This was a commissioned piece that I did for one of my dA friends. I’m going to be doing several more commissions, in this case their free. I have been feeling as thought some of my work is growing stagnant so I asked people to challenge me some. While this is a commission, it is loosely directed. Meaning the person gave me the specs for the character, and then I came up with a scene that fit the described personality.
I also got back to doing some modeling in this scene, so most of what is in there is modeled from scratch. By far the most time consuming part of this project was getting the lighting right. Lighting is huge working in 3D, it can make the difference in something looking photo realistic or looking cartoonish.
This image may also be viewed on my web site, Vampire’s Promise.
Just having some fun, a preview to a future animation maybe, we shall see.
Dragon Moon by =stagehand007 on deviantART
I think it’s fair to say that I’ve found my niche in doing vampire themed art. Maybe niche is too strong a work because it implies some level of expertise I think. I’m no expert but I am having the time of my life learning.
Looking at some of my earlier work, stuff that I thought was good at the time looks very poor now. Part of that has to do with the fact that I could and did crank things out rather quickly. As I’ve said before, it’s not all that difficult to render an image with Poser, and one of a beautiful woman at that. I guess it’s an impulse sort of thing.
Same with many of my published hypno based animations. A quick idea, throw in a spiral, and here’s an animation. Now I’ve become more critical of my work and trying to add in the details. It’s those small details that often make the difference between a piece of art and one that is just a quick flash that all your friends say is great.
Speaking of hypno based animations, it’s been well over a year now since I published one. I did mention to a few people that I had one almost finished, and I did sort of. I spent about four days trying to get the sound to loop correctly. Finally it dawned on me that even if I had the sound working the way it should, the animation would not be much different than the dozen or so previous ones that I’ve published. Yet as a 3D artist, I feel or at least hope that I’ve moved onto another level in the types of things I can do.
So I still have the animation but rather than do another fifteen second loop sort of thing, I think I’m going to do a linear animation. Two, three minute sort of thing. This will take some time, but I have some cool ideas and I think in the end it will be something that brings me some satisfaction.
As my last few posts here will confirm, I’ve been spending a lot of time at DA. Making a few new friends and being quite awe inspired by the work of some others.
Ritual Embrace by =stagehand007 on deviantART
Since the beginning of the summer I’ve been working almost exclusively in Cinema 4D. C4D is a full package professional level tool. Among any of the 3D modeling tools I’ve used, it is by far the easiest to use and the most powerful. My skill level barely scratches the surface of what can be done with C4D. Most of my work continues to be character bases and since Poser materials can be used within C4D, it’s been rather easy to make that my exclusive tool.
For the last week or so I’ve been trying to build up my network at Deviant Art and in the process I have seen some stunning work. A lot of that work I noticed was done with Daz Studio. Daz has been around a long time as a sort of Poser clone and for years has been free. It’s still free, but they also now have a commercial version. I have played around with Daz here and there but never truly serious. Since been forced to use a different computer than my primary machine, I decided to download the 30 trial and give it a serious look.
The image below is the same character I rendered yesterday in C4D, this time rendered in Daz Studio. In my opinion the results are certainly an improvement. The difference being while C4D is certainly very strong with it’s texture tools, the character textures are native to Daz, and therefore have much more control in that area.
For this image I have used Bodypaint, the 3D painting tool in C4D, then configured the textures and rendered in Daz. I still have some work to do on her eyes, but she is getting closer to the character I am looking for.
Most 3D work is done in some sort of "pipeline". The modeling, the rendering, and the post work are typically done with different tools, those best suited for the job. I think I got a little off track and consumed with C4D that I started to lose sight of that. I consider myself very fortunate in that I have access to several different great tools, Daz/Poser for character set up, C4D for modeling, Bodypaint for 3D painting and texture work, Vue for environments, and Photoshop for textures and post work. If and when I find the time to get back into animation add in After Effects and Flash.
Ten years ago some of these tools were not even heard of, others were in their infancy. Despite the general state of the world, it is a good time to be into digital art.
They just announced the contest winners for that Halloween contest I entered so I can now post my image, I didn’t win but the one I voted for and thought was exceptionally better than any others including my own didn’t finish in the top five either, guess I’m just a little out of sync.
This is the text that went along with the entry:
"The gossip around the neighborhood, the Beaumont twins were quiet and kept to themselves. Most everyone was certain they had been introduced at one time or another, yet if they thought about it no one could remember when they had or whether or not they had ever been guests in the old Beaumont home.
Yes the twins were quiet, no one could complain, most assumed they both spent a lot of time out of town, usually the only time anyone ever saw either of them was late at night.
It was different on All Hallows’ Eve, the twins hosted a party every year and they both did enjoy a delicious party. And this year as opposed to past, several from the neighborhood were invited. Most could not wait to get inside."
This image was inspired by my fascination with vampires. With the exception of the characters, clothing, and hair everything was modeled and textured by hand, including the character’s skin textures. I used C4D for modeling and rendering. Photoshop and Bodypaint were used for materials. Additionally PS for some touch up postwork.
Not sure about how many hours, but I worked on this image for about 10 days. I had a blast working on this and being very much a student of digital art learned a ton.
Best of luck to all others who are entering, and most of all thanks for sharing your art.
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