The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

[sONIC]

Ok heres how i arrived at this concept.I think of this challenge more in the terms of its background story.
As in that a powerful object(sword) was "trapped" in its native element(stone) until a worthy person comes
along to remove and claim it.So i thought about wat could a stone represent or look like and immediatly
crushed paper came to my mind.(when u try drawing and shading a crushed paper the finished drawing will
resemble a stone or maybe just my poor drawing. he he). And ofcourse the saying that"THE PEN IS MIGHTIER
THAN THE SWORD" so putting two and two together i got the pen(powerful object) and the paper (native element
considering the pen was invented to write on paper).The pen is deliberatly kept as realistic as possible so as to give the viewer the idea that the pen in itself is NOT a magical object. Its we who are magical. The pen alone in itself has no power unlike the sword which was magical.Here the magic and the power is present in us. This is not a magical pen which can bring ur thoughts alive but a pen through which u can communicate to ppl and let ur ideas be heard.

I also wanna say that when so much is possible with only a pen and paper why does anyone feel the need for magic.

I also feel that keeping the objects simple and very un-intimidating adds to the mysterious power that the pen could possess as like asking the question"wat can such a stupid looking thing like that do?" he he.

The ink crystals add a touch of magic to it but just a little. The environment is just pure eye candy.But the putting the paper in the water just reminded me of a lonely paper boat in the water. So.... anyway check the image out before u get bored reading all this.
here the final image.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/samarthshah/pen%20paper%20wip/final1web-.jpg

Softwares: 3ds max, Mud box, Photoshop, mental ray.

[sONIC]

ok the blue thingys are the ink crystals. and heres more pics

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/samarthshah/pen%20paper%20wip/rawpaper.jpg

the paper done in mud box and normal mapped and rendered in 3dsmax\mental ray.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/samarthshah/pen%20paper%20wip/ss.jpg

the crytals modelled and rendered in 3dsmax\mental ray

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/samarthshah/pen%20paper%20wip/pen.jpg

the pen modelled and rendered in 3dsmax\mental ray

[luv2animate]

i think thats a gr8 idea but dont u think u shud add something more to show the strength of the pen?i dont know xactly what but some effects or some thing to the back ground.....like few hands trying to reach it,or something....but i like the idea.

[sONIC]

thanks for the reply anu. The pen is deliberatly kept as realistic as possible so as to give the viewer the idea that the pen in itself is NOT a magical object. Its we who are magical. The pen alone in itself has no power unlike the sword which was magical.Here the magic and the power is present in us. This is not a magical pen which can bring ur thoughts alive but a pen through which u can communicate to ppl and let ur ideas be heard.

I also wanna say that when so much is possible with only a pen and paper why does anyone feel the need for magic.

I also feel that keeping the objects simple and very un-intimidating adds to the mysterious power that the pen could possess as like asking the question"wat can such a stupid looking thing like that do?" he he.

The ink crystals add a touch of magic to it but just a little. The environment i will upload shortly and as for the hands yes i am modelling them but lets see if time permits i will add em.

[Designer_ranjeet]

hey nice concept and even nice work. just make good composition to ur main image and background and u r on to the road. good work.

[anne]

hii sONIC...a very cool concept and i can see lot of thinking is been done by u on this 1..and the result is gr8...
ok now out of the three renders i liked the 1st ...but i think the paper looks better in the 3rd one...
Also i can see the Pen is not having a NIB..which i think is the most important part of any pen....
But i think this whole challenge is based on concept and story and u are on the right track dude...
cant wait to see the bg and how u deal with the mood in here!!

[aruntee]

hey...nice concept. I liked the second one...also r u planning to add smthing...a base or background?

[sONIC]

so theres my final image in the first post. Thanks for all the replies and comments people.

[aNDys]

Hey 1st its nice work...
The concept is nice.the reflection in the water is also nicely done.
But there is a little prob 1] The paper doesn't look like a paper it may be coz of texture & the pen(nip) is burning coz of light & 2] The sword(pen) is not properly thrust into the stone(paper) .. i mean to say that i can't see the the pressure ..!!
can i know the background u have shown in the picture is created by u or its copied from somewhere else..
Rest of all fine..
Good work dude...Cheers....

[sONIC]

hey andy thanks for the reply and critiques. Rightly mentioned that the "3D paper" does not look exactly like paper. Well you must understand that we actually have to model the paper out with all the crevices and bumps and i have tried to get as close as possible to the best of my current abilities to model it it. The texture of the paper is alsovery tough to obtain especially the simulation of light passing through.Although the skin shader "sss" is available in mental ray it has to be modified to make it look like paper sss .

Yeah ur right that the feeling of pressure is not seen but now the pen being light does not need that much does it?

yeah the background is completely created by me in photoshop(not copied and completly original hand painted effects with filters). i will be posting the w.i.p. The moon, the water, the reflections, were done in 3d and not in photoshop. Also it took 4 hrs to render this out with all the sss in the crystals and paper and normal maps so well just did not have the time to re-render for every small detail so everything was touched up in photoshop and also a little dof added.

[anne]

heyy nice work dude....and i like the bg and the mood!! and the SIZE of tht moon!!
also i agree with andy..the pen(nip?? o u ment NIB.. its not thr..) is lookin too bright...but i guess thts your choice ...and it works well as far as the concept is concerned.!!
gudluck!!

[sONIC]

Yeah the pen is kept brighter cause it will attract ur attention first rather than the bg its where i want the viewer to focus the most. As for th nib why model wat cannot be seen? the nib had to buried in the crystals and no i cannot interpenetrate the pen just to show the nib cause that would look unrealistic the pen would not be able to balance itself.

[rayn]

nice concept, but i think u could work more on image. yup the time limit has been over. but nice work.