Steven_Chong

Someone on another forum requested some "better photos" so I decided to comply-- or at least take some casual shots now that the water has cleared.

Shot from my lofted bed (the other tank is actually under my bed!):



Rotala Najenshan:



Close up of "forest." You can see micropea, riccia, and how thin my taiwan moss is. I heard it's better to plant it thin?



Full tank:

lildark185

Now that the water's clearer, the rocks look a lot brighter. To comment on the river you are trying to attain; if you shifted the whole layout of rocks on the left side of the tank so it would face more diagonally (the rock on the farthest left would be near the front left corner), you'd probably be able to make a longer river. By doing that, it would essentially break up the "wall" of stones you have lined up and create a small gap between the rocks on the left and right so that it would "welcome" you to whole tank. Thats just my opinion.

On a different note, you have some very artistic skills. How did you create the aquasketch? That and you must have a very big dorm room (assuming its your dorm room) to be able to fit two tanks in there. I didn't even bother to bring a tank to my dorm since it'd be a hassle to take back home and whatnot.

Steven_Chong

The idea letting the river move to the left side of the aquascape is certainly interesting (though would be difficult to change). I see many things that doing that would strengthen. However, my main concern with rivers/water features in layouts is that they often come accross as an after-thought. My intention was to not allow this to happoen, as scapes with streams too close to the edge of the aquarium always seem unbalanced to me. The sand is the brightest part of the aquascape, and moving it to a location that's off to the side (not in line with focal points) can cause problems when it comes to the viewer's eyes. However, I'm sure it could be done well-- I just haven't seen an example of it yet. There's a limit to how many risks/experiments I want to do in the same layout.

Some of my aquasketches are purely the result of drawing using a Wacom tablet, and then running the finished drawing through the Photoshop water-color filter. Usually, I like to use photos to make "pallets" in photoshop-- ie, by making a pallet by sucking up all the colors from a photo, it's possible to have a better idea of what colors one should use. This is especially useful when drawing wood! You probably don't know this, but wood is not just brown, it's also purple, green, blue, orange, yellow, gray and pink depending what part of it you're looking at!

This sketch is even more manipulation, and less drawing. I wasn't feeling particularly hard-working when I did this one, so instead of drawing (in the normal sense) I used a function of photoshop to design paint-brushes that are the same shape as the plants (I made 6 different "moss" brushes, a R. Najenshan brush, and the computer already has brushes designed for grass), then use the Clone Stamp with some photos to draw in the plants. This works really well, but still takes a lot of work and a sensitive hand. Especially when drawing the stem plants, one should pay close attention to how much pressure one is applying to the drawing pad. Rocks and wood still have to be drawn by hand, and there's no helping it. Clone stamp doesn't work for those either because of lighting conditions, desired texture locations, and other factors probably will be very different from any photo you'll find. Hand-drawing hardscape works really well anyway so I prefer to do that.

Also, care should be given when designing the brushes. It takes some drawing skill and attention to detail but the finished effect is nice. Larger-leaved plants or plants with "crowns" are not as easy to use this with-- anubias is pretty impossible. Hmmm . . . maybe I should do a tutorial on this? But then again, a method that requires expensive software (Photoshop CS), expensive hardware (my INTUOS pad runs over $200), and over 3 hours of time (this sketch took me 3 hours even with short cuts, some I've done were 10+) probably would not be popular for most people . . .

lildark185

Sounds like its pretty tedious work, but I'm sure you enjoy it. My suite-mate has a drawing pad and he's told me about the uses of it since he's into art and he works on the school's weekly magazine.

In any event, its not so much that the river is a would be an after-thought, but the fact that theres the "wall", especially on the left side and the way it's arranged. The lack of depth in the river and the rocks make it seem like a cave/barrier (similar to what Kelley said) and the more I look at the most recent picture, I am drawn more and more to the "cave". As I've said, moving the rocks diagonally invites the viewer to everything in the tank. As for the risks/experiments, no risk no gain right?

Steven_Chong

Risk fail, screwy tank.

Kidding aside, I do feel that the moving the river in a direction away from the middle of the lay out does draw the eye to the edge of the tank-- which is not good. The eye follows the river, which is bright.

As I said to Kelley, the depth of the river should be improved either by a lower sand level (revealing more of the rock at the river edge) or sloping it (has a similar effect) which I plan on trying after the tank settles a bit. You wouldn't know with the sand covering it, but I had planned some very careful rockwork that's unfortunately been covered up.

As for the "barrier"-- I don't feel that way. This is probably a result of my Hawaii bias. In Hawaii, water always runs from the top of the mountain to the sea-- rivers are like that, but in Hawaii where the whole island is one big mountain, this is especially felt. The movement of waterfalls down the mountain through ridges to feed streams. To me, it feels very natural to have a stream flowing from a mountain. The rocks in this layout are also built with this idea in mind. With a shallower stream, I think this sense will come out stronger. Right now the stream is proportionately "too big"-- much larger than my initial plan. When I take sand out, it should appear much smaller.

|squee|

This is really a fresh look at planted tanks. It reminds us that everything need not be Amano. I agree with your comment posted in the other forum about how recent Amano scapes all tend to look the same.

Nice work! Your tank is the first in which I've seen vertical branches used and is pleasing to the eyes.

Steven_Chong

Thanks Terence. If that other forum follows through with those discussions, I'll be impressed.

I am greatful for the compliment in being original. I think I would say even this scape shows Amano's influence-- however to me what's important is that we should "stand on the shoulders of giants" in order to attain new heights, not to simply repeat work that's been done.

apistaeasy

I'm glad that you've now been able to get full pictures up.

IMO the hardscape looks to be overpowering. I do not get the impression of a river. My eyes are always focusing on the 'cliff' effect you have. Sometimes I have to force myself to look at the rest of the tank.

Just my .02

houseofcards

I think it really depends if you duplicating an actual scene or trying to create something as pleasing to look at as possible, probably both. In either case, I give you alot of credit for trying new things and sharing them here.

That being said, if your trying to create something as pleasing as possible than yes IMO the hardscape is overpowering. It's tough to put all that in, in a small space. Perhaps if the branches were arranged in an ascending random tight pattern going up around the right front corner and left rear corner leaving some of the rock scape to stand on it's own it might be a little easier to absorb. If you ever visited a museum and viewed the dioramas (replication of a geographic location i.e. rainforest) they are experts in creating incredible depth in a small space. They can make you feel like your in a branch of a tree right in the middle of a forest and at the same time overlooking a lake that appears to be hundreds of feet below.

Steven_Chong

I have to agree that the hardscape is (currently) over-powering. I still think though that this power will be lost as the moss grows in more thickly. Right now it is very thin (barely noticable in the photo really). But it is attached to every stick, and also to much of that powering "cliff face." Try to envision a bush of moss covering the largest center stone, moss falling down off of some other stone edges, and instead of sticks, full-covered trees of moss. That might help in envisioning what I envision as the final result.

I also agree that the river does not have a good feel to it right now-- but I will try to lower the sand soon, and hopefully that should help. There is a lot of mulm under the substrate (remnants of last semester) and I'm wary to mess with the substrate toop much.

House, thanks for the help but I don't really understand this description. I'm not sure how you could, but could you try to explain it more simply (for my stupid self ).