Off Road

The morning sun rises gently over the horizon; its rays cascading over the landscape like an endless golden blanket. Clear reflective waters take in the sunlight and shimmer like a gem polished to an almost otherworldly finish. Truly, this feels like the epitome of a tropical sanctuary. The serenity of the scene is soon broken forth as the waters soon begin to shake. An ominous sound breaks forth resembling heavy rocks falling from mountains or a would-be thunderstorm clashing into the distance. The world slowly begins to shake underneath its earth-shaking footsteps. The inhabitants of these lands begin to feel the tenseness in the air of whatever potential threat begins to find its way toward their tropical home. On the horizon is a vast humanoid shape, its large shadow shrouds over the bay like an early fall of night. Soon the figure rises from behind the mountain ranges and reveals itself to the inhabitants of the bay. A vast automaton stands before the land in a powerful and statuesque pose. Its powerful eyes survey the area about, as if it too is trying to take in the serenity and beauty that the land so graciously provides those dwelling upon it. Like many of its kind, this machine merely wishes to truly understand its purpose in life and further discover where they had originated. Vast wars and combat were their solitary purpose in life, now at last free from the shackles of death and destruction they hope to move forward and find out what their inner potential can do for them and the rest of the world. Although sometimes, their potential involves how well they can move about the world and society without crushing either one beneath their feet as they pass along on their journeys. Off Road, created by Luminarium artist *keepwalking07, provides us with such an event that capture the imagination of the viewer and transports them among the landscape so that they too can experience this colossal event transpire before them.

This artist's signature stylization is in full power on this piece. As with many of his pieces, his use of detailing on both the primary subject of the piece as well as the landscape stand out excellently in this piece. The various scratches on the surface of the robot's fuselage give a great emulation of the wear and tear of battle that the machine has seen as well as the many hardships it has endured up until this point in its artificial life. Gentle reflectivity of the water's surface as well as the soft textural appearance of the clouds on the horizon really bring out a very calm and relaxing atmosphere to the entire landscape with has an oddly compelling effect when combined with the contrasting presence of the large machine in the background. All of these compositional elements have also created a nice feeling of habitation within the world to make it feel distantly alive. The inhabitants all staring unison upon the giant robot's frame gives off a strange feeling of life in amazement upon something different and new. Its a nice effect that compliments the piece well. I would suggest seeking out something that would aid in your refinement of this great talent of yours. Perhaps studying mechanisms, internal machines and things of that nature to give you a better grasp on your inspiration for the machines.

Now with this piece begin as great as it is, I still would like to suggest a few things to the artist that would really make this piece shine forth that much brighter. For one, I would like to see you refine your use of reflectivity of light on reflective surfaces like the water and the robot's fuselage. Make no mistake, in some parts of the machine it looks good, but on other parts the highlight lines drawn appear a bit too prominently and appear more like while dashes rather than actual reflected light. Another thing I would suggest is a bit more sharpness added to some of the design elements of the giant robot as it would provide the design with a more detailed and realistic appearance, (or at least as real as a mountain-sized robot can appear). Try and make the damaged parts of its body appear more jagged and torn on its body. Elements such as loose wires, exposed gears and mechanisms and even cracks and holes in its armor should be a bit more prominent to the viewer and would characterize the appearance of the machine that much better.

Much like the large automaton in this piece, many of us in life are simply looking about to find out what really stands out in our lives. We may never know exactly how far these journeys can take us. Some may be only a few blocks away or to another town, while other traverse the entire planet high and low to truly understand what it is that gives their life purpose and understanding. We all simply want answers in life and sometimes...that's all that really matters. Off Road, is not only a great piece of artwork from a great artist, it is also a reminder to us that we should never stop looking for what makes our lives meaningful. No matter how far we must go or long we must travel, the answers are out there waiting for us; we just need to look a bit harder sometimes. Excellent work *keepwalking07, and I look forward to your next piece! <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/c/c…" width="20" height="20" alt="" title="Clap"/>