Starting to Create
nightwolf1982
Posts: 1,160
Hello! Long time lurker, sometime thread poster, totally non-productive to this point artist Nightwolf here. Just a heads up for those who might be interested, I've got a few images up on DA:
http://nightwolf1982.deviantart.com/
Not much, I know, but better than the nothing I've been doing.
Feel free to comment and critique. I can't get any better if no one says anything %-P
Comments
My most recent endeavor, also on DA. Really like how this one turned out. Let me know what you think!
Wow, despite you saying you're new, you're quite good, bravo!
Flattery gets you everything ;)
Actually, I've been dabbling in 3D for over a decade. I just don't post very many images, since I don't have a good handle on how "good" I am. Comments like that help though!
What little I do put up tends not to be commented on, so I can't tell if people like my work, dislike it, or are just "meh" about it.
So, keep the comments coming! Let me know what you like, what you hate, what you think I could do better - the more response I get, the better I'll get at making cool images.
Never go by the comments, but simply by how much you enjoy playing with it.
I've been at it for a bit over a year and a half and enjoying it more than could strictly be called healthy. I don't have many watchers on dA, I don't get many comments, but hey, I'm having fun, so who's counting? i do this for myself.
Unless you intend to make a living out of it, I don't see what else matters. Just have fun, don't worry about the opinion of others. It can be limiting ;)
Keep going!
Oh, I do everything I do for myself. But I want to be able to do it better, so I need outside opinions and critiques to point me in the right direction.
That's where critiques do come in, aye. Useful and constructive critisism is rare, because it's difficult to give good, useful feedback. Around here, you may find it, though. More than over at dA :)
Hi nightwolf! Sorry I haven't popped in before, threads get buried and I'm distracted running after a new puppy and rarely sit down for more than 5 minutes at a time right now. (NOT kidding.) It's 5:30am so I have a few minutes.
I'll be happy to share my first impressions, and they are of course an opinion based on my preferences All I can share is my overall feel for the render.
First, the lights draw my attention, not the main character. I'd rather see those lights cast a glow onto her to create a dramatic effect. I think I would drop some point lights or linear point lights down between the lights and the character on each side. The glow onto her will be really awesome! Her hand and her hip are the two things I can see most clearly, the face is too dark. If you want the eyes to glow, I'd brighten those a bit.
I'd try a distant light behind her so it shines on the top of her head and her shoulders. That will make her pop a bit more, but you can still do it in a subtle way. I like her pose and that will make her stand out a bit more. :)
Sorry to take so long to respond, lost the original file and had to redo the scene.
Novica - Thanks for the great suggestions! I went ahead and added a couple of Linear Point Lights on top of the Point Lights I used for the lamps - I really like the way the Point Lights illuminate the glass in the lamps, but I couldn't get the same effect with LPLs. I also shoved the Ambient setting on the eyes to maximum, to really make them stand out.
Since I had to redo everything, the main light in the scene ended up darker than the original, which I'm really liking as well
IMO looks a lot better! I'd personally stillput more light on the top part a big more- since the flesh is lighter colored, now the eye is drawn to the hip. They eyes do help to draw attention upwards- definitely an improvement there! :) So perhaps a very dim point light on OUR right, by the upper torso?
Novica said:nightwolf1982 said:Oh, I do everything I do for myself. But I want to be able to do it better, so I need outside opinions and critiques to point me in the right direction.
Hi nightwolf! Sorry I haven't popped in before, threads get buried and I'm distracted running after a new puppy and rarely sit down for more than 5 minutes at a time right now. (NOT kidding.) It's 5:30am so I have a few minutes.
I'll be happy to share my first impressions, and they are of course an opinion based on my preferences All I can share is my overall feel for the render.
First, the lights draw my attention, not the main character. I'd rather see those lights cast a glow onto her to create a dramatic effect. I think I would drop some point lights or linear point lights down between the lights and the character on each side. The glow onto her will be really awesome! Her hand and her hip are the two things I can see most clearly, the face is too dark. If you want the eyes to glow, I'd brighten those a bit.
I'd try a distant light behind her so it shines on the top of her head and her shoulders. That will make her pop a bit more, but you can still do it in a subtle way. I like her pose and that will make her stand out a bit more. :)That was my thought exactly! If you could get some lighting from behind her, but I would go a feint spot light from the rear low pointing upward! You could even try to layer a glow through adobe photoshop putting a layered glow behind her!
Your use of lights is cool. I'm pretty new here. That is something I will need to learn how to illuminate the setting as well as a light fixture. Great artwork here.
-rak
Plenty of help on lighting in the New Users forum. Also if you look at the list of WIP threads from the New Users contests, you will see there were a couple of contest about using lights, and the WIP threads have lots of mini tutorials within the threads here http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/28192/