WinterMoon Wants Attention.

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  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    Hey guys, I'm... sorry for inflicting the Innsmouth Aesthetic upon y'all. Please to accept my humble offering of appology?

    I did this one right now. Not happy with the light, but the HDRI I had originally wanted to use didn't play nice, and then this one did.  These three kiddos are the children of Monique & Darius Seven. You've seen them before, but never in the same picture. Left to right we have Starla (or Sara Amelie, if you want to be formal about it), Sandi (Alexandra Marie) and John-Marcus who usually just goes by Marcus or "Jay." The pupper's name is Bunny, because the children named her. 

     

    This is a previous version I did. Dunno, I kind of like this one as well. I'm still bummed that my regular daylight version insists on crashing. 

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    I keep tweaking my character models, always chasing that mythical perfection. Now and then I try new materials on them, and either decide that nah, or that yep, this is a step in the right direction. I'm not sure what this is for Riana, probably more of a step into an alternate timeline where she looks more human. (She's an elf in her original story.)

    BTW, I hate how the light and shadow on her dress make it look like her nipples are trying to burst out. Trust me, they're not! It's just the shirt she's wearing under the dress (to create the lace panel effect) that's poking out awkwardly underneath.

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    New album by Belinda and John Egon, Penny-Ballads: 15 tragic and unnecessary deaths, available on iTunes now. 

     

    Here's yet another character from another story I probably can't ever let anyone read. surprise This could possibly be the most ridiculously pretty man I've ever dialed. His name's Shane, and he's a headache. When he's around, even when he's not physically present, everything centers around him. He didn't want it to be that way, but it is.

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    So, yesterday I decided to create a model for a character named Louise [surname to be determined], who's a country/folk singer. Louise has been rather elusive, I have the say. Some characters are like that. The first time I tried to dial her, I started making her far too ugly and ended up with Belinda. This time I felt like I was on the right track all the way, but then... Then she decided to become an entirely different character, who I've also been meaning to make. She's a background character at best, but since I love creating very detailed backgrounds (not just in stories, but in renders too) even extremely minor characters tend to take on a life "of their own." Her name's Holly Fay Grant, and she's a singer-slash-actor who (in universe) was at the height of her career between 1987 and 1994. I actually really like how she turned out, but I don't know if  it's just me, or if you guys also see a slight resemblance to a famous real person. I won't say who, because that would influence your opinion. It was completely unintentional!

     

    Apropos Belinda, though... I had to remake her, because the original version was downright scary. Most people's reaction to her was basically "AAAAaaghhh!" With that done, the temptation of making another poorly designed album cover became too much. 

     

  • HylasHylas Posts: 4,971

    WinterMoon said:

    I don't know if  it's just me, or if you guys also see a slight resemblance to a famous real person.

    Kristin Chenoweth!

    (...) she's a singer-slash-actor who (in universe) was at the height of her career between 1987 and 1994.

    Kristin is offended!

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    Hylas said: Kristin Chenoweth!

    No, but I can see it!

  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,041

    I see Julia Stiles. 

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    Gordig said: I see Julia Stiles. 

    I can see that too, but she's not the person I "saw" first.

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924
    edited March 2021

    The sun is hot, but the water is still cold. frown

    Post edited by WinterMoon on
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,555

    WinterMoon said:

    The sun is hot, but the water is still cold. frown

    It also seems to have some sudden drop-offs.

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    Richard Haseltine said: It also seems to have some sudden drop-offs.

    No, she's sitting down. When the water is nippy, the best way of going about getting ducked is to walk out until it's at least thigh level, and then drop to your haunches kind of suddenly and without thinking much. It often ends with falling on your bum in the sand, gasping in minor shock.

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

     

    So it's been a while. There are several reasons for that, but mostly it comes down to 1: I've been using my computer for things that couldn't share resources with DS, and 2: I couldn't even, and lost my ability to can. Yeah, I'm pretty rusty now. I tried greasing the gears by doing a couple of easy renders of my OC, Raelynn Carmichael. She's an easy subject to work with, because she's so random. I can put her in almost any situation and still come up with an explaination for why and how. But for now she's just gotten her yearbook pictures taken.

    The next thing I should really, I mean really, learn how to do properly is three-poing lighting.

  • HylasHylas Posts: 4,971

    We´ve missed your adorable kids and offensive Country bands heart

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    Hylas said: We´ve missed your adorable kids and offensive Country bands heart

    Well thank you, @Hylaslaugh I've been kept my computer occupied with Sims, breeding very offensive kids! BTW, Belinda and JE are something so much worse than a country band.

  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,041

    I love the expression in the second picture, although I think the eyes look a little too blank and should be doing something as well.

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

     

    You've met Raelynn, now say hello to her friend Mikayla. But WM, that's just Bridget aged down. Yes, it is. There's an explaination for that.

    See, Mikayla belongs to my friend Sammy. She's a minor character from her book Falling In. (I guess I'm not allowed to link to it.) When Bridget 8 was released, Sam PM'ed me exitedly "THIS IS MIKAYLA!" Being an evil creature at heart, I'm always trying to pull Sam back into 3d art. And so, when I snapped up Bridget the other day (or last week or something), I knew a "photo shoot" of Mikayla was in order. Because Mikayla isn't my character, I'm not going to elaborate too much about her canon. I don't remember exactly what our official story is for how she and Raelynn know each other, but I think it's through either the Sims community or through fan fiction. Mikayla writes under the handle of "MK'la," and Raelynn under "xxxEdwardzLovahxxx." Yeah, Raelynn's embarrassed about that username. She's trying to make people forget she was ever a Twilight fan.

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    Peeps, I fell off the Internet for a month! surprise My fiber box fried during a power outage, and I thought I'd be productive and schedule a repair appointment two weeks later, so I couldn't waste so much time internetting, and maybe get some important stuff done. Then I was in quarantene. frown Today the repairman came around, so I'm back.

     

    Here are a couple of renders I did while in Exile. They represent my mood in the first few days after being cut off from the world. crying

     

  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,041

    They look really good, nice and moody. Missed you!

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    Gordig said:

    They look really good, nice and moody. Missed you!

    Thanks! heart I've missed you guys too!

  • HylasHylas Posts: 4,971

    Love the nocturnal renders!

    Mikayla really looks like a teenager, including the part where she hasn't quite figured out make-up yet cheeky

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    Hylas said: Love the nocturnal renders!

    Mikayla really looks like a teenager, including the part where she hasn't quite figured out make-up yet cheeky

    Thank you! laugh LOL, yeah. I asked Sam how she thought Mikayla would like to have her make-up done for her photo shoot. Sam thought she'd love to have something similar to a Sims character Sam played in a Halloween challenge, who had very dramatic orange eye-shadow. For her outfit, the key terms were "bright, obnoxious colours."

    The "foggy night" scene was meant to be a series of pictures that sort of told a story. I'll probably do a few more of them later. The next picture in the series was meant to have a human character in it, and after I'd posed him rather painstakingly DS saw fit to crash. I hadn't saved, because... no excuse. So yeah, I kind of temporarily lost the passion for that project. frown

  • DanaTADanaTA Posts: 13,199

    Very nice work on those foggy scenes!  

    Dana

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    DanaTA said: Very nice work on those foggy scenes!  

    Thank you! laugh I had a lot of fun working on them.

     

    And now, for something rather different: I've had Ansiko's gorgeous Art Deco pool for a while, and it was really time to use it. This is just a simple scene I whipped up quickly, more as a lighting test than anything. I used a glass shader on the roof, to let more light in, and it looks good IMO.

    Left to right, it's Beatrice, Amanda and Tara who are going for a work-out. (Or just to splash around in the water, because you need to have fun too.)

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924
    edited August 2021

    While I was exiled from the online world, I had a LOT of time to work on stuff. Some of it was spent wisely, cleaning my living space and making appointments for stuff to be done, but of course I couldn't bear to spend the whole time adulting. I even found the courage to face up to the inevitable disappointment it usually is whenever I try to dial an OC. This one actually came out, too!

     

    This is Elena. Yes, I'm totally aware that she's extremely similar to Annie. My model of Annie is still a WIP, though. Elena's more or less final. Annie also isn't wearing those materials anymore, which is probably going to help make them look less cloned.

    Elena is Tara's older sister, by two years. She spends a lot more time "home" than Tara does, where she attends college and shares a house with her paternal grandparents. (It's her parents' house, but the grands have moved in as permanent house sitters.) Elena doesn't see the rest of her family very often. She's more attached to the modern world, and only goes to the timecapsule city for visits.

     

    She's waiting for someone to pick her up, to go see her parents for the first time since the previous Christmas. In her backpack she's only got a change of clothing and a pair of shoes. She keeps all her "appropriate" stuff in a closet at her Mom's place. Her parents often live separately because of work, but they're definitely still married and have no plans to change that. She thinks that this time she'll stay a bit longer, that she'll make more of an effort to appreciate their world for what it is, and not think so much of home. Summer always ends soon enough, and she'll be back in school, surrounded by the familiar modernity. There's also a certain person she's anxious to see. Meeting him again always fills her with happiness and terror in equal measures. surprise

    See an alternate version, with different light.

     

    At some point, the sisters had a "formal" portrait taken, using vintage-repro equipment. Their maternal grandmother has it in her livingroom. This is just a quick mock-up of that picture I did, because A: I wanted to show them together, and B It's fun to play with filters.

     

    Here's a bonus colour version. The Multiplane Cyclorama is perf, IMO, for stuff like this.

    Unedited picture.

    Post edited by WinterMoon on
  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    reborned Annie. She got a new set of materials, also by Mousso. Maybe it's just me, but I think she looks younger now, more like a teenager.

     

    I redressed her and re-rendered both of these picture, because her original outfit kind of blended into the dark background. Finding clothes for her was a challenge, because Annie mostly wears black. It would have been so much easier to just rotate the environment. laugh See the originals here and here.

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    If you've got a band and you need an album cover picture, you can have this one. (Belinda and John Egon don't want it, because it's not a picture of them.)

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    So. Just slapping new materials on Annie wasn't cutting it. I took a good, long look at her, and just thought "This isn't my character." I was clearly onto something, but she didn't look right. She didn't look like I've been imagening Annie in my head for near on 20 years. Her head was all angles, and her features were too small for her face. I felt that I had captured some of her likeness, but her features were exaggerated, almost sort of stylized. Then I started tweaking her settings, without any real idea of what I needed to do. I reshaped her nose, her lips and her jaw. She had a PA character dialed in at 35%, who I dialled back out so that she was just G8F with various sliders.

     

    I also tried on a lot of different skin textures, to see if any one just "clicked." Almost by accident I discovered that her "default expression" seemed more accurate to how I'm imagening her when her fibermesh brows were layered on top of painted ones. Eventually I tried a set of SASE materials, and the brows on that one were a perfect match. Putting "nude" lip gloss on her was another thing I discoved helped make her more Annie.

     

    I won't say that this is the definite ultimate version of her, and that she'll never receive additional tweaks or different materials. She's a long step in the right direction, though. I can see a lot more of the temperamental, fed-up teenager from my stories in her now. The previous version depended on the Haydina hair style to "be" Annie, this new one doesn't need it. I still like the old model, so I'll probably rework her into another character. Annie's mother, and one of her cousins, both have a strong family resemblance to her. Next up I should work some more on the model of her brother Frank. She's also got a sister, who I've never managed to create any kind of likeness of, and another brother whose face I don't even have a clear idea of. Maybe I should take a little break from character creation, and do some scene building. surprise

  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924
    edited September 2021

    I felt like doing an autumny scene. 

    Edith: Here's an alternative version. I like the direction of the light better in the one I posted, but please tell me if you disagree,

    Post edited by WinterMoon on
  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,924

    Annie's been working hard to convince me that she's my favourite model. Unfortunately, she's got to share my attention with several other activities, including real world attempts at adulting and responsibling. That's why she only gets another render of herself sitting on something while looking vaguely spacey.

    (Almost) Unedited picture.

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