Oriental Masquerade

My entry for a small challenge on CGHub. This is the first time I ever participated in a challenge on CGHub, and I was really excited. It isn't a big competition or anything, but it is a good opportunity for me to challenge myself and do some experiment.

The theme is masquerade. I am inspired by the Chinese "bian lian" or "face changing" perfomance. It originates from Sichuan, and is a very secretive art form, as it is passed on only from master to apprentice or father to son. There is a story about a Robin Hood like hero who used masks to confuse the feudal guards when he was caught. So, in a way, the mask was used for survival.

My concept is, there's this ancient Oriental Kingdom where the government is corrupt and treats the poor badly. So a secret society/organisation was formed among the people, and they were scheming against the government. (Oh, boy, I really miss reading and watching wuxia stories!)

The masks that they wore identifies their different post/ranks in the society. The president/chairman wears the Old Man mask (middle), which signifies wisdom. The advisor/mastermind who schemes and plans strategies wears the Maiden mask (right), and the person is usually a woman, though not always. While the Beast mask (left) is for the leader who leads the members into the field, for example a mission or a battle. He is the "action guy".

The individual masks:

Old man mask

Beast mask

Maiden mask

Richie McCaw

Did this for rugby fans, especially All Blacks and Richie McCaw fans. Found this photo in a magazine, and I loved his pose and body language. Took about 7 hours in Photoshop.

Chinese flute

A photo I captured outside my house. I saw these beautiful red flowers near the gate, and saw that the green grass around it really creates a contrast in the colours, so I brought out my G Chinese flute, with its nice decoration and put it near them. And I finished the image by adding a short poem (I don't know the meaning in depth, but I do know it's about flute and nature, haha).

Domestic Dinosaurs

A speed painting of dinosaurs! Just a practice, took about 2-3 hours in photoshop.

I was inspired by the farming environment in New Zealand, which is absolutely beautiful. But instead of using sheep, which can be seen everywhere here, I used the long-necked dinosaurs (no, I don't know the scientific name)! This species is one of my favourites since childhood. So, I created a dinosaur farm LOL, for what use are the dinosaurs bred for, well, for their skin? I don't know haha, up to you to intepret!

Commissions

Having been caught in the monster of assignments for 3 years, I regret to say that this is probably the first time I did commissions seriously, and know what I am doing.

Here are the 2 commissions I did: