nüborn - chris slavik

[the_slav]

here's the initial development of my first contest entry. it's more along the lines of a spiritual definition of "newborn," since those who accept Jesus Christ as their savior are "born again." theres a lot more i could do to this, in terms of backgrounds, and other details. so i'll play with it some more. i dunno, maybe i can attach some pipes and gauges and "Steampunk" it up or something. or maybe have a dinosaur vampire in there somewhere. also, this probably disqualifies this entry, but i DID in fact paint over photo reference. but i did my own coloring, lighting, and shading. i wasnt really interested in sketching hands and arms, i just really wanted to get into the meat & potatoes of colors and values (since thats where i need the MOST practice). crits and comments are awesome, but only as long as they're about the work, and not about the subject matter.

[rickardwestman]

interesting thoughts. and that is a good start. is there a wound on the hand who faces this way, and has that any particular meaning to the picture? and i just have to say it would be kind of cool to have a dinosaur vampire in there somewhere. keep it up!

[the_slav]

here's my final version for this piece. i went a little overboard with the set dressing, almost to the point of overcrowding the canvas, but i kinda like the cramped feeling i got out of it. i enlarged the wound in the hand for clarity (the meaning of the wound is it identifies the rescuing hand as belonging to Jesus, since when he was nailed to the cross at Golgotha. its more likely the nails were placed thru his wrist-area, since the ulna/radius bones were far more capable of supporting a person's body weight as opposed to a nail thru the palm. but i chose the route of identifiability over one of anatomically correctnessocity.) anyway, im pretty pleased with what i've done in just a few days. i think im a little more comfortable with creating shadows and highlights, and i think my experimentation with ambient light, though rudimentary, is fairly effective in this case. changes i'd like to make to this given the patience would be a re-format of the composition, and actual texturing on the arms and hands. as well as defining more of the musculature in the arms with some punched-up light and shadows. also...hmm....something else is missing here...

[the_slav]

bingo bango.