The King's Rising

**El Ruco** · February 6th, 2007, 09:39 PM

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Hi everyone. This is a depiction of a pivotal event in a personal fantasy narrative. The king of worlds, dormant for ages inside the mechanical womb of his protector, has awakened from the depths of the earth, and people will learn to fear him as he rises again to redeem everything that has gone wrong ...

The image was started in Painter, then continued in Photoshop, then in Painter again, and then finally in Photoshop once more. It was my first real try in Painter. Maybe I'll use that program further on in a piece that allows for more of a painterly quality. The level of finish this required made it much easier to complete in PS. Took about 25 hours.

**masque** · February 6th, 2007, 11:39 PM

very accomplished textures and a strong sense of scale from the lighting, atmos. persp., and composition, but i'm left in some doubt as to whether the humanoid or the mechanoid figure is the main focus of the piece. the strong highlights and dramatic flow of the robes draw my eye but equally so does the poised and tensioned mech hand, making it seem as if the mech is already fully aware and functioning, rather than awaiting its controlling intelligence.

**El Ruco** · February 7th, 2007, 05:33 PM

That's an excellent critique, masque. I see what you're saying. I actually wanted the king to be a bit inconspicuous within the image, so as not to make him too overpowering. I wanted the robot to have as strong a presence, seeing as though it was the machine that enabled the king to live in hibernation for so long inside it. This sets up a certain relationship between them. Instead of the Robot being static and the king active -- the focus of the piece -- the robot is the dynamic part of the image, while the king is a passive companion that quietly compliments him.