Description
I mentioned last time that I’ve been diving deep into learning how to use Gaea with Vue. “Snowtop“, “Waypoint“, and “Chione” have all featured Gaea landscapes and this time I thought it would be interesting to do a desert scene.
With this one I explored a lot of the different erosion modes in Gaea and how they interact. I have a lot more to learn but I thought this scene turned out nicely. Hope you enjoy it!
Carved By Time: carvedbytime2
Carved By Time: carvedbytime21920
Zach [lifer]
Wow, it would be great to have a multi-screen render for the Pickle Jar version!
Michelle [lifer]
This is so reminiscent of the areas of the desert I’ve seen (well, areas that actually have water) this particular scene brings me back to my hiking and exploration of the Utah/AZ border area. Where lots of canyons have water. Took me a minute, at first I thought it was a stream, but the more I looked at the render the more I realized the scene was more vast. and that the water is actually a very large slow-moving river. Colors and scene is amazing. I love your surrealistic work the best. Thanks for all your efforts!
Ben [liferplus]
This is awesome. Can we get this in multi-screen?
D. C. Sessions [lifer]
I like it, Ryan, but as a desert native the edges of the streams are too uniform. The deep channels like you have on the hills are characteristic of … hills: surfaces well above high-water line. In those cases, rain (or snowmelt) is on a steep surface and heads nearly straight down like you have them, wearing roughly parallel channels deeper and deeper.
Not so on the ones in flat country. There, the flow lines are parallel to the channel but at right angles to gravity, so any smaller channels coming from the banks get scrubbed off or undercut with each heavy rain, producing banksat roughly the angle of repose. In areas like the valley around Phoenix, with windborne alluvial soils that have fine clay structure they can be nearly vertical; in places like the Rio Grande Valley with a lot of water-borne alluvia they’re sandy and won’t sustain a steep slope.
The two mix a lot, too — I’m in the Rio Grande region but live next to what was a small arroyo until maybe 150 years ago and there are layers of fine clay alternating and mixed in with sandy soil. Makes gardening interesting to say the least.
As for the flatter areas like most of this scene, in light rains they just soak up the rainfall with no runoff. Moderate rains saturate the soil and they turn into giant puddles of muck that settles into relatively level plains. Heavy rains — which can be several inches in a short time — cause the puddles to overflow creating those steep-sided channels. The result is a network of arroyos draining big puddles but with the deeper and larger streams having relatively little input from the plains near them thanks to the grasses that bind the surface soil except in large rainstorms.
None of which matters — art is art, and fussy realism is not something to expect of an artist who does both occult and imaginary worlds. However, on the chance that you might want to do desert realism I’ve been a desert rat for nearly seventy years. It took me a while to analyze why this doesn’t look “desert” to me and you can take it for what it’s worth.
Brian [liferplus]
I like both, but the darker version shows so much more detail on the outcropping.
Littlemom [liferplus]
Love this one even better!!!
Mark [liferplus]
I like the brighter version but I like the darker version more.
Mark [liferplus]
I like the brighter version but I like the darker version more.
Bill [lifer]
This is an incredible piece. You are definitely the best at what you do.
Alexander [basicmember]
Ryan, I am so glad I decided to become a DB member, after waiting so many years. Every time a gallery update email comes in, I immediately go check it out and download it. your recent work has absolutely incredible, keep up the awesome work!!
JDD [lifer]
I needed something new and this came along at just the right time. It somehow calms me down. Very nice
Littlemom [liferplus]
Gorgeous!!! That’s all I need to say.
Paul [donormember]
Simply jaw dropping. I live in country like this and I’m impressed.
Tom [nonmonthly]
Great work Ryan. Has a little bit of everything.