beautyful background. I used MiniLyrics to scroll (fade) orange song lyrics from out of the ocean into the cloudy sunset :)

I absolutely love this. Fabulous play of light!

I love a good sunset. Nice one!

I like this image, even if alien landscapes is not my favourite genre. I'd love to se a version of this image just with the sun or, better, at night with the moon.

Always liked your planetary scapes the best, and this is no exception. I finally have dual screens at home and work (now wondering about triple...) and just have to have to have to install this on them.

Didn't even notice the object's on the beech, could be a rock.

I like it as is

I get the chills just looking at this.



amazing work

Well, this would be just perfect, if only that little couple (?) would't be there... I'm just not a 'people-person', more like a 'landscape-only person' (there's just no satisfying us :D)... so I was kinda wondering whether you ever did a person-less version of this one (the one in the pickle jar doesn't count, as it is a different composition)...



Best greetings and keep it up! :)

This is a brilliant 'out of this world' picture with glorious colours. Thanks Ryan!

I agree. I don't think the two people (looks like a women and a boy) should be there. Also, the mountains in the background are awesome. I was wondering, what about removing the part of the range where sun set is? Just have ocean fill in there with the clouds stretching back to the horizon? All of this at the sunset point. Otherwise, Awesome picture Ryan. Thanks!

I have the multi-screen posted up at work, and everyone oohs and aahs over my screens. This is in my top 10 all time favorites. Great job!

I totally love this wallpaper! It is amazing, I love the reds, sunsets are my thing. Great work Ryan!

I actually enjoy the version with the person standing on the beach. In any case, beautiful colors, I really like it.

Ah, another in Ryan's ranks who prefers this work without the little person, oops, little dude, uh, no -- small dudette? ;) Other than that one small detail, this is a dazzlingly beautiful image, one of Ryan's best. It is, indeed, jaw dropping. Picklejar perchance, oh please?

*picks jaw up off the floor*

I just wish I could take the little dude out of it. I'd rather have less sense of scale with an unblemished shoreline. Or, find a way to establish scale without using a person or creature. Everything else is better than the first version though.

I just wish I could take the little dude out of it. I'd rather have less sense of scale with an unblemished shoreline. Or, find a way to establish scale without using a person or creature. Everything else is better than the first version though.

For Ryan's freedom to create his artwork, for our freedom to enjoy it -- for the freedom to express ourselves without oppression -- thank you to all who made it possible on this our Independence Day. Have a great Fourth, everyone!

I'm with you on the Maya Pickle Jar. That is seriously a diamond in the rough. You'll find many of these on the site. I think Ryan likes it that way ;)

I don't generally go for red wallpapers, but I really like this one. Very Good.

I don't generally go for red wallpapers, but I really like this one. Very Good.

I'm staring at this one a lot!

<3

Absolutely love it! Love the colors. Love everything about it!

WOW-I love this one great color and feel the depth-WOW

If you look at the triple screen (5040 x 1050)version there appears to be a Micky Mouse shaped cloud on the sunlit portion of the planet!



Big fan of planetary scenes and love this one.

Hi Frank, respectfully, what is your point? That "little people" isn't politically correct? The Little People of America Organization would disagree with you, I think. Anyway, I was referring to the small figures in the render, in case that wasn't clear. And did you really feel the need to send your comment three times to get your point across?

Hey Ryan,

It's not technically related to this thread, but I discovered something today. I have been a steady yearly member of yours for the past three years, and a follower for significantly longer. I went to access digitalblasphemy today to find an absolutely stunning render on the front page I had never seen before. I found it rather odd because I'm well aquainted with most all your work. It had no name, and the link did not work properly in sending you to the page. Eventually I was able to trace it as a picklejar version of your 2008 piece, Maya. I found myself really confused, like I had missed out on a secret. For how many beautiful pieces of art you have done day scenes for, the night ones are typically just as stunning if not more. It poses the question, why did you not make the night scene of Maya a formal wallpaper?

Ryan,i think your update is out of this world and in my opinion connects with the mother and son factor and hey jernanne don't call them '' Little People''. Get A Life!!

Ryan,i think your update is out of this world and in my opinion connects with the mother and son factor and hey jernanne don't call them '' Little People''. Get A Life!!

Ryan,i think your update is out of this world and in my opinion connects with the mother and son factor and hey jernanne don't call them '' Little People''. Get A Life!!

Hi Ryan, the multiscreen 5120 x 1440 has an error -- the lower half is oddly red. I rebooted to see if it was my computer, but apparently it's not. Thanks!

I'm not really sure what's up with a couple of the lighting effects. There are a couple that leave me wondering if they were intentional or rendering problems. The right hand person's right foot seems to be on fire or glowing (I missed this before today). Also, there are a number of orange spots in the sky that don't really seem to fit (coords: 910, 490; 6905, 470; 1970, 75; 1982,362; and 2095,425 are the most obvious). These artifacts aren't in the single screen version and kill this one, for me.

Thom, you are certainly not the only person who dislikes the little people. They are not needed IMHO and distract from what is otherwise a wonderful image. I do like the other changes, though. Perhaps Ryan will consider doing a Picklejar without the people for all us anti-people people.

First, I just want to say that this image is awesome! My only complaint is that the large planet in the sky is broken up between monitors in my dual monitor setup (3840 x 1080). It is little distracting and reduces the power of the image. Is there any way you could move that planet over to the left just a tad?

I enjoyed the first version, but your update is absolutely fantastic! As always, thank you for sharing your creativity with us!

Very peaceful - expectant. It reminds me of the ending to the movie Pirate's of the Caribbean: At World's End. Cool, Man, very cool!

I don't care what you add to this picture, more people, more landmass - whatever. That sun coming through the clouds alone is awe inspiring. The way the rays of light shine through, the glowing clouds. I won't judge one of your renders based on how well you made something look, but the mood it sets and the way it makes me feel. This one brings me to a very peaceful place.



Epic. You never cease to amaze.

Why did you have to add the people!? They ruin it IMO. Other than the people, the other improvements are fantastic. I feel the people aren't needed to get the sense of scale in this one. I don't know why I bother posting this though, because everyone else seems to like them, and it most likely wont change. :(



Looking forward to your next render.

Looks very good. :)



Never been much of a fan of having people in the images though.

I'm not looking at quite the same spot as JK, I figured what he's seeing are landforms. Here's what I'm looking at: http://cid-00af7db63bf5db65.office.live.com/self.aspx/DB/rendering.jpg

The part I'm curious about is circled.



In response to the image itself, I really like it; It reminds me of the best elements of Harbinger (2009) and Beginning of the End (2009) rolled into one, down to the purplish coloring of the sky on the left. Though I normally despise people in an image, I like the mostly silhouetted ones in this piece.

I still can't get myself to love this one. The planet doesn't stand out enough to really instill that "otherworld" emotion. The silhouette of the satellite at the horizon is too faint to matter. I just can't reconcile this image in my mind. Maybe it's just me...

Yeah, those look like a continuation of the buttes off to the left to me.

I love the additional landscape elements. However, I think I liked the sky coloring of the original better. All the orange & yellow seemed much more realistic. Overall, it's very beautiful.

Definitively looks out of this world. Are there really any render errors in there? I couldn't see any.

Hiya Ryan,

I've been amazed by your work for years, but this has completely blown me away. Never lose your inspiration.

Tez

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/5890/rendererror.jpg



Appears to be a rendering error?

Is it just me or does the tall person look like...Darth Vader?!

you can't see it in the copy above but the higher res ones on the sand there are specks of yellow...much brighter then the sand around them...it's either left over from the sun beam that was in the OP or the reflection of the sun on the sea that is crossed over to the sand. you can just make it out in the higher res but becomes very clear even if u just zoom in the tinyest bit :( still looks cool

Wow! This one's really cool :) I like the figure you added at the shoreline to give the viewer some idea of the scale of the scenery

looks so much better, but if i might suggest a couple of satellite moons to the saturn like planet, they're shadows cast on the planets surface would be very interesting

I love what you did with the shore line, although the guy there makes it feel less seclusive. Clouds... ummmm they dont seem as real, just something about them im not digging. I enjoyed the first render skyline a little better.

I like all that you changed and it's a winner

Love the updated version Ryan!

If you look below where the sun is rising, there appears to be a rendering error with the clouds that are on the horizon. There's an odd patch of them where there are only streaks of light across the rest of the area. Other than that, the entire thing looks spectacular!

I love the update, the new shoreline is very nice and I love the change in the clouds!

can't she see the planet that is about to fall on them?



can't wait for triple screen

can't wait til there's a triple screen version of this! Also, like the idea of doing this w/the sky in different hues.

It looks really great. Loved the sky -- which says a lot, because I am NOT a fan of huge planets being where they shouldn't. (Big science fan, here. *grin* Studied physics and chemistry.)



Maybe its the ocean...needs some sort of softening... like mists rolling in with the dawn/sunset?



Did I mention I loved the sky? It bears repeating. We live near the coast, and this picture brings back so many memories... I'd love to see it with a full moon rise. :D

Yeah I rekon a sailing ship, A big one with masts with lights on the deck.. Disppearing in to the distance.

this looks great, and the colors are really bold and inventive. I would say that the horizon needs some mist or clouds to fuzz the sharp edge of the ocean, and I second whoever said it needs to be brighter in that area also.



And whatever you do, don't add any palm trees!

i never comment, but this your best work ever!!!!!!

This looks wonderful just as it is. This reminds me of the seasonal works you've done, taking different colour variations on the same scene. It might be fun to do various renders of this wallpaper in that light.

Extrasolar made me think +1 sun. :)

Kill that post, just found it......sorry

most laptops have a screen size of 1280 x 800, why do you not do this size?

This is one of the few 16:10 walls I can't crop very well to fit my dual monitors until the real ones are done rendering.



Title says it all!

That's where I think this is... same moon, different place, beautiful art.

And yeah, I guess we have to start using initials, Dennis.

This wallpaper is so awesome that I'd like to see what you could do with some different times of day!

I love the colors and the use of perspective w/o having to use a small person/object in the forefront. To be honest, when you use a small person or animal, I feel it takes away from your art. You can tell the depth w/o having to place a object to help us visualize the spacing. Great work!

Kind of reminds me of what the Gulf of Mexico looked like before BP turned it into a gas station...Very nice though

Absolutely epic. These type of wallpapers just make my mind go wild. Keep these type of wallpapers coming! Amazing.

I really like the color and lighting. I'd suggest making the gas giant with the ring stand out more though. It disappears from some angles. Also, the angle at which the sunset light is coming from should be illuminating the gas giant very brightly. Gas giant planets reflect sunlight very strongly, at least in our solar system.

/\ /\

The sky looks wonderful, the red-orange color is great, the clouds look good.

Only the water should be less green in my opinion.

This looks pretty nice, even though it's a rough draft.

It somehow reminds of the movie "quiet earth".

Wonderful rough draft. I love the orange with purplish shadows! The thing that bugs me the most is that the sky looks like it's being sucked into a point, the setting sun. That is weird and off-putting marring the "realism". Maybe pull back a tiny bit and put some sort of ruins on the beach, left-ish? It's pretty nice as is though.

Wow, Ryan, if this is the rough draft I can't wait for the final version! I love this.

No triple screen wallpaper make me a sad panda :(

Without a doubt the most realistic scene ever on DB. I cannot find any flaw on my 30" widescreen and agree with others: keep the planet (as it is)! Otherwise it would look too much like an 'ordinary' sunset photo...



10*

I love the lighting in this. I'm a big fan of sunsets already, so to add planets in close orbit and the colors of refracted light makes this one of my favorites.

First off, I really, really like this one. The colors are great, and despite what others have said, I like the choppiness of the water.



The only odd thing is that the smaller clouds don't look like they're really in the scene. It looks like they're 2D, added after the fact. It's particularly jarring near the rings of the planet going towards the sun.

Dear Ryan,

Your rough drafts humble most people's "masterpieces"... Anyway, let's get on to the criticism! Really not much I would change except: Add a glow to the planet's circumference (bring it to life), better define the moon/satellite on the horizon, smooth the now grainy texture of the ocean, and just overall re-rendering. Can't wait to see what you do :)

I love it! I might brighten up the shadows on the beach a bit to bring out more of the surf, but I really like the simplicity and beauty of the image as it is.

I really love this; best water ever. It's on my desktop now, and I'll look forward to even more refinement. :)

This render is beautiful as a simple wallpaper. I love the planet and the cresent moon in sunset colors, very pretty. I can't wait to see the finished product. As always amazing work:)

Personally, just to put my two cents in, I like the planet. I have seen sunsets (and photos of, too) like this one but the planet makes it unusual. A cause for a double-take.



This is a work in progress but I'm hoping for more "movement" and/or depth in the waves too. Driftwood or something else on the beach, maybe, but I prefer no people... the only one I liked with a person in it was Reverie.



I like the color contrast between the water and sky.



Nice job so far! :o)

This is the best looking water I've ever seen -- it looks so real. I live near the shore of Lake Michigan and have seen so many sunsets over the lake where the water looks just like this (minus the planets in the sky) -- seeing this image flooded back all of those good memories. Thanks, Ryan, great image!

Ryan, you asked for feedback on what your members wanted, and I swear it's as if I personally commissioned this art from you! This one is great, can't wait to see the final version!

I'd place a campfire on the beach and have some kind of tribal type person looking out to sea. looking good so far though Ryan!

>>My suggestion is to give the planet more life.



Good idea. Animals (circumpolar), algae, kelps, there are many options.

...I think it seems too similar to previous works. You've got a lot of wallpapers showing an inhabited planetside view of it's moons/the gas giant it's orbiting. This really needs something to distinguish itself.



My suggestion is to give the planet more life. Maybe make up an ocean species and have a member of it breaking the surface. Industry could be a good coupling with the dark sunset, an oil derrick of sorts making a dark silhouette against the oncoming dusk. Something a bit different to what you've done so far.

Overall looks nice. But I'm not sure about the greenish tinge to the sea.

I love all the clouds you put in this one!

Well it certainly looks good so far. Course its kinda dead right now. Maybe add a boat/ship in the middleground?

Waves could use some more whitecaps especially near the shore. They look a bit too calm and uniform colour to me.



Love the image though. I don't think it needs anything added in the way of islands or ships, etc.

Ryan, I've got to agree, your "rough drafts" are still amazing. This is beautiful. I'm using it already.



One thing I notice, though, is the way the waves seem to be unimpeded at the shore, instead of breaking and receding.



Thanks for sharing this view into your creative process; it's always eye-opening to watch a master at work.

You sir, are a digital god.

Ryan this is Beautiful!

i dunno why you would want to add something else...



maybe change the color a bit?

is a simple perfect sunset..



and is fine as it is for me... amazing how far you have come mastering the art of 3D.. how awesome and perfected your works have become!

and i've been a fan of your work since 1999!



glad i am a DB member for life!



and if it wasn't for the planet...my mom would swear this is a natural picture of a sunset and not digital art!

I would say a tweak in the sand is in order for sure. Just me personally I probably would have put larger waves in the water to make the whole thing seem a bit more alive....however that's just personal opinion. I do love it though. Before I saw the whole thing up close I at first thought that this is something we would typically see around fall/winter. However it really looks beautiful. Well done :)

The scene is beautiful! The clouds seem a little repetitive to me though. As they move towards the distance, they look like copies of themselves. still a great picture!

I love it. Only way to improve upon it? Put an updated version of the ship from "Galleon" sailing into the sunset.



...or just do a remake of Galleon.



Did I mention I like Galleon?



Anyway, great image! My new desktop!

just the sunset please--if you could put it in the Pickle Jar???

Seriously though--this is gorgeous!!!

I really like it the way it is. I could understand tweaking the sand and water a little bit, but otherwise I'd say don't mess with it. The simplicity of the sand and water balances (in my opinion) rather nicely with the more complex sky. Don't make it too "busy."

This could very well be my favorite skyline. Those clouds have great potential. Only suggestion is I would like to see some more definition in the water and the shorline. Cant wait for the render to be complete.

Just don't add any more moons. Maybe an island or two

I agree with tbhoward, I really like the simplicity of this beautiful scene. The color schemes between the water and the sky are very unique. It is a scene that invokes peace.

There are definitely lots of directions you could take this, but I think it's wonderful as it is. The simplicity of the scene is one of its strengths, IMHO.

I can see why you are calling it unfinished... the sky looks amazing, and has lots of detail, however the sand looks a little more like mud, and the bottom left corner is just really empty.



I would like to see something like a small boat dock/pier to fill up the space. If you added plants, I think the similarities would resemble "First Light" a bit too much. Also, the water seems a bit... flat. Not in wave-terms, but in depth terms. The depth of the sea in real life makes the water look darker where it's deep, and lighter where it's shallow, even during sunset. I think adding a bit of variation to the water will make the image much better.



Of course, my ideas are only my ideas, and the decision of what will look best and what is most practical is yours to judge. Either way, it looks pretty good at the moment, just not quite "amazing" like most of your other work.

I feel like the gas giant is too much. Just a simple sunset over water w/ stray clouds seems more appealing to my brain.

Here's an idea: an island, or perhaps a ship on the sea? But even without any extras, this is a great work! Thanks again, Ryan!

What a lovely picture.I really like how you blended the colors out from the light. Simply amazing. :)

Drooled a bit when I saw this one. Good work!

Maybe a maze of islands meandering through the water, with a volcano or two?

I know that you sometimes are inspired by scenes in books then add your own magic to these pictures. For some reason if you ignore the planets showing in the sky I get the very strong impression that this is the shoreline of the great underground sea in the Journey to the Center of the Earth. Stunning and surreal, good work Ryan.

Ryan, even your rough drafts are remarkable... Better than most people's best work.



This one is amazing.

Can't wait for the duel screen! also agree with Courtney on the colors, maybe try mixing more orange and reds in, or try a completely new color base like blue. really like these I believe this was why I got hooked on DB seeing an older scene similar to this one.

Absolutely just WOW. These are my faves of yours - the nighttime-ish extraterrestrial skies with planets and extra moons... LOVE. xx

Just stunning? Some different colors schemes would be nice for the PJ, but the scene is breathtaking! GJ!

This is gorgeous, simply put!