Wyeth

This evening I watched an old South Bank Show about Andrew Wyeth.  What he had to say on the subject of painting was very interesting.  Firstly he described how other painters had turned from realism to abstract painting because, in their words, they had "exhausted the possibilities" of realism.  Wyeth's riposte to that was that they had exhausted the possibilities within themselves, and revealed their own shallowness.  The other point he made, a couple of times, was that you had to wait for the perfect moment in time to capture a picture.  He said that taking a photo (or painting from a photo) doesn't suffice, because you have to be present in the moment.

Razorback Pictures 4

Another one.  I assembled the "hovercycle" by adapting an existing model, stripping away quite a bit of its' body and then adding on parts of my own using Wings and parts from Doga-L1.

Doga is a Japanese program that allows a user to assemble models - robot, spaceship, etc. - from a built-in collection of parts and animate them.  I've never used it for animation, but have found that the parts, which can be exported in DXF format, are brilliant for use in making sci-fi models.

The biggest pain with Poser is actually posing the figures.  It has got easier over time, however, especially since I learned to use Inverse Kinematics.

Razorback Pictures 3

Another one.  I wanted an image that shows Razorback in his capacity as child-minder, protecting the innocent.

Razorback Pictures 2

A couple more reference pics for my Razorback story, both showing scenes from the third chapter.  The bottom one is a giant insects' nest, and I think it's turned out looking quite pretty.

Razorback pictures

I am currently working on illustrations for my Razorback story.  My chosen method is to create the scenes using Poser, Bryce, and reference pics from the web (where models are unavailable) and base my final pictures on that.  To that end, I've been putting together models of the characters in Poser, modifying the geometry of existing models and adding accessories and props to make them as close to the characters in my head as possible.  My alien reptile bounty hunter (shown in an image in a previous post), for example, is created by placing the Poser Velociraptor's head onto Michael's body, and adding the Velociraptor's tail, some custom-made accessories, and modifying the legs to make them more dinosaur-like.
The biggest headache has been Razorback, the hero of the story.  In the story he's a two foot-tall cat-like alien with a lynx-like face and backward-jointed legs (like a cat's rear legs).  A few years ago, the perfect model on which to base Razorback was available online; all that was needed was to change the figure's proportions to make them more childlike. Unfortunately, that model requires a piece of software called an "Objaction Mover" and the original Poser 4 man in order to work, and the Poser 4 man has been changed in later versions of Poser. 
My workaround has been to take one of the child models that ship with Poser and stick a cat's head on him.

The art of self-promotion

Three blog updates in the same day - this is wholly down to the fact that I've been ill in bed.

I have taken advantage of a recent Wix sale to obtain a domain for my website, in order to dispense with that unwieldy address that has (no doubt) put off any potential visitors.  simonfaiers.wix.com/simonsbrain is no more - my new address is sbfcreative.com.  Still not my first choice, but sfcreative was already taken.

I've also had a go at producing business cards that reflect my creative output - and website address - more accurately.  The previous card showcased my cartooning skills, but I haven't done any proper cartoons for quite a while, having spent a lot more time on the pencil drawings.

I'm still undecided about whether to go with the bird or the building:

Reference pics for Razorback illustrations

Thought I'd have a go at posing some of my Razorback characters and putting them in some scenery.  Poser's really improved the "toon rendering" tools since version 6.

Charley (the swimming character) is meant to have webbed feet, but I haven't yet found a way to "morph" a character's entire foot.

I recently read a Stephen King book called "The Wind Through the Keyhole", which included some black and white illustrations.  There were only about half a dozen illustrations in total - they were quite simple line drawings, and made me realise that illustrating a story doesn't require complicated pictures stuffed with scenery and characters - that it is possible to convey a lot with very little.

Framed picture

Okay, that doesn't look too bad.