Ball Rolling

What - nothing?

Okay, i'll get things started in here. Here's the last print i created, entitled

8ball corner pocket.

Very nice.

Agreed - if I was an art director I'd be forking out shedloads of cash for stuff like this! Say, what techniques are you using? It almost looks like you have some 3D rendering going on there, combined with digital inking and other sleight of hand. Can you share your terrifying sectrets?

She would look great in a poster. If I asked her out, would she swallow me whole?
(I have it on good authority that -3- has used Lightwave and Flash for at least some of his renderings)

That is amazing -3-! Far beyond my humble scratchings.

I'm not seeing 3d rendering, I'm seeing a fantastic working of lights & shadows though

We should start a book on this! I'm putting five quid on 'rendered' - any takers?

I was about to post answers, but i guess i should wait now, eh?

Are you vector imaging and then rasterizing???? (I don't know what I am on about).

To answer without spoiling the betting, i'll switch images for the moment. (Probably started the bar kind of high anyway)

Yes, my inks are always done in a vector format to allow infinite clean scaling, so the linework for this Jenny Everywhere and friends piece

can be zoomed in to show detail when desired, like

but when i take the inks into Photoshop to work with, the become rasterized (which is to say, changed to bitmap format) for colouring and processing:


Typically, even black and white work like my experiMental Theatre webcomic is rasterized before publication since most browsers won't handle a vector formatted image. Work going directly to the printer might be left in vector format, but not usually. Typically i'd convert it to the print resolution just to check and be sure of final quality control.

Yes, i may be a little obsessive there. Too.

Oh, and i forgot earlier to say Thanks! for the kind words.
Sadly, editors and art directors rarely know what's going on in my hermit cave, and i don't get out to see them since i moved away from the art market. That tends to put a bit of a crimp in things.

This is fabuous.
I am going to have to don my running shoes to keep up with you, artistically, and I'm going to love the run.
(Lightfoot is on hos Christmas Vacation, but I'm sure he feels the same way)

Well, doesn't look like i'm going to interfere with the betting odds, so i'll go ahead and answer now.

Yes, there is rendering in it. Here's the base render for the main image:


That is mixed with inks done in Flash, as RoboTwin pointed out. (BTW, RT - also use 3DStudio and others for render work, depending on what i'm doing) Then they're combined in Photoshop where extensive digital painting takes place. This also involved some photo manipulation, using stock footage of fire distorted to create some of the background layers, as well as other 3D rendering in the background.

As a side note, the image is scaled WAY down. It's geared to print at 24"x36" size, and so is somewhat insanely detailed. As an example - see that little eyeball just to the right of her hand on her shoulder?
Here's the actual size for that:



And, Smoke - sounds good. Much better than calling for Combat Boots!
But, yeah - the idea was to get other people to start posting here.

Fabboo.
I shall now put up a puny offering, in light of what you posted.
Samples of my ComicBook!



Showing my stuff after yours is like hitting someone with a sock after being clobbered with a mace.

Damn geniuses, I'll go and hide under my rock.
I'll just stick with my guest artists from Dover publications and WIkiCommons.
You guys are seriously good. What am I doing here?

To be who you are.

Smoke, I love that island page!

-3-, Thanks for showing a bit of your process. That model is amazing, is she stock or did you build her? I'd love to build models like that but there's no time in the day. Regarding art markets, which one are you talking about, SF, LA or NYC commercial art? I'm ignorant about being professional, but I always thought professional illustrators could work anywhere, especially with the internet. Do you need an agent or to attend parties or conventions to get work? I read on ComicFury how you're worried about living on the street (assume you're not joking). Is there something artists can do collectively (and long distance) to help each other get paying gigs?

Here's my attempt to paint a portrait of a 3D rendered model (I was furious that the model is so perfect, and my painting skill is so flawed):

Yeah, i like the handling and angle shift of view in the time sequencing for that island page, Smoke. Nice work for something that could easily have been left feeling very static. And i'm thinking some Eisner influence on that cover?

Robo, she's made with off-the-shelf parts. The basic figure is created in Poser before exporting and converting to use in Lightwave. I used the Victoria 4.2 model, which is actually a free download from DAZ.com. But to really do good work, you need to pick up the Morphs and Morphs Plus packs. Other tweaks may have come from the Creature Creator morph pack, and the Natural Gravity Morphs set. I frequently use Poser these days to create a quick model that looks at least something like what i'm doing to give me good light and shadows to work with - usually rendering in Lightwave where i have better light and camera control, and far more control of how it renders.

BTW - if you decide to work like that, you need to do a few special things to make it all good when exporting to lightwave. So talk to me for technical details anyone trying this.

Your pic has a lot that's very good about it, it looks like you mostly need more time. I've been a working artist for over 25 years, and was drawing for most of 2 decades before that. Time spent just doing it is the best way to keep developing. I like that you didn't feel bound by the original image and took her hair in a little different styling, too.
When you're working the skin tones, Do you start with white and paint her in from there, or do you lay down a mid tone to lighten/darken from as you shape and shade the face?

And, yeah, Robo - i need to be seen more. The publisher i'd been working with works on a very tight budget, and when my last book wrapped up, they were already working on serializing the two titles that'll run all next year. So, i won't be seeing any work from them for quite some time, and i just don't get out and see people. In fact, i've actively let connections wither and die by my natural hermit tendencies. And, of course, now that it's more critical that i do, i don't have any income to allow traveling or anything to help facilitate that. I moved away from the art market in southern california to a relaxing cave far from the madness of all them peoples. That generally makes me MUCH happier.

Okay, back to more fun aspects of art -

Many of you are familiar with with my webcomic, experiMental Theatre. Seeing as a significant chunk of the membership subscribes, i feel confident in standing by that statement. (Yes, been hearing too many lawyers talk) You may have noticed i started trying Vote Incentives to sucker lure entice readers to move me up in the ranks at Top Web Comics.
After my Christmas Card vote incentive that starts tomorrow, i'm going to run a sneak peak during the last week of the year of things to come in 2011 first few weeks. For you folks here in the ballroom, here's a guilt-free no-bribe copy to keep your voting consciences clean.

3, it's much Eisner. The Shroud is a parody of The Spirit, he comes back to life, but not quite how Eisner would have him be.
Robo, I'm not qualified to critique properly, so I won't. Nothing worse than a hack like me giving advice.
I'm a quick and dirty artist situated between two larger towns. I get steady work, but it takes pointy elbows and the will to do stock order sheets and company newsletters. I have no cumpunctions about doing ads for "Kittens! Kittens! Kittens! Collectable Plates", but I do keep that stuff out of my portfolio. I do, however, pocket the money from said ads. I'm not too proud to take the cash.

Oh, i agree. I have no problem doing that kind of work. My only problem is getting out and selling myself so that editors/art directors know that i'm available to do it.

Worse, you have to sift through five thousand old ladies wanting portraits of their dogs to get that one client out there who wants to pay.
I once had a woman call me 'for a charitable cause', to draw caricatures at the old folks' homes' annual hoedown.
No, those little old people like to think of themselves as young and happy, did she really want me to draw in a style that would emphasize every nook and cranny?
Besides, I hate those things- caricatures, not old people.

Gosh - all kinds of nice looking stuff going on in my absence - shame nobody matched my 5 quid!

Robotwin, -3- makes a very good point: I asume you're working light to dark there, on a white canvas? Some make that look so easy, but you'll pick up so much starting with a mid toned or even dark background. Sometimes I'll chose a colour to work on based on time of day or season or whatever, and that will blend with what goes on top, giving a unified feel to it all which helps a lot. You have a good looking piece there, but if you wanted to take it further I'd suggest trying a version with the mid toned ground - you'll probably find it easier to build up the shadows that way.
Here's an almost complete face from the page I'm working on now. The original ground was very close to the greyish blue you see there and though there's not much of it visible in the face now, it kind of helps to tie everything together.



Personally, I never tried to make a career of art after a brief stint of almost getting into comics. I realised I was just far too lazy to make a living at it!

Arden, 3, Thanks for the tips. She's thrilling! Looks like a new page to Emily England in the works!

Your work always means major business, Arden. You always turn it to 11.

Wot's this?
It's February in some parts of the world and not a single post to this thread yet this year?
Well, that's just not right.

So here's a new self portrait:

-3- wrote:

Wot's this?
It's February in some parts of the world and not a single post to this thread yet this year?
Well, that's just not right.

So here's a new self portrait:

Beautiful. I saw you immediately.
You might get shanghaied to a different thread, if you're not careful.