Darkjedi

I just dropped $80 on the 4 Wizard "How To Draw" books. They're very well done. Here's one of the 4, linked below;

How To Draw: Heroic Anatomy

Plus, there's a certain amount of prestige to having your own site. Wjen I send art directors to my online art, it's just better to send them to a place where that's all they see.

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I like it, a little easier to navigate as well. And when did you do that Red Savior picture....did I miss that one? The turorial was very neat as well but I'd still love to see a toturial on just how you did her face and hair alone!!

Oh and yay for it being back up!!

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I was posting the answer right when you asked =)

I just did it last week... right before my site crashed the first time.

Now that my site is (somewhat) operational again, I can show a few pieces that I've worked recently and haven't had the chance to reveal yet. In the case of Red Savior, this was a special request for Mercede's Lackey's online novel series called The Secret World Chronicle .

RED SAVIOR - poster

RED SAVIOR - detail

And... it's down again. This is gonna be a long night, it seems.

After an incredibly stressful week, I finally have my website back up. It's really stripped down in comparison to the old one, but I'm intending it to be a work in progress where I can add things I was unable to do previously. Tutorials are a good example... so I put up a quick one.

It's at THIS link.

It's good to have that working again, even if it's still in development.

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Don't forget to GIVE faves though too

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Will do, Juggertha. I'm still exploring my way around. Browsing DA is becommng addictive.

I've been posting stuff for the last 2 hours or so and have already recieved like 250 messages! Daaaang!!!

DA is gonna keep me busy.

And special thanks to TA!!! /salute

I just loaded a few images to my DeviantArt space. I can't put everything up tonight, obviously... but given time I'll flesh it out more. For now, I'm just putting up a small handfull to get the traffic going.

What name did I end up with? In all my remarkable creativity, I used "DouglasShuler". I think THIS link will work.

I won't be working the layout much just yet, and some of the graphics/buttons will be the same. I'm mostly focused on getting it working again. I'll keep improving as I go though

Thanks for the ping.

The deal is this; my current webhost is updating their database. They wanted me to pay $500 to liscence thier new E-commerce system, plus $50 an hour to migrate my site to the new database with an estimated 8 hours of work to do the migration. That came to about $900!!

I was like, [censored]! There's no way I'm forking out that kind of cash for what was essentially their own maintenance routine. I made it pretty clear I was leaving, and they wanted my business enough that they were like 'ok, it's cool... we'll keep your old site active on this other server here'.

It was lame, but since I was still live and I didn't have to pay more, I let it slide the last few months. Well, aparently Feb 29 was the cutoff and they wiped my database anyway. No warning.

This morning, I set up hosting with a new company. I'm waiting for the domain name to move over, and am making new pages today and tomorrow. I should be live again by the end of the weekend.

And actually, this is a blessing in disguise. I'm adding some features I've wanted for a while now, such as tutorials on how I do some of my 3D stuff. Thanks again for noticing and checking in. It's good to know people look =)

Must... move... to LA...

Y'know... this brings up a cool idea. I've wanted to do tutorials for a while now, and I'm going to be re-working my site soon. Maybe I can do a few pieces with tutorials in mind, such as 'how to make a costume' and stuff like that.

I did a version of PlasmaStream as well. Sartori, where did you get those buildings you used in yours? They have a good, contemporary look to them.

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I signed up for DA and have stuff ready to go up, but I plan to have my own site as well that I have complete control over. I'll be working my site this weekend, and DA after that.


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Link plz! Or are you wanting to get it all ready first for your big debut?

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I'll be certain to post a link once I have DA populated with art... but yeah, my own site is priority.

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Secrets of Figure Creation in Poser

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It's not the people I had problems with. It was making costumes and colors and stuff. But I bet that book has it covered.

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Actually, Poster considers costumes 'figures', so it covers everything. In fact, clothing is MORE complex since it needs to conform to another figure (the person).

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www.daz3d.com

DazStudio is a good one to start with. It's what I use though I'm seriously considering moving to Carrara. You can play with it and decide if it's your thing and whether Daz is suitible to the task or you want to go to something else like Poser, Carrara, Bryce, Vue etc....

And the price is right, free. Though if you do get into it, the price of the program is the least of your worries....

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First thing that came to my mind too. They come out with free stuff every week, but the good stuff costs money. I still can't figure out how to make my own costumes in it though.

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This book covers how to make figures, but it expects you to have Maya or Max, plus a good handle on some pretty complicated steps. I haven't gotten past the first few chapters.

Secrets of Figure Creation in Poser

Very nice site. I love wandering through galleries... SO many ideas.

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...Nothing too fancy, just something that an idiot(liek myself) can use, and not have to stab myself in the heart several times before giving it a second try?...

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Ok, with the words '3D' in the title, you know I gotta chime in

As you take your first steps into 3D, be prepared for a set of stumbling blocks that might discourage you and make you want to quit. Each 3D program has it's own interfaces and capabilites, each is good at different things (people, animation, objects, environments...), some play well with others and some don't, some are cheap and others cost more than a second mortgage. Then, there's the issue of render time and getting used to having your system occupied for hours on end as it processes a single image.

Because no single program does everything well, I've found the key is knowing which programs do what, and how to get them to work together. For example, I might do my people in Poser, model their clothing in Maya, import some 3D objects I've found online that were creatd in Max, and then drop them all into Vue for the environment rendering. The final output can be nice, but I spend a lot of time with Photoshop to correct all the flaws and correct the render.

So... I guess the question is, what are your expectations from a 3D application? What are your end goals (character stuff, landscapes, etc)? What's your price range? What past experience do you have with 3D (and 'none' is a fine answer. it'll give me a basis for waht to recommend)?

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Why not come to DA DJ??

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I signed up for DA and have stuff ready to go up, but I plan to have my own site as well that I have complete control over. I'll be working my site this weekend, and DA after that.

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As said those pictures were not working but in the store section I saw the 3D rendered art and I am not ashamed to say I misted up. I WANT ONE! How amazing do those look?!?
I just can't believe it. How backed up are you at the moment?.. I'll send money this weekend

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Well, at least SOMETHING works, hehe

The gallery had every 3D piece I've done in the last 3 years, so I really need to get that working. I have a massive commission I'm wrapping up (thanks for being patient, Sparky), but after that I'll open for commissions again. Give it a few weeks and I to be back in action.

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Sorry for bumping an old thread, but... the links in the OP aren't working any more (or at least not at the time of this writing). I'm a big fan of DJ's work... is there somewhere else where I can see this piece?

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Sorry about that. My web host told me they were updating their database and that every client of thiers had to pay $500 to license the new commerce software. I told them that was bull, and that THEY should have to cover that cost since the upgrade is something they decided to do on their end. We went back and forth for a few months, and then suddenly they cut me off.

So, I'm moving my site. I'll definitely put the Vanguard League poster up on the new location... but it might take a week to repair the site, rip out their crappy database, and move my files to a new host.

My site'll be back up soon. Promise.

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"...A 17 character piece with an environment was a lot more complex to create than the pieces I'm used to doing..."

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I feel your pain. That recent piece I did for the Vanguard League was challenging, to say the least. Getting everyone in there with equal attention is tricky... plus a background to boot.

Great work, Jomaro!

IMO, tablets are pretty much the same; the only factors you need to think about are price and size. Go for a medium size, medium price one and you'll be happy. I personally use an Intuos that's about 6" x 8" and it's perfect.

It's not the tool, it's the person behind it.

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thanks DarkJedi.

Do to certain situations, this'll be my last post on CoH.

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Hope it's not something I said...

At this point, you should begin identifying specific limits of Poser and correcting them in postwork. Some elements of the pieces, such as the hard lines between the ground plane and the background skies, detract from the overall quality. Since Poser isn't very capable as a renderer, I'd recommend correcting these common pitfalls through postwork.

Remember that the initial Poser render is only the first step to a finished piece. That's where the fun stuff begins.

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What? The heroes get in but not the poeple who drew them?

Fine... I'll just go make my OWN supergroup... with beer, gambling, and women! ok, forget the beer and gambling...

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<--- Woman

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Cool! Hex is in.