Cliff Burton from old Metallica.
Ok, there are several stories now around this one.
It all began about 3 months ago when I saw an art contest on one of DA's Metallica fan-groups, themed "an illustration to a song by Metallica". Naturally, the first one which popped in my mind was "Orion". But how do you illustrate a genius instrumental like this? Obviously, it had to include the constellation itself, or at least part of it - my first idea was something about Orion's belt, since I saw one stunningly beautiful and detailed photograph of its nebulae. Then while I was contemplating on what exactly I wanted to do, it just appeared, all of a sudden - the fact that the constellation looks like a man playing guitar.... or bass. And who else could that be....
So here I am, painting one of the most beautiful and famous constellations of the northern night sky. I first had to find a photo of Cliff which would fit the constellation. And then I found this one, and it coincided so perfectly with the stars (I only had to change the guitar's angle with a few degrees) that it made my jaw drop.
It took many weeks, countless hours of hard work (pity I didn't count them actually), I never made it in time for the contest, which ended on November 1st - but who cares!.... and to top it all my old tablet decided to stop working on the same day I was going to complete it. So I had to make the final strokes with my mouse.... which was a total brain damage - something that would normally take about 15 minutes, I struggled with for 2 hours or so....
But HERE IT IS! Finally.
Now credits....
Reference for Cliff: http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_.....iff+Burton.jpg
I have to say I copied the positions of all stars (except the very tiniest ones) from a photograph of the constellation.
Here it is: http://burro.cwru.edu/Academics/Ast.....nter/orion.jpg
I didn't stick to their colours most of the time, but I relatively kept their brightness.
And -= IMOPORTANT =- When I say I copied THE POSITIONS of the stars, it DOESN'T mean I copied the stars themselves right from the photograph. Each and every single one of them is PAINTED by HAND. NOT copied, NOT traced. PAINTED.
The nebulae are based upon the real existing ones.
Reference: http://images.sky-map.org/star_imag.....04/904411.jpeg
Well, yeah, I changed some things, of course....
No textures used. All painted by hand on Ps CS4, with Genius tablet.... and a little with an A4 Tech mouse x.x
Original size: 1000 x 1500, without the frame.
I guess that's what is worth saying.
In memory of Clifford Lee Burton (10.02.1962 - 27.09.1986)
Metallica - Orion
P.S. I did this for someone special to me. Hope you liked it after all....
Animated tutorial: [coming soon]
Ok, there are several stories now around this one.
It all began about 3 months ago when I saw an art contest on one of DA's Metallica fan-groups, themed "an illustration to a song by Metallica". Naturally, the first one which popped in my mind was "Orion". But how do you illustrate a genius instrumental like this? Obviously, it had to include the constellation itself, or at least part of it - my first idea was something about Orion's belt, since I saw one stunningly beautiful and detailed photograph of its nebulae. Then while I was contemplating on what exactly I wanted to do, it just appeared, all of a sudden - the fact that the constellation looks like a man playing guitar.... or bass. And who else could that be....
So here I am, painting one of the most beautiful and famous constellations of the northern night sky. I first had to find a photo of Cliff which would fit the constellation. And then I found this one, and it coincided so perfectly with the stars (I only had to change the guitar's angle with a few degrees) that it made my jaw drop.
It took many weeks, countless hours of hard work (pity I didn't count them actually), I never made it in time for the contest, which ended on November 1st - but who cares!.... and to top it all my old tablet decided to stop working on the same day I was going to complete it. So I had to make the final strokes with my mouse.... which was a total brain damage - something that would normally take about 15 minutes, I struggled with for 2 hours or so....
But HERE IT IS! Finally.
Now credits....
Reference for Cliff: http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_.....iff+Burton.jpg
I have to say I copied the positions of all stars (except the very tiniest ones) from a photograph of the constellation.
Here it is: http://burro.cwru.edu/Academics/Ast.....nter/orion.jpg
I didn't stick to their colours most of the time, but I relatively kept their brightness.
And -= IMOPORTANT =- When I say I copied THE POSITIONS of the stars, it DOESN'T mean I copied the stars themselves right from the photograph. Each and every single one of them is PAINTED by HAND. NOT copied, NOT traced. PAINTED.
The nebulae are based upon the real existing ones.
Reference: http://images.sky-map.org/star_imag.....04/904411.jpeg
Well, yeah, I changed some things, of course....
No textures used. All painted by hand on Ps CS4, with Genius tablet.... and a little with an A4 Tech mouse x.x
Original size: 1000 x 1500, without the frame.
I guess that's what is worth saying.
In memory of Clifford Lee Burton (10.02.1962 - 27.09.1986)
Metallica - Orion
P.S. I did this for someone special to me. Hope you liked it after all....
Animated tutorial: [coming soon]
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Human
Gender Male
Size 713 x 1043px
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