doodleing while watching tv and i don't really know where this is going. But having fun.

[Benza]

Damn, I hate knowing somewhat how the country around uppsala looks Think I´ll drop the realism and go with a totaly fantasy scen.. maby the gods where there.. ??
maby better get some sleep insted.

great work so far..

[Cyberman]

android411, nice painting so far, perhaps some more interesting elements into the design could help...

juanay you like symbolism don't you, nice composition and camera angle.

mitze I like how you are able to give it that nordic feeling.

benza haha, pretend it was in california:). I am sure you can think of something
origional if you try.

here is what Im doing so far.
1150241

1150864
well reflecting on this one this morning I thought it looked to samey, I did
made the bg more blue to balance out the warm colors in the foreground,
but I don't think I will go with this piece. I went back to my thumbs and
did some color passes. I would like to finish the snow one but that will be in
my sketchbook.

[emerging]

looking good guys! here is my wip, very quick and still a looong way to go

[JanJager]

emerging
Great I like the light. Are you going to have some figures there?
Sean McClain
Nice I like the dramatic landscape. Perhaps you can use the colour and value to separate the mountains in the background from the foreground.
Benza
Looking forward to see what you comes up with.
Mitze
Coming good. I like the temple design. Looking forward to see you render out the temple and let it blend in to the landscape.
Jaunay
Beautiful scene. Gives a impression of a holy place. Perhaps brake up the symmetry a bit more.
android411
I like the mood and the Nordic feeling. Perhaps work out the reflections in the water a bit more.
Why not have some more decorations on the temple

Some inspiration links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midvinterblot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgund_Stave_Church

[ThomD]

Great stuff so far, nice to see all these different approaches. This is my sketch, still alot to do obviously. Is this also the place where you post your final work or will there be a finalthread like with the Chow?
Gr Thom

[Vulgar`]

ThomD - You can post your finals in here.

Nice work everyone this is coming along!!

[.empyrean.]

That could be interesting for someone.
Midvinterblot by Carl Larsson

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Midvinterblot.jpg

[android411]

thanks for comments guys, this is were I am at right now, will have to change some more stuff but it´s too late now

@JanJager - great thumbnails, personally I like the third most as it has strong composition and awesome atmosphere, but the others could work well too

@Jaunay - JanJager made some good points, maybe you could try to add the tree behind the building and make it lighter and more bluish in order to create some sense of death, right now the tree has a bit too much focus imo, but very nice work so far

@Mitze - very nice mood, the building has a very nice silhouette against the brighter background, the sky looks great too, very excited about your progress

@Sean McClain - great start, maybe you could try to check your vanishing point on the building as it seems not to converge on your horizon

@emerging - very nice mood and lighting, the perspective on the building seems to be slightly off as some lines don´t converge on the same horizon

@ThomD - good start, maybe a bit early to crit

Here is the kinda finished version i think. Bit bored of it now.

Jaunay. Nice pic. A bit more contrast in the foreground might work.

Sean McClain. Nice. Looking forward to the finished version.

emerging. Loving the warm colours.

JanJager . Love all the tumbs, Number 3 on the top or 3 on the bottom would be my choice.

ThomD Great start.

android411. Very nice. Like the fires ligtening up the temple.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/mekese2000/Landscape5.jpg

Thanks android411 . Took your advice and bumped the contrast. Maybe too much now.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/mekese2000/EOW-Round-156-Temple-at-Uppsala11111.jpg

Final version. The small little hut bothered me i think this makes more sense.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/mekese2000/EOW-Round-156-Temple-at-Uppsala111rework.jpg

[android411]

@Mitze - very nice, maybe work on the overall contrast a bit, I like the idea with the dragon

so here is an update, maybe I´ll manage to go over it the next days

[ThomD]

Another sketch, dont know which one I will finish...maybe both.

[Benza]

Finally got around to getting some sketches done this evening.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg221/Benza73/asatemple.jpg

[ThomD]

Benza: very nice sketches! Especially the one on the upper left.

[Xezor]

This is what I've done so far, hopefully I have time to finish it.

[Benza]

more sletches, will proberbly not have time to finish this round but trying to stretch the time to get it done.
Thanks for the cheers, guys. wich I could give advise or tips but sure feels like I´m the newbie around here

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg221/Benza73/sketch2.jpg

[daflom]

found this very inspiring eow topic a bit too late so i've only some very rough thumbs to show, but i'll join the next one for sure!

great posts so far!

[Vulgar`]

Seeing as environments are far more time consuming than designing characters, industrial concepts and creatures, I'm thinking of making the due dates a week and a half to two weeks so everyone can manage to complete the activity on time.

What do you guys think? This activity will be due the 30th or the 31st.

[daflom]

two weeks sounds great for me, especially this eow because i started too late :)

my progress so far: (the tree is still too big...)

[SIME]

gunna try and attempt this one.... and finish it hopefully. I think I will go with an interior shot just to keep it different and also something with a much more epic scale.

good work so far everyone!

[Lightfibre]

Seeing all the great designs here, I feel a little hestitant to post mine ^^;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/inevident/tjerke-2.jpg

[Xezor1324]

More time on this one would be great! I think I like the idea of moving it up to two weeks as well. In the past I've started many EOWs and never finished because I ran out of time (I work full time and I'm a full time student).

[SIME]

Ok, this is a loose start but I have my shot set up now. the strong red light is coming from a stained glass window which is out of the shot, i will push the light intensity in the image later to help control the focal point.

will post another wip once i have defined the shapes better and solved some of the design.

[CucumberBoy]

Hey wait a sec... I live there! Better get crackin' on this one; would feel bad if I didn't.

[daflom]

i found some time to work on my entry today and tried to put the tree in the fg:

[JanJager]

SIME
Looks very interesting. looking forward to see more. I like your America entry very much.
Benza
Nice sketches
Like them all but the very first and the very last are my favourites. I like the composition in the first and the ship also gives size to the place.
I looks like one of those absurd wonderful places that turns up in Nordic mythologise.
daflom
Coming good. I like the very dark foreground and the temple design. I think you have a solid base but can go further in the rendering.
Lightfibre
Nice. I like it. At this point the windows looks a bit empty. Perhaps add some window-frames and some decorations.
Xezor
Very good. Keep on render it out.
ThomD
Amazing picture. Very cool.
android411
Great progress. Perhaps make the figure a bit smaller. To make the temple look bigger.
Mitze
Wonderful mode in the landscape. Looks very North mythology. A detail the waterfall in the centre aliens a bit with the cliff in the foreground. perhaps brake it up.
Maybee some more perspective in the clouds.

[ThomD]

Worked some more on my second sketch, but Iam sticking to my first one and work that out to a final, this one just doesnt seem to work.

JanJager: great picture, the mysterious atmosphere, the Casper David Friedrich Tree and the massive nordic temple work very well. Maybe loose the statue on the right and the fence like structures in front...it disrupts the flow (from left to right) in the composition.

[Loakers]

My effort. Started yesterday in a bit of a mad rush.

http://www.loakers.co.uk/images/temple.jpg

[brambor]

Hi! Extended deadline, thought I might drop in :) Hope I'll finish till monday.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp262/brambor/upsala1.jpg

[SIME]

Hi guys, Just a little update ...... haven't had much time to work on this and its still a long way off but ive established the light source i spoke about previously so thought id post it. In the final there will be way more people maybe taking part in a ritual carrying huge flags etc.

ThomD :- great composition.

[Vulgar`]

SIME, bigger image please!



The due date is succeptible to being extended again too guys, so speak up if you need more time.

- concerned host

[ThomD]

The 30 or 31 is ok by me, a bit of time pressure isnt a bad thing.

[RaphaelLuebke]

phew im damn late, extended deadline would help ;)


http://www.games-net.de/hosted/sluggit/sketchbook/eowtemple3.png

(edit: quick color-correction)

[Rambozo]

Alright, my first CA participation in what must be over a year (?) ! I need practice a environments and when I thought I should drop by here again this Uppsala idea struck my fancy, good timing :)

Here's a WIP of what I've managed to scrape together in my spare time. Still need to add a proverbial diving board into the waters, some alter on the ground, maybe a procession. I'm not convinced about the floating Valkyrie-temple-thing (then again there's plenty of work to do there)... Anyway, comments are welcome !

As far as extended deadlines : spare time just leads to sloth ! ;) So ya I might not get to where I want to by Monday but I'ld much rather have a real deadline to motivate me than muck about eternally.

[Goog]

Mah Entry:

[DannenArt]

did a version of the Uppsala church, which is pretty spectacular in itself.

here's my entry:

[Cyberman]

The due date is succeptible to being extended again too guys, so speak up if you need more time.

- concerned host

hey Vulgar, I will put an effort into having something done by today or tommorow,
if not by the time for finals I would like whats on page one to be excluded from
voting please...hopefully that wont be the case;).
have a great weekend!

[brambor]

My final, I already hate it, but here it is:

[Benza]

Here´s my final.
Managed to get it done even thou time is sparse.
This is more of a matte painting then a orginal painting.
All photos are my own, merged and painted over to get a true sense to it.
If this is not allowed into the polls then thats okay and I´ll know for another time.

Most done in photoshop cs2, but final tweaks in lightroom 3.0
Now its of to bed and work in another five hours or so.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg221/Benza73/eowutfinal.jpg

[ThomD]

Here's my final.

[daflom]

good work everyone!

here is my try:

[Llyann]

I'm new, so I'm not sure I'm doing this right, but here is my rendition of the temple with WIPs. I am still playing around with the image, but this is where it stands now.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5136/5405000333_cf0814c8dc_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5295/5405000267_48e3573658_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5133/5405000149_2fbc608fd7_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5259/5405605638_e1486901b4_z.jpg

[Misplacedhippos]

I wish I had started earlier.

While I'm making wishes, I wish the photos of my art were more accurate,
and maybe the power to control time would be nice too.

[Rambozo]

Alright here's mine.
In the end I went with something a little different than the straight-on old-school Norse approach and went with a sort of techno-blend (don't get me wrong, great universe to explore, I just felt like doing something a touch different). I tried to hit all the basics though : giant evergreen, golden chain(s), some ledge to throw people off of into the spring water. Added a few raven-banners here, the Thor statue in the Mjolnir inspired floating ship, fancy-bits to the bottom rear reminiscent of the shields offa the Drakkars. Anyway, enough chatter ;)
Good fun & I sorely need the practice. Good luck to all !

*edit : WIP can be found in post #41 if thats of any interest.

[Llyann]

Here is my final.

I went with my imagination and thought the temple would likely be a massive structure in an out of the way holy place, so I went for a feeling of seclusion, but still tried to keep the scale large. I liked the idea of the temple almost being a cap to the mountain it was on. I also wanted to incorporate the spring and tree, I think it adds to the feel that the temple is in something of an oasis in the mountains.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5406259401_7c9538bf76_z.jpg

[Xezor1324]

I've been done for a couple days, thought I had to post the final in the poll thread. Guess I should have read the instructions :/

[Vulgar`]

:( I didn't really specify in the thread about that. I edited a note into this week's activity so hopefully the problem is fixed. Sorry about that Xezor..