What have I been learning lately?

What have I been learning lately? A fair question and quite a valid one, considering how quiet it’s been for the most part. Well, since books have hit a standstill, I’ve been learning new things about lights and cameras. Grabbing every tutorial on the subject I can when I can. Anyone who’s read the earliest Dream Angel books will agree those are indeed weaknesses. True fans wouldn’t have those early books any other way, considering the visible evolution of the art through the books. Improving the art has always been and will always be a goal of this artist.

Now, I’ve noted that a leading complaint about CGI art is that it’s “stiff and lifeless.” Well, alongside the lights and cameras, I’ve been on the hunt for ways to solve that problem, as well. On the one hand, the stiff outfits with morphs are much easier to control and less taxing on the computer when rendering. Although, sometimes, a realistic drape is far more dramatic. I figure I might be able to use both at appropriate times to achieve the effects I want in the scene. Sometimes, a dynamic drape just doesn’t cooperate the way you want it to and it’s not an easy thing to control. I do wish to get some tutorials to help with mastering it, of course! So, the stiffer object with the morphs can take over in the meantime while I’m learning. Fair enough, right?

Taking time to learn new things is just as important as releasing new books, right? Admittedly, it’s been a couple months now since the last book was released, but I believe you’ll find the wait well worth it as books to come will benefit from what’s being learned. So, to finish up, I’ll share a couple of the recent renders and let you see what’s been going on behind the scenes.

Let’s have a look at those new

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Now, let me point out a couple things.

  1. Starting with the first image, lighting is good, but could still use some dramatic flair.
  2. Second one, there’s some drama going on. I’m willing to bet some color adjustments or other tweaks would take it over the top.
  3. The third one, with Techwarrior and his villain Cryptolock going at it is pretty dramatic. I’ll bet there’s some room to tweak it further. You’ll also notice that cape of Cryptolock’s is pretty stiff compared to the
  4. next image and its dynamically draped cape. Between the two, his scenes may well be considerably more dramatic and with dramatic lighting to match… Well, I think you can imagine the improvement.
  5. The next one has Techwarrior in his new dynamically draped outfit. Not so “stiff and lifeless” is he?
  6. The last is the newest with the “chibi” figure I recently found. Nothing dramatic here, just Dream Angel and Nyxus showing off with the new figure. This new figure is quite good, but there’s still going to be some hand-drawn chibi figures for comedic emphasis throughout the books. They’re intentionally cute, but good for the overly emotional chibi style of character infamous to manga.

As you can see, despite being quiet around here, there’s still plenty going on behind the scenes. So, what do you think? Any ideas, tips, suggestions?

3D is lazy?

I’ve heard it numerous times from critics: “3D is lazy! You should do it by hand!” Really? I wonder if they’ve ever tried to use this medium. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not point-and-click. It’s hours of minute adjusting, extreme attention to detail, fussing, tweaking, arguing and sometimes even swearing to get a scene just right. All so a reader can enjoy it for maybe 2-3 minutes as they read the page.

Lazy. Unrealistic. I get a laugh at the complaints when I think of how far this “baby” medium has come. Then I laugh louder when I can prove that even industry professionals use this medium with extremely impressive results. A fantastic example sells things right on the DAZ3D website: John Van Fleet. Here’s his story on the site of how he found DAZ and has put it to incredibly good use for both DC and Marvel! The renders shown on that article page alone are enough to be a total knockout for just about any “lazy” argument I’ve heard.

For someone like me, it’s a matter of learning, getting better tools, studying professionals and improving over time. I have little doubt even John Van Fleet’s earliest renders weren’t near as good as they are now. It takes time to learn, just like any other medium.

So, instead of the useless insults of calling someone lazy for using 3D, how about encouraging them to learn and improve? It’s like comparing a stick figure to the Mona Lisa. I doubt Leonardo DaVinci got that good at painting overnight. Take that into consideration before insulting someone that’s learning to be artistic. Perhaps then instead of being insulting, you’ll be more helpful with what you say to them about their art so they’ll grow and improve.

Adventurous comic books

What happened to the adventurous comic books? I confess I don’t read as many comics as most, but what I’ve seen lately has been disappointing. I’ve seen my share of classic “Golden Age” comics with the funny stories and cheerful colors. They were adventurous with the stories, too. Heroes didn’t have to die constantly to keep reader interest alive.

Even the darker characters such as The Shadow and Green Hornet had their moments of fun and wit with interesting stories more often than not. Looking at more modern comics I find myself wondering, “Where’s the fun and adventure?”

Well, not to sound like an ad or anything, but I can say Dream Angel and Techwarrior both have some of the Golden Age fun and wit. Techwarrior is the darker of the two, but he still can crack a good joke to bring a smile to readers’ faces.

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The idea is to balance old fashioned and modern. The art uses CGI techniques while the stories have that classic adventurous fun and wit. Engrossing beauty with fun characters and thrilling story. This mixture gives both series their marvelous charm.

In other news, Dream Angel #22 has begun rendering! Okay, it’s going far slower than usual, but it has begun. Artistically, this looks to be quite an adventurous comic book. For those that saw the end of Dream Angel #21, you know something big is going to happen very soon. If you haven’t caught up with the story, you should! This is going to be very exciting!

Looking forward to the new book?

Are you looking forward to the new book? I know I am! This book is rapidly becoming a breathtaking example of just how much I’ve learned in the last few years since starting this series. The scenes are definitely fabulous and with the additional RAM for the computer, render quickly. In some cases, I can’t get over despite how used to the program I am, it still manages to surprise me with the renders.

An example would be a render I did just yesterday for page 6. I positioned the camera to sight along an arrow and the reflection of the mountains in the scene on the bow caught me by surprise. Well, I won’t spoil it too much, but this book is most certainly one to be proud of.

I thought it would be fun to share a small sneak peek at the upcoming action. To read more, you’ll just have to wait until it’s released later in the month! Ready? You sure? Positive you’re sure? Here it comes!

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Impressive, aren’t they? Learning new techniques is indeed paying off. This looks to be a very well done book. I don’t dare spoil the action to come, but you won’t want to miss one bit of it!

I’m also happy to say the tablet I got has been paying for itself. Since it thinks it’s a computer, I managed to install GIMP on it. It’s similar to Photoshop and I’ve been putting it to good use. I figured out how to make myself custom brushes from stock character and scene renders. These brushes in turn serve to aid in planning the pages of the book when I’m not at the computer. This means work goes with me even when I’m out. These stock render plan pages are like sketches. Simplistic in nature, but most certainly get the point across as a guide for final rendering.

I’m also finding a comfortable method of script formatting rather than the mere who said what with occasional captions thrown in for good measure. Dream Angel #21 is the first to follow this formatting and it’s quite effective. Combined with the stock render plan pages, the final renders look very close to what I had in mind when I was writing the script the first time. Granted, like any writer, the script goes through a mess of revisions, but usually as I’m planning the pages. For those that don’t know, I’m a very visual person. Visual learner in particular. If I can see what I’m doing or learning, it’s easier for me to understand. Thus this new script style combined with the stock render plan pages has sped things up quite a bit.

What do I mean by speeding things up? Here’s a look at how I plan things for each day:

  1. wake up at 6 or 7AM (give or take a few minutes)
  2. walk dog/breakfast
  3. 8AM (again give or take a few minutes) until Noon I have set aside for rendering the day’s book page. Most of the time lately, it’s been less than 2 hours for rendering the page because of the plan pages and new script format that helps guide the scene. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy in the slightest to get a scene just right, but once it’s set, pose, expression and camera changes are all that I need to do until the next scene change.

Ask anyone who’s never looked cross-eyed at a 3D program to try rendering some of the scenes I’ve done lately and they’ll call you crazy the instant they see the program’s interface. It’s that way with people using Photoshop for the first time, too. Like a deer caught in a car’s headlights they don’t know what to do with all those gadgets, bells and whistles. It’s taken me years to do what I’m able to do now.

Anyway, I’m opening the door to your thoughts on the matter, but make sure you stick to site-wide rules! If you don’t know them, go visit the home page and read them. I love criticism, as long as it’s constructive! Learning from mistakes is very important and I do make a point of trying to learn from constructive criticism.