Whooo Goes There?

It's been a long time since I've done an update. I'm still busy with my "day job," so my fun-time projects have really fallen behind schedule. Still, I've managed to work in a little bit of fun here ant there. This illustration is one thing I managed to get done a week or so ago.

Abandoned. Desolate. Shunned... All fancy ways to say "Feared." A child's mind is blissfully uncluttered by concepts of equity, potential and renovation. A child knows when you should just stay away and leave it to the guardians of the night. Listen to the children, listen to midnight warning of the owl on its perch. Just move on, grown-ups. Just move on.

This was a render of Ken Gilliand's Owls of the World vol. 1 that I purchased at the annual Audubon charity sale over at Hivewire3D.com. The render was created in Daz Studio 4.9 with the Iray render engine. This was a quickie, but it was still a nice showcase for the owl figure.

As you might guess from a previous post, I've got owls on the brain right now. So, as I finally wrap up the Ultra reprint project, I'll be adding some new comics fun to my schedule.

Look for some new and exciting posts to come soon.

Black Owl and Hooty WIP 2

Here's the second major iRay render I worked on in DazStudio 4.8. I let the computer run for about 42 hours, which let it reach about 25% completion. This included a new mesh light behind the camera to provide stronger illumination and better defined shadows for their necks and faces. It also provides a really nice shine on their boots and gloves, but you need to open the larger image to see them.

Click on this image for a larger view.
Note that the faces are a lot clearer.

I say a larger view because the click-through image is only 1,000 pixels wide. The actual render was a whopping 3,500 pixels wide. I'm working so large for two reasons:

• I'm thinking of using this for print (either the aforementioned Powers Beyond RPG) or possibly for the Collectors' Club Newsletter (a cool group of comics fans: you can find out more about them here: www.collectorsclubnewsletter.com).
• I find it easier to digitally ink larger images in Manga Studio (if I decide to do that -- I might not).

Obviously, this image is too dark (and the red zone is waaaaay too bright, but that's necessary for it to cast the proper red glow throughout the scene), so I will be doing some postwork on it. Also, it took waaaaay too long to render, so I will be revisiting the lighting options I used for this illustration, and work on tweaking them for future projects.

Black Owl and Hooty WIP

I'm working on a new project (while wrapping up the ongoing projects with ULTRA, Gutshot, etc.)

Click to see larger image.

This time I'm creating some Golden Age superheroes for an upcoming Supers RPG called Powers Beyond.

I'll also be creating some other, futuristic heroes with more SF trappings. This time, however, the project is in COLOR!

This is a fun opportunity to spread my wings a bit and branch out of b&w.

Of course, it also means focusing on new techniques like color lighting, which is what I'm working on in this Work In Progress (WIP) image. For this project, I'll be using Daz Studio 4.8 and the new NVIDA iRay render engine.

As you can see from the image above, I need to master a few more technical issues regarding this new render engine. I'll be posting more images as they become available.