Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR)
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Masterfully done. I keep looking at it to figure out if it's 'real' or if it's 'painted', or if it's just simply beautiful. Then I look at it again because it's so cool.
That sheen on the hind-quarter and the hair texture, and the rich colors, and the naturally weighed pose/posture, and ...
yeah,
--ms
Very attractive. I like skin tones and the effect on his clothes and gear. But yeah, the hair and beard need work. Also, note how his shadow abruptly ends in the middle of his head. It also has an odd glow/halo effect that's not very pleasing. I think this would look better without the shadow, or just a very small shadow below the figure. Since there's nothing really in the background, it really doesn't do a lot to add a sense of depth to what is more character study than scene. Just my two bits to consider... I definitely do like the character and color choices. The wardrobe and props perectly convey who he is and the pose conveys a sense of attitude that is very appealing.
Hope the shot gives you some relief, Mike. Your character is looking good, and I hear you about always having to keep processing time in the back of your mind.
On a somewhat related note, here's a link to a pdf I came across recently that you may find interesting given your style:
The Atlas of Analytical Signatures of Photographic Processes
https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/atlas_halftone.pdf
- Greg
Wow, looking though the digital comics section of Renderosity and I'm both inspired and intimidated at the same time.
A forest begins with a single sprout.
Very true. I wish I hadn't abandoned art when I was young. I met these two guys at a convention who have their own digital comic: Starpower. They inspired me to get back into art. Then I discovered Poser and Daz and it all snowballed from there LOL. I have so much catching up to do, but I love every minute I've spend on this endeavor, even if every render can't be a masterpiece.
Greg: Thank you! I skimmed that entire book, and it really reminded me of stuff I read back in college when I was getting my undergraduate degree in print journalism. I really liked reviewing the timeline on page 5 of the book. In my opinion, halftone screen printing is easily the second or third most important invention of modern print technology (moveable type being #1 and tied with mechanical-fed presses). It made it possible to realistically print photos for the first time, which in turn made it possible to share information as it never had before. It's also the underlying principle of our modern display screens (using tiny colored dots to simulate full-color images and text). But anyway, this really isn't the forum for that type of discussion. Thanks for the link (and I did add it to my blog listing so others can read it), too.
I'm trying to get past the mindset of creating a masterpiece. Right now, I'm trying to increase my speed to create things that are "very good/good enough" so I can focus on storytelling and page design (something I used to do a lot by hand in the 80s when I was writing fanzine comics). Even though I was never a great artist, I was good at laying out comic pages so they had the right "beat" and that the layout would contribute to the overall story. I was fortunate to work with a few artists who liked that -- they would take my design as a starting point and improve on it. Collaboration at that level is fun.
Like you, I do regret stepping away from it all. But, I had a lot of professional growth in other areas, so it's all worked out for the best.
Thanks. I think it has. I was very careful yesterday: I was religious about the ice-on/ice-off schedule for at least three hours (even in the restaurant we went to for lunch afterwards). When I got home I caught up on a past season of NCIS (five episodes yesterday!) and stayed off it a lot. I got a little more lax as the eveening wore on and I could see the swelling was under control. Today there is almost no swelling, and it does feel a lot better. I'll know for sure in a week or two if this really helped a lot, and then I need to monitor it for the next three months to determine how long it lasts. If the relief ends too soon, I will have to try different treatments.
Anyway, no more health news!
Unless I get interupted by a work call, I'm going to try a 1-hr challenge to create a new expression image with my fairy character. I'm actually going to use a timer to see how I do.
Sorry for dropping off there like that, my time at my actual computer has been in limited amounts (needed a cortisone shot in the back, what are the odds). Hopefully this means I'll have more renders soonish, but catching up on the thread.
First, mmitchell_houston congratulations on finishing the tutorial. It sounds (and looks!) like it was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it. I really appreciate you sharing the process, and definitely more interested in what can be done with Manga Studio based on some of the features you talked about.
And thanks algovincian for the book link, looks like an interesting read.
Knittingmommy, I'm not sure if you have revisited this one yet, I really like the overall effect here, and I was thinking rather than reducing saturation, you might also want to look at adjusting the hue of the greens to something a little more blue possibly. The saturation of the figures when looking at them close up looks all right to me personally, it's the bright green that might overpower the rest a bit. I am not sure if that is all maps or diffuse channel colors, so not sure how easy that might be to experiment with. Definitely love the overall look!
tkdrobert, I really like the final effect here, interesting that the effect was mostly postwork on an iray render, I will have to check out some of the filters you mentioned. I have liked the skin tones you get in a number of these renders, but the effect on the metal here particularly caught my attention.
Sammy_jr_mart, looks very nice, I like the colored pencil/water color impression it gives!
WELLLLL, my 1-hr challenge was a FAIL. I went over by 30 minutes (not counting the time to save the image -- I only counted the actual time working on the image itself). At any rate, here's what I complete in 1.5 hours today.
I obviously needed to spend more time on the wing shadows and kinking. I also cut time by working with a single tone layer (I frequently work with two). The hair is going to need more work, and I may have to pump up the texture resolution on her wings. I'm first going to look at the page thumbnails and see how many close-ups the story calls for. If it's only a handful, I will skip that step. If there's a lot, though, it would be worth it to at least double their current size so the speckles on her wings stay round and clear.
Even with the time constraints and the obvious faults, this is a decent image and there's something to be said for working against the clock for a change. Since the's part of a story (8-10 pages) due in November, I need to get with it. I think I'll switch to the hero next (I may give him a quick costume change, but probably not) and do a few more expressions and poses for him. Then it's time to define the set and the dragon.
I like the "traditional" noir effect you cover in the tutorial, but I also really like the two tone look you are showing here and in a few other images as well. It really goes to show the range of effects and the different "feel" you can get with the same scene and same renders.
Great CAD style illustration! Love the total effect. I have hardly used Carrara (and I've got an old version), but I definitely appreciate the video link too, always nice to learn something new!
I like it both with and without the post effects. I appreciate seeing some of the iray renders in a more stylized format, I haven't done much with it myself but have some toon shaders for iray that I want to learn to use better. Images like this let me know what's possible.
Yeah, the tutorial was a lot of work. Most of it was written in quick, marathon sessions and then scheduled for print weeks in advance. All in all, I spent a little more than two weeks of my free time working on it. I'll be very glad when the final "Chapter" runs on Friday. I will then go back through the entire series and edit some links (I always do this after publication to ensure that the link works correctly), and then call it quits.
And thank YOU for the comment (at least I'm guessing that was you, was it?) left at the blog.
-----------------------
You're right, what are the odds we both had to get cortisone shots this week? My wife has has back pain for years and had decent relief with the shots at first. As time went on though, they lasted shorter and shorter durations, so she finally got a nerve burn and a type of spinal fusion that literally changed her life. So far, I'm doing okay, but I can tell I've been at the computer too long today. My knee is beginning to hurt, so I need to go watch some more NCIS (or something) and put some more ice on it. Looking forward to seeing new stuff from you soon!
I have FINALLY completed my Noir Style Comics Tutorial. The contents/launch page is here:
https://mikemitchellonline.blogspot.com/2017/09/noir-style-tutorial-pt-21-contents.html
Without the context of the thread here, I would have definitely thought that was a pencil rendering. Excellent effect, very well done. And interesting that the shading on the two has a different effect int he way the fur texture looks, not sure how much of that is from the underlying image maps or deliberate in the process. I appreciate the post about the process and technique as well.
How much control does your process give you on the line thickness and quality? If I had a thought on something I might try to tweak, it would be the outline on the first one to help separate out the elements. The saturation and overall effect of the outfit I really like, and the second set of images show much bolder outlines without overwhelming the figure. Overall a cool effect, would like to see more.
I'm not very familiar with PD and all of its effects, but it looks like it has some very cool illustrative opportunities. This one in particular stuck out to me (I guess I gravitate to a certain visual look
)
I know I've already talked about the tutorial a bit, but just wanted to add another thank you for posting the details on this one. The multiple tone layers look really cool, and between your tutorial and this image gives me ideas of ways to use the pwtoon presets I've got to create layer masks toward a similar effect. Adds a lot of options to show have contrasting textures in a black and white image.
All right, so I got a chance to try a few adjustments to my previous render. I just focused on the jacket and left the background as it is for this one, but ended up with two variants. One just adjusting the outline to distinguish the jacket more clearly from the background, and one that additionally adds a little more detail into the jacket itself. I haven't decided whether the extra details distract too much, but am going to give it a few days to see how I feel before picking one for the gallery.
That said, thought some might be interested to see the versions compared to the original, and would be interested if anyone did have any feedback on the change.
Thanks for te comments, AlmightyQUEST.
I also do not use the PD Howler frequently, but it has a lot of nice features, worth to explore.
My latest. The Wyvern!
Thanks again! You know, I hadn't really thought of it that way before, but you're right. The tutorial does explain how to layer different tones and treatments to get a new effect. I would love to see what you do with PW Toon; I have that product but have only used it a little bit. Maybe next year I can experiment with it more – I would love to be able to bring part of my workflow back into Daz Studio.
MECH vs Kaiju. I've been wanting to do a render like this for awhile.
After I posted this, I thought that maybe the shadows should go the other way because of the moon. I'm still struggling with light issues, especially in 3Delight. I tried changing up the lighting, but it didn't look as good. However, I went to bed early last night because I wasn't feeling well, so maybe I didn't put in enough effort. As I was falling asleep, I thought, maybe, there is another, closer light source that is creating those shadows, off camera. I couldn't come up with a good explanation of what would produce that much light. I don't know, what do you all think? Other than the shadow direction, I'm happy with how it looks..
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but what if someone takes your idea and does a better job? I’m not sure how to feel about that. LOL
Looking for feedback, let me know what you think.
Not bad, Kind of looks like clip art.
Been working on this for the past day and a half. It's a panel from my upcoming comic book story. I need to put this into context of the entire page to make sure I have the thickness of the inking correct, but in general, I kinda like it. BTW: I wound up having to create the ring from scratch. I needed a ring that was really simple and iconic -- inasmuch as detail tends to get lost in this style, and comics is the art of simplification, I just wanted a huge diamond on a simple ring. I had the gemstone, so I created the ring out three toruses (torusi? My Latin is lousy!). I then scaled and placed the ring and the two ring mounts, created a group and parented it to her hand. The rest is as usual: V4 in Poser 11, clean-up in Photoshop and final work in Manga Studio 5 EX (aka Clip Studio Paint 5 EX).
Very cool.
Looks great, mmitchell_houston, and your tutorial is very interesting and I guess will require a lot of time to complete.
Another go at my Twilek Smuggler
Looks great, tkdrobert. I like the style of your images.
Margaery Tyrell