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.

Framing 2

It's been a good summer as far as drawing goes.  Despite the inconsistency of the weather I've still managed to get outside and draw the scenery around London and, for a couple of days, in Paris.  There is now a heap of pictures in a box in my room that all need to be sorted through, completed or scrapped.

This afternoon I went to IKEA to purchase some frames, and have got a couple, one to fit an A4 picture and one to fit an A5.  So one step taken in a forward direction.

Giclée (/ʒiːˈkleɪ/ zhee-KLAY or /dʒiːˈkleɪ/) is a neologism coined in 1991 by printmaker Jack Duganne for fine art digital prints made on inkjet printers. The name originally applied to fine art prints created on Iris printers in a process invented in the late 1980s but has since come to mean any inkjet print.

Framing

I am in the process of trying to print and frame some of my drawings, with a view to possibly exhibiting them somewhere.  I have nowhere definite planned to exhibit, but people keep saying I should, and I can't exhibit without first printing and framing my pictures.  There are a number of considerations, however, and this is all new territory for me:

•  Where to print.  I tried one photo printing place online, and the colour of the pictures got lost a bit in translation.
• Framing.  IKEA list a number of different types of frame, all with funny names, and with dimensions given for each type of frame.  I don't know whether what they are giving is the size of the frame or the size of the picture each frame will accommodate.
• What to print on.  Matt or gloss?  Textured or non-textured?

Two figures

Two of my rigged characters - not great by any means, and certainly not figures that I'd feel happy about releasing to the public (the monkey's tail is particularly embarrassing) but with some postwork they could pass muster in an image.