It's a creative kinda life

Tell Me What You Do...

2011-12-15T15:53:00.001+13:00

In a recent interview I was asked to sum up in one sentence what I do - so I said "I take peoples photographs and give them wings". I'm not sure if they were expecting more, but to be perfectly honest...that is exactly what I do.

Had I have tried to over-explain it, it probably would have sounded like utter crap in the ears of those doing the asking. Of course after about a minute of silence, the smile I got spoke volumes.

So I guess the moral of this story is, when someone asks you what you do - speak the truth and speak it with confidence. To deviate from that would only make you feel like an asshole.

Eve - zee WIPs and final product

2011-12-10T19:33:00.003+13:00

Last night I started working on a new manip which I ended up calling 'Eve' - its a been a while since I threw myself into a fantasy piece. Lately it's been a lot of portrait/fashion retouching so I was glad to be working on something different. As always, I didn't have an end game in mind nor did I have the slightest clue as to what I was doing. It was a case of trolling DA's stock images until I came across one or two items that looked like they would work together.

Marcus J Ranum (aka mjranum-stock) ALWAYS has awesome stock models so it was a no-brainer I was going to check out his nudes before anyone elses :D

WIP numero uno...

The model I enjoyed working on because the lighting was awesome, she had the right amount of light and shadow on her body to create a really nice painterly look, (this is where retouching has definitely come in handy). Her pose was subtle and not over exaggerated, she was really nice to work on. The background I used was mostly an after-thought, something to work up the model with. I ended up keeping it because it fit. Added in some strategically placed vines to kind of cover up the all over nakedness but kept it subtle where she was still looking sexy.

WIP numero dos...

This WIP was adding in more detail, to her body and to the headdress and finally making peace with the hair which I changed the color and length from the first WIP. Put in more vines and started highlighting/shadowing the material, also blending it into the ground. I added in a second background to break the empty space behind the model and...

Eve

Voila! Eve was now looking finished. The first version of this I kind of left it how it was in the second whip with the red hue to her skin but...after spending some time looking at, it just, didn't look quite right so I slapped a dark olive shape over top of it, fiddled around with the opacity and color balance to get her to blend with her surroundings better, rather than looking like she was put onto the background and it turned out pretty good. Here's a quick look at ther before an after...

Credits:
frozen-stocks: Background - http://frozenstocks.deviantart.com/art/Enchanted-Forest-Premade-141857010
anarasha-stock: Background - http://anarasha-stock.deviantart.com/art/stock-fantasy-backgrounds-58017477
mjranum-stock: Model - http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/art/Balance-2-56345992
ashensorrow: Headress - http://ashensorrow.deviantart.com/art/Wall-Crest-PNG-140499597
frostbo: Vines - http://frostbo.deviantart.com/art/PNG-Vines-215163232
pvs-digitalart: Hair - http://pvs-digitalart.deviantart.com/art/AfroHair-188196368

other little bits and bobs painted in by me...

Sneek Peek Monday: Universal Light

2011-12-05T10:01:00.046+13:00

One of my all time, favorite manipulated artworks that I have ever created to date would have to be Universal Light, using the beautiful Shaiya character, Etaine-white godess, created by Korean artist Hyung jun Kim. The characters themselves were simply stunning - very well crafted, beautiful and very elegant. I'm not even sure how I came across them, I just know once I did I had to use one or both (ended up being both) in something of my own creating. I'd seen dozens of rehashed versions made by other people and so naturally I jumped on the band-wagon with the exception of making it known I wasn't the original artist of the girl. I'm good but not that good!

The Original - Etaine -white goddess

This is the image I ending up going with because it was simple and clean and easy to work with...at least that's what I thought. God only know's how many attempts I did before I got it right. And by that I mean going for something a little less crowded and within my skill set to make what I needed, happen. At the time, my skills were very very minimal. In a way I guess you could say...I kinda fluked this one :D But still...it's the best damn fluke ever!! So now, I give you my version....[insert drum-roll]

Universal Light

And voila! My baby, my greatest achievement in the art of manipulation (at least I think so). I created this back in 2007, my very first "real" attempt at photo manipulation. In the end I created a sister image to offset UL, a kind of flip-side to the coin so to speak and I came up with All Powerful Darkness. This...generated a shit load of feedback and interest and I was asked to make one that had both of them in it so people could see what it looked like. Enter Inferno of Darkness & Light (below) and also enter the beginning of my career as an artist.

All Powerful Darkness

Inferno of Darkness & Light

The reality for me is, its only because of these 3 images why I am doing what I do today. It was this set that pushed me into the lime-light and got me recognised on the international stage as an up-coming digital artist from the iddy biddy country of New Zealand.

In the beginning there were Care Bears and Rainbows

2011-12-04T17:26:00.001+13:00

You've probably figured out by now that this is not really about Care Bears or Rainbows, although I gotta say...back in the days when Care Bears were the absolute ducks nuts, "I", muchaos...was a very big fan. No. This is more of a "how you doing? This is me!" - kinda intro to this har bloggity, with a few other things chucked in for good measure.

You see, I'm a serial blogger with a string of failed blogs under my belt, and today while watching Rain mow the lawns sipping on a cold one, I thought to myself 'You know what we should do? We should crank up that blog we found floating around the cyber-ethers' - I mean, what the hell right? No day like the present to give folk a first class tour into my world - a backstage pass so to speak to see what makes me tick creatively non? There seems to be a lot of folk out there who are interested in what I see, what I know, what I like, what made me do this and so on and there's really no better way to share all that stuff with them than on a blog. So yeah...here I am...blogging...again :D

I mean who knows right? This may be the start of a very beautiful thing. So without further delay, I bid you welcome, stick around, enjoy what you see, ask questions and tell yo mama I'm here all week.