, here, seems a little underwhelming. Just an opinion from a casual glance.
This image made me feel good - as though I was glimpsing something magical in an already serene, restful setting.
I imagine I am pausing at this creek from a hike through the forest. I stop to enjoy the sunlight through the trees, the cool water, and the clean air when this creature arrives. How incredible! How rewarding!
This little daydream made my day. Thank you Ryan!
"Lord of the Forest - 10/10"
Fantabulous! Marvelous! Beautiful! I really, really really hope you do more like this!
OMG, Ryan, this is beautiful!!! This is a perfect 10; I saw no graphical glitches,the lighting is fantastic, the ferns, mosses, and other foliage are gorgeous, and the silhouettes of the trees and the deer balance out the scene and aren't overdone. This is probably your best nature piece I've ever seen.
I adore the lighting in this image. Some people seem to think it could do with more light, but I think the contrast between light and dark perfectly captures the dim coolness of a forest dawn (or dusk).
You're a genius with lighting, mist and clouds, Ryan - I'm a fan of the vast majority of your images, but it's gems like this that make doubly sure I'll never go anywhere else for my wallpapers!
"Can you say..."
spring/summer/autumn/winter-wood? These are some of my favorites and thanks for doing an updated one!
Ryan, you excel when doing scenery, which is my favourite genre of yours.
Unicorny? Maybe, but it's a magic forest so it's fits.
I left my comment before reading the others, as usual. The wallpaper scene is dark on my computer and the animal was very much in shadow. I thought it was a female deer until I studied the image very closely.
Beautiful! Is it an update to Idyll?
"That would be "What is Idyll?" Alex"
Very nicely done. A good start to the Autumn season.
"whoa a unicorn!!"
It's a beautiful picture but it is too dark. Could you lighten the area around the unicorn?
It's a tad bit grainy, however over all a beautiful forest picture. I think the tree bark is all I'd change. However the lush vegetation is gorgeous. I got lost in it for a while thinking of mountain get a ways.
that's my favourite picture amongst your works.
A really wonderful job!
I love this one Ryan. Nature scenes are a favorite.
HD looks great on my desktop.
"Need More Like This!!!"
These nature scenes with wildlife (or unicorns) are unbelievably popular here in the Midwestern states. Our schools and the students love them. Doing more of these will make millions of people happy. Great Job.
You mention in your description that this one is a loose update of an image from 1998. I'm sure you get this request a lot, but I'd love to see more of your early images updated for wide-screen formats.
In the meantime, thanks again for all the great work.
Excellent! Really like this one. However, I didn't realize this was a Unicorn until I read some of the comments and even then I had to look really closely on my laptop screen. Maybe if you could lighten the area around the Unicorn it would be better.
thinking about the unicorn, I'd also love to see a scene with a classic western dragon in it... but in a peaceful setting like this. I know it's random, but I love dragons, and I'd love to see it in a scene like this.
I love nature scenes, and this is no exception! Very well done - I love the detail on the trees and plants.
The composition of this image reminds me very much of a scene from "Princess Mononoke", but I like it very much, none the less.
Yes, as 'Phillip D' points out, the sun rays are "noisy", but I find that in the heart of the summer, the sun light and air often has such a "noisy" look due to the dust, pollen, midges, gnats and other bugs and detrius that is constantly flying and falling in the deep woods.
Everything looks so real and spot on, if it weren't because I know this is a 3d wallpaper I would say makes a good photo... or an excellent unicorn hoax lol.
Wow.... this is beautiful. I love it.
This has definitely become one of my favourites.
I must admit that I have not been a big fan of the last 4 or 5 that you put out before this one, but I really like this one. Keep up the good work.
"poster... of course"
Yet another wallpaper which I want to send to friends as a poster. Nothing to add or subtract, it's perfect. Great job once again, Ryan.
One glitch: on the WIP page, the tooltip says "Starbirth 2008".
The way you put this together really moves me. I love the light coming through the trees, and the mist/fog off the water. I feel like i could have seen this on one of my backpacking wanderings. I also love how the Horse/Unicorn looks so much like the real thing. Really good job with the realism on this, i love it!!
When you said it was a loose update, I immediately thought of Idyll also, but then I thought, wait, Idyll is not that old. I would have never thought it was an update of "Queen of the Forest" if someone else hadn't mentioned it. The wallpaper is excellent, though. I like it far better than Idyll. The foliage is amazing.
"similar to idyll"
very similar to idyll, the one you made in Worldbuider. except vegetation is different here but similar landscape layout...I would say this image is astonishing, the sunrays still has a little noise to it, but I know it is nearly impossible to get rid of it completely in Vue...one of the good things about Worldbuidler program (where you made idyll in) is nice smooth rays in which it still beats Vue in that area....it is too bad that the WB program will eventually no longer exist in which it may already have...I hardly ever used it anymore either...only time I use it now is updating images and bigger pixel sizes. I like to see Idyll in dark blue atmosphere instead of orange but I dont know if you still have that program or AWB file for it...
You also have the Christmas one with santa and reindeer hovering over the moon,"the ride" i think it was called... that is my favorite christmas one, I was wondering if you can remake that one in Vue by Christmas time? Regardless if you do or not, your art is ASTONISHING!
Love it. Just very peaceful.
"My kind of background"
I am really glad to see a nature scene again. I generally really love them. Such as it is with this piece. I think it's a very beautiful work of art.
Personally I'm wondering how you can come up with something so detailed. It really seems like a snapshot out of a really great forest. This background makes me want to go camping.
"Bambi meets Ryan :)"
This is a very peaceful setting despite the grand sized trees.
my only beef with this pic is the lighting, which should be of a whiter colour, bringing out the green in the bushes behind the animal.
Ryan I especially like this one. The tones are wonderful, and in general I prefer your darker works. Thank you!
At first I thought it was a remake of Idyll, one of my faves, but that was from 2004. Then I thought, maybe Glenwood, another one of my faves, but that's from 2000. You're right though, it's definitely Forest Queen from 1998. Needless to say, I like this one way better lol.
Great work either way though. Keep it up buddy.
This is a fantastic piece!!
But now that it has been mentioned, it is very similar to Idyll...
Yeah, this wallpaper has really awesome foliage- there's nothing I can see that looks digital or out of place. This one is really cool.
 You know something though - it didn't really need the horse, probably slightly better without it. Perhaps you could render that?
It looks to me like a remake (different lighting and different horned hoofed animal) of "Idyll" from 2004. Excellent picture, by the way.
"1998... or 2004?"
Reminds me more of Idyll, from 2004... Idyll has always been one of my favorites, this one is pretty high up there as well.
This is a great piece of art. Wonderfully done forest.
The image it's based off of is "Queen of the Forest", with the unicorn, from '98. I think.
Anyway, I love this image, and gave it a ten, but it would get an eleven if I could see the deer-thingy a little more clearly. It's kind of murky on my monitor at the moment.
It's tranquil and peaceful. Inspiringly beautiful.
is that a unicorn's horn i spy?
great work, as always ryan.
Very nice! The only image I see done back in 98 that is similar, is Inlet.
I think this is