I thought I’d post a quick picture of my first (half-complete) Sculptris model.  He’s just a alien concept I through together pretty quick.  I’ve got about 30 minutes tied up in the work on this guy.  So far, I like Sculptris pretty good.

I’ve had it crash a few times, so I just try to save my work often.  Otherwise, it’s a great little app.  Check out my alien (modeled in Sculptris and rendered using Blender 2.5 Alpha):

Sculptris: www.sculptris.com/

I’m starting to head in another direction with my personal art endeavors.  For starters, I’ve finally gotten serious and set myself down and have decided to learn how to use Blender.  In the process, I’ve stumbled across a couple of great applications.   Sculptris is the first.  I love it.

Sculptris is basically in the same vein as Zbrush.  I’m not familiar with the toolsets included in Zbrush, so I can’t make a comparison at this time.  But for what it is, Sculptris seems to do a great job.  It makes 3D sculpting pretty simple and easy to pickup for beginners.  I am a complete newb when it comes to 3D design/image software packages.  Learning Blender has been a little tough, but I’m loving the new interface in Blender 2.5 Alpha.  And I can’t wait to see what I can to by mixing these two great apps together.  The other great thing about Sculptris…It’s completely free.

Check out Sculptris:

The second app I’ve stumbled across was MakeHuman.  The goal of MakeHuman is pretty simple: make fairly high resolution models of the human figure.  These models can then be exported from MakeHuman and brought into most of the well known 3D software packages for further editing.  Basically, it’s a kind of slimmed down version of Poser.  The difference: MakeHuman is free and open source software, and is cross platform (Mac, Windows, Linux).  The way I see it; most anybody with a decent computer and an internet connection can have access to free tools that they can use to learn about 3D model design and creation.  It costs nothing.

Happy Surfing!

For more information about the software mentioned above please visit their respective websites (listed below):

• Blender            http://www.blender.org/
• Sculptris         http://www.sculptris.com/
• MakeHuman  http://www.makehuman.org/

*Note: MakeHuman does display anatomically correct human figures in the nude.

After looking at the package list that is included with openArtist it looks pretty promising.  I am already running Ubuntu, so installing another Linux distro is probably out of my plans for the near future.  But I will try to install some of these packages on my Ubuntu install for testing and let everybody know how it works out.  In the meantime, if you are curious feel free to drop past their website and give it a try: openArtist.

I must be honest, when I first started playing with Paintbook it was a little strange.  Literally drawing with my finger tip.  However, after about 5 minutes, I seemed to get oriented pretty easily.  Paintbook has a lot of versatility that you can easily pick up after playing with it.  To be fair, I haven’t tried some of the other art apps in the App Store.  Paintbook is my first.

Check out this clip of the app in use:

Also checkout my first Paintbook pic:

Quickie Sketch-Done in about 3 minutes

If you have an Ipod Touch, look for it at the Apple App Store.  It sells for $3.99, but so far it has been a fun addition to my Ipod.  I spend a lot of time traveling for work.  And I used to carry around a small pocket sized sketchbook and pencil for quick thumbnail sketches incase an idea hit me in the middle of the day.  And this app has replaced my traveling sketchbook.

A neat feature the app includes is the ability to turn your image into a PDF and upload it to the Paintbook website.  There it is stored within their online gallery which is made up of posts of artwork uploaded by other users as well.  The Paintbook website also utilizes Twitter feeds that will update to your Twitter account (if you have one) and let your followers see when at what you have just uploaded to the Paintbook site.  The Paintbook site also allows you to favorite and follow other artists as well.

The images created within Paintbook are stored on the Ipod and are made available through the ‘Photos’ menu as well.  You can even setup a ‘virtual sketchbook’ in the Paintbook app to organize your images.

For more information on Paintbook check out their website at: http://paintbook.ca

I was able to find this great WordPress App in Apple’s App Store (which is free btw). I do have a blog over on Blogger @ Techie.Smarts @ Blogspot.com so if anybody has any recommendations as to which app works best with Blogger, then drop me a line or leave a comment. Who knows maybe I will just relocate it to WordPress. We’ll see. Well until next time!

But now that I know about it, this site will become a regular stop on my browsing habits. It is called: psdtuts.com and it is a very wealthy source of Photoshop tutorials. Featuring mostly photomanipulation tutorials, there are also a handful of digital painting resources scoured across the site as well.

Many of the tutorials are written tutorials, but there are also several well made video tuts available as well. PSDTUTS also offers a paid subscription service for $9.00 USD a month. However, there is more than enough free content to keep you happy for a while.

Check out what I made with just a few minutes alone with the PSDTUTS site:

The Ghost In The Ink

The Joker

I have just finished reading through ‘The Joker’ and I must say that they creative team behind the book did a fantastic job! Everything from the line art through to the story was great. Mr. Azzarello has done a wonderful job of writing a story that featuring the legendary villian without relying too heavily on the aspects of Batman’s presence in the story. Batman is there, but the main focus is The Joker, and what makes him tick.

The concept is that The Joker has somehow convinced his doctors at Arkham Asylum that he is no longer insane. So, he is release; and almost immediately the story hits the ground running. Plus cameos from other characters within the DC Universe shows up as well with supporting cast from Croc, Two-Face, Penguin, and even the Riddler. The way these characters play into the overall story is wonderful, making subtle an supporting appearances to the main character..

Major props have to be given to the entire team: Brain Azzarello (writer), Lee Bermejo (art), coloring by Patricia Mulvihill and inks by Mick Gray. They did a great job and is a very worthy addition to the Batman/Gotham mythos. If you liked the Dark Knight, you’ll definitely get a kick out of this one! This is a definite must read!

CarbonMade
shown’d
VoodooChilli
ViewBook
FigDig
Portfoliosfriend

And there are several more.  If you have any you would like me to try out and write up a review on; drop me a line at: thedigitalartman@gmx.com or leave a comment on this post by clicking the link below. See-ya!

I know it’s been a while. I’ve had a lot going on in my personal life for the last while. But know that we’re on the upswing of things, it’s time to get back to business. I am an avid fan of the wonderful digital fantasy and sci-fi art magazine: ImagineFX. And a while back, I had picked up an old copy of the magazine (I collect all of the old issues). And as I was reading through a section called ‘Reader FXpose’ (in the May 2008 issue) when I came across Nino Navarra‘s bio and contributions for the section. I know I had glanced at the images there several times before, but this time I actually stopped and stared in wonder at one of his pieces entitled ‘The Wall’.

Everything about ‘The Wall’ pulled my in. The colors, the composition, the theme, and I was even surprised to find that it struck back some old memories from when I first started to enjoy art as a child. So do yourself a great big favor, and slide over to Nino’s blog and check out some of his other work. I’m pretty sure that you’ll love what you see!

Note: All images in this post are copyright of Nino Navarra