The new cover art for my novellette ‘Left of Center’ designed by Zathyn Priest
The re-release of this story will include two versions bundled together.
The graphic version and the plain text, both in pdf eBook format

Left of Center was originally published by Torquere Press
Click HERE for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nudes are a common subject for Daz Studio and Poser users.  I did a lot of nude portraits when I first started because I had limited outfits for them to wear.  However, I tried to make the portraits at least look as if some work went into them.

I upload my images onto DeviantArt and there are some exceptional artworks and artists using that site.  Unfortunately it’s got to the stage where looking through the digital art section has become like wading through a cheap porn magazine.   There is an adult content filter, but putting that into action also filters out the good nude/erotic artworks.  Yes, art is subjective, and just because I think something is beautiful doesn’t mean someone else will think the same.  But, downloading Daz Studio (it’s a free program), loading a model, spreading their legs, rendering it, and calling it art is a stretch of the imagination.

As much as I love Daz Studio and what it’s capable of, it onlypart of the digital art process.  The above image is called Je t’aime and it’s a portrait I did a few days ago.  The two characters – Nathan and Ambrose – are original and designed by me.  Below is a before and after shot of the same portrait.  The first shows how it looked freshly rendered out of Daz Studio and the second shows how it looks after postwork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use two, sometimes three, programs in postwork.  The first is PhotoLooks Builder, which was a free program offered when I upgraded Paintshop Pro.  I didn’t think I’d get much use out of it, but oh how wrong I was!  I love this program.  It has a big selection of preset filters and an option to make your own filter presets.  It’s the first program I go to after I’ve rendered an image in Daz.  Once I’ve applied the filter, I then take the image into Photoshop or Paintshop Pro.  Or both.  That’s where I fix up any problems that occur with digital models.  For example, the bad bend in Ambrose’s elbow.  Little faults in joints goes with the territory when working with digital models.  There are scripts you can use to fix these in Daz or Poser, but I just deal with it in postwork.

When the faults have been fixed, I then usually work in layers to put in some shading.   Doing it in layers is more forgiving of errors and a softer way of putting in shadow around muscles, etc.  Then I’ll adjust the lighting and contrast settings until I get the right look.

Personally, I think artistic nudes are beautiful.  I’ve seen some gorgeous artworks using naked digital models.  But, there is a difference between artistic nude/erotic art and digital porn.  It’s a shame sites like DeviantArt are getting flooded with these types of cheap images.  Unless someone wants to turn on the adult content filter, and then miss the good nudes, it makes browsing through the site a chore and nowhere near as pleasant.

 

 

 

Played around more with lighting effects in this one.  The first set of lights – distant light and one spotlight – were done in Daz Studio.  I then placed one more spotlight on the character in Photoshop aimed from the feet pointing toward his face.  It gave the portrait a nice muted look, I think.  Unfortunately the spotlight used in Photoshop pretty much erased the foot he’s holding.  To fix that I placed one Photoshop omni light on that foot in the original picture, layered the two images over one another, and then erased around the shoe to bring it back into the scene.  Lighting levels, brightness and contrast were also adjusted prior to putting in the Photoshop lights.

Sometimes when posing 3D characters in Daz Studio or Poser you can end up with limbs not looking as natural as they should.  It depends a lot on the extremity of the pose.  In this portrait the posing is quite extreme with the bend of his left arm and his legs.  The bicep muscle in his left arm didn’t look natural at all and so I used Photoshop’s ‘liquify’ tool to push out the bicep muscle a little.  (I love the liquify tool!)  I also used it to thicken up his left thigh, which looked a bit too thin due to the pose.

For those of you who are new to photoshop and the liquify tool, it’s an incredibly useful thing to use but needs a gentle hand.  It works best when there are no surrounding patterns to distort.  Distortion of other parts of the image is a dead give away to using liquify.  Always make sure you take that into consideration because it can ruin an otherwise good image.

Lastly, I evened out the skin by blending the lighter tones of his skin with the darker tones.  I used the smudge brush on a very low setting – about 6%, I think it was.

Model: Tyler Curtis (One of my original fiction and 3D characters)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Like nearly everything I finish, this didn’t turn out anything like what I started to do.  I set out to do a vintage 50′s style portrait of a woman in a white and pink corset.  I ended up with a surreal image of a woman in a tiger print corset!

Image was created in Daz Studio with postwork done in Paintshop Pro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Another in the ‘shoe’ series of ballet portraits.  Created in Daz Studio with postwork done in Photoshop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Doing a series of ballerina portraits for a group on DeviantArt and also because I think ballet is beautiful.  I plan to do a portrait for each shoe colour – maybe about 6-8 in total.  Here are the first three.

RED SHOES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SILVER SHOES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLUE SHOES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Going through a phase of face orientated portraiture.  This character is from an untitled, shelved work in progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I’ve taken a few days off writing to play around in Daz Studio.  This is one of my favourite models to work with.  You’ll see Ambrose in a lot of my portraits because I’m shamelessly in love with him!

Created in Daz Studio.  Postwork Paintshop Pro.  Model: Ambrose by Zathyn Priest (Not available for sale).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I love working with black and white images.  I love the mood monochrome can give and some pictures look their best without the interference of colour.  So, this image – Blue Moon – was meant to be black and white.  However, during postwork when I was playing with the shading and levels, I really liked the feel of blue.  Most of the time my art never turns out how I originally pictured it, but that’s half the fun and discovery of creating.

Models: Alec Tyler (AKA Tyler Curtis) and Jordan Braxton from the novel ”The Curtis Reincarnation”

BLUE MOON

Been playing with a new character, Emrys, who does have the beginnings of a story filed away waiting to be completed.  He’s half angel and half vampire and damn fine to look at!  Ahh… I love Daz Studio and the chance to provide myself with eye candy any time I feel like it.

The first image is available to download as a wallpaper.  Just click on the pic to be taken to the full size image, then right click and choose ‘save as’.  If you download the image, please do not redistribute it without permission and do not remove the signature from the picture.

Thanks!

EMRYS