IceScribe's Efforts in Art
IceScribe
Posts: 694
Hi everybody. It was a kind suggestion by a Daz artist to come to the Art Studio and show my art here. A bit about me. My journey began in the previous millenium. When I retired, I tried other art media, took classes. When I came upon Bryce, I was so excited. Then I found DAZ. I was smitten! I'm not good at life drawing, I dunno, maybe it's dyslexia. I tend to do life renders now in DAZ. I am most inspired by "props". I 'hear' a story line that comes up, and I explore that. I enjoy experimenting with expressions, but haven't learned G8.1 yet. These days, I am drawn to the artistic genre "Magical Realism", having discovered Andrea Kowch, whose work reminds me of the artists Wyeth. Her characters in her paintings fascinate me. Andrea Kowch has a FaceBook page. So that's a direction I'm going to try out. I recognize my usual renders are more like a camera setting set at F11, but I'm going to try to soften with an F8 approach. Well, here I go. Critiques welcomed!
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Jumping in with 3 different renders, tests really. In one, I have the Opal character, then Clarke, then Ludmilla. I know the renders are darkish. I forgot I lowered the brightness on my screen, heh, so what I see in the render I over compensated. So, I'm after a kind of artistic dishevelment, hair moved by nature, clothing moved. The one with Ludmilla is getting closer. With lighting I will try to create the "magical" realism I hoping to achieve. Edited. Found Jay Versluis "how to" add pics to the this text area. How to add an image in your post on the DAZ Forum – JAY VERSLUIS I put this here so I can look it up again. Edited: credits Clarke with Eloiny hair, and the dress on Ludmilla is dForce Eloise Outfit for Gen 8
Ok, followed Jay Versluis tut. He suggests it's better to embed in the post rather than just attach. I don't really know, except the image is immediately available.
Here is a sketch of a story about the Opal figure in wintery attire, affectionately petting a malamute or such. With memory problems, I didn't apply "fur" to dog, nor invest in a background just so I could get the interaction right. I'm satisfied with that. Apologize for no credits yet.[fixed] I have to remember what I used and look up. I will eventually. Already forgot how to embed, so here its attached. Hair is Voss Hair for Genesis 3 & 8 by AprilYSH. Outfit is Nomad by Luthbellina for Genesis 3 M&F
Never studied art history, just basic styles. For me, I have discovered "what" kind of art I particuarly like and am striving for. It is called Magical Realism, but it is not fantasy nor surrealism. Here's a good explanation snip "... Art critic Franz Roh introduced the term Magic Realism to describe some of the artworks of the time. His book After Expressionism: Magical Realism: Problems of the Newest European Painting explored the new genre emerging throughout Europe, but his term "magic" did not necessarily refer to a fantastic realm but rather the wonder inherent in the objective world. Snip...here are snips from a very good article Magic Realism - Concepts & Styles | TheArtStory
snip...Magic Realists tended to distance themselves from political themes, satire, and critique to portray an objective view of life imbued with intangible qualities. Moreover, these works of art seemed to possess a certain mystery, or secret, underlying their themes and subjects....snip...
While they shared some stylistic qualities with the Surrealist painters who were also coming to prominence in the 1920s, the Magic Realists did not have the same interest in the unconscious and psychological dramas, and instead insisted on finding the "magic" in reality. Snip...The American artists refrained from depicting fantastic or magical content, and instead portrayed the mysterious, or uncanny." This is just how I feel about doing my work.
Andrea Kowch is on FaceBook Andrea Kowch | Facebook. DAZ Studio lends itself wonderfully providing the "realism". I've got to work on lighting, on composition, well, the art of "it". For a softer 'flavour', I like the works of Kit Williams, such as his book "Masquerade". Admittedly, his work is more fantastical, but so harmonius with nature. Know I've set the bar high, I'll be hitting my shins, but why not try?
Ok. This is not the greatest render, but I am getting closer I think to that peculiar greyness. A lot of postwork experiments.
I really like this one ....
Busy finding new treasures in the current DAZ+ sale. I have found a couple of gems. I'm getting inspired as the heat wave descends, for working inside. I have a fan under the computer, and some ice packs in the freezer, dental size, in case the temps rise inside the house later. I did get a treasure by Sugatak, the Japanese theatre.Such careful work, it's just great as it is. Some of the finds are "Alien Landscape Construction" and "GNB Silhouette Fishing Brushes (ABR type). How much easier to add a boat or flock of birds in a sunset scene postwork. Have the current Corel version, which supports "abr" brushes. The Alien Landscape promo pics are fun, but I saw those "towering" rocks as possible high Earth rock walls. So, as I say, I'm looking forward to playing with old and new toys.
Fan's going, I've got a couple Sapporo's and playing instrumental Bossa Nova. I think I've picked up some valuable items this sale, because the sale seems to wide spread, not just focused on one theme. I have this old memory that I would like to replicate. My best friend Janet and I are sitting on the edge of a cattle guard which is on a small bridge over an irrigation canal out in some vast agricultural fields where a stainless steel blue dome is over us. We are hanging out there, while her brother explores further up. Janet puts a stove pot into the irrigation water that is in a small spillway next to us, to pour over our legs. We are wearing sun tops and shorts. The sun is blazing. Her dad and neighbor are pretending to "hunt doves". They have shotguns, but are sitting in those cheapo folding 'patio' chairs made with webbing over aluminum tubes. They are drinking beer, chatting, while the vista of the puce colored earth with ploughed rows stretches all around us. The soil has been deeply plowed. We see her brother running and screaming. We can't hear him and hes' not making much headway as each step sinks his feet. Nobody pays attention to him. He just runs like some far away character of some other story. Below our dangling feet is the irrigation ditch. Maybe ten feet wide, but endless. There is a drowned rattlesnake in it, about six feet long. The adults decide it's shooting time, and they blast away a couple of volleys at a very small covey of doves. Honestly, what would they eat in that dry plantless wasteland? Janet and I stay sitting by the cattleguard. She has her transistor radio on a pop station which plays the top ten about ever 20 minutes. One of the tunes is "She wore an itsy bitsy polka dot bikini". It is an earworm, we hear it even when its not playing. The sky above us is vast. We have a couple of orange Nehis in the cooler. We get up and get them, knock off the caps, and return to our spot over the canal. We sit down, and pour more water on our legs. We each take a simple of soda, and the tune comes on again, "Polka dot bikini".
Wow your words are painting a vivid picture .......
Second Carrie's comment. Your words bring that memory to life in such amazing detail! Also very impressive that you remember all that detail...
I looked up 'Magic Realism' but I'm afraid I still don't have an understanding of it. Will keep an eye out for your renders to maybe catch a better idea of it.
Thank you, Carrie and SapphireBlue. I think the difference between the "magic realism" and surrealism, is that one may be memory of some incidents in the past, curiously mixed with a perception of oddness which is real; while the other is more dreamlike, more subconcious content. That's all I know. I tried reading some articles, mostly tedious going. I just want to create. Here's a very old render I did in Bryce, which has a kind of "magical moment" of two sisters telling each other a story. The word sketch I did here of the field was to visualize that memory of a camping trip my friend's dad took us on. I think it will do well in DAZ, as the "photo realism" and my attempt or style hopefully blend together.
I found the right usb cord for my external drive! Yay! Here's a subtle flirtation...
I ususally try out a "sketch". The main subjects will be the two friends which might be viewed from their back. This is a test render so it has flaws.I usually render in .png format, so the background defaults to black when I save in .jpg. When I find a field I like in my library, I will use HDRI background for the kind of intense sunlight.
Sketch 2. The plane with the "furrowed" field in place was exactly what I was thinking, hdri sky, general view. I think I have an asset with a cattle guard, but can't think where or what it is called.
Sketch 2. The plane with the "furrowed" field in place was exactly what I was thinking, but I had to add more tiling, which is now weird on the left. I will try another plane "pasted" over where the canal will be.
Sadly, while trying to replug the fan device back, I crashed the laetly refined image. DAZ went down. I waited a while for it to cool. When I checked, I apparently saved something...but not the latest modifications. I'm having trouble rebuilding it. So, Maybe it will cool off later on so I can render. Well, I have that "snapsnot". I plan to try a new image, maybe a different tack. Tired from going throught the DAZ+ sale in between chores. Found a couple more teasures, like a Stoneason pool garden for an excellent discount! So it's worth combing through the sales catalog.
IceScribe,
Describing the difference between magic realism and surrealism is a tough one. I rely on examples to draw out the contrasts. Dali comes to my mind when I think about surrealism; Picasso too, particularly after he stumbled onto African art. Magic surrealism is easier for me to imagine. There are parts of the world outside of Western culture where religion and folklore blend together. You'll see this in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's writing, or in Asian manga.
Anynow, I wanted to say how much I like the Bryce render you shared below. The lighting and the body language of the subjects convey the memory-like quality of the scene. If you do decide to render it in Daz, I suggest using a shallow depth of field. The Daz apterture can fairly mimic a camera lens, lending blur and softness that adds to the dreamlike quality of a scene.
Cheers!
@csaa Thank you for your compliment and suggestion about depth of field. I'm going to experiment with the F stop, and DAZ's DOF tool on some other ideas. It's been a long time since I did photography with lens, but I do understand what you mean. This is why I am drawn to the photorealistic render. It allows for a subtle emotional nuance with the lighting. Indeed Dali was a true master of clarity of sheer draughtsmanship. And Rousseau is more dreamlike, with the African themes that became so popular so utterly exotic, in art of the period. Oh, and thank you for the recommended links. More good stuff to absorb.
Cheers!
Since I blew the initial sketch completely away, I decided to look for components of the design, for example, a ploughed field. Sheesh! I find the usual for-sale images on all the stock photo sites, but not quite what I wanted. I'd plop down, do a search. Also, for cattle guards. Turns out there are some that come close to what I remembered, but copyrighted. So I thought I'd do a plowed field texture, but couldn't find anything for sale that suited. Ok. Gritting my teeth, I decide to go with my Bryce. Choose a plane, and go to the texture editor. Not getting anything So I browse among the pro and artist menus, voila! "Plowed Fields of Winter" by David Brinnen. I will tinker with that.
A sketch just to get some elements in position.
Remembered a culvert scene/prop, there in "Jackson's Field by Tango Alpha. I think it suits well. Had to use the Iray Uber script to make Iray, and then remove all gloss, reflection for the visible parts. Sky by Orestes is good. Overall, the general feeling of this scene works. I've made 2 copies of the DAZ scene, so I will make a 3rd, and work on that with the figures.
Getting closer.
Sometimes, I want to quit it. It is very difficult for me to compose a pre-conceived project. So far, I have a resemblance, and its own oddness is good, but it is not quite what I envisioned. I did locate a culvert, a cattle guard, red earth, soda bottle, portable radio and a saucepan. Perhaps one problem is the size of the render itself maybe more landscape.
For 2 days, I had error message pop up constantly about a USB that malfunctioned. Eh? This stupid computer has ports for gaming, but only 2 usbs that accept the external drive and the mouse. But I did have a bottom fan plugged in one of the odd ports. That's what was causing the error. Guess with the heat it is failing. I noted a news blurb yesterday that laptop hard drives will go the way of the dvd drives. So what will the system run on? I don't know. Can't really discuss with the in house guru because he hasn't kept up. I try to explain what I am doing, and he nods. He knows nothing about creating art, nothing about DAZ. I noticed there are no 3d art classes offered at our local arts/crafts centers. I thought about introducing the possibility of a class, with tutorial videos in class, so some of the terms and processes can be "translated". But I am not a social mover.
I have acquired some great stuff in the DAZ sale, and I must say thank you to Martin J Frost, who has offered many of his flowers and plants as freebies in the DAZ+ sale.
I have ideas in my head ,get started on them ,then get distracted ,by making some poses ,or trying to make textures for older stuff that in my opinion was neglected ,then 'll go back to one of the WIPs ,work on it a bit my hope is to get one of my grand kids interested in DAZ ,then they can usse it when I'm gone ........
You keep going back. G
etting distracted must be part of "the work flow". I wish my grandkids would like to learn DAZ, but they are scattered and busy about their own lives. I really do not know any physically present people who "get it". I use pose presets and then modify them to work in my scenes. Sometimes a pose will suggest something to me.
Here's a fairly quick render that includes old favorites of mine. Charis hair Tarian jacket, Nouveau portal and the Fritallar flower. Frittilary flowers such as this, are "checkered" or "chequered" on the petals. They grow from a bulb.
Tested Orestes Sulfur Skies.
First resized to a larger image with some major cropping, then postwork with some filters using Corel PaintShop Pro 2022. I like the atmosphere better. As in writing, sometimes there are things that seem 'precious', but have to be pruned out. I like the mood better in this version. Elements from Jackson's Field by TangoAlpha/DAZ, Under the Bridge/DAZ, Cookware Set by SloshWerks/DAZ, Clarvox Radio by 3D Classics, Summer Day HDRI by Orestes, June 1&2 by DesparateDreamer, Char Hair by goldtassel, Krayon Hair by goldtassel, Casual Springtime by Ryverthorn/DAZ
I really like the open air feeing in your compositions especially this one and the little person running in the background establishing the depth. The most recent view from the back is well done too.
@Rakuda, thank your for your positive feedback.