Victoria 5 and Genesis Created in Daz Studio 4

A couple of years go I wrote the post Free Nude Models (And other stuff) This post has been well received but technology has progressed and it’s time I wrote a whole new version! Daz 3D have completely changed their platform to make use of the latest technology. the old figures still work and will work in the new programs, but, sadly, are no longer free. However- all is not lost! for a short time only you can download Daz Studio 4 Pro with the insanely powerful genesis package for free.

What is Genesis you ask? Genesis is Daz’s answer to figures and morphing. rather than having separate Victoria and Michael figures you have one Genesis model who can morph into either, or a combination of the two, or three or as many combinations as you want. if you want Michael with some troll and breasts you can have it. if you want a little victoria fae child you can create it. There are some great options included in the package to give you loads of flexibility in your model but the more addons you buy, the more options you have to create truly unique figures. and clothes morph with the figure. for me, however, the best part is the weight mapping. weight mapping simply means that the figure has some squishability to it, so when you bend the knee, the flesh pushes aside as it would in real life- rather than just passing into itself. this creates more realistic bends and better movement. there is more rigging and superior handing in almost every way.

you do need to buy more addons to fully make use of Genesis (just as you needed to buy the morphs for Victoria 4 to fully work) but for now, you can get the amazing Daz Studio 4 Pro for Free which includes Genesis, several morphs (including male, female and child), clothes, lights and sets. you can get started immediately in 3D and then decide if you want any addons. This technology is a game changer for the 3D world and it is worth exploring if you are interested in using 3D to create nude models for reference in your art, or just for fun!

For Free Poses and some more morphs check out Adam Thwaites’ site Poser Free Stuff (Warning: there’s a lot!!)

Let me know how you go! I’d love to see your renders or the drawings you create from them!

Created in Daz|Studio – Rendered in Reality and Lux

I use Daz | Studio Pro (free for a limited time! Get it now!) for my 3D reference images. It is my inspiration and my studio almost as much as my physical one. Daz Studio uses the 3Delight render engine which is fine. It’s worked really well for me and will continue to do so. It’s fast and effective.

The difference, however, is approximation.

Rendering through 3Delight you use shaders to approximate how materials such as glass and metal look. You use preset maps or ray tracing to approximate shadows and reflections. This is why it’s so fast. In a nutshell it guesstimates how things should look.

Enter physics based renderers. Lux is the one I use and Reality is what ports the information across to it. There is no guesstimating here- except on the part of the user. Lights are used as they are in photography, materials are calculated and the rate at which light passes through things or rebounds off them is determined through exhaustive scientific calculations. this is very processor intensive but in the end it creates the best real-world settings for your 3D renders! I am still learning all I can about this amazing tool, but so far I am delighted with the results.

All my life I have had a very specific way of working. In high school I would research an essay topic up until the day before it was due, then pull an all nighter to get it done. I would cram to study the night before, I would spend all year thinking about gifts to buy then buy them all in the rush two days before Christmas at 3am.

And mostly this worked very well for me. I got great marks, I bought the right gifts and I somehow developed the notion that I can only work with a deadline looming.

“I’m great with deadlines!” I would say

Unsurprisingly, I moved into project management where everything is planning and everything is deadlines and best of all, the deadlines are for other people! I mean sure, it was my ass on the line if it went over time or budget, but it never did because I’m great with deadlines.

Now that I’m an artist, I plan everything. I plan my next 5-10 works, posts, tweets, exhibitions… I have shows to propose for and applications to file, I have ideas coming out my ears! But I don’t have deadlines for most of these things. And often they don’t happen. For the first time in my life I make the deadlines for myself and I’ve come to a new realization..

I suck at it.

I can organize anyone and anything, but i can’t organize myself out of a wet paper bag. I can paint a work for an impossible deadline, But i can’t paint a steady stream when i don’t have one looming. I can do anything in my career, As long as I have been given a close deadline.

But I can’t keep going on like that anymore. February and March made me realize that I have to learn to manage my time better. I have to force myself to think more than a month or two ahead and work consistently. This involves unlearning a lifetime of bad habits. But hopefully it will mean that I can avoid the peaks and troughs, the 13 hour studio days and the resulting 13 hour physical and emotional crash days. I can’t physically take it and if I manage my time better I shouldn’t have to. There has to be a better way and I’m going to find it.

Thomas Kinkade, the “painter of light” died this week. I remember visiting one of his galleries as a kid and being struck by the saccharin cookiecutter sameness of his pieces. The shopkeeper (I wouldn’t say gallerist exactly) took great pains to point out the lights in the paintings, and even dimming the lights so that I could see how they “glowed like real lit windows!”

I was impressed by her dedication and passion bordering on fervor, and her not immediately assuming, as a young teenager, I wasn’t a buyer. She treated me like any client and was delighted to share her love of his art with me.

I was not impressed by the paintings. I do not agree with his self assessment that he was like Rockwell, but I decided then and there that I wanted to create art that inspired people like that, I wanted that passion and that love.

However you may feel about his paintings, you cannot deny he was a master marketer. He saturated his market, his works invariably looked and felt the same, but they sold. they were licensed extensively and well loved by many. His devotion to his own work showed throughout and he believed in himself unreservedly. Each of his works on his site has a story and description and he seemed to genuinely love his subjects.

His legions of minions inspired me to build legions of my own, to gain love and passion and to inspire the world. While I may not have an empire like that yet, Thomas Kinkade inspired me by showing me how much you can achieve. He was my first modern exposure to the artist as a celebrity. And I liked it.

High on the successful completion of Icarus (on display through march at steamscape), one of the most complex paintings I’ve ever done, I immediately launched into Midnight. A painting which promises to be not only similarly complex, but also the largest oil painting I will have made to date. And on another deadline.

I forgot one tiny thing.

I needed to forget. I needed to erase the previous painting from my mind, I needed to clear the air and relax before launching into yet another challenge. I needed to breathe and limber up. I needed to do anything other than work myself into a stress frenzy about deadlines and proceed to push myself, already past the point of exhaustion, to Paintpaintpaint. Nao.

Guess which one I did?

Do you know where that stress frenzy of painting got me? Three complete erasures, (uncounted partial ones) two breakdowns, two 3-4am finishes, and a whole lot of time and energy wasted. In 40degree Australian heat. If I had taken the time to relax, to prepare, to mentally for this piece, I would have gone into it with a clearer mind, and probably would have saved time and sanity along the way.

But that isn’t the way I do things.

if I am being honest with myself, I would agree that this was all a learning experience and that I will know better for next time. Except I won’t. And the fact is that each time I went back over it I learned something. It was a little bit better. It was a little stronger and bolder. And now I like where it is. I am feeling the pressure of my deadline. But now that the bones of the painting are laid out for all to see I can finally relax and start fleshing them out.

I am undecided about including the straps across the torso from the original render. They are cute, but I don’t want to take away from the piece. There is a lot going on in this one and I like the planes of the torso, they add a stark relief from the darkness.

What do you think? To strap.. Or not to strap?

Yesterday we held Granny’s Interment. My Uncle is visiting from the US and it was really important that we all gathered together to say goodbye. Yes it was two years ago, but she is finally home now. it was a joyous celebration of who she was and a chance for us to share stories and talk about her wonderful, crazy life.

I organized the music. it was wonderful remembering the music that she loved, like MacArthur Park- because despite her many talents my Granny couldn’t cook. and Jonathan Livingston Seagull which she adored. she loved the story of a seagull who wanted to do more, soar higher than ever before.

this post is a tribute to her memory. I’m glad to have had the chance to say goodbye, and thankyou for making me the artist I am today.
Skybird spread your wings…

There are times I wish I could save it as it is. I really like the way it looks now, but I can’t wait to see it finished either! Ah well, that’s what photographs are for!

The finished work will be appearing in a very cool steampunk show during Loréal fashion week so stay tuned!

This woman has buttocks, but no dividing line.

You can see where the heal tool was used, and you know that even with some shapes there is no way that this woman was born without a buttcrack.

In Japan, anime with nude breasts can be shown on any channel at anytime- providing the nipples are removed.

In many countries the tiniest bikini (an inch covering the butt and nipples) is enough to satisfy propriety while nudity or g-strings aren’t.

The details, it seems, must be covered or removed.

This makes me wonder. Is it the breast that’s “offensive” or is it the nipple? Are buttocks a problem or just the crack? Why are they offensive? Is it because the are the functional part of that zone? Or because they are the defining characteristics of those dodgy areas? If nipples are the offender then why are men’s acceptable?

Consider this an open forum, I want to hear your thoughts on these questions!

Well, that was a nice break! I’ve had a chance to relax and a chance to be sick as well. Yay. but now it’s time to get back to work. This year I want to try writing shorter posts and see how that goes. The plan is to actually publish more. We shall see!

A lot of my Daz time of late has been more technical in nature, a lot of tweaking and experimentation. I have some new toys that I have been practicing with! This is the result of some experimentation and I love the eerie light quality! I still want to tweak the head a little, but it’s coming along really well, I look forward to painting it up.