Posted on October 26, 2011

I added a new space wallpaper to the Members Gallery today. This one is called “The Grand Design” in homage to Prof. Stephen Hawking.

As you can see, my quest continues for the “perfect” galaxy. I can definitely see rendering this scene “from the ground” so don’t be surprised if such a scene appears in the days or weeks ahead.

I hope you will all continue using “Dracul” (or one of my other Halloween wallpapers) through the holiday and know that I have you covered for Nov. 1st.

Posted on October 20, 2011

A few items to mention today.

First, I’ve added dual and triple-screen renders of “Dracul” to the Members Gallery this morning.

I hope you enjoy it and have a great Halloween. I plan on adding one of my Halloween wallpapers to the free gallery early next week.

Next I wanted to mention something that happened a few weeks ago. I was notified by a fan that someone was selling one of my images as an Android “Live Wallpaper”. Live Wallpapers, if you didn’t know, are interactive animated graphics that can be used in place of static images. They are only usable (to my knowledge) on Android devices.

I was actually pretty blown away by what the developer had accomplished and apparently the app had become pretty popular in the Android Marketplace. It’s called “Mystic Halo” and here’s a video of it in action:

People have been asking me to create Live Wallpapers for a while now, but I’ve always been too busy making my 3D scenes. I made an arrangement with this young coder to share the proceeds from the app and now we are looking at creating more. I whole-heartedly encourage every Android user to check it out here.

Last, but not least, I am happy to report that my alternate box (Hydra) finally finished my print render of “Poseidon’s Playground” today. I was afraid the prints would be too dark if I used my original scene so I brightened the colors and lighting a bit before rendering. I also added some depth of field blur to make things look a bit more 3D.

I’ve posted this render in the Pickle Jar if anyone would care to take a look. It’s quite a bit different from the original 2009 piece and would love to hear your feedback.

If there was only going to be one version, would you rather I keep the DOF blur or use the original focus?

Posted on October 14, 2011

Here is one more render of “Dracul” that just about splits the difference between versions 1 and 2. Maybe the lightning was a bit much in V.2 but it is always fun to render.

Whichever version I end up with my gallery, the other two will remain available in the Pickle Jar.

Which version do you prefer?

Posted on October 13, 2011

I’ve been working on an update to my “Castle Dracula” project for the past 4 or 5 days and it is finally ready to share with my Members. Fog and firelight sure do take a long time to render!

As you can see, it is a pretty radical change from the first version. Perhaps it is a bit over-the-top now but I was sort of going for that to be honest. I know when you make this many changes there are bound to be a sizable number of folks who do not approve. I will be satisfied if you enjoy even one of the versions available.

I also wanted to mention that back in April 2010 I was asked by my rep at Zazzle to sign a release so that my “Last Light of the Sun” print could be “featured” in the upcoming prequel of “The Thing”.

Well, the film comes out this weekend and I am tempted to see it if only to find out if they ever used the print. If you are planning on seeing “The Thing” this weekend perhaps you could post here if you spot the print in the background somewhere.

Here’s the wallpaper (newly available in the free gallery) so you know what to look for.

Thanks!!

Posted on October 5, 2011

I know Halloween is still a few weeks off but I don’t like to wait until the last minute. This year I thought it would be fun to do my own version of “Castle Dracula“.

It’s still a bit in the early stages so I’d love some feedback.

I hope you enjoy it!