8th world wonder is a ... tree?!

[adcrusher524]

I predict that by 2210,  we'll make so much trash that our 8th world wonder is a tree...


i used st0ven's tutorial for the tree. I'm struggling with the trash , every time I make an attempt at it, it looks too busy. C+C would be helpful! thanks

[Mathias]

If I were you I wouldn't use any trashbags, just purely random rubble and junk. FAR more interesting to look at.

Why do the mountains go light, dark, light into the horizon?

Bottom right trashbag is blocking too much view.

You might train the camera down a bit. That, or raise the tree.

Also, the tree is too typical. It's a wonder of the world. It's the future. Stylize that thing a little, make it alienish.

The surrounding flora takes away from tree's uniqueness. I say kill the grass and lose little shrubs scattered around and give all the element of life to the tree.

You might go for a duality concept - life and death. Death is the nasty junk yard, smog in the air, waste, excess, toxicity  VS  Life-one beautiful thriving tree in the midst of it all.

[adcrusher524]

thanks mathias that really helped. I'm still working on some of the things you mentioned, but i just wanted to post an update on the trees. I tried to make them more futuristic.



now there are three trees!!! I always find random pixels that dont go with anything in the scene so it just boosts my color count. The post i made previously had 13 colors instead of 12. Luckily, I found 3 of those little buggers so my color count was down to ten. I used the extra two colors on the bark and another for the tree. Bad choice?

[Cure]

this piece by larwick might be a useful reference:


and as tacky as it is feels to post one's own art in someone's thread:

[Tourist]

I really like your idea of a tree surrounded by trash.  I think the composition could use a little work.

The trash bags in front are not very recognizable.  I would not have known what they were if it wasn't pointed out.  I don't think they work very well.

The background of mountains and sky are somewhat unimportant to the piece.  The emphasis should be the tree and the trash.  It might be more imposing to have mountains or walls of trash rising to the top of the image, framing the lone tree in the middle.  Piles of trash receding into the distance would also work ( I realize now that might be what you were aiming for), but raise the skyline if the emphasis is an endless landscape of debris.

I liked the single tree more than the triple tree.  I think you could make the tree either very old and gnarled, or very young and slender.  An old tree would suggest the world is running down and the very last tree is almost dying, while a young new tree would contrast more strongly with the trash.

Add a velvet rope around the tree, or a fence or something, and maybe a little sign for tourists to suggest that this is recognized as something special by people.  Maybe even add a tourist taking a photo - just a shadow figure so it doesn't distract too much.  Or even a line of people waiting to see the tree.  Hmm, that might be too much.

For trash references, maybe look for some stills from the movie Idiocracy.  I recall that there were some mountains of trash early in the film.  Or look at images of real trash dumps, which might be easier to find.  The trash will be difficult with only 12 colors for the whole piece and wanting to keep the tree colors in strong contrast with the trash colors, but I think your dark and desaturated approach is good.

Good luck with the challenge!
Tourist

[adcrusher524]

update!



refrence for tree: http://www.valentinmelik.com/old_tree.jpg

At the bottom is a sample of a pile of trash. I wasn't going to cover all the piles like that and then have someone tell me that it doesn't look right and I have to do it over, so I just made a sample.  Also that white thing is supposed to be like a fence and it's going to surround the tree. thanks.

[CaKsTeR]

I kind of liked the image better when the tree was smaller; dwarfed by the garbage. It promoted much stronger emotion than this massive bulk of tree that appears to be growing over the garbage.

Still, nice idea and I look forward to its completion.

[NaCl]

Yeah man your tree is growing out of control, each update has made the overall image worse. Your first one needed some work on the specifics but overall had a good feel to it, and the message was apparent. Now it's just confusing.

[Mathias]

NaCl beat to it, not bash or down on you adcrusher, but you're latest version is just ridiculous hehe.

The concept is totally lost now. First version had it right - one lone tree in the middle of a dump. I don't even know what I'm looking at now. It looks like multiple disfigured trees adjoined at the trunk.

The guy with camera and dog just distract. The trash "sample" is very flat - looks like a flat plan with little chunks of random on it, not a trash heap. Larwick's example is great for you to study. Photo's of actual dump sites would be great for you to study actually. Don't regurgitate another's pixel art, go to the source, get real reference.

[adcrusher524]

yeah i was already working on an edit to fix that tree... its going back to normal now.  I might as well post it before I go to sleep. I'll take the dog and guy out in the morning 
 

still need to fix those mounds, I'll try to do something like larwick. Should I keep the huge mound in the background with the scull on it? I think it looks like an entrance to a video game dungeon. Anyway, thanks for the posts.