Gondolin

Member : Thax

Image description
Glofindel of the Golden Hair ran up the slope, tears brimming in his eyes. Gondolin... His companions were right with him, and they shared his sorrow. The greatest city of the Elven nation at that time, and now... Gondolin... Tuor and Idriel were waiting for Glorfindel at the top of the slope, and after a tearful embrace, continued on up the mountain. Glorfindel paused though. Gondolin... The hidden city. The house of King Turgon. The gathering place of the enemies of Morgoth, and his home. His city. Gondolin... They had been betrayed. One of their own had gone to the enemy out of revenge. And Morgoth, curse him, who had been looking for his chance, found it at that moment. He had spared nothing. No soldier, Balrog, dragon, or other creature in his service had been overlooked, for to him, Gondolin was the only thing that stood between him and total domination. And now? The smoke rose high over the city, and he looked for the last time at the white city. Glorfindel turned away, tears running down his face again. Gondolin...

Description of how this image was created
The Lost City. What an interesting subject. When I first saw it, I thought (who didn't!) of Atlantis, or something along those lines. Pompeii would be a great lost city, and I played with ideas such as these. I've said before, though, I am a complete and total Tolkien fan, so I started looking into his books for some inspiration. I thought about Minas Tirith, or the Fall of Minas Ithill, known as Minas Morgul. Meanwhile, I started constructing a basic Gondorian style town. I added walls, towers, and a grand hall in the center. At this point, the city was just one level. I was still thinking, though, of cities that were sacked or destroyed, and I eventually decided on Gondolin. Now I had a idea for an huge army scene, with trolls, catapults, dragons, Balrogs, Morgoth literally throwing everything he had at Gondolin. This was turning out well, except it seemed kind of distant. There was nothing to grasp, just a big army scene. Going back to the Silmarillion, I decided to add a couple elves in. Now I know a few of you will remember my elf in my contrast scene, The Challenge (note: That scene was entered under the name Ethan). It stunk. Bad. I definitely didn't want a couple elves looking like that. So I went back to the "Art of" books for the LOTR movies, where I found the second age Noldor Warrior costume from the prologue to the Fellowship of the Ring. I modeled an elven outfit and had a ton of fun rigging it. Textures were difficult, but an endless series of adjustments, and I started to be happy. MakeHuman for head and hand meshes, and I added three elves onto the hill. By now, my city had grown to a full, three level model with hundreds of buildings, an aqueduct, two gates, a road going out of the city, and more. With mountains surrounding it, all it needed was smoke. Now, smoke is touchy in Blender, and I find myself wishing for the POV-Ray volumetric system every time I do something like this. I managed to manage, though, and although I'm still not quite happy with it, I think it turned out better than it could have. Dragons were added in the sky from a project I'm working on. That pretty much summed up the background, so I turned my attention back to the hill. The elf on the top of the hill was supposed to be Glorfindel, a leader who killed a Balrog just a little later in the book. I gave him a red/burgundy cloak to distinguish him, and took off his helmet. I threw orc blood on all their armor to make them look like they were through a battle, and I tore the armor of the elf to the left. I was happy with how the characters looked, so I added a flag, a spear, and a couple swords as props. The grass is simple Blender particles, and the rocks are simple textures UVed on a simple mesh. All Post-Processing (except my name, of course!) was done in Blender's composite system, which I am still trying to figure out. If I get the chance, I will post a detailed "Making of" article in the blog, not because anyone will read it, but because I'll have fun doing it :) Thanks to my family and friends whose opinions on how this image looked, and how it should look, helped me much. Thanks to the support on the BlenderArtists website, from which I took a few ideas, and from which I have learned much. And finally, thanks to the Blender Foundation, for creating one of the best 3D applications out there, and then making it free for anyone. (GO BLENDER 2.5!) Thanks, Thax

General statistics
No of ratings	:	13
Min. overall rating	:	24 (8 / 8 / 8)
Max. overall rating	:	57 (19 / 19 / 19)
Sum of rating	:	499 / 780
Date uploaded	:	2009-04-11 22:38:37

Specific details Note: The maximum value below is misleading as the voting system has changed. If the member votes for all the entries and has created one him/herself, there is an automatic 20/20/20 score added to the value (This encourages all members who enter to vote).
Rating type	:	Min : Max : Sum : Out of
Artistic	:	8 : 19 : 162 : 260
Concept	:	8 : 19 : 161 : 260
Technical	:	8 : 19 : 176 : 260
Overall	:	24 : 57 : 499 : 780

Comments by members when rating this image

1.   29-04-2009 How many names do you have? :-) Honestly? You are keeping improving. I can't wait to see your 4th one. 2.   27-04-2009 Forground grass is very nice. The flesh of the characters is too plastic/specular. The midground area doesn't seem to sit far anough back with regard to atmospheric attenuation (especially with all of that smoke) which throws off the sense of scale. Also, I think the smoke is a bit too uniform in its turbulence. 3.   25-04-2009 Nice job. Gives me a good sense of moodiness. Well done. 4.   18-04-2009 Don't see the orc blood; city walls looks a bit sterile; good fire, but the whole scene lacks depth; backs and legs seem to have been posed by too fuzzy bending. Good modelling though.