I I’m very happy that the old Freaky Frogster has made the Home Page. Thanks to all who have commented on the little guy and thanks to Re…
I I’m very happy that the old Freaky Frogster has made the Home Page. Thanks to all who have commented on the little guy and thanks to RedBubble for putting him in the front row.
I just hit over 10,000 views since the short time I’ve been here. I want to thank all of you that have supported, commented, and viewed…
I just hit over 10,000 views since the short time I’ve been here. I want to thank all of you that have supported, commented, and viewed my work, my hats off to you all. / Larry
This has been a good week for me first I had a profile written about my art and now my frog pic “Mossy Bogg’ made the Featured list. Tha…
This has been a good week for me first I had a profile written about my art and now my frog pic “Mossy Bogg’ made the Featured list. Thank you RedBubble and all who support me and my art. :-)
I want to thank micmac for buying Mossy Bogg...
I want to thank micmac for buying Mossy Bogg / for her son who she says loved it when he saw it yesterday. Micmac I hope he enjoys it and let me know how it looks. Thank you so much again. / Larry
I want to say a big thank you to who ever bought The Old Barn as a card. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. Thank you again. / Larry
From a childhood love of fairy tales to her present dark and stylish digital art, welcome to the world of Lyndsey Hayes (Lyndseyh), co-mo…
From a childhood love of fairy tales to her present dark and stylish digital art, welcome to the world of Lyndsey Hayes (Lyndseyh), co-moderator of the RedBubble group ‘The Art of 3D’. Lyndsey works full-time as a computer programmer in the UK, but has always had a need to create artistically, ‘it’s an itch I have to scratch.’ She was inspired early by the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites, and is a huge fan of Salvador Dali and fantasy art. For her, one of her most enjoyable aspects of art is the unexpected results, and ‘how with minor changes, you can make an average image shine – I love those moments.’ While not having studied art formally, she has been through many ‘arty phases’. These have involved pencil and charcoal portraits of friends and family, as well as a few commissions, and fantasy art using traditional acrylic painting. Lyndsey first ventured into digital art through photo manipulation in Photoshop. ‘When I first got my camera, I bought a premier issue of a photographic magazine on the way back from London to read on the train, and it had a load of tutorials on photo manipulation in Photoshop 7.0. I promptly became obsessed with manipulating and creating art from photographs.’ From there, she evolved into 3D art, which she has been doing for about two years now, using ‘Poser, Photoshop and Painter mostly – I also use other 3D programs like Bryce, Vue and Carrara occasionally. Typically, I will create several scenes in Poser, which I then merge together to make one image for manipulation in Photoshop. I’m pretty heavy on the post work so I typically do all the lighting and most of the background stuff in Photoshop. I will then switch to Painter to work on the skin and hair.’ For Lyndsey, the appeal of 3D art is the photo-realistic effects that are possible, and the speed in which you can get great results. Her drawings and paintings would take a long time to complete, so when she started her own business, she had little time for art. She says that 3D art is ‘ideal for people who have time restrictions,’ and that, ‘typically I will spend about 6-8 hours on one image. The longest time I spent on one image is Necromancy which took me about 15 hours in all.’ The quickest image had taken her about 2 hours. Lyndsey’s love of fairy tales is evident in her fantasy-filled gallery, and she says she keeps coming back to mystical, magical sorceresses. She says she has ‘always been fascinated with people’s faces, which is why so many of my images are portraits. I think women are more interesting to draw and paint than men and fantasy art is so wonderful because by definition there are no boundaries to it – you can draw or paint whatever you like. My images are very organic and have a bit of a life of their own. They often don’t evolve as I expect them to. I try to keep an open mind and go with the flow so they end up how they end up.’ When asked about her favourite image, Lyndsey said, ‘It’s probably necromancy because I love the implication that something really powerful and unexpected is going to happen.’ / Necromancy Lyndsey’s 3D art has been very successful, getting ‘Image of the day’ on ImagineFX’s (a UK fantasy art magazine) website with ‘Only Ask if You Want To Know’, plus images published on the DVD with an issue of their magazine. / Only Ask if You Want To Know When DAZ3D re-launched their website last year, the image ‘Temptress’ was used on their home page for a number of months, as well as being published in ‘Exotique 3’ by Ballistic Publishing last year. / Temptress She currently has her gallery featured on Artzone, which has helped enormously to raise her profile. In closing, Lyndsey has offered this great advice for people interested in 3D art- / (1) Practice makes perfect – my very first Poser render (which is indescribably dreadful) is enough to inspire confidence in anyone interested in Digital Art :) / (2) Paint what you’re passionate about – it will give your images life and make them particularly interesting. / (3) Realistic expressions are what make a character (whatever the genre) relatable, so spend as much time as is necessary on them.
Aiko Serendipity Fleur Kelly (F.M. Gore-Kelly) got started with 3D art through a fortuitous meeting with a model – a 3D model! A sea…
Aiko Serendipity Fleur Kelly (F.M. Gore-Kelly) got started with 3D art through a fortuitous meeting with a model – a 3D model! A search for the Japanese Kanji for ‘Aiko’ (Little Loved One) instead uncovered Aiko 3.0 at DAZ3D. Downloading the free DAZ/Studio and free content led to an addiction with the art form! A full-time student, Fleur is studying a Diploma of Graphic Design, and hoping to follow it on to University to do a Bachelor of Interactive Gaming Design. Starting out as a self taught artist has helped with her current studies, particularly in the 3D area. She says she is inspired by colours, “certain colour combinations really inspire me. I find when colours are used extremely well I’m drawn in to them. They make me think of distant places I would love to visit one day.” And she creates because she loves to. “Art is a way for people to express their emotions without having to say a single word.” “I want to create something different. Something Unusual, that when people see my art they don’t say ‘Oh man… I’ve seen something like that 100 times today already’. Making sure you are different from everyone else can be extremely difficult at times. I don’t want to get onto a band wagon.” Her focus on uniqueness, and passion for cultural diversity drive her art. “I think all Ethnic groups are amazing and beautiful. It makes me seriously cry when I think of how much racism there is in the world. It’s the differences in each other that should draw us together and love each other.” Her love of period themes also comes through in her artwork, and she says “I love the 1910’s and 20’s (I really want to get my butt into gear and do more stuff based on that period in time).” From the human form to imaginative fantasy, her portfolio is wide ranging. She is not afraid to tackle sensuality and nudity, saying that for her the human body is an extremely beautiful thing in all shapes and sizes. And while she has a love of fantasy art, for her it still needs to be based in reality; to look like it could be real. The freedom of 3D art provides the appeal for Fleur, “Freedom to just try new things. If they don’t work I can easily just start over again without thinking ‘Oh man! I just wasted 30 dollars worth of paint’” When not using the computer she creates with ink, pencils, charcoal, oil and acrylic paint, as well as photography and creative writing. On the computer, the range of software used includes POSER 7, DAZ/Studio, Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator, and 3DS MAX (rarely to make accessories and props). Her temperament at the time of creating influences how long it takes to create a completed work, “It could take 30 minutes or it could take me 5 weeks.” Her personal favourite images are ‘Black Pearls’ and ‘Wild’, both of which started as completely different ideas. She says ‘Black Pearls’ “started out as a project to do something for the my Star sign Aries. But half way through I thought to myself ‘Wait! She looks beautiful without the Ram horms’ So I took off the horns and I went from there.” / Black Pearls “And as for ‘Wild’ it was originally inspired by the Roxie from the musical ‘Chicago’ But as I was going along, something wasn’t right. It wasn’t fitting, meshing. Then I heard the song ‘A Wild, Wild Party’ and it totally hit me! And I went off in a different direction again. Check out The Wild Party “ / Wild Her parting advice for other 3D artists is “It’s not the equipment that you’ve got; it’s how you use it. I started with a free program and free content and I built up my collection from there. We all have to start somewhere. Practice really does help develop perfection. Aim to be different. And be colourful!”
Link listing of free software relating to graphics and imagery. These are either freeware, open source or donationware – *not free trials…
Link listing of free software relating to graphics and imagery. These are either freeware, open source or donationware – not free trials. Some are “light” or free versions of a full-version software. As with anything, PLEASE READ THE TERMS OF USE and Licensing for each thing you download. Just because it is free that doesn’t always mean you can use it for commercial outputs. I have not tried all of these personally, so I can’t give you recommendations on their functionality; the graphic/paint programs which I have used (some I still use for certain things) may have notations of my opinion on them, but it is just that, my own personal opinion. Many of these are available for both Mac and PC, but you’ll have to go check at the link site yourself – make sure you check the system requirements before you install anything (mamy older programs may not be compatible with WindowsXP or Vista), and be sure you have an up-to-date antivirus. I have accessed all of these links and downloads with no warnings, but it pays to be safe. One last thing…if you use free software and find it useful, please donate to the creators (or upgrade to the paid version if they have one at reasonable cost) when you are able. Donations are how we can encourage free software makers to continue making the software free. MINI ANIMATORS FOR ANIGIFS Unfreez2 I have been using this since the days of “blinkies” – this is probably one of the tiniest programs – takes up no space and almost no memory and creates an animated gif. You need to have all your files ready to go when you use this. There is no time line, and not much in the way of control, so it’s not for those who use more sophisticated programs. It will, however, make a decent animated avatar. Pivot by Peter Bone. A stick-figure animator. There is a sample on the homepage. Another very simple program to create small anigifs and and avatars. Click the software link to go to the download page. GRAPHICS & PHOTO Editing PaintStar – supports 30+ file formats, image morphing, full editing/graphic tools, supports layers and multiple paths. Freeware. GimPhoto & GimPad / GimPhoto is a GIMP modification with a new menu layout, a great selection of plugins, and many additional resources for a more professional look and feel in a digital photo retouching and image editing application package. It more closely resembles the look of Photoshop. Portable Gimp You can run this version of GimpShop from a thumb drive, or cd/dvd instead of installing it. Be sure to read the installation info – you will need to download at least one other file if you want the interface to look like Photoshop. There is a third file that gives you the PS background window, however, I did not download this since it is buggy. I recently got this Portable Gimp for my new laptop (already own two versions of CS (2 & 3) for different computers, so I can’t afford another version for a travel computer (particularly when I don’t plan to do much editing on it). The laptop has Vista Home Premium on it, and this portable version with PS GUI file installed seems to work just fine. New Photobie and Photobie Studio Both versions are free. There are also helpful forums and tutorials on the site. NOTE For anyone interested in other “portable” applications, the “PortableApps”: site has a goodly number. You can find the page here These are all freeware or open source, and it includes the Mac OS (an older version – see Mac-on-a-stick). Ivy Generator – not really an editing program, but it generates fairly realistic ivy for use in your collages or other imaging. Artrage2 (free version & paid version is only $25 – freeware version is somewhat limited but good for basic art) Artweaver (decent simple painting program with variety of drawing styles and supports layers and transparency – good for creating patterns and texture) Cenon for mac or linux (haven’t used this since it won’t work on PC, but it looks interesting and I’d love to try it) Gimp (one of the most powerful open source image editors with an interface and functions similar to Photoshop) ImageMagick Inkscape Vector Graphics program (a bit of a learning curve with this; similar in function to Adobe Illustrator) Paint.net (drawing and paint program; supports layers) Pixarra’s Twisted Brush Free Edition Pixia Drawing & Painting) Photofiltre – this version is free and does not support layers, the studio version is 29 euros (the studio version supports layers and transparency and has many functions similar to Photoshop) Project Dogwaffle Free Version Serif DrawPlus Skencil Vector Graphics Smooth Draw Nx MobaPhoto – not an image editor or paint program, but useful to create image galleries for websites. PANORAMA MAKERS Open Source Panorama Tools Autostitch Canon Panorama Stitch PanoGuide FRACTAL PROGRAMS Fyre – random image generator. This is pretty cool. Apophysis Chaoscope Double Fractal Endlos Fractal Explorer Fractal Forge Fractal Studio Fractint Gnu Xaos Mandala Explorer Tierazon Specifically for Mac – fractals Spangfract / Spanky’s Fractals for Mac Listing SCREENCAPTURE SOFTWARE Cam Studio (records video screen captures to avi or swf) MWSnap (I used this one for years – pretty good, very easy) Easy-Capture (very similar to the “CaptureIt” software) ScreenHunter FastStone IMAGE CATALOGUES/ORGANIZERS Lightbox Picasa Windows Live Photo Gallery WEB-BASED IMAGE EDITORS (thanks to Jo Obrien for this link – there’s ten image editors here that are web-based) 10 Web Editors 3D SOFTWARE Amabilis 3D Canvas Anim8or Art of Illusion Blender Bryce 5.5 Daz3D Studio POV-Ray Serif 3D Plus SketchUp sPatch Terragen trueSpace from Caligari Wings 3d World Creator and Buttonmaker by Inet 3d Add-ons, Utilities and Models (listed on Verchi forums) General Use For Bryce and Blender For Daz3D, Poser and Others The above links are to 3 forum threads (stickies) elsewhere – the lists were compiled by me for that forum (which is now defunct, but still accessible), and includes plugins, add-ons and utilities, and links to sites where you can obtain things like free models for 3D and free textures. Please be sure to check the model downloads for licensing terms. If you are unsure about using a model in a sellable product, email the modeler – they are usually very good about responding. Mostly they don’t want you sell or give away the model/mesh, but will usually allow it’s use in a rendered image for sale. If the license doesn’t state that it is available for commercial use, please don’t use it without contacting the owner first. A simple email from them will act as a license for your renders. If they don’t allow it, please don’t do it. Other Useful Utilities Revo Uninstaller – very good program to help in uninstalling programs that don’t come with their own uninstaller. Yes, windows has an uninstall function, but sometimes there are bits left behind. Revo can help with that. Freeware CCleaner A cookie cleaner that cleans out a lot more than cookies. It can also do a registry check and remove unnecessary entries. Freeware PC Inspector Smart Recovery – recover image files from memory cards Startup Control Panel For those who want to control what programs load on startup, but aren’t sure how to do it, this small control panel applet is a useful tool. (I’ve loaded this onto both my daughters’ computers because they don’t understand how to stop the unnecessary programs from loading. This little program was easy to explain to them.) Those who understand computer maintenance and techs won’t need or want this, since you can do the same from your control panel. Startup Monitor A small program that monitors your startups and notifies you when any program/file registers itself to run at startup. RunAlyzer, FileAlyzer, RegAlyzer – from the makers of Spybot S&D RunAlyzer / Gives an overview over many relevant system settings, intended to replace the Tools section currently integrated into Spybot-S&D. FileAlyzer / FileAlyzer allows a basic analysis of files (showing file properties and file contents in hex dump form) and is able to interpret common file contents like resources structures (like text, graphics, HTML, media and PE). RegAlyzer / RegAlyzer is a tool to browse and change the registry. Office Software Open Office.org (comparable to MS Office) Floppy Office (a software package containing a dozen applications. The entire thing will run from a thumb drive, a floppy, or your computer. A very small download for those with connection issues. Contains a useful ftp client.) Computer Security & Antivirus Software How to Remove Antivirus XP, Antivirus XP2008, Antivirus XP2009 (there have been a spate of infections of this nasty, so it seems helpful to include this link, which also includes appropriate software downloads). How to Remove VIRUS ALERT (ditto the above) Spybot Search & Destroy – variety of functions including cleanup of malware, adware, browser protection, system internals and other uses. HijackThis – helps remove browser hijacks, homepage hijacks, identify & remove malware, adware, trojans etc. NOTE: do not use this on your own if you don’t know anything about computers. If you need help to identify and clean up computer infections go to What The Tech (formerly TomCoyote forums) and post your problem in the appropriate forums. If you need help or explanations, bmail me. A-squared – very good anti-trojan. They also have pro versions of the anti-trojan, as well as anti-malware. Malwarebytes – a variety of useful anti-malware tools. Tried and true; I’ve used some of these quite often to clean up other computers. Adaware Free – adware removal tool (other tools available, though not necessarily free) – I don’t use this one personally. AVG Free Antivirus – Free antivirus & browser protection. I’ve read some minor complaints about false-positives with this, but I’ve been using this for about five years with no complaint. I also install this on every computer I clean. One thing to note about some OEM software installed on new computers – products like Norton & MacAffee: the subscription for free virus signature updates will often run out after a year or two – be sure to check yours if this is what you use. This happened to both of my daughters – thinking they had antivirus software. Avast Free Antivirus – another decent freeware antivirus I’ve used. ThreatFire (formeryly known as Cyberhawk): “ThreatFire is different. It does not rely on signatures, but instead constantly analyzes your computer’s behavior to detect and block any malicious activity. ThreatFire protects immediately so you know your PC and your valuable data is always secure.” Rather than listing all of these available products (which there are many – but be careful, because some will cause more harm than good to your computer) here’s a trusted site where there’s a decent listing of helpful programs: Freebytes Guide to Free Anti-virus/Anti-malware Pacs Portal A fairly large listing of computer start-up programs (.exe files) and what they do, or what they are used for, and whether or not your computer needs them to load on start-up. It also lists start-ups for trojans and malware which makes this site extremely helpful in identifying the files that are loading in your process list. CHILDREN There are also some drawing & paint programs in the free/open source category available specifically geared to children in age ranges from 4 or 5 to 10 or 12. Encourage the artist in your children from a young age. Tux Paint Drawing for Children Smooth Teddy LAST BUT NOT LEAST Here’s a site that I check every day. I’ve gotten a couple of pretty decent programs from here. They offer a licensed software download for free, every day. To get it licensed you must download and install it on the day it’s given away – and you need to follow the activation instructions in the downloaded zip file. Give-away-of-the-day There are two drawbacks here: most of the time the software offered is of no use or interest to me personally (that doesn’t make it bad, it could be that stuff offered is very useful to someone else), and secondly…if your computer crashes or you buy a new one, the software license can’t be recovered or transferred to another computer. There are, however, times where the software will be offered again at a later date. NOTE: you can’t always trust the thumbs up/thumbs down ratings. A lot of people will give the software a thumbs down because it’s of no interest to them. I’ve been following this site for about six months, and I have a number of programs I use (including Business Cards MX3.9, Wondershare’s WebVideo Author, Sound Editor Deluxe, A2 Antiwaremalware, Moyea Flash Video MX, Acoolsoft Powerpoint to Video Converter, Photo Story Gold, iSpring Pro, Wondershare’s Photoo Collage Studio and their Flash Slideshow Builder, and Dogwaffle’s “PD Particles”), Dogwaffle Project (not the free one), and like from them, along with 3 games. You can scroll through some of the previous give-aways on the main page to see the variety of stuff they offer. On the weekends, they offer a free game give away on their sister site Game-give-away-of-the-day This is not a complete listing of all freeware available, but it is fairly representational of what’s available, from the simple to the more complex. If anyone has links that fit these categories, please feel free to add them in the comments section, or bmail them to me and I’ll add them into the body with a notation of who submitted them. / __________ One of the reason’s for this compiled list is that I find myself frequently pointing people to links for software of this nature. I just thought it would be easier to keep it one place.
There are so many beautiful collaborations on Red Bubble.. there should be more of them. Anyway, I thought I would write a bit about h…
There are so many beautiful collaborations on Red Bubble.. there should be more of them. Anyway, I thought I would write a bit about how i collaborate with some of the amazing photographers on this site and maybe share a few tips. I usually import the photo Im working on into one of my 3D programmes so i can match the lighting perfectly. I am not a photoshop expert so this works better for me. Some use photoshop as the base programme and add their own work from there with brilliant results… I just cant do it that way! So after I have imported the photo I want to work with, I start character development. Sometimes the photo I am using has already inspired a vision in my head, sometimes I just want to work with a brilliant photo so badly I start with nothing in my head at all. After creating the character, colouring and texturing it the way that best suits the photo, I start on the lighting. Lighting can make or break a picture. A 3d programme is like a stage… you have cameras, lighting and a huge area to work on. The character can spin round, walk or be made to talk but obviously the background does not move. I can place the lights anywhere I like on this stage… in front of the character, behind it, above it… just anywhere. I can also use different types of lights, point lights, distant lights… a whole range. I can put ‘filters’ over the lights to make effects and different colours…. the possibilities are endless. How the lights hit and reflect on the characters is something i do while adjusting the colours and textures on the character itself. So, once the texturing, colouring and lighting are good I will ‘render’ the picture…. this can take an hour or even days, depending on how complicated the lighting and texturing has been set up. Then the picture is saved and taken to a programme like photoshop or paint shop pro. I use paint shop pro more because I am more familiar with it. Usually at this stage the picture isnt bad, but it has issues like the character looking a bit ‘stuck on’. This happens whether the picture has been created in a 3D programme or created entirely in a photoshop type of programme. I generally sharpen the picture at this point, adjust the colouring a bit for a ‘cool’ effect then i cut out pieces from the original photo… rocks, grass water, whatever and tube these pieces up. I will arrange these new pieces of the picture (tubes) on the original picture, usually around the lower part of the character. At this stage I merge all the layers I have made. Ok so now I have a beautiful photo, a stuck on character, and some stuck on rocks and grass. Its now looking like amateur hour. So, I take the paint programmes’ paintbrush, set it to black and about 17 percent opacity with a ‘darken’ blend mode and I start painting around the edges of the stuck on rocks, grass and lower part of the character with a very fine brush. Then I use the ‘soften’ tool and paint over the edges of the black I have just painted on. I am sure there is an easier way of doing this, but its how I cope with the blending issue! I also paint in some extra shadowing at this stage…mostly around the character so it throws some natural shadows. When I place a character in a photo, I try and place it where there is natural shadowing so I dont have to paint too many shadows during the postwork phase. Ok so now the picture is looking more natural. I may use Flaming Pears “glare” or ‘flood’ at this stage, depending on the picture. Then I may add some premade mist, sparkles or seaspray, depending on the scene I have made and its done! Hope this is helpful!
Ok, lately I have felt that I need to explain about the process of making a 3D picture. Typically, 3D art is part of something bigger…
Ok, lately I have felt that I need to explain about the process of making a 3D picture. Typically, 3D art is part of something bigger… the art is made in an animation programme (movie making software). The art you see in my portfolio is like a ‘still’. Not every artist builds their 3D picture with a view to animating, but I thought I would let you know of the software’s capabilities. Firstly, 3D software is not easy to learn. Its like a big stage on your computer, props, figures, lighting and cameras can be added, just like a movie set. Everything can move around where ever you want it to. The characters can talk if you have the right software. I am not going into the animation side of things, just the still picture. Many people can contribute to a 3D picture…. the modeller / the morpher / the texture artist / the lighting expert and naturally … the artist who brings the above to life… so its just like a photoshoot or a movie set. Lets start with the modeller… A modeller makes the mesh… the bones of the character or prop. A modeller makes a 3D object usings special software, not always the software the picture is created in. They make a mesh which looks a bit like a wireframe hollow object. It can take months to make a perfect mesh. Some people do this exclusively for a living. the morpher…. Morph experts create movement for the meshes. Morphs are injected into the mesh so the artist who purchases the mesh can bend, move stretch and alter the mesh any way they like for an individual look. Typically a modeller can also make some pretty decent morphs. the texture artist… Most 3d artists can texture themselves to some extent, but many use premade textures. Texture artists make a living from painting or putting together textures and selling them in a market place, just like the modellers and the morphers. Textures are usually made from photorealistic pictures, prepurchased from photographers at the various photo selling sites around the world or taken by the texture artist themselves. It may surprise you to know that most of the ‘skin’ you see on the 3D characters is actually photos of human skin, ‘sewn’ together in a paint programme and wrapped seamlessly around a mesh. Every modeller, texture artist, morpher and photographer will hold some sort of proof of ownership for their work, which they pass on to the purchasers. One can even purchase premade poses, lighting and sets for their pictures… these are used mainly by beginners until they find their way. Sometimes these artists team up and offer a complete package, sometimes they dont and its up to the artist to find something they like to complete their picture. It is rare to find a modeller, morpher, texture artist and picture artist in the one person. There are also animators, who take all the above work and make it walk and talk, a step on from the rest of it but that isnt what we are discussing here. A lot of 3d artists ‘postwork’ their pictures in a programme to enhance it… photoshop, paintshop pro etc. Just as a painter purchases paint or a canvas, so does a 3d artist purchase their tools. They start with a blank stage (canvas) and build it up. At some point all artists use other peoples tools… canvas, camera equipment, pc, paint programme, animation programme, real live people (we would call them characters or figures), lighting etc. Hopefully this will give insight into what makes a 3D picture.
I want to give a big THANK YOU to / Madeline M. Allen for buying four of my images for card…
I want to give a big THANK YOU to / Madeline M. Allen for buying four of my images for cards, The Old Barn The Sinking Little Island Bay and The Cottage Thanks again lil bud your tops. / Larry
This is a continuation of Jo O’Brien’s “chain survey”, my second interview, SHARE THE LOVE...
This is a continuation of Jo O’Brien’s “chain survey”, my second interview, SHARE THE LOVE. I chose BySilent because he is just that – silent, and a very unassuming, very talented digital artist. I love his work and his writings. Check out all of the sidebar information he uses to complete each image. It was hard to choose but here are a couple of my favorites: “The Bog-2nd Take” “To The Moon, Alice” My interview with BySilent 1- How does being a creative person and pursuing your creativity affect other aspects of your life? Thomas: It affects and effects all aspects of my life. I constantly will find an inspiration for an image or how to present an image just from common ordinary daily activities. I am becoming more and more a “green” artist not just in subject matter but in the process of creating the physical piece. It is a never ending process to learn each day something new about myself, my art and the world around me. 2- Tell us about one person or moment that has made your time on redbubble particularly special or meaningful. Thomas: There are too many to just single out one moment or person. I think the general attitude of Red Bubble is the key. I am on many art community sites but Red Bubble pretty much stands alone at this time as a site run by artists for artists. You can tell by the way the staff handles the artists and the vast amount of diverse opinions, nationalities and concepts that flow through the site on a daily basis with the minimum of heavy handedness. Some sites out on the Internet profess many of the same ideals Red Bubble has but not many of them actually live up to those ideals. 3- Show & tell us about five works on redbubble that have moved or inspired you. - Ghostly Morning by brummieboy I have always enjoyed the work by this artist his photography of sea and landscapes have given me inspirations in my own 3d works. - Seacliffsof Basidion by Lisa Webber. Lisa is not just a peer in the 3d artist world but a friend as well. I always enjoy her work since it is such a departure from my own work because our styles are so different. The work she creates I can see how it was created since we use pretty much the same tools of creation but come up with such diverse styles in our work. - The Crusader by Frogster Larry is another 3d artist that I just enjoy viewing their work. Seeing the depth and the style of his work spurs me to get better with my own works. - The Blue Ridge Mountains by Mundy Hackett. Mundy was the artist from another site that pointed me to Red Bubble. I enjoy his photography and his integrity. - Mindscapes 1 by ZazaLogik. Just a wonderful artist that I enjoy viewing the work created. I always find neat little things in the work presented and the surreal nature of the creations by this artist always floors me. The 5 above came to mind but there are so many more artists. I feel I could have listed a few hundred artists that inspire me to not just be a better artist but a better person.
I want to thank Spirit of the Native American Group for featuring my image ...
I want to thank Spirit of the Native American Group for featuring my image / Way of the Warrior thank you so much for this. / Larry
Now this is very funny, too look at it you might not know why. / ...
Now this is very funny, too look at it you might not know why. This is a shot which has been turned into 3D but I can’t upload the other version as it is in Flash. I have been looking at the rotating Teer for a while now and giggling my butt off. The photographer - Now if you have those Red and Blue Glasses you will see why :P !Now this is very funny, too look at it you might not know why. This is a shot which has been turned into 3D but I can’t upload the other version as it is in Flash. I have been looking at the rotating Teer for a while now and giggling my butt off. The photographer – Mark Ruff Photography – http://www.timesplice.com.au/ Now if you have those Red and Blue Glasses you will see why
The following applications are free: / .. / G.I.M.P. The GNU Image Manipulation Program has a lot of the features f…
The following applications are free: / .. / G.I.M.P. The GNU Image Manipulation Program has a lot of the features found on high-end commercial photo editors such as Adobe’s Photoshop. It’s perhaps the best and most featured of the free image editors available, and as such will enable many artists on a budget to reach their potential. It’s FREE, people! / .. / Paint.NET A good basic image editor. Stable (at least on my systems). REQUIRES .NET Framework. (read the requirements) / .. / RealWorld Paint.COM A very basic,but competent editor. They have paid apps too. / .. / IrfanView “IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 , 2008, Vista, Windows 7.” As recommended by RB’er Frisson . Thank you. / .. / Blender Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. I haven’t tried it, but I know others who do use it. Get into 3D for free. / .. / Free AAA 8bf plugins Photoshop plugins that are well worth a look. Created by a fellow named Jim Clatfelter. He has a ‘buzzer’ which renders painterly effects on images. / .. / About.com’s Top 10 Free Photo Editors for Windows Check ‘em out, folks. There are some there I didn’t think of. (see also this list at Basic-Digital-Photography.com Paid applications worth a look: / .. / Topaz Simplify Plugin at this writing it’s $39.99 I tried the trial and it’s on my list of wanna haves. Topaz Simplify is a Photoshop plugin. Topaz sort of fills the gap left by the demise of BuzzSimplifier (see below). / .. / NeatImage Noise filtration software available as photoshop plugins or a standalone application. I have the pro version of the standalone application which, when I bought it several years ago was around $89. It is perhaps the state of the art noise reduction software available. They did have a fully functional free version of the standalone which was prohibited by licensing requirements from being used for any commercial uses (read for sale images). It was fully functional. If you sell your work, you must pay and register. / .. / Terragen Terragen is a 3d landscape generator capable of stunningly beautiful output. Like most 3d apps, it has a learning curve. From the website: “You are required to register your copy of Terragen if it is for commercial use, as specified in the License Agreement presented to you when you install or first use Terragen. If you only intend to use Terragen personally, on a non-profit basis, registration is optional and you may continue to use the unregistered version of Terragen free of charge.” Registration for Terragen Classic is $100. Still a lot less than Bryce, Hexagon, etc., which are high-end commercial apps. / .. / Other informational or service related sites: / .. / PlugsNPixels “where you can get one-stop, organized information about creativity and productivity software and related educational materials more quickly and easily than from any other source.” -quote from the site. / .. / MyFreeCopyright A copyright registration site that gives you a digital fingerprint of your work so you can prove infringement if it occurs. I don’t use this service, but I see it being used by others here on RB and elsewhere. Check it out and make up your mind. / .. / A couple of sites added by RB’er Syd Baker / .. / So sad, here are some very good things we have lost: / .. / optikVerve virtualPhotographer plug-in formerly at www.optikvervelabs.com this was a really ‘neato’ photoshop plugin and it was free. If anyone finds that this has been picked up (legitimately) by another vendor, let me know (no warez links, please!) / .. / Buzz Simplifier What a loss that Fo2Pix is out of business! I wanted this one and never ‘got around’ to buying it – my procrastination has cost me so much over the years…..(sighs…)
happy to announce the birth of my new Incendia calendar, if you like it PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE order since I will donate all profits towards …
happy to announce the birth of my new Incendia calendar, if you like it PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE order since I will donate all profits towards the futher development of the program! If you are working with Incendia as well I encourage you to do the same!!! We need to help this guy!!! / ENJOY / / / / / / / !http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/calendars/page:6/product:calendar/size:medium/view:preview/3823883-1-incendiatricks.jpg1 / / / / / /
What an honor this is for me, I was asked a while back by Lori Smaltz the Publisher of an online Magazine. if I would do three or fou…
What an honor this is for me, I was asked a while back by Lori Smaltz the Publisher of an online Magazine. if I would do three or four digital images of masks. It was out of the ordinary for me but I said sure. She has three artists from RedBubble in the contents, she has done a wonderful job on this, so check it out at Native Lilith Quarterly Thank you so much Lori. / Larry
I have been asked a number of times, when you do your digital image’s what do you start with? So I had to go down into my secret vault a…
I have been asked a number of times, when you do your digital image’s what do you start with? So I had to go down into my secret vault and blow the dust and cobwebs off my notes and I will have you swear to secrecy and show you the long forgotten hand shake…........ I’m going to use three of my images from my Haunted series. In the norm I get an idea and from there if it is a image with a figure I use Poser 6 to start off with, and get my basic figure. I might mess with the figure for hours or sometime days until I get something I really like. I then render it and save it as a PNG file. From that point is when the magic starts, I will go into Photoshop CS and work on my background and get it close to what I want for the image. I then bring the PNG file of my figure into the background image. After that I may go into Painter X to get my lighting setup (which I might change a number of times), then back to Photoshop to do more layers for shadow’s, highlight’s, and textures. The finished image might have 50 or more layers by the time the image is complete. But with me after looking at the image a number of times I have been known to go back and change it to something different. / Im never happy with an image when Im done, I feel I should have done it a different way, but thats me, lol. / Larry start / The Haunted start / The Haunted 3 start / The Haunted 4
Hi guys, you have to check this link out: / http://www.shapeways.com You can upload 3D models of objects and they will recreate that ob…
Hi guys, you have to check this link out: / http://www.shapeways.com You can upload 3D models of objects and they will recreate that object (at a price) from a variety of materials.
Hello, I was wondering if anyone knows of any decent 3D scanner’s that are available on the market that dont cost too much. I know tha…
Hello, I was wondering if anyone knows of any decent 3D scanner’s that are available on the market that dont cost too much. I know that the CSIRO were developing an affordable option as early as 2003 but I cant seem to find this for sale. Any leads guys?
—-- Edited Journal --— Hey guys, so the band really loves the video, and so does Warner, but they would like me to keep the vi…
—-- Edited Journal --— Hey guys, so the band really loves the video, and so does Warner, but they would like me to keep the video private now and have it on the fan page of their website once it’s finished. So I won’t be able to share the video just yet. Thanks so much to who has seen it and posted such great comments, I’ll take it on board and hopefully create some sort of video tutorial in the future. / Any of the work I create that isn’t for the band, I’ll try to record as well and I’ll be able to post that without restriction. Thanks guys! —-- Original Journal Message --— / Hey bubblebuds! So many of you know I’ve been working with Dead Letter Circus on some artwork recently. We’ve been playing around with a heap of ideas for things to include with the album or as features on their DVD’s etc. One of the ideas we’ve been looking at is capturing my creative process while working on my artwork. This scared the hell out of me but also excited and intrigued me. The first thing that scared me is my work usually takes between 10-20 hours to complete, depending on complexity, size and how well the ideas comes together. Obviously a 10+ hour video of me working would be enough to put anyone to sleep, so the other idea came to create more of a time lapse style video and compress my creative process into about a 10 minute video. The other thing that scared the hell out of me is the feeling of being watched while I’m working, sort of feeling like someone’s always looking over my shoulder. I don’t like distractions while I work. / But I thought this could be a great opportunity not only for DLC’s fans but also for me as an artist, my process is documented throughout piles and piles of journals but this is the first time I’ve considered actually capturing my process in motion and sharing it. So I decided to give it a go and record the creation of my latest piece “One Step”. This piece was fairly simple in execution and didn’t require much in the way of complicated detailing and coloring like most of my work, so I thought this would be the perfect piece to test first. One Step only took around 2 or so hours to create, and cramming that down into a 10 minute video proved fun enough, but the end result actually got me quite excited about recording potentially all of my pieces being made. Perhaps even creating some sort of video tutorial later on once I feel more comfortable having my process being recorded. I’ve uploaded the video here to share—>(Link removed) / I would love to get some feedback or comments on the video, and if you like the idea of me possibly recording my future work as well? peace and love
How to create basic 3D stereo photographs with your digital camera / [copied from my original post in Anaglyph World Forums...
How to create basic 3D stereo photographs with your digital camera / [copied from my original post in Anaglyph World Forums] A lot of RB friends have asked me how I make my Anaglyph pictures, so I decided to put together a basic tutorial. The 5 parts below are fairly light reading, so don’t be alarmed. I would recommend reading them in order, but if you are desperate to get into the “how” and you don’t care much about the “why”, then dive straight into Part 2... I hope you find this useful. Please post your 3D pictures into the Anaglyph World group! If you have any suggestions for improvements on the tutorial, please send me a bubblemail. / George Introduction / Part 1 – History & Theory / Part 2 – Create a basic 3D picture / Part 3 – Refining the technique / Part 4 – Getting serious about 3D Stereo photography / Part 5 – Further reading… _P.S. You can see some of my 3D stereo work here
I want to thank the Hosts and Members of The Retired and Happy Group for the feature…
I want to thank the Hosts and Members of The Retired and Happy Group for the feature on my image The Night Traveler and also for myself as Featured Member Thank you all for this wonderful honor. / Larry
I opened my email today to find that I had won a place in ‘On Angels’ Magazine.. OnAngels Hono…
I opened my email today to find that I had won a place in ‘On Angels’ Magazine.. OnAngels Honorable mention for ‘Sarah’s Angel’. Some amazing works, worth checking out. Entries for 2010 are now open, it may be worth entering! cheers!
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