Succession

One of the hardest I ever made - and I still don't know if it looks good. Even the title joined the difficulty bandwagon.

Initially, this was supposed to be titled "At The Day's End", but with the colors and presence both of the day and night sky in transition, and with the symbolism of the silhouette people, it seemed that "Succession" was more appropriate.

Change is good. Change is something that people always look forward to. It gets them out of the monotony of life. This is how we got to cook with stoves rather than plain fire, or take a bath with showers rather than coconut shell halves today.

This piece had a few general changes itself before submission - three consecutive.

At first, the island (plus reflection) separating the sky from the sea was lighter, which looked awkward, and so I darkened that.

Next would be the color of the sea. Two changes were made here. Originally, it was a gradient of an inappropriately dark shade of green and blue. It looked awkward to me to have different shades as such on this, so I unified it under cyan, which then appeared too light. I decided to change it to vivid blue because I wanted the colors to strike.

Also such was the case for the red (lower) part of the sky. It was originally some shade of orange, which looked too bright, and I was rooting for the sunset effect. Thus I changed it to red, to conform with definition and vividness.

For the first time, I used the Ripple filter to simulate reflection on seawater. And I sharpened many elements around to achieve a more defined look, which turned out well (I guess).

This piece has a lot of meanings as much as the words I've typed by now for its description here. Especially regarding the skies and the people on the cliff. You deduce.

I hope this final product appeals to you guys.

Created 8 Apr 07.

Notes: I took in ~nutamu's suggestions for better realism alongside the work's fiction-ness. I rippled the sea rays and darkened the sun's shadow as it distanced from the sun. Thanks ~nutamu!