Lost in Space

Yeah, so... I'm still here. Pay no attention to the fact that my last post was six months ago. I'm probably the only one who notices anyway. But... Life, man. Busy with work, seeing a bit of the world, enjoying some live music, and oh yeah--finishing a book. As you can see by the site updates, Rasalas, book four of the Galactic Explorers series, is going through final edits and will be published very soon. I'll share plot-specific artwork and all the info with the official release post, as I always do, but I wanted to post up something fun for now. Just because it's my site, my blog, and I want to. The world needs a little more brightness and color.

First of all, I need to make my usual design disclaimer. Nothing I create is ever truly finished. Character designs and preview images are never final until publication, and even then, I reserve the right to change things. That has never been truer than with my Rasalas characters. I don't think any of my character designs have undergone such drastic changes as Caz and Uri have from my first preview images to now. But I must say that I'm absolutely thrilled with how they turned out.

I admit that some of it is my own inability to stop tinkering and making things better, but it's also because the program I use for my artwork--Daz 3D--is always evolving and offering new tools to play with. Since I started playing with character concepts for Rasalas, Daz has released a new software version and a new figure generation. My earliest versions of Caz were upgraded some time ago, but--of course--I had to get a new version of Uri's base figure just before releasing this book, so the last few weeks have been a flurry of art-making activity while I updated Uri's character design as well. I'm not sorry about it, though. Uri's looking just as gorgeous as Caz now, so I thought I'd offer up a few comparison shots to illustrate the differences.

I love the colors in this one. This was inspired by the scene in chapter three where Caz and Uri meet for the first time. It's nice, it represents the scene well, but looking at it now, I can see where improvements can be made. Both characters are Daz Generation 8, which I've never been able to get emotions just right on, and the background is stealing too much focus. Still, it's pretty.

And here's the updated version. Same background but with the scene lights turned down and a lower camera angle. I shortened the depth of field to concentrate the focus on the characters. I also started using a more complicated lighting rig in the last couple of months and while I'm still figuring out how to get everything the way I want it, I'm much happier with the way the images are turning out with it. Both characters are now Daz Generation 9, which has more realistic textures and more finely-tuned facial expressions. I'm much happier with Caz's look of rapt interest and Uri's friendly yet gently guarded smile. The way I was able to customize Uri's new look was a game changer for me. Every piece of art I make with him now just turns out so pretty...

I've shared this one in a prior blog post as a teaser for Rasalas,​ and it's a very good example of how my art always evolves as my tools and resources do. I still like this one a lot. The lighting is dramatic, and it totally captures Uri's warrior attitude. Had I not updated his design, I would have kept this as a lovely promo shot.

But, I mean, come on... Still gorgeously lethal but upgraded in almost every way. The suit is the same one (with the white materials instead of black to fit better with the book), but I acquired a new set of blades and poses that I like much better. It's the same background as well at a different angle. The floor is completely different, though. I know you can't see the floor in the first shot, but trust me, it's different. I nearly rewrote the part of the scene this comes from to include this really cool floor and how Uri would use it to train, but I decided against it because I really like the interaction between Uri and his father and that was more important than the cool tech. Just imagine Uri dodging these obstacles and using the platforms to attack his opponent and that's pretty much what I would have done with it.

Heh. I haven't shared this pic before because it was mostly a reference image for my core friend group of the Galactic Explorers series. This is definitely a throwback to the oldest depths of my series graphics folder. Yikes. So much has changed since I made this one. There's not even any depth of field on the camera, and the lighting is... not great. You can see that the designs of Ethan, Noa, and Skylar haven't really changed, though I have updated their textures and materials over time. The rest of them, though... Ren hasn't changed that much. Caz is completely different, obviously. And don't get the designs of Kat and Aitana too far into your brain. I'm redesigning them entirely. Well... Hair and eye colors won't change but the rest is all up in the air. I'm still acquiring assets to build them. I'll be needing them soon, after all.

And with that little tease... Stay tuned for release day coming up soon! I better get back to proofreading so you all can read the newest drama-filled installment.

​Thanks for reading!