Artsy's Creative Corner

ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679
edited August 11 in Art Studio

Hello,

I'm looking for ideas and suggestions on how I can be better at what I do. Sometimes an image comes to mind fully created and all I have to do is do what I'm told and create the image. Other times, I only get bits and pieces. Since I'm always trying to do better and accept any and all ideas on how I can accomplish that, I figured I'd do a thread here to see what everyone else thinks, either as suggestions on composition or ideas for improvement. There's a lot of talent here at DAZ, a lot of knowledge and a ton of creativity. If anyone could spare time to offer advice, I'd be grateful.

Thanks a lot!

Post edited by ArtsyDragon on

Comments

  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679
    edited August 8

    For the first post of 'what do I do next', I have a series I'm trying to make called Little Boy Pixie. I've seen a lot of little girl pixies but not a lot of little boys so I took to DAZ and figured out which combo turned Pixie 9 into a Pixie 9 Boy.

    The question I have is for this little guy:

    Karma

    I've named him Karma and figured Karma can be anywhere at any time, to any body. I am at a loss as to what place I should put him in, steampunk, sci-fi, flowers and grass. I just don't know.

    I was able to get my first little guy into a scene, He's in a post-apocolyptic garage. I don't have a cool name for him yet, he's just 'Little Boy Pixie' at the moment and was my first.

    Little Pixie Boy 

    Any ideas or suggestions for improvement are wonderful and are welcomed. Thanks a bunch.

    Post edited by ArtsyDragon on
  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679
    edited September 26

    Taking some time away from the pixies, I turned to sci-fi. I love using this corridor for images. It's easy to use and renders fabulous. Unfortunately, this time when I rendered the picture, it took over 19 hours to render (and it was only at 20% done according to the timer.) I used DOF on the camera. Could someone comment on what I may have done to cause this? Did the DOF cause it? I don't recall having that issue before with DOF and this prop set.

    .PS: Thank you @Hylas for letting me know that there was an issue with the image.

    Post edited by ArtsyDragon on
  • HylasHylas Posts: 4,971

    ArtsyDragon said:

    Karma

    Any ideas or suggestions for improvement are wonderful and are welcomed. Thanks a bunch.

    Maybe it's just me but I think his pecs are a bit too bulging, in relation to his child-like face

     

    ArtsyDragon said:

    Unfortunately, this time when I rendered the picture, it took over 19 hours to render (and it was only at 20% done according to the timer.) I used DOF on the camera. Could someone comment on what I may have done to cause this? Did the DOF cause it? I don't recall having that issue before with DOF and this prop set.

    Your picture isn't showing but I went and took a look in your gallery. I highly doubt it's the DOF. What happened is that your scene was too big for your GPU and you dropped to CPU rendering. It could mean too many characters, too many large textures, too much SubD, too many fancy hairs...

    Has this never happened to you before? Because I see you have a render in your gallery with six characters, each with their own hair. It's curious how a GPU is able to handle six characters but not two...

  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679

    Hylas said:

    ArtsyDragon said:

    Karma

    Any ideas or suggestions for improvement are wonderful and are welcomed. Thanks a bunch.

    Maybe it's just me but I think his pecs are a bit too bulging, in relation to his child-like face

    You're right. I hadn't really given it much thought. I need to be better with my details. Thank you.

     

    ArtsyDragon said:

    Unfortunately, this time when I rendered the picture, it took over 19 hours to render (and it was only at 20% done according to the timer.) I used DOF on the camera. Could someone comment on what I may have done to cause this? Did the DOF cause it? I don't recall having that issue before with DOF and this prop set.

    Your picture isn't showing but I went and took a look in your gallery. I highly doubt it's the DOF. What happened is that your scene was too big for your GPU and you dropped to CPU rendering. It could mean too many characters, too many large textures, too much SubD, too many fancy hairs...

    Has this never happened to you before? Because I see you have a render in your gallery with six characters, each with their own hair. It's curious how a GPU is able to handle six characters but not two...

    I did have one that took forever. It had something with a lot of different lights. It was the Disreputable Lair (which I loooooove) with only one character in the image. I didn't think to look at my render settings after I finally stopped the render. I can try again and check. It would show up in render settings that it switched, right?

    The one with the six fellows in it didn't take very long at all. I set it to render at 9PM and it was done sometime during the night before I got up and visited the restroom at 2AM. I'm used to renders taking that long when there are multiple people in them. 

    I appreciate your ideas, @Hylas. Thank you so much!

  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679
    edited August 11

    @Hylas Regarding Pixie... I missed one of my controls for how the breasts look and once I added that one in like I should have done at the beginning, it's back to a young boys body. I'll post it over the last one shortly.

     

    Post edited by ArtsyDragon on
  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679

    After doing some sleuthing on why my Duo image took so long to render, I discovered it was the product Sci-Fi Corridor A causing the issue. I love the way it looks but my computer is not enough to render it in a reasonable amount of time. I'll put that in my notes for future use. I'll either not use it or use it when I will have plenty of time to render the image.

  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679

    After some hemming and hawing, I found the enchanted wood was a great background for our dear Karma Pixie. Let me know your thoughts. I'm always eager to hear good and bad. Can't grow without it. :)

  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679
    edited August 16

    So I got Kaede 9 today. Very fun to play with. I started with her and added a lot of this and that from male and female characters alike to reach the final image below I call my new Raelyn. 

    Post edited by ArtsyDragon on
  • looking alot better, try a boyish haircut like maybe dirk hair or joe ducky or tyler hair, not many boys have long wavy hair, try that, or if you want long hair use a tiny less waves or make it wavy but messy.

     

  • As I said before about the hair change and the straps, I adjusted the lighting to show you a example of what i was talking about. about how lights can change a image alot.

  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679

    @HakunaBanana Thank you for the suggestions. I'll give them a go. I love my Karma and want him to be just right. 

    On another note, what do you all do when you hit a dry spell? I'm in one right now. I'll give my Karma some love but as far as something new, I'm at a loss. Any suggestions?

  • When I run out of ideas, I look at the gallery pages and think, what Is NOT being done, something usually pops in my head, and I go for it,  thats prolly why i have 100+ unfinished projects, lol. by the time I get around to working on one someone does it, lol so I put it away..

  • Another note, is you make him the way you like, it. not everyone is going to agree, but the best critic is yourself. If your happy, then it's perfect. 

  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679

    You're awesome, @HakunaBanana, just in case nobody told you that yet today.

  • HakunaBananaHakunaBanana Posts: 41
    edited August 27

    ty

    Post edited by HakunaBanana on
  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679
    edited September 5

    Here's another pixie; the more common being a little pixie girl. She is named Destiny. I had fun creating this image more than most. All the items used fell together without much trouble or twisting of gravity (although we are not going to talk about what dForce did to her right hand and wrist flutter initially.)

    Destiny

    Post edited by ArtsyDragon on
  • Nice job!!

  • HakunaBanana said:

    Nice job!!

    Thanks! I'm glad someone else likes it too.

  • HakunaBananaHakunaBanana Posts: 41
    edited September 5

    it looks like she's a monster sized pixie, id add a giant strawberry to make her look littler, lol tinkerbell on growth hormones, jk. but she's still pretty awesome.

    Post edited by HakunaBanana on
  • HakunaBanana said:

    it looks like she's a monster sized pixie, id add a giant strawberry to make her look littler, lol tinkerbell on growth hormones, jk. but she's still pretty awesome.

    That is an interesting perspective. The background artifact was marketed as a mystical place in the base of a tree. It didn't occur to me that shifting away from that part into a more natural environment that I should do something like that. I appreciate the input. I'll see what I can do.

  • This is just a little bit of fun....

  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679
    edited September 26

    I do love Halloween and I think mid-September is close enough to start having some Halloween fun.

    Post edited by ArtsyDragon on
  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,027
    edited September 29

    ArtsyDragon said:

    I was able to get my first little guy into a scene, He's in a post-apocolyptic garage. I don't have a cool name for him yet, he's just 'Little Boy Pixie' at the moment and was my first.

    Little Pixie Boy 

    Any ideas or suggestions for improvement are wonderful and are welcomed. Thanks a bunch.

    ...I kind of like it the way it is.  It's like he's either thinking "where did everyone go?" or a bit bewildered "where the heck am I?"   

    Post edited by kyoto kid on
  • kyoto kid said:

    ArtsyDragon said:

    Any ideas or suggestions for improvement are wonderful and are welcomed. Thanks a bunch.

    ...I kind of like it the way it is.  It's like he's either thinking "where did everyone go?" or a bit bewildered "where the heck am I?"   

    Thank you for the comment. I'm a fan of this litte guy as is too. I figured he was thinking, "I didn't do it."

  • ArtsyDragonArtsyDragon Posts: 679

    I was thrilled that Aeon Soul released a new set of clothes. And what with the G9 being F or M, we have male clothing now. WOOT!

    Here's a little bit quicky I put together:

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