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Description
So I have been doing painted looks for about a week or two as I learn the process. When you do a drastic change like this you need to find where it goes in your workflow, what works and what doesn't, and you need to ask yourself does the addition to your workflow bring more problems that it solves? For that matter, what problem are you trying to solve in the first place?

Okay two admissions. One, I shook Bernie Sanders' hand in the 90's when I was an art student in Vermont. Two, I am a big fan of Alex Ross' painted style in the DC graphic novels.

So I am an artist first. Real paints, real pieces of paper to horribly mess up, the paints, the chemicals, the mess, the dirty hands, the brushes, the odd splatters of color on the walls, and the boxes of art supplies all over everywhere. I was taught by one of the top 50 recognized artists in my state, and he had me make him a promise I would never quit. And, as a mage, I meet all sorts of strange people in my life.

So does the new "painted look" work? Yes and no. On 3DX sites where rendered sex is what they came for, people oddly enough prefer the renders. I suppose that is what they are used to, and you can't serve pasta in a burger restaurant. But over here on Deviant Art? I have seen the likes for some images triple. I suppose I am pulling in people that would not normally look at 3d anything and attracting a new audience. I am seeing likes from people I don't even know, outside my fan base. The painted style I feel is bridging a gap between those who love 3d and those who are repulsed by it.

This isn't an automatic button push either. It creates artifacts I need to deal with. I need to pull it back in places where it destroys detail. Some images it struggles. 60% of this image had to be fixed by hand before I started overpainting. So traditional art skill matters and is critical.

To be honest, I have been doing digital overpainting for nearly two years. You look at a lot of the panels in Survivor and you will see a heck of a lot of it going on. Eli and Shade's car? The rust on that vehicle is not rendered, it is almost always painted on. Smoke effects, gunfire, rocket trails, explosions, gravel, water, rain, droplets, blood, and dirt on clear masks? All overpainting. In this image, take a good look at my eyebrows and that tuft of hair sticking out behind my left ear. Overpainted, and you can't buy that effect at DAZ or Rendo.

And I can pull back the effect in selected areas as I need and look more rendered. Just check those eyes.

If I do a "paint base" first process like I am doing, it makes it a lot easier to blend in overpainting effects in my middle stage, and then do my color balance and other effects in my late stage work. Yeah, I have about 4 post work stages now to an image before they ship. Every image in Naked Adventures has overpainting, especially in the hair.

So despite the coolness of traditional render fans to this style am I keeping the painted look? Well, yes. Because the enhances my process and gives me a unique, signature look. It is an extension of what I have been doing and the direction I have been going in. And also, there is much more ahead of me as I pull in my traditional art skills into my process than there is in the area of what there is left for me left in 3d to conquer.

And considering I have only been at this a week and getting this good of a reaction and results?

Yeah, I am sticking with it. I need to see where this takes me.

Description
So I have been doing painted looks for about a week or two as I learn the process. When you do a drastic change like this you need to find where it goes in your workflow, what works and what doesn't, and you need to ask yourself does the addition to your workflow bring more problems that it solves? For that matter, what problem are you trying to solve in the first place?

Okay two admissions. One, I shook Bernie Sanders' hand in the 90's when I was an art student in Vermont. Two, I am a big fan of Alex Ross' painted style in the DC graphic novels.

So I am an artist first. Real paints, real pieces of paper to horribly mess up, the paints, the chemicals, the mess, the dirty hands, the brushes, the odd splatters of color on the walls, and the boxes of art supplies all over everywhere. I was taught by one of the top 50 recognized artists in my state, and he had me make him a promise I would never quit. And, as a mage, I meet all sorts of strange people in my life.

So does the new "painted look" work? Yes and no. On 3DX sites where rendered sex is what they came for, people oddly enough prefer the renders. I suppose that is what they are used to, and you can't serve pasta in a burger restaurant. But over here on Deviant Art? I have seen the likes for some images triple. I suppose I am pulling in people that would not normally look at 3d anything and attracting a new audience. I am seeing likes from people I don't even know, outside my fan base. The painted style I feel is bridging a gap between those who love 3d and those who are repulsed by it.

This isn't an automatic button push either. It creates artifacts I need to deal with. I need to pull it back in places where it destroys detail. Some images it struggles. 60% of this image had to be fixed by hand before I started overpainting. So traditional art skill matters and is critical.

To be honest, I have been doing digital overpainting for nearly two years. You look at a lot of the panels in Survivor and you will see a heck of a lot of it going on. Eli and Shade's car? The rust on that vehicle is not rendered, it is almost always painted on. Smoke effects, gunfire, rocket trails, explosions, gravel, water, rain, droplets, blood, and dirt on clear masks? All overpainting. In this image, take a good look at my eyebrows and that tuft of hair sticking out behind my left ear. Overpainted, and you can't buy that effect at DAZ or Rendo.

And I can pull back the effect in selected areas as I need and look more rendered. Just check those eyes.

If I do a "paint base" first process like I am doing, it makes it a lot easier to blend in overpainting effects in my middle stage, and then do my color balance and other effects in my late stage work. Yeah, I have about 4 post work stages now to an image before they ship. Every image in Naked Adventures has overpainting, especially in the hair.

So despite the coolness of traditional render fans to this style am I keeping the painted look? Well, yes. Because the enhances my process and gives me a unique, signature look. It is an extension of what I have been doing and the direction I have been going in. And also, there is much more ahead of me as I pull in my traditional art skills into my process than there is in the area of what there is left for me left in 3d to conquer.

And considering I have only been at this a week and getting this good of a reaction and results?

Yeah, I am sticking with it. I need to see where this takes me.