Does something about this guy look familiar?! Looking back at the Gypsy and Horse renders of a few days ago, I though, "Hang on, I remember another one that was filled with potential...
Yep, it's the same model ... same body morphs, same pose, even the same point lights! This time around, I turned him to face the lights, and added one more blue light to make more of the new setting. Because this time around I also added the DS Mirador set, which is a kind of ancient Roman relic, which gives the shot "context" --
-- and I also switched the hair to the Akaste hair, morphed long, and turned Celtic red. I also put new displacement maps and diffuse maps on the costume, to bring up the "chain mail" kind of effect. The original of this piece goes back to December 9, 2009, and I always knew there was a world of potential in it. Nice! Really, the artistry in this piece is all in the lighting. I think I have something like eight or ten lights on the figure and background, to get this effect, which is so much like a Boris painting...Speaking of painting (digital and otherwise!) I've been asked to talk a bit about digital painting -- how to get those backdrops, and maybe how to build up a scene just by painting in something like GIMP. Am giving this some thought ... let me gather my scattered wits, and I'll write about this soon!
Today's post is a bit brief ... sorry. Time was all eaten up with a couple of jobs that had to come first ... you know, paying work! Book covers, that kind of thing. In fact, I just had the real pleasure of painting a "space-jock" and a 1950s vintage rocketship! The rocketship in particular was interesting, because you just don't see these in SF today. Dave calls it the "Buggs Bunny Rocket," and in fact it's not a thousand miles from the ship you saw in When Worlds Collide ... if you actually saw the movie, way back when! 
Interesting, no? All in an artist's day's work, I guess ... seriously, it's fun. We just had to work out how to depict something that hasn't been seen on film or in art for several eons...
Jade, 3 January
