SciFi and Fantasy Art: Night in the Desert

It reminds me of Aladin! Haha! I like it though! Very cool!

It must be the lamp/carpet thing.

I have heard a lot of good things about Epilogue. However, the trouble when they have quality standards is that it depends largely on what values are used as a basis of their judgement... that is quite an awful way to treat art. What I am saying is that don't let their judgement affect your own values in what your art means to you, because if you lose that then you will probably lose your motivation.

Yeah, I do get annoyed sometimes when I see pictures posted in Elfwood that to me do not seem to have serious intention or effort, which is more important then quality - as ambiguous and ellusive as that term is when applied to art. But Elfwood has a great spirit of inclusiveness and it is wonderful to see artist of all levels of skill expressing and sharing themselves.

I think this picture has a great sense of moment and works well in its wholeness. It takes little time or effort on my part when I look at your gallery that you have a lot of talent and integrity in your work. Keep enjoying it =)Yeah, you are right about these things putting the breaks on motivation, but in a way this is not really a test of how good, but how true an artist I am. A true artist would not care too much of the standards and tastes of others as he would have his own high stndards and a desire for expresing something he feels is important to which no other opinions would stand in the way. On the other hand if ALL he wants is a bunch of praise and an acceptence into a clique to feel important he may be forgetting why he ever picked up the brush in the first place.And yes, quality is an illusive thing indeed - just take a look at modern 'art'.

Coooooooooooool

Natalia Nikitin replies: "No way! "

I really like the purpley (if that wasn't a word before, it is now) dunes. I've never been in a desert at night, but I'm pretty sure it should look like that.

This picture does have a nice sense of movement, except for one thing: if the djinni's hair is windswept, the flame should be as well.

It's a magic flame. It's coming out of the carpet shoud be a dead give-away.

ha! even though this is about a year too late, i just wanted you to know that you're not alone about epilogue... i have recently signed up but none of my art has been accepted so far for various vague reasons... i'm just glad that i've never had an elfwood mod tell me my art wasn't good enough for elfwood! you've got a great style, and a good use of colour, so keep it up! i especially like 'Earendil and Elwing'

Natalia Nikitin replies: "Epilogue has its own ways. If you start a site and you want to accept only a particular type of art ot your site you should not be blamed if you do not accept stuff you don't think doesn't belong there. I guess people shouldn't be critisised for having personal tastes, hehe. In many ways Epilogue definately provides more eye-candy and 'wow' factor, but in another Elfwood can be a lot more creative. People come here to improve through meeting other artists, while there you already need to have reashed a certain technical level."

The difference, I think between epilouge quality and plain art is just the difference of technical skill applied to the art. I like this picture, it has emotion, an atomosphere, and it also tells a story. It also probally took a lot of practice to get to this skill level to draw this peice of art. What epilouge wants is art that can be pubished in forms of posters and books and other media... though some pictures in epilouge aren't at that level... What this means is high technical skill coming from many many years of practice and experience... I mean I like this picture, but it does have many flaws that wouldn't be accepted in the professional community. Art is art and will always be art. Quality art is the kind that makes money and people pay for. Quality art is the kind that's used in movies, and professional community. Many Epilouge artists are professional artists... Most Elfwood artists are casual artists,.... so I think using the term epilouge quality is like saying professional quality... I dunno my non sense rant ^_^Firstly, yes, there is a lot of very impressive art on Epilogue, not least because there are a lot of professional artists there. Secondly, 'quality' or artistic merit is in this day and age a rather theoretical concept in the wider professional artistic community. Fantasy art for the most part is representational, making things look realistic=quality... or maybe it does not. There is a lot, a LOT of design out there which could be considered professional and commercially viable, yet has less true artistic merit than some sketch a 14-year-old drew here in Elfwood. True art is set to transmit something whish cannot be seen through pure technical representational skill, otherwise all photography would be art. Technical skill should always be the means, never the end in itself.So far, it is my choice that my pictures are the way they are... I am by no means a professional, nor do I have any expectation of my 'art' being treated as such. There are very specific reasons that I still draw - one being that I can't seem to be able to help it. Hopefully this will soon change.- Here's my rant in return! Thanks for the comment.

Wonderful picture!...But what did you use for the colors? (paints, watercolors, ect...)

Natalia Nikitin replies: "Thank you! It's all in watercolour, actually."

this has a definite dreamy quality about it...*sleeeeeeepy*
but you know it is VERY dangerous to put candles on carpets...let alone GIANT candles...hee hee

Natalia Nikitin replies: "It’s a magic carpet sprouting a magic candle (with a magic djin on top) - so maybe not so dangerous perhaps. "

Ohh...that carpet intrigues me.

Natalia Nikitin replies: ": ) Yes, wouldn’t mind having one of those myself. "