posted
Sean Patrick Kennedy created this scene of a "Bird Bath" -- and in MS Paint! -- that notably suggests a certain Starhaven woman, wouldn't you say?
His gallery of well-turned hand-drawn fantasy art, digital creations, and 3-D renderings of spacecraft can be found here, and is worth an extended visit.
Edit: Hoo-kay, it's been suggested that this shows more skin than some workplaces may put up with. Probably true in this sad, skittish age, and far more prudish than this lovely (and, yes, covered where it counts) work deserves.
So either be sure your colleagues aren't looking and click here now, for a 640 x 700 image, or copy this link location and click it at home:
posted
Another Dawnstar, by Susan Stacey, with drama in stylized stars. Do click below to see all of its detail, especially its subtle shaping of light.
Stacey's art-gallery listing can be found here, with thumbnails visible by placing your cursor over the names.
From: Starhaven Consulate, City of Angels | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I can't resist sharing a sample of what I've found in the past couple weeks at Renderosity, a community for artists -- mostly using 3D modeling programs -- that I'd only tried occasionally when a link arose for a particular work.
It's amazing how far the tools of 3D rendering have progressed in just the last two years. Realism is far greater, skin textures are nearly infinitely varied, and the tools themselves are far more specific in their effects.
It used to be that most were using breakthrough programs such as Poser (for humanoid figures) and Bryce (for backgrounds) straight out of the box, with the master programs' own considerable options. Artists still felt constrained, but it took a while to master these tools. For some years, "rendered" faces looked more plastic in texture, and all wings seemed to have the same patterns of feathers.
Now, hundreds of artist-entrepreneurs sell smaller pieces of software to modify the big guns of 3D. Skin textures, mermaids, horse models, hairdos, wing patterns, dresses, props, armor, the works. All can be plugged into the major tools.
Renderosity has reduced the overhead, via the Web, for less-capital-heavy artists to sell these tools to each other. With 160,000 members at that one site, the audience is far from being small.
I was astounded at how much this ferment of the marketplace had improved the quality of renderings, even in making a few searches by keyword ("winged," "mermaid") over just the past two years of Renderosity postings.
Anyone who sees "Shrek 2" this weekend and wonders when such abilities will come to those of us without movie-size budgets need no longer ponder it, for they're here.
With this thread having winged art, I had to bring along such a sample from of one of my current favorite 3D artists. MikeArizma (Walt Bagley) has cultivated a craft of "realistic fantasy," hundreds of scenes of fabled characters set in quite recognizable backgrounds, many with elaborate stories behind them.
Here is one of his recent vivid stories-in-a-frame, "Palace of Wings." (This is a separate thumbnail file, as I didn't want to slow down matters on the LW.net page. The full 167 KB version is available by clicking below for a new tab or window ... and please do!)
The artist's description of this entirely computer-tool-generated scene, and typical of his work:
"A soldier begs for an audience with an angelic beauty, an adult female of a winged clan found in a mountainous region of Ithmor Lea. Two younger girls play with some of the many cats that find refuge in their lofty palace.
"This tribe is often asked to help in giving information that can only come from aerial surveillance on quiet wings, where their beauty remains out of reach as they silently glide overhead. If she should decide to help, the soldier's mission will have been greatly supported."
From: Starhaven Consulate, City of Angels | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Here's another stunning winged creation I found at Renderosity, this one evoking qualities of Dawnstar, though it isn't showing her.
"Desert Angel," by artist Danaan Dragonthorn, is below, again, in a separate thumbnail file, and the full 319 KB version is available by clicking below for a new tab or window.
The artist's comment: "This image is for my wife and of my wife. [...] She is Native American and Lakota, but because of her adopted grandfather she has always had a thing for angels. That, and to me, she is one."
(Dawny's particular tribe was never described, but members of it had the vague decoration, when seen, of Plains Indians, among whom were the Lakota Sioux.)
From: Starhaven Consulate, City of Angels | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Thanks for the heads-up. (The hot link didn't work, so the page image is here.)
I'd gladly pay $100 for that beautiful concluding page in my single favorite Dawnstar story. (With her parents, yet!) The difficulty here is that I have no idea who this seller is. (Do you, by any chance?)
I've written asking for more details, and for any possible ratings or information on his or her reputation in an on-line auction or sales venue. A feedback rating for eBay, Amazon.com, or Yahoo! would help ... which then leads, o'course, to wondering why he or she isn't then using such a venue to sell the art more quickly and efficiently. Still, many people have valid reasons to be dissatisfied with eBay, et al., so I won't dismiss a personal Webpage out of hand.
Gene Colan has an on-line exclusive sales agent (whose name and site I've forgotten), so this clearly is a secondary sale by a private collector. Without knowing more than that, though, it's hard to just send $100 along, as much as I may lust after that page.
Update: The Web advertiser responded to me, after some months, and told me that although his records said he owned that original page, he couldn't find it. I asked him to keep an eye out for it, and I hope it isn't lost *sigh*
[ January 19, 2005, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: Greybird ]
From: Starhaven Consulate, City of Angels | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Hmm, the hotlink worked for me originally. Thanks for the fix Gary.
I was able to find that the seller does have a feedback rating on eBay and is a current registered user. His feedback is 363 but unless I had dealings with him I couldn't get any more than that. Per their privacy policy I can't have access to seller info, including the user name, if all I can provide is an e-mail address.
From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
In the spirit of the Teen Titans crossover, I'll add a striking drawing (digitally colored) of the two winged men associated with the Titans, Golden Eagle and Azrael, perched on an aerie. Golden Eagle is shown in quite a different look from the published stories, but it's very attractive.
The artist is Luciano Vecchio, and his DC character gallery can be found here.
From: Starhaven Consulate, City of Angels | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Can anybody scan in that Kitson Dawnstar? I didn't realize he'd done one. Really I was looking for a hint to see if he'd tell us if she's going to be in the new book but I'd still like to see it.
From: Smallville Sector : Greater Metropolis | Registered: Jun 2004
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Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
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