Darkjedi

Tell 'em to hold it in Denver and I'll go do sketches. Otherwise it's too far.

Cool idea. It's wierd that the neck on the shadow didn't render.

Wow. This one is really striking.

I noticed the eyes as well, with the same conclusion.

I think if you brought the outer corners of the eyes down to be in line with the inner corners, he'd look a lot more frightened.

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My big thing is, I can actually do more in the way of environmental work in programs like Bryce. Plus the rendering turns out better.

I just wish I didn't have to go from Poser to Daz to Bryce. It would be nice for Bryce to be able to read the Poser file directly.

Perhaps a later version (I'm using 5.5) or an add-on will do this... but I'm cheap.

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I found Bryce's interface a bit too arcane for my tastes... and coming from a Poser user, that says a lot, haha.

I tried Vue Infinite and fell in love. Not only are the terrains a lot better than Bryce's, but the Poser import filter is seamless - until Poser 7, which isn't supported for some reason. That single fact has kept me from upgrading to Poser 7.

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You'll be amazed how cool stuff can look when you get away from the Poser renderer. I'll be looking forward to your next set of creations.

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It's funny, i'm a little ambivalent about the whole thing. Daz has become something of an "old shoe" but it's really limited on where I want to go. There's so much I want to do that I can't or is very difficult to do in Daz. It's time to move on and I know it. It's just the comfort zone thing....

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I understand completely. It took me forever to leave Poser 4 and go over to 5. I think version 5 sat on my desk for over a year before I took the leap. Shortly thereafter, Poser 6 was released and I waited another year to try that one out. Once you know where all the menus are, you just don't want to leave them... even though you know the upgrade has more capabilities.

I use a .5 mm mechanical pencil for all my pencil work. ALL of it, from quick sketches like THIS to finished pieces like THIS.

For all my inking work, I've converted to the Micron Pens mentioned above. I pretty much only use the .5mm for fat lines and the .1mm for details. HERE is a sample.

You'll be amazed how cool stuff can look when you get away from the Poser renderer. I'll be looking forward to your next set of creations.

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...and if you break it down to Dollars an Hour it can be quite disheartening, so even Paid Commissions are a gift of the persons time and talent...

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YAY! Someone who understands!

When I break down the hours I spend on a 3D piece versus the pay for the end result, I usually get less than minimum wage for my art. That tends to wear on me a bit... so it's great that you're sympathetic to the effort.

*White Nurse gains 1000 faction with Community Of Artists*

I take commissions, but I'm kinda winding down and won't be taking them much longer (too many other projects going). My site and DA are both in my sig - the site has more art on it, while the DA tends to be more recent.

*EDIT* - Oh, and I'm not strict about poses, because no one knows the character better than their creator. Suggestions are always welcome.

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they seem pretty brig (the ones hat are meant to be bright) on mine

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I'm looking more at the shadow areas, which seem black on my monitor. But again, it could just be a difference in our systems.

It might be my monitor, but many of your renders seem kind of dark. If you use a soft fill-light, you could brighten up some of the darker areas and have stronger renders.

Just my 2 inf.

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Thank you all for the positive feedback!

Yes, it is begging for effects. Unfortunatley, I'm terrible at that sort of thing. I did try to add a few things, including the electrical arc on the juicer, but in the end I thought my efforts degraded rather than improved the piece. Some day I gotta learn how to do that kind of thing.

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I'd be happy to help out with Postwork, if you're open to it. I enjoy the compositing stage of rendering the most, actually. That's when a piece really comes together and gets it's final polish.

Wow, there's a lotta work in that piece!

Good jo, Sartori.

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1. it's free god damned clipart... the end...

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If it's free clip art, why did you bother taking 'the trouble to look for copywrites'? I think that's part of the reason your post threw up such a red flag.

Kinda reminds me of McLeach, the villain from "Rescuers Down Under". Very animation-like.

Very cool piece!

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thanks for the warning...

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...Bumping it back just devalues that time, it's no longer "you're in line with everyone else" but "oh yeah, you get the leftover minutes that come up when I'm NOT working on something lucrative."...

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This is the exact reason I don't do 'prize-art'; if someone can't wait for my 'free minutes' to get a free piece, then I don't want to do the piece. It's not worth it.

I try not to keep people waiting for more than a month, but things *do* happen and sometimes pieces take longer. As has been said, communication is key. If a piece is worth doing, it's worth doing RIGHT.

In my particular case, I only accept 1 - 2 commissions at a time. I have a list 30+ people waiting to get work from me, but I refuse to start the ball rolling until I know for a fact I can deliver in a timely fashion. As a result, I probably have some impatient people waiting on me to get time and get back to them... but I don't ask for payment until I start work so there's no obligation on my part.

With my growing interest in non-COH projects, my pursuit of digital 3D comics, my portfolio for 'the big boys', and my own personal projects, I'm not going to be taking many more commissions in the near future. I just don't like having the pressure of a huge backlog... and I don't have the infrastructure to keep track of it all. Gill is fortunate enough to have a partner that helps - I'm not. So given the choice, I'd rather just take a few at a time and deal with it on a short-term basis. I simply don't have the mind power for it all, like Gill does. He's my hero.

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Doug I think you are my brother from another mother.

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HAHA, awesome! That would be cool.

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...I've yet to see Doug be insulted on his pieces. I guess he's lucky or I haven't seen it...

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I don't get insulted when people dislike my work because I've come to terms with certain realities;

1 - I know my art can't please everyone, so I don't bother trying. As long as my client and myself are both happy with it, then I succeeded.

2 - Everyone on the internet has an opinion and they don't always coincide with my own. People with whom I disagree, I ignore.

3 - I have more vital things to worry about than what someone online might think about my art. I let myself worry about the things that matter and gloss over the things that don't.

4 - Life is too short to allow someone else to twist me up with thier views. If something bothers me, I go get Taco Bell and watch the Discovery Channel.

5 - I've learned the value of humility; I know I'm not the best artist. I know I never will be the best artist. Therefore, I accept criticisms as they are intended.

6 - I allow myself to enjoy the compliments, while allowing myself to ignore the flames. How I accept criticisms is MY choice, so I choose to turn them into a positive force. Anything else is unhealthy.

7 - There is class in professionalism. Being defensive, rude, or argumentive can't lead to a positive result... so I don't bother.

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Are those ears or thumbs up?

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That my large axe swinging art drawing friend is the highly coveted DOTU ((Double Otter Thumbs Up)). =^_^= So, nope, not ears. >_>

=. .=

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LOL, I thought they were ears as well. I'll never get used to the ascii pictures.

To expand on my previous post, I once encountered a critique system that I thought was awesome. The short version is that critiques are never welcome unless asked for... but once asked for, the poster could ask for a variable level of critique using the following point system;

Level 1 critique - "I'm a first-timer, please be gentle"

Level 2 critique - "I'm working on a few details, but what do you think?"

Level 3 critique - "Ok, I know my stuff. What's your honest opinion?"

Level 4 critique - "I'm good, but not yet perfect. Be brutal and help me get this perfect"

Level 5 critique - "Burn me baby! Critique away, I can take it."

So, using that system, newcomers to art might ask for a lvl 1 or 2 critique so they can get thier feet wet, while someone else might say "this is going to Marvel tomorrow... gimme the lvl 5."

Anyway, it worked in the EQ community. Just an idea.

Personally, I try to improve my art with every piece, and there are few better ways than to get the opinions of others. While I might not agree with what's said, I *do* listen and take every critique into consideration.

Regarding commissions; it's usually not good to critique something that someone else has paid for, since they're not likely to be interested in someone pointing out flaws in a piece they just paid for.

In most cases, a polite PM to the artist is the best approach.