"The alien beauty of Xen" This, as you may have guessed, was mostly inspired by Black Mesa in which Protozoan, these mesmerizing bubbles, appear far more frequently than in Half Life. Black Mesa, to me, feels very... emotional, especially in Xen. It might be the graphics turned up 1000 notches, it might be the NPCs turned more human, it might be the renewed fricking AMAZING look of Xen and its music but this remake feels extremely emotionally charged for me. And that's what I tried to convey here. (His eyes are actually visible if you zoom in, I just erased 90% of their opacity to make for the glass light reflection and add to the hopelessness in his look). I tried to make Gordon look exhausted and desperate because holy cow, WHAT exactly did he get himself into. So he's tiredly reaching for one of these peaceful bubbles that seem to be attracted to him once they see him with a pained expression which I hope conveys the feeling of going through hell and FINALLY seeing something liberating and calming. Bubbles in real life sure get MY attention at least, at any given time. This was also kinda inspired by the scene in "Avatar" where the Sacred Tree seeds surround and coat Jake in a nice, calm moment. I hope all the videos I've watched about color, shadow and bounce light worked, I hope it communicates what it's supposed to and I hope you like it, see ya.
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Wonderful art, I love it, it captures the moment perfectly. And yeah I agree with you, Xen in Black Mesa feels, to borrow the title of a certain important song, Transcendent. It was a very emotionally charged experience for me as well, a wondrous place, both in its beauty and its existence, a hyper-competitive ecosystem of incredible beings, horrifying predators, that you can't help but admire nonetheless, when you get to the marsh it finally clicks, they are not monsters, they have never been, they are just animals, and here they are at home, they are going about their lives, hunting for sustenance, protecting their territory and their pack, surviving, we're the aliens in this place, interlopers. When I first got to Xen in Black Mesa I felt like putting down my guns, because it felt like I was the one disrupting things, I felt that I should not interfere, unfortunately the ecosystem of Xen does not look kindly on mercy... in fact it does not look kindly on anything, so I was required to defend myself pretty quickly, but I avoided confrontations as much as I could, I just wanted to let this world be.
My thoughts exactly
"so-so beautiful" gordans first words after bm xen
incredibile art dude
Thank you!