River to Heaven

Concept Note:

I was inspired by the Greek mythology of river styx for this artwork. While the river styx descends into the underworld, the river in my artwork is leads towards Heaven.

I decided to do a sunset scene as I relate that time to calmness and peacefulness. The pillars on the sides with the vines represent pillars holding the heaven from earth. I took inspiration from the Greek Parthenon for them.

Process:

This was a simple scene with basic modelling. I modelled 1 pillar and using an array modifier, I was able to make several copies of it. Using weight paint to create 6 unique vertex groups, I put them all in order so the same group wont be next to itself. These groups determined the vine growth.

The boat was a simple wooden rowboat with 2 paddles on its sides. Due to volumetric fog and depth of field, I realised the pillars further back were not visible in the render so I optimized the scene by decimating them.