This was submitted originally as an animation, I wish to have is a critique more on the composition of the work.
The griffon and most of the clouds are all 3d the mountains are all 2d matte paintings. The idea of this image was to give the sense of wide open spaces and the idea of a creature on a search, in a cold harsh environment however using warm colors to blend the creature and the environment together and give a sense of peace. I wanted to give a high contrast with the sun to emphizes the fur. Originally this work was undertake as a character rigging exercise however it quickly became more of an all round composition exercise.
Although this was not originally created as a still I feel that this image sums up the feel for the howl animation.
This is the old thread with all the original animation stuff
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=191516
animation link
http://www.kaffeineproductions.com/downloads/griffMOVIE(640x480)divx.rar
copyright © John Van der Zalm submitted 8th December 2004