3D Thursday #1

I used to do a good bit of art in Poser and DAZ Studio, but have fallen a bit out of practice lately. I still dabble once in a while, so I'll share some of new work and some of my old work here. It's a neat artform that I've had a lot of fun with.

I thought I'd kick this series off with one of my oldest pieces, which strangely turned out to be one of my better ones. The above image was a very early Poser figure imported into Bryce and rendered there.

Art for Today - DAZ Studio

Until I scan some more inking samples in, I'm going to have to make do with some 3D art. This piece was done in DAZ Studio. This program has really evolved a lot, and I really like where it's heading. The pricing structure is great as well.

New Art - Shanghai Cover

Here's a new cover for the Shanghai series I'm working on.  This was rendered in DAZ Studio, postwork in Photoshop.  Issue one is almost done and should be available through print-on-demand soon.

New Art - Conflict

A good old fashioned fight scene. Rendered in DAZ Studio.

New Art - On the Bridge

Playing around with some of the great sci-fi outfit and prop sets from my library.  I think I have enough to get a comic done in that genre. If only real life were this cool! This one is my current desktop.

New Art - Wolfman

Taking a break from gaming for a bit to focus on my art and get the comics back on track.  Here's a practice piece I did this morning in DAZ Studio to get my hand back -

Getting back into Print

I've been wanting to get back into mainstream comics for quite some time now. I have lots of new material in various stages of production, but have been unsure about how to get it into the hands of readers in a way that would make a modest amount of money and not be easily duplicated and passed around illegally on the web.

I bought a set of markers last night, and did some drawing, which I've not done in a long time. I was intending the resulting art piece for eBay, but I was disappointed with what I ended up with. It's frustrating, because I'm trying to duplicate on paper what I can do with my art software on the computer in a fraction of the time. The digital art looks much better, but I can't sell it as an original in an auction.  It just seems like a lot of time and effort to sell to one customer.  It feels like I should be working to a larger audience.

Back in the 90s, I self published a few full-color comics of my own.  Paper printing is pretty expensive, but I think I finally found an option that will get me back into print at almost no cost, and no risk. There are several print on demand services that will custom print in small numbers - like 10 books if you want, or hundreds. It's not the quality of Marvel & DC, but it gets you a handful of books, and they also have an online store that only prints what they sell. It's basically a method to get some material in print so a bigger publisher will notice you. And if I get a small stack of books done, a trade-paperback is easy to do the same way.  I don't have to pay for 5000 copies and hope the major distributor will pick it up.

I'm still researching, but I think this is what I've been looking for. I get to do my own thing, have it in print, and I can go to comic shows with a small stack of books to peddle. I can be an independent publisher for very little investment or risk, which is perfect. It also has the possibility to open doors down the road.

I'm going to sift through all of my years of artwork tonight and see if I can come up with enough material to do an "Art of Skulfrak" book.  I've always wanted one of those!  The Shanghai series will be back in print now as well, and I have lots of other concepts waiting in the wings.

More to come!

New Art - Battlefield

I was just playing with a mixture of new models and some very old models with fun results.  A giant power-armor battle, just for the heck of it.  :)

Ultraverse - Prototype

Back in the 1990s, I was an inker for Malibu Comics on the Ultraverse line.  One of the books I did a long run on was called Prototype - sort of an Iron Man with a twist.  I had great fun during those years, and it's a shame that this stable of great titles is sitting on Marvel's shelf now in obscurity. I did this as a piece of fan art to illustrate how that character might look almost 2 decades later.  I may even do a few other faves from that era. Thanks for looking!

New Art - Corinne

Another character study for the new Shanghai comic - this is the main character, Corinne.  I rendered this shot in Poser with the HDRI lighting.  I've been using DAZ Studio more and more lately, but Poser 8 has some really nice lighting features that for some renders make all the difference.

New Art - Guns

Rendered a new character study of the main character from the Shanghai comic I'm working on. This was done in DAZ Studio.

New Art - Wolf Man

Here's a new 3D rendering, done in DAZ Studio. Got a new wolf-man figure for a project, and he's pretty cool.

New Art - Lower Decks

While gearing up for some more hand-drawn material, here's my latest 3D piece, rendered in DAZ Studio. Some Trek inspired props and sets in this one.

Back to the ol' Drawing Board

So, for the past two weeks I've been moving. Not by choice, mind you, but it's for the best. My wife and I both lost our jobs at the beginning of the year, and after a bunch of dragging things out and trying to make numbers work, we ended up losing the house. We had no equity in it, and it dropped in value so much, it just wasn't worth fighting the bank over.  


Anyways, while lugging boxes back and forth, I found a bunch of my old hand-drawn art from back in my comics days. Stuff from when I was inking for Malibu Comics and NEC Comics on The Tick! I realized how much I've missed those days. That was the highest point in my career, and even though the market is really weird right now, I have this desire to get back into doing more hand-drawn material, even if it's just for myself.  


In the new place we're living, I finally have room to set up my drawing table again, so I'm going to try and get my hand back. Not just with inking, but pencilling too. I'll still do a lot of 3D art, but I found I was missing a part of who I was by not drawing anymore. So, thanks for watching, and I hope to have some new material to show you here in the next few weeks!

New Art - Iceplex

Playing some more with DAZ Studio. This is a set for a project, working with the lighting. Really happy with the speed and ease in DS3.

New Art - Goon with a Gun

Here's another character study from some new material I'm working on. This one was also done in DAZ Studio.

New Art - Stepped in Gum

Ewww...

Rendered in DAZ Studio, post-work in Photoshop.

New Art - Tank

Another new piece, rendered in DAZ Studio, filtered in Photoshop. Some very old props on a brand new model.

A tank is a character designed to take a lot of damage from enemies and thereby protect the rest of the party. Tanks include Protection Warriors, Protection Paladins, and Feral Druids.

Purpose: To keep the enemies' attention on them and away from the rest of the party, while taking a beating.

Threat Generation

Keeping the monster's undivided attention on them is a key part of tanking. Party members, such as cloth-wearing Priests and Mages, are not suited to taking much damage - particularly from a hard-hitting boss enemy. Tanks have a variety of abilities to accomplish this which vary by class. In addition, tanks typically have an ability that will taunt the monster off another player and onto them. That way the tank continues to take all the hits and the rest of the group can do their jobs of healing or DPS.

Pulling

Another usual role for the tank is to pull enemies for the group, because it causes the monsters to initially go after the tank. Tanks have some ability or weapon that allows them to pull with a ranged attack, depending on class.

Leading

The tank is usually responsible for leading the group around to their destinations, and is frequently the member who marks the enemy targets for DPS and CC priority.

First In, Last Out

The tank should be the first person into battle under most circumstances. If the party is forced to run, the tank should be prepared to buy time for the other party members to escape - taking one for the team. The other party members can then (hopefully) resurrect the dead tank.

Main Tanks vs. Offtanks

If there are multiple tanks in a group, a main tank should be chosen. The offtanks are responsible for helping out the main tank, by backing them up or by tanking additional enemies.

New Art - Mage

Haven't done any gallery pieces in a while, but here's a new mage outfit with a very orcish/horde flavored hut for the background.  Lots of Warcraft inspired content. :) Rendered in Poser 8, filtered in Photoshop.

Tools of the Trade: DAZ Studio 3 Advanced

DAZ Studio 3 Advanced has been my MVP software lately. DAZ 3D - DAZ Studio 3 Advanced

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpfdWZvWRm8

DAZ does a better job of explaining it, so here's the copy from their site:


DAZ Studio Advanced provides advanced hobbyists and professional artists with the features needed to bridge the gap between art and reality.

This is accomplished with added render enhancements allowing the artist to control the how, what, and where of rendering. These enhancements in combination with new features will have you rendering like never before. New features include; Figure Mixer, Morph Follower, Shader Builder, Shader Mixer, Shader Baking, aniMate Lite, Map Transfer, and 64-Bit capabilities.

DAZ Studio 3 Advanced

• Advanced Shaders and Effects - DAZ Studio now includes HDRI, IBL, Ambient Occlusion, Area Lights, Volumetrics, Velvet, Indirect Lighting, Translucency, Layered Anisotropic Specularity, and Sub-Surface Scattering. Special thanks to omnifreaker.
  
  
  
  • UberEnvironment 2 (by: omnifreaker)
    
    
    
    • Image Based Lighting (IBL)
    • High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI)
    • Global Illumination (GI)
    • Indirect Lighting
    • Color Bleeding
    • Ambient Occlusion
    
    
    
    
  • UberSurface (by: omnifreaker)
    
    
    
    • Sub-Surface Scattering (SSS)
    • Velvet
    • Skin
    • Layered Anisotropic Specularity (hair)
    
    
    
    
  • UberArea Lights (by: omnifreaker)
  • UberVolume [Fog/Smoke] (by: omnifreaker)
  
  
  
  
• Scripted Renderer - Gain full control of the rendering process. If you're into scripting and are familiar with the RenderMan API, this is for you.
• Shader Mixer (Advanced Material Editor) - Mix and match over 90 included shader bricks (or design your own) to create custom lights, cameras, and surfaces within a simple node network for amazing render effects.
• Figure Mixer - Now you can blend between different figures to create your own unique figures. This tool will not only blend two or more shapes together, but it will also provide a working joint rig and preserve the original morphs of the figure you started from.
• Morph Follower - This feature allows you to add support for new figures in old clothing by automatically creating new morphs to fit an unsupported shape. (Based on technology by EvilInnocence)
• 64-Bit for Windows - This functionality not only makes things go faster, it expands memory support, and allows large scenes to be arranged and rendered much easier.
• Map Transfer - This allows you to convert a texture from one figure's UV's so they can be used on another figure's UV's.
• Shader Builder - Built for advanced artists who need a deeper level of control and want to create shaders from scratch.
• Shader Baker - Bake surface shaders, bump maps, displacement maps, and textures into a single image-based texture for a final-render look straight out of the box. You can then share or sell to other users who may not have the same advanced shaders you use to make it look its best.
• Animation Keyframe Editor - Now you can easily see where your keyframes are. Add, delete, copy, paste and/or move your keyframes around with great visual feedback. Special thanks to GoFigure!

DAZ Studio 3 (core)

• Improved Render Engine - DAZ Studio is now compatible with version 8.5 of the powerful 3Delight render engine. Improved performance and memory management reduce render times and handle heavy, complex scenes like never before.
• COLLADA Import/Export - Now you can export figures, conforming clothing, morphs, and scenes into Carrara 7.
• aniMate Lite - Create animations by dragging and stacking aniBlocks into a timeline. Special thanks toGoFigure!.
• Visual Helpers for Cameras and Lights - Provides visual cues for the spread angle and falloff of your spotlights, as well as the limits of your camera's depth of field. Special thanks to Dreamlight.
• Selection/Bounding Box Display - Change the opacity, size, color, and length of the selection bounding boxes.
• Render Album - Store recent image renders in an album format, which can then be loaded into the Render Editor to perform various editing functions on the image. The editor provides options for blending two images, adjusting colors, comparing images, and applying filters without having to open a separate paint program.
• Visible in Render - Added support for whether or not a node's geometry is visible in render without the need to make surfaces transparent.