Awesome! I love the colors so far. I can't wait to see the finish version. The water looks so real!!

I appreciate the contrast of colors between the dark skies, white trunk and branches, and red foliage. I am awaiting the finished product!

First thing that popped into my head was one of the old god tree's from game of GOT.

I am really liking this one so far. Can't wait to see the finished product! It makes me think of a tree my daughter and son-in-law photographed on the shores of Lake Malawi in Mozambique, Africa, called a silver baobab. They called it the God Tree because it seemed surreal and stood out from all the rest.

Great! Can't wait to see this one in the gallery.

I'm a fan of geometric forms, hexagons in particular, and the color scheme here compliments the design very nicely.

Really love where this abstract is going!

I think I like the straight-on view more than the angled view.

yeah... This is freakin' awesome!

Very impressive: will there be a few different colors eventually?

Lookin' good go far

I like this image so far. I wonder if you might not consider a future subject. I recently watched a video on the construction of a truly beautiful watch movement. The portion of the watch that was being highlight was called a "Tourbillion" (see http://www.breguet.com/inventions/tourbillon/). It is truly gorgeous. I think it would be exactly the kind of image you like to create. Please note that I am not suggesting a "Steampunk" image. Please look at the included link.



Great Work as Always!

bruceam

Ah! Another of the "is this an abstract or is this some fantastic structure?" pieces that you do so well. You always seem to add some detail or lighting or color to the WIP that will give it some "zing." I'll keep watching!

It looks gorgeous! I can't wait for it to be my new wallpaper!!

Simply beautiful.

Very interesting piece. Looking forward to the finished version!

Beautifu night scene! I too am quite curious as to what is behind the clouds. Lots of visual interest to arouse one's curiosity. Nicely done!

This new wallpaper is nice. a strange spacial anomaly behind the clouds might make this totally cool, though.

A little bit dark for me. I know It is a night scene, but I think some more light could be best. Great work so far!

Looks amazing!

actually, i think the green looks "fresh".

Not a fan of the green.... It is just to much for myself. It becomes to much of the focal point. The subject is great though..

...WOW.



Definitely keep the green-to-yellow-to brown transition for the rings; it's different and a large part of what makes the piece so striking.





*retrieves dropped jawbone*

How would a version of "Roche Limit" look viewed from the planet being orbited? Would that even be possible? Current work (rings viewed planetside) looks very, very promising. Hope to see it finished soon.

I really like seeing the rings from the planet they are in orbit around. I anticipate that this will be my next desktop choice.

I like it, it looks nice. (needs a little purple in there, but green is a great color too!)

Super cool and evocative.

This is sensational! Keep up the good work!

I can't wait to see this for multi screens and maybe pick jar.

Awesome!

PLEASE keep working on this until you have something for the gallery. I'm guessing this relates to the Thetis works which are among my all time fovorites. Like the green!

great!

This is a lovely rendition of a snowflake - will have to save it for summer when it's hot and I'm nostalgic for snow. Right now there are a bazillion of these bad boys in my yard already...

I love this reminds me of staring into my coal forge lol

Has a hard, grimey edge to it, yet generates warmth at the same time. Like steel shavings with a purpose.

but I'd like to go with you.

I'm wondering something. Is the glow from the pieces being super heated? If they are, do you think maybe some sparks here and there might be an interesting touch? Don't get me wrong. It's beautiful as it is! It was just a thought.

This is very cool. some of your abstracts are just awesome.

Very cool..! Lets the mind wander a bit trying to interpret the scene...

Very nice!

Big bada boom! lelu.... 5th element.

Very,very,very cool Ryan! Very cool!

To me it is the cellular-level hybrid memory-process

center. Lots of interfacing and connecting going on. I like it!

Well, hey, it's different, I'll give ya that...it looks a bit like the end of an old TV tube that got broken off and has some of the wiring exposed...except for the eight balls of, well, whatever they're made of. Then, as you go further up the...steppes, I guess, there are tubes, then there are perhaps - candles. All in all, it's a far-out amalgamation of mystification. But I like it!!

Whatever happened to the remake of "Cloud Canyon" that many of us liked so much?? Not abandoned, I hope....

cool! :)

I'm listening to something i found on YouTube, bit of Techno Funky Middle Eastern music, Kaminanda - Gateways Of Consciousness.

And here i find this awesome graphic to go with it. Perfect.

Ty for the post.

Great update -- love the new details in V2. Another vote for a blue version in the pickle jar.

I really like the extra particles. I think it's going to make the difference of whether I use it or not.

I like where this is going! Other people are right that there's something off about the way the pillars in the middle look. It's almost like they're a separate picture overlayed on top of the main one. The clouds and light are doing something odd there.



If this one works out, I'm going to have to buy another poster! At this rate, I'm going to run out of wall space!

I like where this is going! Other people are right that there's something off about the way the pillars in the middle look. It's almost like they're a separate picture overlayed on top of the main one. The clouds and light are doing something odd there.



If this one works out, I'm going to have to buy another poster! At this rate, I'm going to run out of wall space!

I like where this is going! Other people are right that there's something off about the way the pillars in the middle look. It's almost like they're a separate picture overlayed on top of the main one. The clouds and light are doing something odd there.



If this one works out, I'm going to have to buy another poster! At this rate, I'm going to run out of wall space!

I like where this is going! Other people are right that there's something off about the way the pillars in the middle look. It's almost like they're a separate picture overlayed on top of the main one. The clouds and light are doing something odd there.



If this one works out, I'm going to have to buy another poster! At this rate, I'm going to run out of wall space!

I like where this is going! Other people are right that there's something off about the way the pillars in the middle look. It's almost like they're a separate picture overlayed on top of the main one. The clouds and light are doing something odd there.



If this one works out, I'm going to have to buy another poster! At this rate, I'm going to run out of wall space!

Takes my breath away. Thank you.

Love it.

Wow, amazing! Interesting time-of-day to do for this one, I like it.

One thing - the rock columns in the center do look somewhat flat (2D) compared to the rest of the image. Maybe add a little more shadow contrast there to bring out their 3D-ness?

Doesn't quite feel coherent yet. It feels like a composite image taken from several sources rather than a single scene. For example, the jagged rocks coming up from the canyon feel like they have a different perspective to everything else, probably the way the striations run.



Going to be stunning when it finished, though!

I really like the idea behind this one, and the landscape is gorgeous! I feel a bit like the beautiful scenery is partly hidden by the fact that most of the picture is hidden in shadow. I think I would like it better if some of the cliff faces on the left were illuminated a bit along with some sharp shadows. In general, I really like the setup of this picture and how it is not only breathtaking but also very contrasting.

Upon first sight, this took my breath away! It gives me a sense of calm. Thank you, Ryan.

I like it, but it almost feels like it is missing something. Maybe a night render where there is some kind of lights or luminescence to the cliffs? The lighting looks incredibly realistic so I really do like that part, and the touch of snow on that one spire is pretty neat.

It feels rushed... It doesn't feel like it's being made with an additional 7 years of experience and technology from the first Cloud Canyon. Sorry for being a wet blanket

:(

Ah yes, this is sooo nice. Love that landscape- especially under low sun lighting conditions. Mist is wonderful touch. Wish I were there....

Amazing, Ryan!

I'm sure you are making small tweaks to this to get it just right... but I like what I'm seeing. I think this would look great on my phone, as well as my desktop.

Got this on multiscreen already - sorry Ryan, I couldn't wait :)

http://1drv.ms/1u0YDwb

HAVE to happen. This could be awesome in every color... but give us a pickle jar to choose from! Eventually. I know its WIP now.

but it looks good

This is one of the best abstracts you've done!

Yeah, see, cuz it appears as if it's coming right at you, writhing in all of its separated-purple barbelled tentacles to wrap them around your face; it knows you can't scream - you're either 27,788 feet deep into the Pacific, or 274 miles above the Earth - you can't remember which - then it has you, yet another victim of its anfractuous beauty of at least an 8.8 magnitude.

Oooo I can't wait to see the finished product! It will look great on my desktop! :D

Your abstracts are always so interesting

This render is very busy and reminds me of the squidies in the Matrix movies. But still to busy for me

This render is very busy and reminds me of the Geno-Q's in the Matrix movies. But still to busy for me

Like both actually. This version is like looking at it in late afternoon sun and first version is like a hazy day. For me, both versions are great!

I love this one!

leave the light and sky in it....please!!!!

Ryan,

I like the first version better. I'm wondering if you could take version 1 (including its textures), modify lighting-only to bring out the right-side better, keep the rock changes in the lake... and that's it. Keeping the rocks in shadow keeps it awesome.

I didn't think it could get better, but WOW, it actually DID.

I really like this new version but I think the original looks better. Original was more subtle with the rock face.

Right side 100% better. Love it.

I actually do like both. Maybe pickle jar one or the other?

Your v.2 version does look great, but I still prefer the first version. I think the less-saturated colors look a lot better.

I like this version better. The warmth in the rock is nicer. Reminds me of the Monument Valley and Moab areas. Nabbed the previous version for my desktop, will nab this one when it comes to fruition instead.

This looks like Southern Utah (MOAB area) except on a grander scale! Absolutely beautiful sandstone looking rock features! Totally Awesome!!!

Everything looks great, the stone, the water, the foliage. Can't wait for the final product. Reminds me of when I was in the Grand Canyon.

Absolutely beautiful. I was just in Sedona, AZ a week ago. This reminds me of that.

This one took my breath away when I first saw it...the brightness of the rock formations reflecting the sun, and then some of them resembling stalactites in a cave with that edged light...wow! The blue of the sky above is perfect! I can just see Lightning McQueen and Sally doing about 70 MPH on a road behind the trees...Yessir, this one's your best yet...a 10 for sure, sir, You are God's Best! (Eph. 2:10) Thank you.

This one took my breath away when I first saw it...the brightness of the rock formations reflecting the sun, and then some of them resembling stalactites in a cave with that edged light...wow! The blue of the sky above is perfect! I can just see Lightning McQueen and Sally doing about 70 MPH on a road behind the trees...Yessir, this one's your best yet...a 10 for sure, sir, You are God's Best! (Eph. 2:10) Thank you.

Well you don't need to do anymore progress because it is beautiful.

Really feel I'm sitting in the cool shade enjoying the afternoon sun playing into the canyon.

This is so beautiful and looks so peaceful, I wish I were floating down that river, admiring the view!

31 Oct: I like this so far! Can't wait to see what you're going to do with the sky (right now it looks a little too flat and green to be a desert sky), but I will.



I see, or think I see, some interesting things going on with the rock wall, from left to right: The left 'panel' almost looks like a carving of a dense growth of organ-pipe cactus...and in left-center, right above the horizontally-stacked rocks, I'm sure I see a wolf's head in the stone, facing right. Might just be my imagination, but if those were intentional, your genius blows me away yet again.



The trees are spot-on; there were trees like that growing in Glen Canyon before it was drowned by the power project that made Lake Powell.

Looking back of the years that I have seen your stuff here and there. I'm proud to be a lifetime member! This is looking like one of your most realistic artworks.

Looking back of the years that I have seen your stuff here and there. I'm proud to be a lifetime member! This is looking like one of your most realistic artworks.

This is likely going to be one of my favorites when finished. Absolutely love this nature scene!

Valley of Fire - Southern NV near Las Vegas. Dead ringer in spring time

My sciency brain says this combination of erosion patterns can't happen, but it looks so gorgeous I don't care. Have you thought of putting a silhouette of a creature/person on the rim? There is a contrasting area there that looks a little empty. Or streaky cloud?

Very nice - I love how this looks... Big fan of the water and rocks.

Love it!!! Can't wait for final render

This is gorgeous! The contrast between the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the water in the shadows somehow brings a sense of calm. Maybe it's the ripples in the water...

This is going to be one of my all-time favorites!

Love this one! Not that I don't love all your other ones, but this one is so different from what you've done before. BTW JMK in CT, this is similar to the Grand Canyon and there would be evergreens there. It's high desert-up to 8000 ft elevation at the rim and 2600 ft at the bottom of the canyon...so if definitely could support evergreens.

WOW! This looks to be a new favourite once it is finished! Can't wait to see the multi of it.

the preview/detail/teaser on FB looked like another autumn pic....this is a very pleasant surprise!!!

I like this very much. The lighting and shade really does this canyon justice.

This is a winner. Love the composition and the colors. Im not sure you would ever see evergreens in that spot on a river like this but the splash of color really works.

Wow. Gorgeous!

oh yeah... 10/10

But I don't think it'll lend itself to a triplehead version (which is what I like). So it'll just have to go on my laptop. :-)

Love the composition - excellent lighting that puts the goose bumps right where they need to be. This really breaks that fourth wall and draws me straight in (even if I don't want to go!)

I love it. Looking forward to different versions. Keep up the fantastic work. This is why I have a lifetime membership.

As an "Iowa Citian" I love it! Might have to go visit the old Black Angel sometime before Halloween. It's as popular a place as ever for people to go get "creeped out."

Best halloween paper EVER!

Gyah! Damned weeping angels! Seriously though, this is fantastically creepy.

yep, now my background image

maybe a pickle jar night version with a harvest moon or something... or ghosts (transparent floating type, almost to faint to see)..

this will be up on all my devices once it is good to go

Yep, this will be going on my PC ASAP.

Looks like a cemetery to me. Looks like something that will be going on my monitor soon, too!

Oh boy, a new Halloween scene! Can't wait.

As a Doctor Who fan, my first reaction was that this was a Weeping Angel. I'd love to see a more sinister/evil looking pickle jar version that makes the statue more 'Weeping Angel"-like: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Weeping_Angel

That was my first thought, too, Brian J. I happen to be rereading the book and am in the graveyard (Voldemort revival) scene even as we type.

And then to see this? Yeah, two kinds of spooky -- going right to my Desktop, too!

Reminds me a lot of the grave site of Tom Riddle Sr., as seen in The Goblet of Fire.

One of your best, very cool, thank you!

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm vaguely reminded of a Weeping Angel from "Doctor Who." One of the scariest monsters ever created for DW, until (like Trek did with the Borg) they got watered down from "tweaking" and overuse.

Looking good! In the shadow, you have a break in of color, could that be a surface headstone... just a thought



Awesome shading, and light cast

This is going to be yet another awesome Wallpaper!!

(Halloween 2014) - this looks very cool, it is very spooky I am really looking forward to it!

Love the WIP, can't wait to see the finished product!

I, too, really like the new WIP, albeit with perhaps less water. It's just an odd composition with so much of it being the very dark/cool water.

It just doesn't go well together, the colors. Otherwise it's beautiful.

When I first saw this image from one of your tweets, my first thought was "Nice photo! I should visit the local Japanese garden.". Then get today's e-mail mentioning this was done w/ Lightwave3D's instancing! Wicked! Great work!



Inspirational as always!

It reminds me of the Zen garden I went to in Japan. This will look fantastic across two screens.

Captivating... projects a strong sense of peace and order... meditative...

I love the texture. I hope you do a 3x 30" 2560x1200 verssion

I really love this because it has a Japanese theme to it. I'm a big fan of most things Japanese. You do great work.

Excellent, always enjoy your work.

Love this one already; all the remakes you've done this year have been fantastic!

I like it, I just wonder what a colour temperature adjustment so that it's warmer with yellows instead of the cold blue would look like

that's supposed to be "receive"....

that's supposed to be "receive"....

thank you....

Nice Ryan. I think this might need something in the dark area between the light and outer cloud border to provide perspective a little bit. Maybe a lens flare? Right now after you look at it for a few moments the background becomes the foreground.

The falling snow looks good! Well done. It would be interesting to see that in something like your Snowy Creek wallpaper, or in a winter version of your Highland series.

So sorry to hear about your freeze. Computers are wonderful tools, but they are one of the top hair-tearing, curse-provoking technologies yet invented. :/

Can't wait to see the finished product. Lifetime New Englander... Love the snowy life. Impressed with the atmosphere this scene invokes. Excellent job indeed!

Anyone who's read "Songs of Ice and Fire" might see this place somewhere far North of The Wall.

Every bit of this one is marvelous. My favorite by far that you've done.

I love this. The detail on the trees is very cool. I agree with previous comment about adding something to the foreground. If you want to go for a Halloween or otherwise eerie theme, maybe have some shadow-like figures just visible around the trees.

I'm really hoping this is the concept for a Christmas wallpaper. Maybe an update to "December" (one of my favorites from the early years - 2000)?

the foreground is a bit empty, perhaps the dunes that you get when wind blows snow to give it some detail?



Also itd be cool to see a tiny animal hidden there somewhere in amongst the branches

My first thought was NOOOOO it's too early for winter wall paper! I want some fall first!!!!!!! :D

Wow, that's one of my favorite NG photos. Can't wait until this one is up!

The atmosphere, trees & blizzard look great, but the ground... needs more

is it supposed to be ice? needs more reflection

is it supposed to be water? needs more... breaks in the water.

Still I'm looking forward to where this is going :D

Did you get the inspiration for this one from this photo, by any chance? http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/blue-pond-japan/

I like it, but it's missing something. It's too soon to be winter and still too soon to be fall. Maybe it can be some kind of spook theme for Halloween?

I love the landscapes, especially when you do the variations for all seasons. I like how the snow isn't a light fluffy snow, and it's not a "pretty" winter scene, if you will. The snow looks cold, like a freezing rain. I think that reflects the stark, cold feeling I get viewing the sharpness of the winter trees. I agree with a previous member that something more might be good at the bottom, but I don't have any suggestions for that. Great work, as always, Ryan. :)

I think you need something more going on near the bottom because as it stands, that part is essentially blank, I'm thinking some sort or rock or dead tree, or pathway

Nice one! Was hoping for a new fall render before we moved on to winter, but I guess there's still plenty of time.

Wish my "Work in Progress" look this good! Now what it could use is a snowy owl fly by! lol so far so good.

wow....but I'm SOOOO not ready!!!!

That "lump" on the left side looks a lot like a skull... how about a dark'n'deadly version?

I love it. This work conjures the imagination. Very well done. I'd like to suggest a title of "Forest's Reclaim" or "Lost Temple" or "Forgotten Sanctum".

I like the foliage myself - a good distribution of flowers here. I like the clearing in the dense forest.

I never have liked a lot of foliage.



Linda Hall aka jakrinda

I kind of like the round object, it kind of gives the scene a partial otherworldly look, almost like someone or something left a bit of technology behind.

...is it pitted/frosted glass or something similar? The light seems to pass through it the way it might through window quartz; my brain's telling me the reason for the odd lighting might be that the object is translucent...



(Unrelated: Add me as another vote for the leopard.) :-)

The stairs are a big improvement; seems to blend with the rest of the scene better than the pond did. However, now that a member has mentioned the large vine-covered boulder/statue(?) to the right, I can't NOT see it, and it does look odd. More definition to the underlying object, if possible, or more vines would help. Or replace it with foliage and the ever-popular missing leopard. :)

But you know, NOW the big vine-covered rock in the bottom-right quadrant is bothering me, even though it hasn't changed and I didn't notice it much before, heh. Put the leopard thee instead! ;)

I do really wish you hadn't taken down the 2013 version from the main gallery though. It totally deserves to be there (and on Zazzle, etc). This one here should be a new, separate piece, with a new name.

Is it my mind playing tricks on me or are the plants on the left bank the same as other render from before?



Itd be cool if the foliage was less dense and lower, with lillypads on the left?



Just an idea, great work! Love the pictures with a story to tell.

Very yes.

Is this the place where the Forgotten Path leads?

I love the mood this series sets. Good job!

Have you come up with a title for this one yet? Perhaps something like "Forgotten Temple" or "Ancient Baptism"....I think it will be groovy in the mid morning like you have it and perhaps a dusk with the purpled hues?

I love where this is going, Ryan!! I'd love to see more of a wall or something from the ruins, maybe in the light spot behind the tree on the upper left. This is gonna rock!! <3