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I look forward to meeting her. Thank you for the nice comments about my renders. I've enjoyed seeing your covers and how they progress from your first posting of them to the last.
Glad to hear you write ever day. That's really the key to accomplishing anything. Writing is even more solitary than art (in my opinion), so it's important to work at it to advance your project on a regular schedule. Otherwise, you'll be like me and look at your notes and realize that you haven't actually worked on chapter two for about three months!
Now I have to go find all of your books and read them lol! I am an avid reader and your books look like the kind of books I like to read.
Its always interesting to me how the minds of the "public" are sometimes very different than the minds of the people who create the art. I have seen this many times, the items that the artist likes the least is the one that the "public" seems to like the best. Would be interesting indeed to understand why that is. And it seems to run across disciplines, not just traditional 2d and 3d art either but other areas such as jewelry and glass beads as well. I have had many discussions on this with other glass artists in particular and we have yet to find any rhyme or reason for it. We just know if we hate it and want to throw it away it will probably sell very quickly.
Might be the same reason why every picture of a simple orange glowing sunset appeals to the public: It's easy to understand, just looks nice, not too much artistic. As people tend to say, art is difficult. The general public doesn't like it too difficult.
Or because it's so artsy, that they think, if I like it, other people take me for an art connaisseur.
:-)
cherpenbeck: I think it's just as simple as this -- the "artistic mind" that creates art must, by its very existence, be different than the mind that consumes art. If they were the same, they would all be creating art or all be consuming art.
BTW: This does tend to break down a bit when you deal with commercial artists, rather than fine artists. And by that, I mean those who create for a client rather than those who create solely (or primarily) for themselves.
Hey everyone,
Believe it or not I’m still alive. Sorry I’ve been gone for so long.
If you remember, I went to visit my Mom. Unfortunately, internet access was dicey as I had to use my Verizon mifi. Data is freaking expensive and anything 3D related seems to take huge amounts of data so I really had to budget my internet time.
My son and I went to not only to visit but for me to de-stress from situations at home so I could also get some writing done. Plus help Mom with some heavy lifting and stuff she needed done around the house in AZ. I’m an only child so no brothers or sisters to help out and Mom’s in her early 70’s. She doesn’t get around very well anymore. She only stays in AZ a couple months out of the year because it’s cooler in summer when compared to southern California thanks to the elevation. She’s near Show Low and the entire area is prehistoric volcanoes which makes for interesting terrain and topography as well as a history I wanted my son to see. It’s in the middle of nowhere (which explains the crappy, nonexistent internet), Show Low is about a 30 minute drive but she does have a few neighbors - it’s basically a small community with mostly retired seniors.
To make a long story short and not bore everyone with the gory details, turns out not all of the neighbors were cool and we - especially me, had issues with a stalker. Made me wish I had brought my 12 gauge or .357 with me. But not to scare anyone - life really wasn’t threatened but before we truly figured out what was going on there were times I thought it was. Being a daughter of a cop, I have a tendency to be a bit more paranoid than most but I’m also highly aware of my surroundings and notice when things change.
Anyway, thanks to that “de-stressing” turned into a situation of out of the frying pan and into the fire. I think I wrote like 3 paragraphs while I was there. UGH! The situation wasn’t solved to my satisfaction (jail time) but it was resolved enough. We then went Mom’s place in southern California, my son and I went first so I could get started with the house (I could throw some stuff out when Mom wasn’t there but don’t tell her. lol!) And just when I thought I could get back on an even keel, strange things started happening there too! I was like no way - did the stalker some how manage to follow?
The odds of this happening in two different locations were just too much. But I did call the police out when I thanks to a well placed camera, I managed to catch someone on video entering the house. We think because Mom was gone for two months someone had been squatting. The cops couldn’t find him but we had a small army out there for awhile. Their response was impressive. They also increased patrols but it looked like the guy was long gone. Mom had her neighbors watching her house but I’ve been trying to convince her to get a house-sitter next time.
To top it all off my computer hard drive decided to crash. Luckily I’m serious about backups so didn’t lose hardly anything but it was over the Labor Day weekend and so finding someone to get me up and running fast was next to impossible. I could have done it myself if I had been home but I didn’t have all of my tools and stuff. I managed but it didn’t solve the entire problem. I had upgraded to Windows 10 and was getting a Gray Screen of Video Death. Turns out that was during the fiasco with the Nvidia drivers. But I ended up doing a complete reinstall - several times because I’d get my programs all downloaded like Photoshop and whatnot and before I could get a system restore in with those included, she crashed and burned every time.
Even now I’m still having a beastly time, so very little work done. Just when I think I’ve got it all lined out something else goes haywire. For example, this latest stupid computer trick - it won’t let me connect to the internet because my laptops IP is configured incorrectly. WTH? So I’ve been flushing the dns toilet several times, yadda, yadda, and so on and so forth.
Shoot, I was hesitant to even post this because I don’t want to jinx the whole damned thing and have the laptop go completely belly up again.
While I didn’t get much work done, I managed at least one item. In the middle of all this my narrator finished the third audiobook. I think I had just awarded him the contract for it when this insanity started.
Because things can get dicey for me even on a good day I had asked the narrator to send me chapters to listen to as he finishes them. That way I can catch mistakes and not have to this last minute cram session like we did for finals or mid-terms. For the first two books he did fine but this one - I got them all at once, all last minute of course. Just getting them downloaded let alone listen to them was like juggling chainsaws. Plus I put corrections with the timestamps where the error occurs and put them into a spreadsheet so Brian can fix them quickly and easily.
And remember I had started working on the cover the minute the project came up so I wouldn’t be doing it at the eleventh hour.
Of course I was still working on it at 11:59 - tick tock.
I wanted to post it so bad and get feedback on it from you guys that I was going insane.
But I had to wing it on my own. So the result wasn’t anything I was ecstatic about but all things considered it’s okay. I’m sure you remember how hard I worked to get the image of Talon and his horse, Ebon, just right. Well, I couldn’t make that work to save my life. I ended up going back to the first renders with Talon and Gwen together. I couldn’t get the background right either so I used that landscape I painted in Photoshop that was rather unexpected. Then a stock image of a castle and the render of Talon and Gwen. The only post I did aside from blending the layers was touching up Talon’s hair and of course applying the text. I don’t particularly care for the title text but re-installing everything also included fonts and the clock had done run out.
One thing I do like are the colors.
Like I said I’m back home but it looks like there’s a good chance my father is going back into the hospital again. We didn’t think he was going to make it the last time. It’s likely on this one that if he goes in, he’s not coming back out. I hope I don’t have to disappear again but right now - I can’t decided if it’s a crap shoot and I crapped out or I’m playing poker and holding aces and eights.
I hope everyone is doing well. I missed really missed you guys!!!
Cheers,
Kath
PS - posted the wrong one. I did fix that line going across the lower third.
I am sorry you are having such a rough time! I really like this cover, it may not be what you were aiming for but it works. The people don't look plastic and its beautiful to look at. ( I read ALOT, and book covers, as you know, can draw someone in). I would click on this. Prayers for your father as well.
Hello Dracorn - nice to meet you and my apologies for being out of pocket for so long. Hopefully, I can stick around for a bit now (fingers and toes crossed). Sorry to hear about the accident but I know exactly how frustrating an injury or medical condition can be when it stops you from doing something you enjoy. I'm glad you found DAZ. I really like your renders!
If you decide to go forward into the publishing gig, please let me know and I'll be happy to help however I can. I've been in the industry since 96 so if it's traditional, indie, or hybrid I'm familiar with those worlds. ;)
Hi Knittingmommy! Nice to meet you as well! So sorry for vanishing into the black hole for so long. I just wanted to say you're doing exactly the right thing here. Write every day even if it's only a sentence or two (I need to listen to my own advice right now). But also, when you're not writing, read, read, read, and read some more. Then - go write some more! lol! In between times jump in with DAZ and then you can show the boys like I did with my teenaged son - Mom's creating cool stuff with video game software. lol! That usually earns a nod of respect even if they don't want to admit it.
Thank you so much for downloading the sample. I hope you enjoyed it.
I would also encourage you to enter the newbie contests here. That's how I started.
Okay, more catching up to do! Chat soon!
Cheers,
Kath
Thank you so much Sonja!
I'm glad you like the cover. Avid readers unite! I am one which is why I started writing. I'm also glad the characters don't look plastic. I think its because of the advent of Victoria 7 and G3 that I feel the skin textures are now majorily wanting when I had been quite pleased before. I just dropped some cash - medicore amount really - on skin stuff for iray and a few texture things. Nothing like a round of shopping to get back into the swing of things. lol! Didn't spring for Victoria yet. I want to get my money's worth out of G2 first. Besides the heroes are one of the big things in romance, so hopefully M7 will be coming out soon.
Okay, more stuff to do! Then I'll be back to harrass the guys - then everything will be back to normal I hope. lol! Thank you agian!
Cheers,
Kath
Lol I am very new to Daz and 3d in general about a month into now. Really enjoying it though and book covers is something I might give a go at one of these years. But right now, I am just learing my way around. And you are right, nothing like shopping to make you want to dig back in lol.
Welcome back, Kath
We've missed you 
Heading off to class now and will pick up Artemis afterwards: her videocard gave out last Saturday but after 3 years of intensive use, a number of which were spent doing 24 hour plus renders, maybe that should not be a surprise even if the Quadro 4000 is a professional card
In case I haven't said it before this is my favorite thread
-- Jaime
Hi Kath,
Surviving the black hole is always a plus. The rest is the smalll stuff. Sorry to hear about the stalker and possible squatter issues. I'm having only good thoughts and wishes for your Dad.
As for reading and writing, I do the former way too much, but I usually write it off as research. I'm definitely a book worm. Of course, as you say, that is what draws us into writing for ourselves, that love of the written word. I've been a writer for myself for a long time. Now, I'm trying to be a writer who others might wish to read. Not an easy task. It is scary, too, when one reads so many negative reviews on Amazon, especially for new authors. I have figured out from those comments, though, that when I finish, I'm going the extra mile and getting myself a good editor.
I'm a continuing embarrassment to my sons since I started playing around with Daz. Most of my renders seem to entail romantic scenes and much kissing and nakedness. I don't think my boys like knowing that their mother is also a girl. As for entering contests, I am actually working on an entry for this months newbie contest. If you are interested, my uploads are in the October WIP thread. I actually worked on this months entry with the idea of seeing how close I could get to something that could possibly go on a book cover. Some days, I think I'm getting closer to my ideal of what my goals are for book cover art. Some days, I tend to think I'll never get there. I think art is actually tougher than the writing. I understand the writing better.
BTW, I'm a Catherine, too, just spelled differently.
Toodles,
Cathy
Hi Kathryn!
Looks like you got more bad stuff in some weeks than most people get for life. I really wish for you to get some rest now.
Funny you mentioned the G3 skins. In fact some of the older skins are way better, except they aren't made for Iray. I just bought some M4 Morphs with skins on runtimedna.com (Artist Mortem Vetus) which look better and more realistic than anything from later Generations.
As for your new cover- it might not be the best you can create, but it does it's job. And, thinking of all the crap you had to endure during the last weeks, you did fine even with this one, despite the odds.
Thanks so much Jaime! hehe And it's my favorite too. In the midst of this mayhem I did manage to upgrade a few things on my laptop at least. One of the reasons why I bought the Asus was because it has easy access bays so you can upgrade two things - add a second hard drive and upgrade the ram. So I have Windows 10 Pro running now and a 750gb main drive with a 1TB secondary. I also added more ram, going from 16gb to 32. The only thing I can't easily upgrade is the video card. For that you have to take the machine apart and of course void any warranty. But went outside of warranty a couple of months ago. Since laptops might be tricky, I might take it to a shop over here I've used for years and see what they'll charge to upgrade the video card. I don't think I can go with a Quadro - I wish - but I might drop some hints for Santa this Christmas. lol! Any recommendations - I'm running an Asus ROG G750JX i7 -4700HQ - 2.47Ghz 64bit.Right now it has an Nvidia Geforce 770m.
Cheers,
Kath
I had DAZ for several months but never had a chance to try it out until recently. June was my first real go with it and I entered the newbie contest. That was a lot of fun. But I really like the program especially after fighting with stuff like Cinema 4D and Maya. I've got Blender too and have been learning how to use that in conjunction with DAZ. Retail therapy goes a long way but I really want to learn how to make assets in DAZ too.
Dreamlight had a sale on their sight and I got a ton of tutorials that I need to re-download. Haven't had the chance because of all the computer issues.
Hi Cathy!
That's the toughest part about writing is putting yourself out there for God and everyone to see. You just have to remember that you can't please everyone all of the time. I'm very happy to hear you say you want to find a good editor. Every good writer needs a good editor. I got lucky and found a fantastic freelance editor. She's freaking awesome! Plus I know several others, so when you're ready, if you need help finding one, let me know and I can put you in contact with some people.
Too cool about the contest. With the audiobook out for Heart's Ransom, I had my editor do a copy edit - that one I had published before I had the money to get an editor. Anyway, since it's got a new copyedit, I'm reformatting it in InDesign with the new text and new cover and re-releasing it as a second edition. But I also want to put a link to the sequel at the end of the book, so I'm re-doing the cover to Heart's War right now. I didn't look at the contests but it turns out I'm using atmosphere, so when I checked the contest last night, it was a happy coincidence. we'll see how it goes. I gotta take my dad to the doc this morn but I'll see about posting that one later.
Cheers,
Kath
Hi Cherp! How ya been sweetie! Thank you so much and I was thinking the same thing about the trials.
Oh dear - now I have a new site I have to check out - I hadn't heard of runtimedna.com yet. I'm still exploring Renderosity. hehe! Picked up a few more cool things from there.
Okay, gotta get ready to go take dad to the doc. I'm taking the laptop and hotspot. Maybe I can get some work done while we're in the waiting room.
Cheers,
Kath
Prayers for you and your Dad from the other side of the world, Kath
-- Jaime
And now that it's out and I don't have to worry about jinxing it, here's the cover and the print proofs of The Secret King
Final tweaks by my friend, who has the same given name as me, but everyone knows him as BamBam or Bam (yes, after the Flintstones character and his sister is Pebbles 
) Bam's wife's legal name is Rapunzel. No lie!
More important than the professional credit and just as important as the friendship that developed with the author is re-connecting with Bam and 'Zel (I haven't seen them since my advertising days and they're both Art Directors/Graphic Designers) and meeting their 9 yo. son
We go out regularly for meals and movies and they blame me for turning them into coffee snobs (guilty as charged 
)
i'm very impressed with this cover, particularly the expressions, dramatic poses, and the very cool energy effects. Did you do those by hand, or are they assisted by a filter/tool of some kind? I also want to congratulate the typography designer -- the text design is excellent. Very legible, very exciting. And I'm particularly impressed by the way the text catches the light from the artwork. All around, an excellent job.
Nice job. I love the cover. It really stands out and yet there is a subtlety that makes you take a second closer look. Well, done.
I'm not 100% sure if this is the best place to post this, but I would like some feeback on a logo treatment I'm creating for a pen-and-paper roleplaying game. The game is set in a future that combines elements of Utopian society in conflict with post-apocalyptic societies (i.e. after a war, some countries are doing fine while others are "Mad Max" type wastelands).
The colors on this won't be finalized until the cover art is finished (which I'm not creating). We've decided to pull the hero from the corner, but I'm including it so you can see where w started and where we are now. One thing I really want feedback on is the fist in the letter R. I love it, but the publisher not-so-much. I think it's striking and makes the logo more sophisticated. What do YOU guys think of it? Or do you have other suggestions, in general?
Personally, I really liked the first one. It is a shame you decided to pull the hero. With that being said, I'm not so crazy about the fist in the 'R'. I like the symbol in the first 'R' better. But, then, I'm probably not the target audience so take what I say with a grain of salt. I did, however, ask my resident expert in role playing games (my 15 year old son) and he says he really likes the first one with the hero as it catches his eye better, but he likes the fist in the 'R' on the second logo. Now that I've given you absolutely no good answers, I'll slink back into my corner.
Thanks for the prayers Jaime! They are much appreciated. After two hours with the doc they're going to write orders for the home health and see if he can get more assistance in the home rather than put him in the hosptal so we'll see how it goes. They had stopped his physical therapy and I told the doc, you don't understand, he's not going to improve anymore than where he's at now, but physical therapy gets him off the couch and doing stuff which he won't do on his own. Without it he is the proverbial potato and won't move. He's not going to improve past a certain point but the physical therapy keeps him from getting worse.
The book cover is awesome! Congrats on that! You did a great job with it.
Heya MM how have you been?
I like the first logo best without the hero - the colors are contrasting and make it pop. But publishers are publishers and they will do what they will do. :)
I think it looks nice though.
Cheers,
Kath
I have to say I agree with the other two comments, I like the hero. And I am a big gamer, been playing since the very first video games came out. I don't really have an opinion on the fist I think both ways on that letter work.
I'm a gamer too Sonja! Does your gaming extend to tabletop or paper RPG's too?
Okay let's kick it in the behind to give it a jump start. lol! The cover I posted a little bit ago is the first book of a series. The next book is Heart's War. If you flip back through the thread I think I posted the original covers. I'm changing all of those out as we do audiobooks and I get some of the early stuff copy edited, etc.
So with the above Heart's Ransom done, here's what I'm working on for Heart's War.
I took a look at this months contest. With it being atmospheres I found it coincedental that I originally tried to do an atomosphere with this image but it wasn't cutting it. This needs to be clear and bold, not foggy or murky.
What needs to be foggy/murkey is Demon Laird and Shadowed Hawk from my Legacy series. Demon Laird was my first audiobook cover and I'm not happy with it. But something must be going right because it's going like gang busters where the other two are good - not fantastic but good.
So I started on a Demon Laird reboot lol but then I remembered right before my fiasco of traveling, I had been working on Demon Heir (book five and the Demon Laird's son - actually twins.)
I think I have that one posted to the thread too.
I realized they were turning out very similar. Well, I do want to keep a theme going because this is the eldest's story, but I don't want it identical.However, I'm just pleased that I got something started since I haven't been able to do any work recently. So I'm happy to get something going no matter how small.
Now as to the images themselves - Heart's War needs some serious post especially her hair.
Demon Laird I ended up changing the hair because in the first pic he looks way too young. I got the new Alfred character but the hair style makes him look like a teenager. lol! I like the second hair better. But I couldn't get the cloak and kilt to cooperate to save my life. I don't think I'll ever get those right. So I'm going to have to hand draw them in post. That's another reason for the second version's hair - it shadows his face a bit like the hood of the cloak will. At least that's the plan. ;)
Any ideas or suggestions appreciated!
Not in many many years. I miss them though! Between raising kids, working and other things the paper and table top just seemed tofall to the wayside.