ART: deviantART

Being repeatedly impressed by art found at DeviantArt, I finally signed up. After fulfilling my obligations as a new user, finding art to show you was my first order of business. There are so many categories to choose from, such as digital and traditional art, photography, film and animation (five of 20 categories). Then there are the numerous subcategories and sub-subcategories. You could get lost.

My sampling here includes matte painting (for the backgrounds in films), a game concept building/environment, and two game concept characters, one for a Shadow Days expansion.

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Marta Nael, Matte painting: "Lost among the ruins," DeviantArt

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Cathrine Langwagen of Cassiopeia Art, "Eder Terehn," DeviantArt

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Marco Dalidingo, "Machine Gunner," DeviantArt

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Darkcloud013, "Ice Sword," DeviantART

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-- Marge

Veteran's Day, 2013

To honor the brave men and women who served to protect our country here are two outstanding images.

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JimboJones2456, "VeteransDay," DeviantART

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koopastar, "A Soldier's Anguish," deviantART

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A collection of images related to Veteran's Day can be found at YouTheDesigner's Tribute to Our Unsung Heroes.

Our returning veterans have a hard time adjusting to 'normal' daily life.  Seems to me a large part of it is the loss of camaraderie and of the sense of purpose military service gives.  Team Rubicon offers a renewed sense of purpose.  A PBS article, Coming Home, links to a wealth of resources for the returning soldier, some of them governmental, some of them not.

A crisis line is available.

Soldier, you are remembered and valued.

-- Marge

Welcome to Dystopia

What with wars and rumors of war, civil unrest, an ever-greedier moneyed class, cutbacks in social services, global warming, unresponsive and self-serving governments, and so on ad infinitum, it may be time to get used to living in a (more) dystopian world.  So here goes.

First, let's define dystopia:

A dystopia is a community or society, usually fictional, that is in some important way undesirable or frightening. It is the opposite of a utopia. Such societies appear in many works of fiction, particularly in stories set in a speculative future. Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Elements of dystopias may vary from environmental to political and social issues. Dystopian societies have culminated in a broad series of sub-genres of fiction and are often used to raise real-world issues regarding society, environment, politics, religion, psychology, spirituality, or technology that may become present in the future. For this reason, dystopias have taken the form of a multitude of speculations, such as pollution, poverty, societal collapse, political repression, or totalitarianism.

To get the idea across, here is an image from deviantART's, Dystopian Society section.  Below is a meme by shadow9020:

Suzanne Collins Hunger Games depicted a truly dystopian society, where citizens didn't have a chance -- or so it seemed.  Here's an official trailer.

Then there's the mayhem of Mad Max; this trailer was posted by madmaxmoviesTV.

If you find this topic interesting, there's an extensive Dystopian Society reading list at goodreads.

Red pill or blue pill?

-- Marge

deviantArt, #Digital Landscape

DeviantART, "where ART meets application!", is a gathering place for some wonderfully talented artists.  As an example here's one of the pieces on the front page today.

"A Bed of Moss II" by Matthias-Haker:

One of the areas of digital artwork that continually draws my attention is digital landscapes.  I think that's one reason why I play games like Entropia Universe and World of Warcraft -- to see the landscapes.  (Okay, okay, they're fun too.)  DeviantART has a digital landscape group that accepts new members.  Please note that there are rules for submission.  Here's a sample rendered 3D landscape, titled "Coming Home" and by ~tophoo-de:

Here are two videos showing the landscapes and skyscapes of World of Warcraft (WoW), uploaded by Hubwood:

Not to be forgotten is the work of Ryan Bliss at Digital Blasphemy.  He offers free wallpapers, as well as paid memberships.  Here's a thumbnail of a free wallpaper for "Canopy Creek (Autumn) (2009):

BTW, there's an article at the WoW site, titled "ImagineFX Gets Exclusive with the Blizzard’s Fine Arts Project," that states

The December edition of ImagineFX magazine is now on sale and packed with a little something extra for Blizzard art enthusiasts, including tutorials and how-to information from some of the artists that help bring World of Warcraft to life. You’ll also get to take a look into Blizzard Entertainment’s Fine Arts Project; a unique gathering of some of the world’s greatest contemporary fantasy artists creating their own visions of the Blizzard universe. Legends including Alex Ross, Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, Craig Mullins, Alex Horley, Todd Lockwood, and Syd Mead share their experiences and showcase the incredible pieces of art they produced for the project.

-- Marge