Dido's Oath

Dido's Oath

1999 © Tobin James Mueller
collaborative artwork for The Power of 10, a VisionForge MultiMedia Project

As the Portals of the Fifth Dimension exhaust themselves, mysteriously unable to find Aril anywhere in the cosmos,
Dido Ariana whispers an oath that she will not put down the Helmet of War
until her daughter is found. Her oath resonates with the statue goddess of the Fourth Dimension,
casting an otherworldly glow...

For a higher resolution version of this same image,
click here.

This and other images of Dido are painted by Ian Brand.
The lyre and wings were painted by Toy Takai.
All other artifacts are modeled by Tobin Mueller.

This image was originally rendered in Bryce 4. The galactic images leaping from the portals and the sunset sky
were layered in using Photoshop 4. The 5th dimensional storm along the horizon was created using KPT 5.

The incandescent quality of the sky was created by placing a painting of a red sunset (by Tobin)
over the orange Bryce sky (as seen in The Portal of the Power of 10). Sections of the
painted sky were then erased (using partial erasing and feathered brushes) in Photoshop
so that the glow of the saturated orange would "shine through." The same technique
was used to give the illusion of a purple cosmic light spilling out from the Portals:
by copying the entire image, readjusting the colors to mauve, then erasing most of
the newly layered mauve image except those parts "glowing" around the fringes of the portal.
Tobin also painted onto Ian's image of Didi the reddish and bluish colors of the sky and portals,
plus other necessary shadows, to make her look caught between the different lights.

Other views of Dido and her Temple can be seen from Tobin's Gallery:
The Portal of the Power of 10
Singing Forth the Image (640x800 - 141k version)
Singing Forth the Image (460x600 - fits screen)
The Helmet of War Wakes (a Bryce Select winner)
Gathering Strength (800x640 - 248k version)
Gathering Strength (600 pixels - 114k version)
Dido's Oath (800 pixels - 288k version)
Dido's Oath (640 pixels - 134k version)
The Hand of Perspective (800 pixels - 268k version)
The Hand of Perspective (600 pixels - 116k version)
The Portal Lens (early draft)
Reflective Face of the Goddess
Song of Creation (690x609 - 188k version)
Song of Creation (600x530 - 75k version)
Naked Choices (800 pixels - 120k version)
Naked Choices (640 pixels - 80k version)
more to come...

The Power of 10 is an Online Collaborative Picture Book project
in its formative stages. As the initial illustrations are completed,
writers are sketching out the first chapters and musicians are composing theme music.
See "Contents".


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