Galaxy Prime Art 10: Desert World

This is the only two-page illustration I created for the Galaxy Prime RPG. It appears in the Timeline chapter, which explains the history of the GP Universe. To be honest, it has little to do with the material in the chapter, but the chapter came up really short and I needed a BIG filler.

GP, pgs. 134-135:  “The Skenn homeworld in the Tratt system is one of the
harshest environments to be inhabited by any intelligent species. To the casual
observer, it would appear that this is a backward society... but it is actually quite
sophisticated, even though they are not a space-faring civilization, they are ready
(and able) to defend their home at the slightest provocation.”
 -- From Rollo’s Tourists Guide to the Galaxy

So, I found a funky "alien" adobe style buildings and came up with this idea. I originally didn't have the space ships in it, but that side of the illustration just looked so danged empty that I finally decided that I had to do something. So, I popped open the file for the Sector Marshals (pg. 183), took three of the ships and changed the angle and lighting, and then added them to this illustration. The shadows were done entirely in postwork (i.e. in Photoshop). And, looking at them now, i can't get past the fact that I did them so poorly. The buildings have harsh shadows but the ships have soft shadows. I should have compromised between the two and made them the same. Oh well... that's what happens when the editor is also the artist -- stuff like this slips through the cracks.

A close-up of a Skenn settlement.

I don't remember where the background came from. It's either some kind of highly manipulated stock photo, or I drew it from hand. I just don't remember.

BY THE WAY: In case you were wondering, I actually wrote all the captions for these images, including the one above. Most of the time I just wrote the caption and James liked it. This one, however, James took a lot of interest in and helped me fine-tune the details about the Skenn society (for example, the fact that they are not space-faring).

Renderosity: I moved up to #2!

More amazing news! I've no idea why, but I've actually moved up to the #2 Favorite Artist slot in the daily rankings. You can see it here (but only for today).

Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked about this honor.




Here's another Blast from the Past...

Here's another image from the past. I remember this was also created in Vue, and I remember that I really liked the way it came out. The single red ball just seemed to work amidst this field of chrome. I also recall that I actually put a mountain range way off in the distance so there would actually be something in the reflections, rather than just sky. That's the key to reflections... there has to be something to reflect!

Have a Ball
06-17-2004

Renderosity: Holy Cow! Now I'm #3!

Got moved up to #3!
For more info, check out last week's column.

Renderosity.com had a recalculation of the data, and now I'm actually the #3 Favorite Artist of the week!

Needless to say, I'm shocked and amazed. I mean, hitting #6 was amazing enough, but apparently even more people are taking notice of my gallery and are liking what they see.

Which is very cool.

And, to be honest, it doesn't change anything. I'm going to keep making the best images I can and I'll still be my harshest critic (just ask my buddies Mike Murphy or Paul Mauer... or my very bestest "buddy" of all time, my wife, Donna). They'll tell you that I seldom really like my finished work. It's just that I can always see something (even if it's just a line or a shadow) that I could make better. Thankfully, my past experience in newspapers taught me one thing: Once you publish, you need to stop looking at it and move on to the next task.

But, that being said, it's nice to be recognized by my peers. I'm talking to a lot of great people who like what I'm doing, and we're even discussing comics in general and we help each other improve each other's work (I had some great tips on improving the colors in one of my comic book style illustrations).

Anyway, enough late-night rambling. I've gotta get up early for work tomorrow. Before I go, though, I'll leave you with two more creations from my "glass & chrome" period. As with the other two, these were created in Vue D'Esprit waaaaay back in 2004.

Reflections of a Rose
8-24-2004

And here's another one that I had fun with. It is actually the third of a series I made with this bottle -- which I modeled in another program and imported into Vue, which is why the title is "Still Dreaming..."

Still Dreaming of Sandy
7-13-2004

On this one, I recall that the red smoke was difficult to texture properly. Normally I would do this in postwork (i.e. Photoshop), but I wanted it to be reflected properly in the chrome spheres.

Friday, we'll continue the desert theme with a visit to a dry planet in the Galaxy Prime universe! See you then.

Renderosity: I was selected the #6 Favorite Artist of the Week!

This was a pleasant surprise! once more, my work has been recognizes by my peers in the 3D Digital Art Community at Renderosity.com.

As before, there's no prize for this, but it's still quite an honor to be selected out of more than 75,000 artists. Out of these, there are probably 3,500 actively posting within a single week, and of those, about 800+ produce work that is popular enough to be considered. So, #6 out of about 800 or more? Yeah, I'm pretty flattered right now.

Here's what the Website says about the selection process:

Favorite Artists Renderosity's Favorite Artists are displayed here after careful calculation of the statistics artists have accumulated in the last week. The base statistic being the number of members who have added a particular artist to their favorites in the last week, also taken into account are the number of images each artist has uploaded in the last week and the number of comments that have been posted on those images, to distinguish the more visited of two artists with the same number of favorites. The featured thumbnails taken for each artist represent the most popular image to-date that each artist has uploaded, as according to views, comments and favorites. -- from the bottom of the Art Charts page

I decided to preserve the entire list of the Top 20 Favorite Artists from this week by taking a large screenshot of the entire page. You'll obviously need to click on it to read the names on the list.

By the way, if you have a long memory, this happened before in Sept. 2013. That time I was selected the #16 Favorite Artist of the Week. This time I've actually moved up 10 slots!  There's more info about Renderosity and its membership size in that blog: http://mikemitchellonline.blogspot.com/2013/09/i-hit-renderosity-top-20-this-week.html.

Blasts from the Past

Since I've been posting all of my recent artwork here and at the Hawgleg Publishing blog, I'm not going to repeat it all here. Instead, I thought I'd show a few of the really old pieces in my gallery, including "my most popular image," which is the one they used for my thumbnail on the list.

I Left My Heart At Crystal Beach
Sept 1, 2004

Although I still like this image, and enjoyed discussing it with people at the time, it's really not representative of the type of work I do any more. This was created in Vue d'Esprit, which is a very powerful landscape creation program. It does amazing things with water, air, sky, and textures like glass and metal. Back then, I was just playing around with the software, creating whatever image I fancied at the time. These days, I must admit I'm more focused on art for publication online and in print. Here's another image from that same time period -- sort of my "glass & chrome" period, if you will:

Sun and Shadow, Light and Love
Aug. 25, 2004

For me, at this time, the image was all about the reflections and the colors cast by the glass. Again, I like this, but it's not really what I'm into now. If anyone's interested, I may post a few more of these "oldies but goodies" later in the year, after I finish the Galaxy Prime postings, and the series I've got planned for after that.

Galaxy Prime Art 9: Gear & Equipment

Flying away from superheroes and heading back into space, this week I thought I'd show you a little something different that I created for the Galaxy Prime Role Playing Game project. My previous pictures were all of space ships and vehicles, which I admit was a lot of fun. But then came Chapter 9, which included equipment. The fact is, this section was seeming pretty empty, so I had to dig up some designs for gear that looked both alien and familiar. To be honest, I think it came out looking more familiar than not, but at least it looked suitably futuristic.

Galaxy Prime, page 89

The rifle and glasses were free models I downloaded from the StrataCafe.com website (it's a community of Strata Design 3D users who share models, textures, and tips with each other). The pad is my own original creation that I made for a client who kept pushing me to create a more unusual interface for a software control panel. I finally popped this out, and it's all black and chrome and funky. Yup... too funky. We went with something a lot simpler. The model languished in my files, unseen for 6 or 7 years, but, when this project came along, I thought it was a great place to put it to some use.

After the game had been out for a year or so, I met up with game creator James Shade at a convention (OwlCon in Houston, I think), and he mentioned to me that a lot of people had commented on this particular illustration, wanting to know two things: What does it say on the tablet, and what the heck are those those three little things on the right?

The symbols on the tablet are in an "alien font" I downloaded for use int he book. It's name is actually ALIEN, and I'm sorry, but I don't remember where I downloaded it. If I can remember (or find it again), I'll let you know. At any rate, this was the "standard" alien language font that I used in the book. As filler, I wrote a variety of quotes and attributed them to the various races. For example, one such quote (and one of my favorites on pg. 193) states: "Translation of an old Kor saying: 'Don't be afraid to bite the hand that feeds you... sometimes it has the tastiest meat!" The Kor are the Warlords of the galaxy, and not afraid to take power by force.

But back to the tablet. Here's what it says:

If you actually take the time to decode this, you probably have too much time on your hands! But thanks for your enthusiasm.

As for those little things on the side? They're energy cartridges for the laser rifle. They plug in somewhere at the back or bottom. I don't know. I just made it all up, so don't spend too much time trying to find any logic or hidden meanings..

CCN: Superhero Cover 2

Two weeks ago I showed you my first efforts in using Manga Studio 4 EX to digitally ink a character I had created and rendered in a 3D program called Daz Studio 4.6 Pro. I spent so much time explaining the project to you that I never really commented on the work I did.

To be blunt, it was a good first start, but there are a lot of errors and technical problems that I'll need to address. For instance, the line weights are very inconsistent (note the thickness at the bottom of the legs and the thinness around the head). Not to mention my sloppy work defining his abs.

Nevertheless, I decided this was a decent start, so I sent it to the CCN editor so he could use it as a simple interior illustration, either in the fanzine or our Facebook group. I decided to go really retro with the b&w version, using a large halftone pattern and some digital noise inside the cape. I also decided to create this funky "past into future" faded version of the image, showing him transition from b&w to modern color.

It's a fun technique, and I think it does an even better job of showcasing the inking issues I have with this image. But... in spite of all the things I see wrong with it, it's still good enough for a comics fanzine. This has a nice retro vibe and I can dig it!

BTW: Wish me luck on finishing the cover. It's due July 16. In order to keep it under wraps from the members, I won't be posting a full version of it until after the fanzine is published and mailed. So, look for it sometime in August.

See you next Friday as we return to the reaches of space and visit a desert planet being pestered by space ships and a hint of war. And no, Luke Skywalker does not make an appearance! See ya then!

Happy Fourth of July

I thought we'd take a break from my sci-fi artwork and spend a little time here on earth to honor the men and woman who have contributed to making our nation a great bastion of hope and freedom.

I'm not going to lie... in recent years, the divisiveness in the United States is making it hard to put aside politics and focus solely on the meaning of this day. But, looking at this illustration I created a few years ago, I can try. I've never discussed the imagery in this picture with anyone before. But it is there.

• The hat is white because we are the good guys.
• The gun is there because we must never be afraid to fight for the rights and freedoms that are enumerated and stated so eloquently in the Constitution upon which it sits.
• There are six bullets present... They represent the fact that we fired off the first six shots securing the past. Now we must reload to secure the future.
• The American Flag is in the background because it is the backdrop against all that we do, every day, to ensure that the freedom it represents never fades into the black shadows that cling to its surface.
• And why the cowboy imagery? Yes, I created it for Hawgleg Publishing (the company my buddies and me founded to publish our Western game, Gutshot). But more than that, I believe -- no, I'm convinced that the hope for the future lies in the mindset and patriotic hearts of the the men and women who embody the spirit of the South and the West. So yeah, I think our best hope lies in the cowboy spirit that has not, and WILL NOT, fade from the South and Southwest regions our great nation.

I hope I'm not being too highbrow or preachy today. But the truth is in the words you see here: "Liberty is never without cost." I hope, in the years to come, we don't shirk from paying that cost with steadfast determination and humble hearts.