February/March 2010 Lite Challenge Entry: The Tower of Heaven

[moutarde]

I believe I've finished most of the drawing. Now it should really just be filters and text, and if I still have time I'll try to get that quill and inkwell in there too.


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[Rythal]

the drawing is kinda hard to make out, I think it could do with darker lines

[moutarde]

Is there a specific part of it that you're all having trouble making out? Are all three pictures too light? It seems dark enough on my display, and on a test I printed out. Keep in mind that this particular page is supposed to look like it's thousands of years old. The ink is probably going to be somewhat faded after that length of time, but I don't want to be so faded that it can't be made out at all.

On a side note, watch with glee as I horribly mangle the arabic language!!

[Rythal]

Oh I can definitely understand the style you are going for, but it is more reminiscent of a pencil sketch then an ink drawing. The hatching on the tree stands out strong, but the tree's outline is very difficult to make out in comparison, making it not instantly recognizable as a tree. The side veiw of the tower faces similar problems, with the pillars standing out nicely, but the outline seemingly incomplete and preliminary. In fact, without zooming in, I cannot tell that I am looking at a tree.

The main point is that it is difficult to determine what is in the foreground and what is in the background. hope that gives you some room for improvement.

[moutarde]

That does help a lot actually, thank you Rythal

[moutarde]

Still havn't decided on what I'm going to do with the drawings exactly, yet, but I've finished writing the arabic text (if you can arabic... Please! Be gentle!!) and started aging the paper. Still lots to do before tomorrow's deadline. Yikes.

EDIT: Tried using just some plain old layer masks with clouds. Looks half-decent I think....

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[moutarde]

Getting there! Still need to do more work on the edges and folds in the scroll. They're just not ancient enough yet. And unfortunately, I don't have time to carry a piece of paper around in my pocket for a year or two and use that as a base image

But once I get those edges fixed up, I only have to worry about drawing in the historian's translations! So close I can smell it!

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[moutarde]

So I took my creased and crumpled piece of paper and soaked it with water, then creased and crumpled it some more, taking care to 'accidentally' make some rips in it, then dried it out by tossing it in the oven for a minute, then creased and crumpled it some more. Very, very happy with how this experiment turned out. Special thanks to keithcurtis, who posted in a tutorial thread back in 2007, for the idea of using a real piece of paper for this!

### LATEST WIP ###

[tilt]

that looks realy good now - and the drawing is showing nicely too

[moutarde]

Whew! With the addition of the historian's notes to the image, I can actually consider this a complete work, though there's still more I want to do to it, if I can work up the energy I don't know if I'll actually be able to get the quill and inkwell in there... Not even really sure where to start with that. Oh well.

### Winner ###