Digital painting for the Christmas season, and other goodies

Reepicheep, the Errol Flynn of the mouse world

A 2023 repaint of the 2017 sketch of magnolias, to fix
a number of resolution issues that couldn't be
addressed with the old hardware 

I've been interested, as we run in toward Christmas, to try my hand at designing Christmas cards. Interesting! And along the way, a number of new digital painting techniques have come my way, and I wanted to try them out. The perfect image to go in and play around was Reepicheep ... my take on swashbuckling mouse from the land of Narnia. That was fun -- and the new techniques worked out well. It doesn't matter how long you've been painting, or how many paintings you've done, there's always sooo much more to learn! 

The idea of using AI to create picture elements for compositing and painting, rather than shelling out pots of money for 3D props, is working out, and I have to credit Bing as being the AI to run with at this moment, if your pockets are not deep. Mine aren't, not anymore. My cash flew away and it's proving very difficult indeed to get it back. I can no longer afford the tons of new models and resources to support CG art, so ... here we are.  

There's not much more to report ... but I will say this: my creative juices are starting to flow again, and I have a yen to get back to the story of Trouble, the rescue dragon who needs to go home, across the mountains, when he grows large enough to start making wrecking of the Consulting Mage's house. Enter the delectable Tomas, and Brianna, the mage's human descendants, and a gypsy wagon, the two magickal cats, Shadow and Ginger, and a quest into the west, and a passage through to an enchanted realm where the big dragons live ... all the elements are in place for a lovely story. All I need is the energy to get on and do it!

Photoshop magic enchants some beloved old raytraces. Check this out!

Work continues apace on the this blog, which has needed a facelift for a very, very long time. I'm also tackling the challenge of The Lost Songs, which has been in limbo for about as long as the conclusion o the Game of Thrones book series! And if I do say so myself, I've got a raft of better reasons for letting the story slide into limbo than George R.R. Martin has! Read the backstory behind what happened to The Lost Songs, and why -- and what's coming next for this project -- right here. 

And to prove it, let me show you these:

Leon Greatsword: 2023 repaint...

Leon and Iphigenia: the 2023 re

These are the 2023/24 repaints of the old images from 2012. Wow. What a difference. This is purely Photoshop magic; nothing has been re-rendered, but everything can be repainted -- and, of course, the illustrations for the remainder of this story will come into the world looking like this. In fact, it's worth taking a look at the old and the new, side by side. The one that needed the least work was the Lux Render; the old raytraces, however, dated from a time when I could barely turn on shadows without making the computer crash! Ah, those were the days...

So ... bear with me while I get this project into shape, and then ... let's have this finished, as outlined in the post I referred you back to above!

In other news ... work continues on the photo blog, travel blog and so forth. And also on the art galley site. I'll reiterate: if there is anything on the old site you want to keep, grab it now, because when it's gone, it's gone. 

Recent goodies ... painting happily. Cyberpunk hero, fire warrior, nectromancer, misty mountains ... what more could you want?

No, I haven't died! Not yet. Not quite. But there have been times when it seemed a viable alternative: Covid. Again. Added to which -- you try having or or three huge migraines every week, and see what happens to your equilibrium! Too many problems to solve, not enough answers. Now it's a heatwave ... argh. Aus in the springtime -- fun, fun.

But yes, I've been busy. Am still working on the new website ... it's going to take a bunch more work, but I'm getting there. One of the best things was getting to lash up a bunch of faux covers for the free reads section. Reminds me of how much I used to love doing book covers!

 

...there's a bunch more, but those will give you an idea of where my imagination is at the moment. Lots of good reading, all of it free, and more to come. 

Otherwise, not much is happening on the artistic front. Covid knocks the packing out of you -- I;m still trying to recover, and am working an a fraction the pace I want to. As a friend of mine used to say, "Survive and Succeed." But the survival part comes first!

New art, new projects ... fantasy, dragons, guy-candy, websites...

I know I keep saying, "Well, I'm back, to quote Sam," and then vanishing again. Life is like that. You name it, it's happened in the last few months -- doesn't mean I haven't been painting, rendering, doing all kinds of work --

So, what have I been up to in the last couple of months? It's been busy, and a lot of art has been produced, but it's mostly been more commercial in nature ... less experimentation...

...in fact, I would dearly love to get back into CG work. DAZ, Iray, Terragen, Bryce, whatever. I can't believe it's been close to two years since I regularly did that stuff!

What slows me down (read: brings me to a complete, dead stop) is the price of new props. Those 3D toys that put the zest into the work. They've become waaaay more expensive at the same time as the cost of living has blown out to kingdom come, and my income stream(s) have dwindled away. So, for me it's digital painting, plus the fun of using AI to generate elements for re-re-re-composition. In terms of creativity, I've been "all over the shop," up to and including children's illustration...

...but one of the things I've enjoyed most is going back into older work and matting it, reworking it, turning something old into something new:

...but the major job I've completed recently is a website for the Sherlock Holmes novelist, Dr. Mike Adamson. This was a challenge, because to complete it, I had to illustrate it -- that was part of the deal, and it meant creating over 100 pieces of fresh art in just a few days. Impossible? Mmm, it would have been, in the days before you can source the elements from AI before the work/fun of painting and compositing begins. Suffice to say ... I managed it. Here's a few of my favourite plates, in their original form, prior to painting:

Well, the website was done on time, and ... wow. Not only was it a fabulous experience producing this, but the finished result made me soooo envious, I had to tackle one of my own! Mine, of course, is based more around art and photography than writing, so it's fraught with practical issues that Dr Mike's more text-driven site was not. 

Here is the first site, all done:

...and here's a sneak preview of mine, which is still under construction...

And mine is going to take some seriously hard work to complete, because it'll have something like 500 images, all of which need to be "called" from thumbnails, lest the pages be a 70MB download each. Even given today's speeds, this is impractical. Even a slightly sluggish connection would make for a horrible download experience. But -- when the site is done and uploaded, it will replace the old galley. So, if there is anything you want to grab off that ancient gallery, get it while you can, because when it's gone, it's gone. 

Now, on top of all that ... pile on a nasty case of Covid. I'm currently coughing up both lungs and seriously considering lying down at two in the afternoon. In fact, I believe I will --!