April Show Off Thread 2023 - Special Effects

[CathyY]

Wonderful work everyone.  Unlike you, I went a little crazy on March Madness.  Everything in this one is new.

[Agent0013]

The Steam effect fits the challenge of the month! Well done , CathyY!

[Llola Lane]

Thanks Agent... glad you like my gal playing her cello... Wonderful instrument indeedie.  Didn't win the weekly the artwork has been fierce over at Daz... I gotta step up my game if I wanna win... Just don't know how to improve my artwork... or brain... lol  ;)

Saph you are on a roll... Wish I had your imagination...

Cathy... Well done... I'm still thinkin' on the little dragon... hummm... Do I REALLY need another  dragon???  Wish it didn't look so cartoony/plastic.  Not sure if I could fix with tweaking the textures/lighting... hummmmm

[Llola Lane]

Just finished this for Daz+ Inspiration Contest - March 22, 2023 - April 04, 2023.. didn't win.. but there are lots of special effects in this one... I used my NIK filters to amp up the lighting.  ENJOY!

"Homage to the King"

[Agent0013]

Nice effects, Llola! Mayhaps you will do better here, than at DAZ. Yes those folks have their game on big time, but I think many of them are also well educated in the digital arts.
For me, it comes from the curiosity to see what's deep down in the tools. I explore and work with what I find to see what I can make it do. My fiddling with the tool will usually include several instances where I use the tool to cement in my mind the procedures that work for me. It's how I learn most of my knowledge about anything. Sure I follow tutorials too, but even then I look at the things that are being revealed, and think up ways to use the things being taught in unusual ways.
I do have to say I have a really big imagination. Getting into the arts has given me multiple outlets for my artistic endeavors, and I do not intend to abandon any of them.

[Saphirewild]

I just had to show off the newest Unicorn/Horse I bought during the Madness sales!

[sanbie]

    What a great lot of renders everyone

[Llola Lane]

Nice effects, Llola! Mayhaps you will do better here, than at DAZ. Yes those folks have their game on big time, but I think many of them are also well educated in the digital arts.

I agree... I don't stand a chance with Daz contests any more... I don't know WHAT to fix to get up to their standards.  I can tell you on one hand who is going to win each month/week.  They don't render any better than I do... but they have the imagination that I don't :(.... HOW do you get imagination to think up stuff???  I need to step outside the box more I guess (sighs)

At least like you... I'm having fun experimenting.  NO one's artwork looks like mine!  Is that a good thing?  lol

[Agent0013]

I would say it is a good thing, because you should never want to be like any other artist. The masters were not like each other, not even Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, both of whom studied in art school together. Leonardo had been hired to do the Sistine Chapel Frescos, but when he tried using braziers to dry his acrylic paints on those walls, the paint melted and ran. He was fired, and Michelangelo was hired in his place. The only surviving painting of Leonardo's in the Sistine Chapel is The Lord's Supper. Even so, Michelangelo used most of Leonardo's drawings as guides for his paintings in the chapel. Little known facts, there.
My point is that if you are like other artists, your style will be considered copying the other's style. You never want that. The most unlike other artists among the famous ones is Picasso. He had a style that no one was doing at the time. I met an artist who was trying to be the next Picasso (His own words), and he was not even able to sell any of his artworks. I on the other hand made a name for myself in my hometown, and some surrounding towns, and was being sought out by folks wanting to commission art by me. I had so many I had to look at what each wanted me to do and choose what I would be most capable of doing. Some commissions were nigh impossible, and I knew to turn those down. My style was dependent upon the subject of the piece I was doing.
I say choose a style you like, add your own ideas into it, and do your art in that style, and you pretty much have that done already! Don't be discouraged by those artists at DAZ. Some of their art is too much in my opinion, and if you want, you can tell them I said that! You can also tell them I said there's favoritism going on in their competitions, as I have seen the same few win over and over again. Not a fair contest at all!

[Llola Lane]

Thanks Agent... all I can be... is... ME ;)   I guess I gotta die before anyone will remember me... Like the great artists... Those are some wonderful names you mentioned... ;)