These are all "old" images ... meaning, they go back a few months! Remember, I only started in DAZ 3D at the end of August 2009, so nothing on any of my harddrives goes back more than eight months! These were all lovely images in their own right -- nothing wrong with them when they were done a while ago, and nothing wrong with them now. But...
A very short while ago I found out that the later versions of Gimp actually use Photoshop brushes, you don't have to mess about trying to convert them from the .abr that Photoshop uses to the .gbr that Gimp uses. Which means (oh joy, oh everlasting bliss), I can actually just get Photoshop brushes and ... away we go!
Yesterday I created some nice but simple renders with the thought in mind of using them as canvases to paint on. Today I'm continuing with this idea for two reasons. One, I'm flat out of time (midweek at work .. I get bombed AND I'm not going to have my main computer tomorrow. This machine is getting shut down to have its new video card and ram chip installed. So I'm scrambling to get through the work I have to do, plus get together two or even three lots of artwork for uploads tomorrow and Friday, to keep the blog ticking over. There's about 25 people following it almost every day now, which is terrific, and I don't want to disappoint. You might not fall in love with absolutely every piece of art that lands here, but you always know there'll be something new every day.
So following along the same idea, I went back through the archives and came up with four pieces that were lovely then and now ... but which were crying out to be given the full treatment!
Most of the post-work being done on these old pieces was done using Ron's Brushes from DAZ; some was also done using brushes from other sources, including http://www.deviantart.com/ [2014 edit: two other links were given here, to free GIMP brush sites. Both have gone. The domains are up for sale, for silly prices, so ... links snipped. Sorry.] and I have to say, it's huge fun. Ron's Brushes are superb. One runs out of superlatives (and no, I don't know Ron, not even by email), but I also have to remark on the wonderful quality of all the brushes uploaded to each of the freebie sites.
Now, two people have already asked the smart questions: How do I use them? How do you even install the dang' things?!
And that's what I'm going to be talking about tomorrow, when I upload something from one of our other machines, along with some art that was done today! (None of the other machines will handle the artwork I'm doing now. It takes a lot of processor power and ram, which is the reason for the upgrade.) This is a BIG topic, and there's a lot to learn, as well as to tell. But it'll be well worth joining me tomorrow...!
Jade, 5 May
