Naw, it looks like a two cent filter gimmick. I dunno, it kinda works on the lettering, but it's really looks flat on the artwork. --Alex
It was a combination of weathering in PS and rendering on a terrain in Bryce... here's a similar effort w/o the weathering:
I normally like your artwork, Klaus. But I'm not sure I'm seeing the theme here. It might be the way the pictures are set up. I don't know.
No it isn't. Now it makes it look like Spock's the Devil. Yes, it's a well known trope. A boring one. The idea's better with the Horta in it.
Well you can't please everyone... I don't think it's an active enough trope anymore to feel boring to me -- silly, yes, but not boring.
If this were a real movie/episode poster put out before the release, I'd call it a red herring! Don't want to give everything away, do you?
Maybe, but Spock doesn't look terrifying enough to make me want to see this as a horror movie, and I thought that was the point of the challenge. Just offering my opinion. The first version is fine.
That assumes that Spock isn't the killer. My takeaway of the second poster is that Spock actually is "the devil in the dark" and is on a killing spree. Which would be inline with the rules. "You can either make your work reflective of the actual episode, or the title can work simply as the theme. For example "Obsession" could be a movie\book\scene about Kirk being stalked by an over zealous admirer.....or it could be based on the actual episode." My entry turned out to be "Obsession", but a different version where it's psychopathic Jim Kirk stalking the actress that played "Gem" in "The Empath". I'd probably have Spock with red glowing eyes....maybe add a red tinge to the background matte painting. Otherwise, I still prefer the latest one from a design stand point.
OK, now with more horta! ...and some text color changes. This might give you a choice of what to think... is the monster on the bottom or Spock?
If you weren't a Star Trek fan, would you even know that there's a "monster" at the bottom? It could just be part of the alien scenery for all the uninitiated know. Give that some thought And get this font if you don't already have it: http://www.fonts2u.com/steeltongs.font
^To be fair, most people wouldn't know it that no matter how he would place the Horta in the picture.
Yeah, I think you're right. The Horta works best in motion. It's hard to make it scary without it since it just looks like a weird rock while static.