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SnowSultan — Sonja Test (before and after)
#daz3d #postwork #redsonja #render #rune #sonja
Published: 2016-06-11 18:43:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 4441; Favourites: 96; Downloads: 112
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Description
Someone asked if I could post the raw render of this Red Sonja image I made the other day, and for once, I still had the original saved. Nothing special about that original (it had a transparent background though), just rendered with the default Iray environment. Photoshop is where everything good happens.
Thanks for taking a look!
edit: wow, this made the Undiscovered list on the front page! Thanks for the interest!
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Comments: 23
it really look like it was Frazeta who drawn it, nice work.
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Thank you very much! Not that special though, the paper texture adds most of the neat effects.
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What says it all about this image is that the "more from DeviantArt" sidebar is taken up entirely by paintings and not 3D.
Thanks for going above and beyond the call of duty and uploading this. I am both heartened and dismayed to see pretty much exactly what I was expecting to.
I think my 3D and Photoshop abilities have plateaued a bit over the last couple of years, since I found something that SORT OF works and kind of clung to it (I just sort of bumblefuck around with HDR toning, soft light layers and the reduce noise filter until it looks OK). I've stumbled on lighting and surface presets that SORT OF work, but I don't really know WHY they work, which has made me scared of having to fluke my way into it all over again in Iray. But this image, specifically, has really inspired me to try to start broadening my horizons again. I doubt I'll ever reach your standard - I know enough about Photoshop to know that it's not a win button, and still takes talent to use - but maybe one day I'll get to the point where I don't feel I have to do silly fetishy stuff to make my work individual.
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Thank you very much for the nice words. You do some very good work, Kaeyln's Ally has great lighting and a painterly feel. I've been experimenting with postwork methods for 15 years, so it's kind of hard to explain exactly what I've learned. I've tried everything from using HDRI filtering (which worked on one but only one pic), Mixer brushes (which only worked well in tests), to even editing the figure textures themselves to have a fantasy look (which didn't work as well as I'd hoped). This style I'm experimenting with now is nice because I just use the default Iray lighting. The results are more consistent and the whole thing requires less work.
I'd really recommend you try getting some paper textures of different colors and applying them over your image using different blending modes (I think Overlay seems to work often). That has made the biggest difference in the last three images I've made because it completely changes the background (which was just some painted colors) and adds texture with helps with the old fantasy look. The color correction is a matter of taste, and I just use Curves and NIK Tools until I get something I like.
Another thing that might help, but it's a little scary at the same time - I have no idea what these images will look like in the end when I begin work. I know I want an old, Boris-like fantasy look, but it's not something I'm able to plan very well. I don't know if that's common among most artists, but the final result is often as much as surprise to me as it is to everyone else.
Thanks again for the support!
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Oh, I never know what my images are going to look like either... 9 out of 10 of them are opportunistic, where I was shooting for something entirely different, couldn't make it work, but what I ended up with gave me an idea for what I could use if for instead.
I'm definitely going to dip into Iray at last as a result of all this - experimentally at least, not sure whether I'll end up uploading anything using it, but still. Thanks for all your help, and keep up the great work!
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Thanks and good luck with Iray! If I can help with anything, let me know and I'll try.
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Wow this is simply amazing! I wish I could do Postwork magic like you
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Some days I have no luck at all with postwork, it's still frustrating at times. Been doing this for 15 years and still don't feel I'm where I should be. Thanks very much!
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It looks like one of those old fantasy pictures.
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Thanks, that's what I was hoping to accomplish. Much appreciated!
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Thank you! The "before" images are always so boring...thank heavens for Photoshop.
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Photoshop can do so much. 
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Love Photoshop, not sure what I would do without
Very interesting actually....thanks but I dont think the raw renders ever cut it, always room for improvement.
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