Shadowness - Dream9Studios

Orchid Zen

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:56:03 -0400

Date Finished: April 26, 2012 A still life of Asian orchids arranged with a harmonious balance and calming hue. I don't believe I've ever created a digital still life. I have several still lifes I drew or sketched during my traditional art years but never digitally. I actually decided to do this idea because I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. It took several hours to get the orchids and squares positioned correctly so as to give a sense of balance. Then I had to get the materials of all the props looking as I had envisioned. After that, lots of post-work to make it pop. I think this one took about 10 hours straight of constant work and all in one sleepless night too. The original scene has the orchids and all other props in shades of pink and fuchsia. Rather than tweak all those materials one by one, I changed the hues of the entire scene in post-work to be closer to an orchidish light purple and to give it a high contrast. I can't recall the last time I used this many adjustment layers on a single artwork... Copyright © 2012 Lizzie Prusaczyk & Dream 9 Studios. All rights reserved. http://www.d9s.co/ Prints available at the D9S Art Shop: http://artshop.d9s.co/

JoSB: Chapter 4 Art

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 23:59:57 -0400

For this artwork for Chapter 4, I used both Shelby and Jace in the treasure room of the Egyptian temple where the third mapstone is found. This is my second shot at this where I mostly just fixed and tweaked my first attempt. I had to remove props that didn't belong (she doesn't wear the earpiece in Chapter 4!) and tweak the poses, and reposition a few things. I then post-worked it the same as before because that's the same look I want for all the book art. I do think this is my favorite book art so far and it's probably because both Shelby and Jace are on it. They have a great dynamic. I also just love all things Egypt. I'm not sure what I could do to improve this, or if anything needs fixing. I do believe it is finished... for now. Today I updated this artwork with a few minor fixes. I lessened the depth of field effect since the background isn't that far away and I swung her pendant to the side because it didn't look like it was reacting to gravity correctly. Now it's finished! Last Updated: May 19, 2012 http://shelby.d9s.co/

Forbidden

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:00:54 -0400

Date Finished: August 19, 2011 Inspired by the forbidden love between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot of the King Arthur myths, I first created a version of this artwork in early 2009. I then improved it in 2010. Well, now I've recreated and improved it again. All the details like expressions, the falling hair, her sleeves, etc. were altered for the better. I improved the lighting by using a combination of IDL and traditional lights. Very little post-work was needed to give it the final look; just a couple overlays and my tricks to give it a slightly smoother, painted feel. Copyright © 2011 - 2012 Lizzie Prusaczyk & Dream 9 Studios. All rights reserved. http://www.d9s.co/ Prints available at the D9S Art Shop: http://d9s.co/artshop

By the Moonlight

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:37:38 -0400

Date Finished: April 23, 2012 Quietly, she contemplates her serenity on a cool moonlit night. I first created a similar artwork back in October 2010 but was never totally satisfied with it inspite of what I did like about it. While going through some old files I stumbled upon the old art and decided to give the idea behind it another shot. What you see here is my newly reimagined artwork that's loosly based on the old. Copyright © 2012 Lizzie Prusaczyk & Dream 9 Studios. All rights reserved. http://www.d9s.co/ Prints available at the D9S Art Shop: http://artshop.d9s.co/

Missed Chance

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 02:44:24 -0400

Date Finished: April 09, 2012 We've all missed chances at something. Some are more painful than others. Some are missed forever. The original idea for this artwork came from one I did in February of 2009. That first try at an artwork with this idea looked good at the time but my skills have improved by leaps and bounds since then so I decided to give it another try. The emotions remain the same but the art has vastly improved. I actually thought I had this artwork done yesterday but then I looked at it again after a few hours and realized it wasn't quite what I wanted and I knew I could do better. Several hours later with a lot of concept work (making a small version and trying out several post-work techniques to see what works and what doesn't) I came up with what you see here. I like it now; before it was too plain and flat. Copyright © 2012 Lizzie Prusaczyk & Dream 9 Studios. All rights reserved. http://www.d9s.co/ Prints available at the D9S Art Shop: http://artshop.d9s.co/

Grim Tango

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:53:04 -0500

Date Finished: January 19, 2012 I think I've had this idea and first tried to create it back in 2009 but could never get it right. I kept trying again and again over the years to realize my idea but never could... until today. So glad I decided to give this one last try! It's been so long that I can't think what the original inspiration for this was but the addition of a "death's door" was something I came up with today. I guess you could say that the woman is "dancing at death's door". I'll leave the interpretations to you, the viewer. All that matters to me is that I've created an artwork that I'm satisfied with and proud of. Also that it looks cool. :) Copyright © 2012 Lizzie Prusaczyk & Dream 9 Studios. All rights reserved. http://www.d9s.co/ Prints available at the D9S Art Shop: http://artshop.d9s.co/

Monsters I See

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:59:05 -0500

Date Finished: January 06, 2012 This is a darker take, a redux, of an artwork I originally created in 2010 with a longer title. If I remember correctly, the idea came to me as I was passing by the bathroom mirror. For the record, I've never hallucinated gremlins. Shadows, things at the edge of sight, things crawling on me... yes, but nothing as complex as a monster. Still, what I have seen can still be terrifying. The reflection of the woman and room along with the shine from the window was all done inside Poser. I rendered the monsters separately then overlayed them onto the mirror in post-work. The mirror looked flat in the final render so I added some glassy reflection type texture in post-work as well. The broken glass effect was painted with brushes. I then enhanced everything with filters and adjustments layers. All post-work was done in Photoshop. I love this new take on my old idea. It's far superior, in my opinion. Copyright © 2012 Lizzie Prusaczyk & Dream 9 Studios. All rights reserved. http://www.d9s.co/ Prints available at the D9S Art Shop: http://artshop.d9s.co/

JoSB: Prologue

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 05:28:51 -0400

Coming up with this one was a little hard because Shelby is pictured (or will be) on every other Chapter Art but she's just a kid in the prologue and it centers more on David Bly anyway. So, here's a scene of David in the tomb looking for the Vril-ya key. I used a frame from the prologue but improved the stone materials (because the original mats didn't look good in such a large picture) and did a better job on the torch's fire. I'm definitely going to go back and improve the fire effects in the actual prologue once I get around to updating it all. I updated this chapter artwork by changing the background from a solid wall to a darkened hallway. I created/painted a brand new fire effect, updated all skin and hair materials, and improved the lighting. I like this newly updated chapter art far better than the older versions. I just now updated this artwork for what I hope is the final time. I brightened the back hallway a bit, improved the post-work, and fixed a hard edge I saw on the flames. I do believe this one is now ready for print! Last Updated: May 19, 2012 http://shelby.d9s.co/

Drowned in Tears

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 01:28:45 -0500

Creation Date: January 07, 2013 She is overwhelmed by depression and now drowns in a sea of her own tears. Notes: This one was sort of inspired by a scene from Alice's Adventures which I only half remember. I seem to recall that after arriving in Wonderland, she cries a sea of tears and floats away... or something like that. It's been a long time since I've read that book. I need to read it again. Anyway, I was crying the other day and idly wondered if one could drown in their own tears. This artwork is what came of those thoughts. Technical Notes: The concept may be relatively simple but figuring out the logistics of it and getting elements to work the way I envisioned... that was hard. First I had to figure out which hair model I wanted to use and then I had to work out the materials which I couldn't decide on. The water I figured out fairly quickly, just a matter of reflection and refraction settings though I fiddled with them for a while along with various bump settings. The hardest part was setting up the lighting because I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted it to be lit. This is something I usually have an idea about ahead of time but was, heh, "in the dark" this time. The depth of field effect was done in Photoshop and I also adjusted/enhanced the colors and gave it a sort of "old photo" feel. Copyright © 2013 Lizzie Prusaczyk & Dream 9 Studios. All rights reserved. http://www.d9s.co/ Prints available at the D9S Art Shop: http://shop.d9s.co/

Ghost Adventurers

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 01:28:45 -0500

Two paranormal investigators go in search of ghosts deep within an abandoned insane asylum. Little do they know that their query has found them. Notes: Not an exact or even intended representation of the show or the people in it, this was inspired by a guilty pleasure of mine; the Travel Channel show Ghost Adventures. I don't really believe in ghosts but I find the show interesting and often amusing. I try not to miss an episode or a marathon of it because it's just that damn entertaining to me. I don't watch any other "paranormal" shows, just Ghost Adventures. Technical Notes: The hardest and most time consuming part of this piece was the lighting and atmospherics. I had an idea in my head of exactly what I wanted but making that a reality was more difficult than I had imagined. I managed to achieve the final effect with an ambient light and an IBL light plus several spot lights with atmosphere settings to create the light shining through all the windows. Once I got the lights figured out, I had to keep waiting for test renders so I could figure out how I wanted to postwork it and then make sure the lighting was indeed figured out correctly for how I wanted to postwork it. Confused yet? I thought about using IDL on the phantom but changed my mind since I never really heard of a ghost projecting light on walls or anything. Yeah, go me for trying to be "realistic" with this one. Copyright © 2013 Lizzie Prusaczyk & Dream 9 Studios. All rights reserved. http://www.d9s.co/ Prints available at the D9S Art Shop: http://shop.d9s.co/