Carrara Challenge #51 - Here There Be Dragons! Folk/Fairy Tales Entry Thread. Winners Announced!
Headwax
Posts: 9,967
ENTRY THREAD FOR CARRARA CHALLENGE #51 HERE THERE BE DRAGONS! FOLK AND FAIRY TALES
The rules for this one are simple.
- Your mission, should you accept it, is to use Carrara to illustrate a moment (or moments) from a folk tale or a fairy tale.
- You could even do a nursery rhyme or an Aesop's fable, a mystical story or a myth. Or a tale you wrote yourself that is crying out for illustrations.
- Any render engine that Carrara can use is fine.
- Post work is acceptable but please post an unpostworked image in your WIP post.
- At least one WIP post per image please.
- You can enter up to five (5) images per artist in the entry thread when it opens.
Please remember that there is a prize for the best 'newcomer' - meaning someone who has not previously been awarded a prize.
Link to WIP Thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/384591/carrara-challenge-51-here-there-be-dragons-folk-fairy-tales-wip-thread-hurry-2-weeks-to-go
Dates: Entry Thread closes/Voting Begins: end of Wednesday 25th March Daz Time
For your entries, please use the following format:-
Entry #:
Title:
Artist:
Links to WIP thread:
Discussion: (eg tell us about the tale you are illustrating or tell us your secret ingredients for how you made the image)
Newcomer Category (Y/N)
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Comments
Entry #1
Title: Unemployed Magic Mirror
Artist: Diomede (Ted Murphy)
Links to WIP: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5342501/#Comment_5342501
Discussion: (eg tell us about the tale you are illustrating or tell us your secret ingredients for how you made the image) Modeled the face and magic mirror in Carrara's vertex modeler. Woman is a model I've made for prior challenges. Going for comic / toon effect. Used the coverage pass and shadow pass from Carrara's multipass renderer, and combined with a filter forge filter.
Newcomer? No.
Entry #: 2
Title: Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to work we go.....
Artist: Bunyip02
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5338991/#Comment_5338991
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5339421/#Comment_5339421
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5340876/#Comment_5340876
Discussion: (eg tell us about the tale you are illustrating or tell us your secret ingredients for how you made the image) Used a Carrara terrain as the base, scoured the item library for content. Used Lorenzo for the 7 dwarves, for his clothes I used the one clothing item but adjusted the shaders to get a different outfit on each dwarf. A couple of hill terrains from Bryce were imported as background fillers. Wanted a non-photo-realistic finish, so used Topaz Adjust to bring out the colours, then used a Filter Forge filter to get the end result, blended a little bit in Paint Shop Pro.
Newcomer Category (Y/N) No
Items Used:- Lorenzo Lorez - https://www.daz3d.com/lorenzo-lorez
Lorenzo Clothes - Lowres medieval river ship - https://www.sharecg.com/v/64871/related/11/Poser/Lowres-medieval-river-ship
Victoria 4.2 Base - https://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-2-base
SnowWhite Hair - https://www.daz3d.com/snowwhite-hair
V4 Morphing Fantasy Dress - https://www.daz3d.com/v4-morphing-fantasy-dress
MFD Peasant Dress - mylochka - https://www.sharecg.com/v/82103/browse/11/Poser/Peasant-Dress-Textures-for-Morphing-Fantasy-Dress
Terrain - Carrara
Hills - Bryce
Arboretum Volume 1 - https://www.daz3d.com/arboretum-volume-1
Country Lane - https://www.daz3d.com/country-lane
FR15 Prunus domestica Plum - XFrog
Oak Trees - Lisa Botanicals
FlinksFlowers - Flower3 - Daisy Fleabane - Renderosity
Predatron Geraniums - https://www.daz3d.com/predatron-geraniums
Veranda House - Dark_Anvil - Renderosity
Bench Seat - Fairytale Collection -- Cottage - https://www.daz3d.com/fairytale-collection-cottage
Old Well - Free_Teknology3d
Tim Payne Lightdomes - https://www.daz3d.com/carrara-skies-lightdomes-1 (no longer available)
Tim Payne Skies - https://www.daz3d.com/carrara-skies-volume-1 (no longer available)
Entry #: 3
Title: Not so Little Red Riding Hood
Artist: Bunyip02
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5339451/#Comment_5339451
Discussion: (eg tell us about the tale you are illustrating or tell us your secret ingredients for how you made the image) Used Tango Alpha's excellent Helock Folly as the base, rotated it around until I got a perspective of one of the tracks as a basis for the scene. Used Topaz Adjust to bring out the colours of the render.
Newcomer Category (Y/N) No
Items Used:- Victoria 4.2 Base - https://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-2-base
V4 Eurydice Hair - https://www.daz3d.com/eurydice-hair
Adventure Girl 2 - https://www.daz3d.com/adventure-girl-2
In Her Defense - https://www.daz3d.com/in-her-defense
Grey Wolf for Daz Dog 8 - https://www.daz3d.com/grey-wolf-for-daz-dog-8
Hemlock Folly - https://www.daz3d.com/hemlock-folly
Entry #: 4
Title: Under attack - needs Prince Valiant to come to her rescue !
Artist: Bunyip02
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5383166/#Comment_5383166
Discussion: (eg tell us about the tale you are illustrating or tell us your secret ingredients for how you made the image) Used mmoir's superb Mystic Gorge as the base for the scene. Trusty old SubDragon used with my favouite skin pack for it Draconia. Used Topaz Adjust to bring out the colours in the render.
Newcomer Category (Y/N) No
Items Used:- Victoria 4.2 Base - https://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-2-base
V4 Morphing Fantasy Dress - https://www.daz3d.com/v4-morphing-fantasy-dress
V4 Hooded Cloak - https://www.daz3d.com/v4-hooded-cloak
V4 MFD & Expansion Packs Green And Gold Textures - https://www.sharecg.com/v/54109/related/11/Poser/V4-MFD-Expansion-Packs-Green-And-Gold-Textures
Millennium SubDragon - https://www.daz3d.com/millennium-subdragon
Draconica- SubDragon and MilDragon by blazewolf01 - Renderosity
Daz Dog 8 - https://www.daz3d.com/daz-dog-8
Great Dane for Daz Dog 8 - https://www.daz3d.com/great-dane-for-daz-dog-8
Mystic Gorge - mmoir - no longer available
Entry #: 5
Title: Frog Prince
Artist: Bunyip02
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5387936/#Comment_5387936
Discussion: (eg tell us about the tale you are illustrating or tell us your secret ingredients for how you made the image) Used a close-up of the Nature - Lake product as a base for the Scene. Wanted a live action look so I had Kermit leaping into action. After a NPR finish, so used Topaz Adjust to bring out the colours, then a Filter Forge filter to finish off the render.
Newcomer Category (Y/N) No
Items Used:- Amazon Tree Frogs and Tadpole - https://www.daz3d.com/amazon-tree-frogs-and-tadpole
OOT Royal Crowns - © 2015 by outoftouch - Renderosity
Nature - Lake - https://www.daz3d.com/nature-lake
Entry #: 6
Title: Off with the Fairy's once again.....
Artist: Bunyip02
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5388481/#Comment_5388481
Discussion: (eg tell us about the tale you are illustrating or tell us your secret ingredients for how you made the image) Used DM's Fairy Castle as a prop in the foreground and the Multiplane Cyclorama Fairytale Story as the background for the basis of the scene. Adjusted the angle of the completed scene so that I got an image of the Fairy heading off to do what Fairys do. Topaz Adjust used to bring out the colours of the render.
Newcomer Category (Y/N) No
Items Used:- Genesis 2 Female - Genesis 2 Starter Essentials - https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-2-female
Fairy Dell Outfit for Genesis 2 Female(s) - https://www.daz3d.com/fairy-dell-outfit-for-genesis-2-female-s
Aubree Hair for Genesis 2 Female(s) - https://www.daz3d.com/aubree-hair-for-genesis-2-female-s
Fluttery Wings for Genesis 2 Female(s) - https://www.daz3d.com/fluttery-wings-for-genesis-2-female-s
DMs Fairy Castle - Renderosity
Fairytale Collection -- Fairytale Story - https://www.daz3d.com/fairytale-collection-fairytale-story
Entry #:
Title: The troll under the Bridge
Artist: Varsel
Links to WIP thread:
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5373506/#Comment_5373506
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5376031/#Comment_5376031
The Troll under the bridge.
There were three goats that wanted to go the pastures in the mountain. But when they came to the bridge, there where a troll living under it, and he wanted to eat them.
The first , and smallest goat went first.
"No I am comming to eat you !" the troll said.
"No, no. You dont want to eat me. I am small and skinny. Wait for my brother. He is bigger and fatter." said the goat.
"Alright, you can pass" said the troll.
But the second goat was also small and skinny, or so he said.....
And the third goat : He was big and strong, so he headbutted the troll back into the river, for never to be seen again.
Entry #:
Title: Preparing the apples
Artist: Varsel
Links to WIP thread:
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5381201/#Comment_5381201
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5400146/#Comment_5400146
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5418091/#Comment_5418091
Entry #:9
Title: Old Shoe House
Artist: Misty
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5356141/#Comment_5356141
Entry #:10
Title: Faerie Dragon, Indoor scene
Artist: Misty
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5381266/#Comment_5381266
Entry #:11
Title: Dinner isn't necessarily about the cheese
Artist: Misty
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5386936/#Comment_5386936
Entry #:12
Title: Monsters from the Cupboard on the Loose
Artist: Misty
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5383951/#Comment_5383951
Entry #13
Title: Greta
Artist: Stezza
Links to WIP thread:https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5341361/#Comment_5341361
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5336006/#Comment_5336006
Discussion: Greta also had some beans! ... I used the Luminance lighting set for Carrara. Postwork was done in PSE2020
Newcomer Category N
Entry #: 14
Title: Not by the hair of my chinny chin-chin!
Artist: UnifiedBrain
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5353726/#Comment_5353726
Discussion: The pig is the Frankie character from Rendo. Big Bad Wolf and the Muelsfell cannon (modified) are in the Daz library of products.
In Carrara, I visited the hair room, plant room, modeling room, text room, shader/displacement room, and the particle room (new for me). GMIC Lylejk filter.
No postwork.
Newcomer N
Entry #: 15
Title: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Artist: UnifiedBrain
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5371406/#Comment_5371406
Discussion: The pigs are once again versions of Frankie at Rendo. The wolf is a blimp courtesy of Philemo. The instruments and trees are Carrara native objects (except the big trunks which are the Morphing Tree Trunks). The house is A Curious Chapel, modified a bit in the modeling room. Flowers are the daisies recently offered as freebies to PC members.
Carrara elements include text, clouds, trees, hair, and terrain. Lighting is distant, bulb, glow and aura. The only other light is 10% ambient. The GMIC filter is Lylejk.
No postwork.
Newcomer N
Entry #: 16
Title: Sour Grapes
Artist: Cbird (Christine)
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5397311/#Comment_5397311
Discussion: I love Carrara fur, but I know I still have a lot to learn. Getting fuller and longer fur in particular is a challenge, but worth it.
Newcomer Category (Y/N) Y, (World's oldest newcomer, lol)
Entry 17
Title: Snow and a Songbird
Artist: Diomede (Ted Murphy)
Links to WIP https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5446531/#Comment_5446531
Discussion: Took base render and put in the backdrop, then rendered an NPR render. Composited the NPR and the base.
Newcomer? No
Entry # 18
Title: Rumpelstiltskin's Spinning Wheel
Artist: Diomede (Ted Murphy)
Links to WIP https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5426711/#Comment_5426711
Discussion: All made in Carrara's vertex modeler with procedural shaders.
Newcomer? No
Entry #19
Title: John Henry
Artist: Diomede (Ted Murphy)
Links to WIP: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5349751/#Comment_5349751
Discussion: Rendered background from TangoAlpha's End of the Tracks product. Used as backdrop for Genesis plus custom overalls outfit.
Newcomer? No.
Entry #20
Title: Hansel and Gretel
Artist: headwax
Links to WIP: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5357226/#Comment_5357226
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5357231/#Comment_5357231
Discussion: Used Maddie and Matt for fun, (generation 3 figures?) Did the post work in Photodonut to get that line effect - trying for an old fashioned book feel.
Newcomer? No.
Entry #21
Title: The Pied Piper
Artist: headwax
Links to WIP: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5416321/#Comment_5416321
Discussion:
Here's a Pied Piper - though he is not so pied. Morphed M4 a little, gave him stubby legs, used some free Carrara shaders for the cloths after retexturing. For the base that I distributed the rats on I used the Polyline modeller to get a sinusiodal thing happening
There are about 8 different rats (poses) though they kind of get lost - haze from using depth pass I isolated the shadows with a shadow pass and added a little mauve to them. Postwork with Topaz Impression and affinity pro.
Newcomer? No.
Entry #22
Title: The Frog Prince
Artist: headwax
Links to WIP: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5420006/#Comment_5420006
Discussion: Apologies to Bunyip02 - i didn't realise you'd done a frog priince!
Here's the frog prince, whereas the frog rescues the princess'es Golden Ball from a pond and his reward is to get thrown against a door ... er no to sleep on her pillow...
Notes - used object pass to isolate elements - painted that ring at the meniscus of the water and added frog's reflection by copying the frog and inverting him then using the ocean filter in photoshop. Used a depth pass to make the background lighter, painted out that tree branch above the woman's head. Used topaz simplify topaz impression and Affinity photo to tone map it on several occasions during the process. Used the colour image over a tone mapped black and white image to get a bit more punch (set the coloured layer to 'colour' in the parameter secyion). Tone mapping constrictes the tonal range making it look more traditional.
Made the pond and used Philemeno's excellentg triplaner plugin for both the texture and a little displacement.
Entry #23
Title: Daniel in The Lion's Den.
Artist: headwax
Links to WIP: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5450126/#Comment_5450126 ; and https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5458066/#Comment_5458066
Discussion:
I hope this doesnt offend anyone suggesting that this story is a myth... well it's a metaphor I guess. Had a lot of trouble with the lion manes - In the end I just parented the mane to the lion head and injected pose to the lion and the same pose to the mane.
Daniel's robe is a monk's robe with a new grungy texture and the hood and cross hidden - the cell is a torture chamber available here at Daz. I had to restructure the jaw on the fron left lion cause it looked weird - so in post work I copied the jaw of the right front lion onto it.
Bones are from the dragon skelton available here at daz - I detached the skeleton from the figure so I could isolate the bones I wanted and added a custom texture to add a bit of blood.
I used Fenric's excellent Tree Duplicate to keep adding Lions.
Post work tone mapping with affinity pro, nik filters, topaz impression and simplify , Filter Forge for a parchment feel (use the overlay parameter on a parchment image - dirties up the image a little)
This is a worked up diffuse render pass. Advantage is it comes without shadows so you can reintroduce the shadows with a shadow pass but make them more subtle with a slight gassuian blur.
I was going for an tradtional 'icon' look with this one. I used a high mill camera (180 focal range?) to compress the depth as can be see in in Byzantine religious works.
Entry # 24
Title: The Time We Are Given
Artist: Cbird (Christine)
Link to wip: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5460226/#Comment_5460226
Discussion: My head is full of Lord of the Rings these days. Gandalf is M3 in Wizard Robes from the store with the Wizard of LIght texture which I really wanted to use. Unfortunately I hadn't realized the hat wasn't part of the original set, and althought the texture set is there, I could not find the hat anywhere. I borrowed one from M4 and did a lot of warping in Photoshop to get the texture to apply. My effort would not bear close scrutiny!
Howie's Maple Meadows are lovely, and respond well to all sorts of play in Topaz Filters. In the end I went with Adjust AI, then Glow 2, and then Impression. Filter Forge was used for the frame.
Entry # 25
Title: A Witch Carraranator
Artist: Diomede (Ted Murphy)
Link to WIP: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5463756/#Comment_5463756
Discussion: Figure is Vyusur's Janna with custom morphs and shaders.
Entry #26
Title: A Wolf and Sheep Clothing
Artist: UnifiedBrain
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5465536/#Comment_5465536
Discussion: M3 and a couple of G2 gals are the characters. Sheep outfit is Restless, M3 outfit is M3 everyday wear modified with shaders and displacement. Hair is M3 beard and Miwa Anime.
Couldn't resist the pun. No postwork.
Newcomer Category (N)
Entry #: 27
Title: The Moth and the Star
Artist: DesertDude
Links to WIP thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5369066/#Comment_5369066
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5406481/#Comment_5406481
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5455171/#Comment_5455171
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5465431/#Comment_5465431
Discussion: To summarize this Fable by James Thurber: "A young and impressionable moth" goes out night after night trying to reach a certain star. His aggrieved parents hassle him for being impractical. "You don't get anywhere chasing stars," says the moth's father. He is later chided for not having any burn marks - all his sisters and brothers have been scorched by lamps. The moth lives a long, long life. His parents and siblings die at an early age by being burnt to death flying around all those street lamps and house lights.
Moral: Who flies afar from the sphere of our sorrow is here today and here tomorrow.
Everything was created using the tools available in Carrara (see WIP links). Render is straight out of Carrara using Carrara's native render engine, no post work. A few more generalities I may not have covered before: colors of buildings and the moths are primarily monochromatic so their colors come from the colors of the lights; there is a warmish/yellowish keylight dedicated to the moths and another light blue keylight to most everything else along with a few low powered orange-ish bulbs in the streetlamps and a light dome thing made up of very low powered purple bulbs; the windows have a color in the Glow Channel of their Shaders.
Newcomer Category: No
(Click for full version 1100 x 1280)
wow lot's of terrific entries - sadly it's time to shut the entry thread and start the voting, I'll be back in a few minutes with the voting procedure - great stuff everyone :)
Well how to vote
1) VOTE FOR UPTO 3 (THREE) WORKS - IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
Entry #:
Title:
Artist:
2) ALSO VOTE 1 (ONE) WORK FOR THE MOST ORIGINAL INTERPRETATION (NB: this can be one of the three in section 1 if you like)
Kind comments on why you voted for a work are also very welcome :)
Voting Closes in about a week - say end of Thursday 2nd April - Daz Utah Time - unless it needs to be extended.
Cheers - stay safe.
Entry #: 27
Title: The Moth and the Star
Artist: DesertDude
Entry #13
Title: Greta
Artist: Stezza
Entry #: 2
Title: Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to work we go.....
Artist: Bunyip02
THE MOST ORIGINAL INTERPRETATION
Entry #: 15
Title: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Artist: UnifiedBrain