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NadnerbD β Candlelight
Published: 2015-10-11 05:50:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 18209; Favourites: 1363; Downloads: 1066
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Description
I'm sure I had feelings about this when I started it.I took a bit of process inspiration from AssasinMonkey again. I asked him what kind of brushing style he used. Apparently it's fixed-size with pressure mapped to opacity. It's an interesting way to do things. I don't know if it really fits me, but it certainly makes it easier to do new change layers, since it doesn't require me to touch the source image to blend like the water brush does.
At least I got something out this month. Back to art I'm supposed to be doing.
WIP Shots
Coronet the Lesser wrote a story called Letters , for which they used this piece as a cover image. It's quite fitting, so I thought I'd link it here.
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Comments: 80
wow this is very well done, i love how the art has an almost 3d effect to it, i mean it feels like it pops off the screen!
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It is my firm belief that the beauty of the universe is infinite, and this another piece of evidence for that.
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My god, these faces are so incredibly evocative
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This was actually one of those pieces where I was disappointed in the color depth/variety, ostensibly as a result of it being done primarily in grayscale and colorized with overlays. I did actually go on to repaint Luna's face in color because it absolutely didn't work in it's original form, but the rest of the piece is pretty much straight colorized values. Looking back on it though, the value contrast in Celestia's face and head is really strong, and I'm kind of envious of my past self's patience with this technique.
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The colors are a bit bleak, but the value is spot on. And the expressions of the faces totally grabbed me.
> envious of my past self's patience
I get that increasingly often :/
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Wow... how wonderful, yet sad piece of art...! The textures and effects are very impressive, too! 
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Is she sad because she doesn't get letters anymore? Β
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Not only is it a gorgeous mood-inspired piece, but there's and intriguing story woven into the picture. (Neat that someone could make a story about it or at least use it as a close match.) Excellent work on their bodies and poses, and with the shading and lighting you gave them fantastic depth and really highlighted their moods quite beautifully. I can only guess that there's something in this letter from Twilight Sparkle that's tugging at the Princess of the Sun's heartstrings. The tears in her eyes are just heartbreaking. Meanwhile Princess Luna is adorable as she tries to cheer up her sister. She looks so upbeat (and I want to stay positive tonight 
Β
Anyway, it's fantastically beautiful and inspiring. Thanks for sharing.π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I love seeing in-depth comments like this, but I'm not really sure what to say other than thanks.
It did turn out that the story I linked was inspired by the picture, so that was neat too.
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They both look younger in this one. It makes me wonder what the story behind this is, and if it is from a very long time ago.
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Well, that's interesting. It wasn't my intention to make them look younger, though I did use Luna's non-nebulous hair. (Though to be fair, I also flattened Celestia's hair) I do kinda like the idea that their mane power is tied to their mood somehow, kinda like Pinkie's, only more obviously magical to the casual observer.
Anyway, It's good to see you back, and posting to your story no less. Β
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Aaaaaaaw, this is so cute. And the shading, hnnng.
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Oh wow! This artwork is so amazing! Celestia's feelings... they are depicted so well here. Awesome work!!
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Hey sis. What are doing?
I was looking for an old outfit of mine, and I happen to stumble upon these old things.
Is that why you're crying?
Yep. I remember those days, getting one of these every Tuesday. It was one of the few things I looked forward to in the week. I got to read what exciting thing she learned, what new discoveries she uncovered and how she grew as a pony.
But look at her now, a princess with her own castle.
I know, and I am very proud of her. I just can't help but remember those simpler times and be reminded of how happy they made me. With them gone, it just feels like something is missing, and rereading them again has reminded me of that.
Well, I'm here, and you're not alone.
*Celestia turns to her sister and hugs her tightly.
(whispers) thank you.
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All I can imagine with this is Celestia looking through old letters Twilight sent her, feeling sad and a little lonely that Twilight doesn't send them anymore, and Luna trying to cheer her up.Β
I really like this a lot.Β
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Yeah this is really nice. What everyone else has said. I was hoping to find a story for it in the description, but c'est la vie.
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Most underrated princess needs more love.
Amazing work Nadnerb!
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D'AWWWW! Somepony desperately needs a hug, stat!
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I totally agree with the AssasinMonkey inspiration thing, and it looks like it has paid off!
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Looks like somepony needs a date. We can get Big Mac or alt verse Sombra on the case.Β
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Being able to make out "Dear Princess Celestia" and "Sparkle" makes me wish I could read her letters...Β unfortunately, the squee would likely be lethal.
Awesome work!
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Hah! I wondered if anyone would actually try to read the letter. I'm surprised you could make out "Sparkle" through my really shitty cursive.
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The 'S' and the tall 'k' and 'l' gave it awayΒ Β
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wow the rendering on this pic looks so good
So jelly
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very nice! I love this scene, and the little details are great!
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Ooh, I really like this! I think my favorite works by you are the ones that look most three-dimensional, and there's some great depth of field here. As much as I like the ponies, the papers in the bottom left corner may be my favorite part of this composition. Celestia, too, has a lot of depth to her with the way the shadows bend and overlap. I love everything about her head here, too. Luna is quite as visually interesting, but I do love the expression on her face. I think the only part I'm not a big fan of is the candle itself. It's nice to know what the light source is for all the other shadows, but because the illusion of depth is getting created almost entirely by those shadows, I think, the candle ends up looking very flat because it can't really take those deep shadows. Still, that's a pretty minor point in an otherwise absolutely wonderful composition.
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That's funny, the papers were actually my favorite bit too. They were the last element to be added, and after I added the color I was like "damn, those look really... papery"
It's interesting you bring up the candle though, since I liked having an opportunity to do the translucency thing with the wax. Candles sorta glow from the inside since the light from the flame diffuses into the stick.
I spent a billion years on Celestia's face, but what else is new. It's been nice seeing people's reaction to Luna's role though.
I really don't use enough clear depth separation in my compositions, because they tend to be solely focused on a single subject. Sort of pony still-lifes. I could do with some more scenic scenes. I feel like I used to make much cooler compositions, but sorta dropped that over time and just let over-polishing fewer, simpler things take over. Without any clear foreground midground or background, things feel flat even if the objects themselves have a lot of dimension.
Things to remember for next time I'm sketchin'.
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I see what you mean about the candle, especially now that I stare at it a little closerβI'd been giving the whole scene a more holistic look before. I do still think it looks a little flat in an otherwise three-dimensional scene, but the glowing wax effect is nice.
This is very speculative, but I think it might look a little more three dimensional if you darkened the wax-glowy bit on the edges. Just thinking about a candle, if the light diffuses into the stick, I'm going to guess it's going to be easy to see that straight-on where the outer, harder wax (i.e. the stuff a little further from the flame) is a thin coat over the inner, softer stuff. Seen from a particular point in space, though, assuming a round candlestick, the edges of what you see should be hard wax backed by hard wax, and thus maybe a little less glowy? Like I said, very speculative, but I find it hard to figure out why a candle looks three dimensional to me in real life and this doesn't (other than "because there's additional lighting"). This is one idea that seems like it might make sense, at least in my head.
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So, speculation about how things might look is exactly how you get into silly situations where you spend more than a reasonable amount of effort on a simple picture element. I Googled "candle" and found some reference images that are strikingly similar to what I was going for. My colors and flame shape were pretty far off, but I think I pretty much had the look of the stick itself down.
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Eeyup, looks like my idea was pretty much straight-up wrong. I notice that photos of candles also look pretty two-dimensional. So Imma just gonna let you do your awesome thing and pretend I don't have stupid ideas like this! (~_^)
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Sadlestia makes me sad, at the very least she doesn't get as much guff as she used to though.
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I do spend quite a bit of time trying to show her in a good light. (heh) If only she was around more often. I'd attribute the less guff to her just not being in the general consciousness enough to attract that sort of attention.
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I am a souless Tia fan, and I do praise the sun, I get sadder each season as she continually doesn't get an episode XD
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Poor Celestia. Nopony writes her letters anymore. Even Twilight is getting letters from Sunset now.
I love Luna's pose and expression of apprehensive encouragement.
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apprehensive encouragement.
Those are some good adjectives. I wasn't really sure how to describe that face, but that works.Β
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Luna: Sister? What is it? You look so sad...
Celestia: It's... nothing. Really, Luna.
L: You are such bad liar.
C: I... *sigh* I feel like being forgotten... by her...
L: Tia... Twilight has not forgotten you. She is a princess now! The one of friendship. She probably doesn't feel the need to write about her lessons anymore.
C: I know... but... I enjoyed everyone of her letter... I miss that... so much...
L: Oh. Sister... B-but I have a feeling that she'll send us a new one pretty soon. You'll see.
C: *snort* What makes you think that?
L: I... I don't know... A presentment I presume?
C: I hope so...
L: I hope too...
Amazing work.
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