cyborgja's CGPortoflio Gallery

[Warning: nudity] Bianca e Nero (White and Black)

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:42:08 +0000

Sometimes, someone has to face his/her own demons and of course painting is my own way to fight them.
It's something that, in my opinion, goes beyond the simple �like it or not�, so let me try to explain you why I 've painted it and why I've developed it in this particular way.This image represents my need for childhood's happiness in a symbolic way. My life, in the past few years, has been too chaotic, too stressful and full of troubles. I know you can understand me, because everyone has got a negative period in his/her memories. Getting back to the image... I'm the naked woman, in my present time, that wants to catch the tiny white ghost of the girl I was. I was happy, I was pure and simple as a lily. I'm naked because I feel this specific aspect of myself defenceless . The three knights are the enemies of my past. Of course, I'm still alive because I've won all the battles so far, but the war is still open as the arrow piercing my leg shows. I don't know if I'll be able to cope with this loneliness and I don't know if I'll find my way.

-_-_-_-_-_-_- TECH DETAILS -_-_-_-_-_-_-
First of all, this time, I had to manage a wide file (50 x 70 cm @300 dpi), cause I developed this image with the specific purpose of being printed and placed on the wall that divides my studio by the rest of the home. So I had no choice with the brushes under Painter : palette knifes (especially for the trees), simple digital airbrushes and charcoals. More complex brushes were too heavy and not so much intuitive.
I had an extensive use of Photoshop as tool for "image manipulation". I'm not so good with composition so I left, till the final stage, all the elements on differents layers, in order to shift, scale, change a little the hue etc etc freely and without delay in the pc- response time.
After the first main step (all the objects in the right place with the right kind of color) I started to develop each subject and unfortunately I did several errors that I can synthesize in :
- poppig up of elements that belongs to the bg, caused by the detail-DNA that I've got. So I spent time painting them and fading them too.
- color errors caused by the lost attention upon the intereaction between objects
- lighting errors for the same reason.

So.. I learnt the "trick": zoom in and zoom out. Never stop to do it, also every 5 minutes. It can be boring but, for me, it run.

As final step I started to add details. You know...if you are a detail-lover is like a cherry on the cake, like saying to yourself "ehi, I've been good, I've done all the bad things I hate so much, now let me enjoy". I created 3 brushes to add movement to the basic colors of the grass, that I found very helpful also for the fur of the horses, then I simply used detail oil, changing its own variables depending on the area I was painting.

I've to add only a thing now : I had terrible experiences of file-corruption under Painter. At one time I was deciding to stop the work at all then I've discovered the "trick". I had to save the riff file as 'uncompressed". This generated files of 1.6 -1.8 GB but I had no more corrupted work. To store the file, I used winrar with the best compression method : from 1.6 GB to 120- 150 MB.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Here you can find the image-steps(516 KB)
Let me know if you want to see some details or if you are interested to the 3 brushes...everything you want, simply ask

Well, these are my 2 cents. I really hope that this image will be able to strike and make you think about the long way you walked so far and the long way you still have to walk.

Serena

Pioggia (Rain)

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:48:48 +0000

>>>>if you do not see the picture click here <<<<

Last week I met a journalist of www.arabitalia.com and she asked for a portrait of a little cute pony that is able to stay "in candle" for long time. The pony is named Pioggia that here in Italy means rain, so I tried to descirbe her in the strange kind of light we got when the sun's rays pass through clouds. I also tried to respect the subject with her big belly (she is waiting for a colt) and the soft jaw.
Click the image to look at a 1200 x 1600 pxl version.

Tech details :
I completely painted her under Corel Painter IX using first charcoals to obtain rough surfaces and a pleasant color mix, and then defining the whole scene with oils (detail oil with a high percentage of the bleed variable). The grass took a thing like 8 layers, with a strong usage of bluring filter on the foreground leaves
To have a look at image's steps, visit my WIP thread using this link :http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=31&t=354277&page=27&pp=15

Waiting for C&C I wish you all a beautiful afternoon!

Serena.

The green heart of Jasm

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:57:52 +0000

Jasmine is tired to live in this grey city where everything is cold and mechanic, where nobody can show emotions.
Now she is escaping from it but she doesn't know where to go, what to do and what will happen in her future.
But now she is free.

Tech details :
Set up under photoshop and then developed under painter, starting the whole image on a single layer in greyscale.
Added in a second time colors and details as final touch.
I used Charcoals as single technique over a french watercolor paper.

Live-Portrait : Salvatore

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 19:03:08 +0000

Another portrait created with a live model here in my studio.
As for the previous exercise I started to paint it under ps using the "double window" trick and then, later, under painter I added colors using a layer in the overlay mode.
This time I managed a direct-spot light with a "simple" simulation : I created a millboard window and I placed it on my desk near 3 desk-lamps. In this way I've been able to perfectly see what I reproduced. I painted it in 9 hs with the model + 5 hs for background.

These are the steps:

I really want to thanks all the users that gave me great suggestions in the wip's thread!

See you soon,
Serena.

Live portrait : Antonio

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:54:38 +0000

Another portrait I painted thanks to a real model.
This time I had the opportunity to "directly" work with him : he spent 6+2 hs in my studio and I must admit that it's an amazing sensation to work with a tablet and a monitor like with real colors on a canvas.

This time the goal was a realistic representation of his face. To obtain it I used a lot of tricks. The first one is the "double window" under photoshop. With this option you can look at 2 windows showing the same pic but with a different zoom. It's very useful to see how the whole image appears with the colors you are applying locally. This helps a lot especially in main-volumes definition.
The second one is the use of a simple greyscale : I don't know why but I find more easy to work only with greys and do not manage all hues during the starting steps. So how to pass from greyscale to colors? Well, put a layer in overlay mode and apply your colors on it, then merge all and start to paint your details and manage it as a normal layer.
The third and last one is curve manipulation under ps. I find it very useful to enhance the 3D effect and manage the little lighting-errors.
As I wrote I used these tricks under ps but all the "pure-painting" process has been done under painter cause I feel better painting at it

These are few image-steps.

Be patient, it was my first time with a live model here in my studio, I had no saving-method to show you more steps. I hope I'll be able to produce a better documentation next time.

[Warning nudity] Live portrait : Nude Ephebic Man

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:00:21 +0000

First of all this is a picture made to have practice with human anatomy and lighting.
Luckily I had the opportunity to sketch from live with a male model. The agreement was simple : he wanted a quick nude portrait of himself for his office-wall ( yes office...do not ask me what he got in his mind, he is a quite crazy architect) and I asked for payment a whole afternoon as my model. I had only 1 must : do not show his face.
During this afternoon I created tons of pencil-sketches then I chose 6 of them and I realized 6 "pics-prototypes" :

Horizontal Ones : http://aureamediocritas.com/images/itchings/PreviewHorizontals0.jpg

Vertical ones: http://aureamediocritas.com/images/itchings/PreviewVerticals0.jpg

I'm not able to describe the "selection process" cause we had a simple talk drinking a coffee but as result we obtained a "I want 2 pics"!
Me : an ephebic man sleeping in a soft pose
He : an elegant man in warm tones.

So this is the second one : http://aureamediocritas.com/images/am/gallery/Nude-Man1.jpg

HOW I realized them :

Well, starting from the prototypes, I developed his body following my pencil-notes. Then, I used as strong and fixed and, thanks God, STATIC reference my quilted-blanket. It helped a lot cause honestly I'm not able to describe this kind of "folding" without looking at a reference... but of course, I learnt a lot of things with this kind of exercise. It took 12 hs for the first one and 7 for the second.
All painted under painter plus a curve-manipulation to enhance the light under photoshop.

Hope you like them,
Serena.

[Warning: nudity] Hot winter

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 18:03:42 +0000

The idea is a hot pin-up in the white of snow.
Developing it I've decided to pay homage to natalie Portman, one of my favourites actresses. You can see the photo I took as reference in this "table of references"

Here some details

Tech details :
I spent a thing like 25 hs, mostly dedicated to the female body description, all done with Painter, oils technique, detail oil and variable round.

Nothing more to say....hope you like it,
Serena.

Antonio. Sicily, blood and volcano.

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:46:12 +0000

Who's Antonio? He is an old man with a big heart coming from Sicliy. If you have a problem he will help you without asking a payment, if you have a doubt he will tell you an ancient story of his land and you'll see your troubles from another point of view. He seems to be a quite, gentle and old man, but every time i see him moving i can feel a enormous energy, like a giant locked up in a human body.
This conflict between his kindness and his energy is the real reason why I've decided to use a volcano eruption as background for his portrait. Pure and brilliant reds against dark browns....yes this is what I feel in his presence.
just one more thing to say : "Antonio, grazie".

--- Technical details ---
SW: Painter, using oils (mainly round camelhair and variable round) on a linen canvas.
You can see here the image steps from the basic scheme of an human head to skin planes and background. You can find here also the cellphone picture that I've used as reference.
And, if you want to see a 1:1 crop out, click here.

Finally, I apologize with mods for communication errors submitting the image. Thank you very much for your courtesy,
Serena.

Nostalgia (of ancient time)

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 08:54:55 +0000

I've started it as speedpaint of the day but then...I don't know.. maybe colors...maybe the girl...I've decided to create a good portrait at my maximum speed : 80 minutes.

The idea was to describe a girl coming from XVIII century, with her candid but also charming spirit.
I've choosen Adriana Lima as model cause of her eyes and her particular teeth.
Here the references :

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/f/f0/180px-Adriana_Lima.jpg
http://neuromancerwp.free.fr/Adriana%20Lima%2005.png
http://www.vnn.vn/dataimages/original/images458778_AM_AdrianaLima3.jpg
http://www.popstarsplus.com/images/AdrianaLimaPicture.jpg

Hope you like her,
Serena.I've started it as speedpaint of the day but then...I don't know.. maybe colors...maybe the girl...I've decided to create a good portrait at my maximum speed : 80 minutes.

The idea was to describe a girl coming from XVIII century, with her candid but also charming spirit.
I've choosen Adriana Lima as model cause of her eyes and her particular teeth.
Here the references :

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/f/f0/180px-Adriana_Lima.jpg
http://neuromancerwp.free.fr/Adriana%20Lima%2005.png
http://www.vnn.vn/dataimages/original/images458778_AM_AdrianaLima3.jpg
http://www.popstarsplus.com/images/AdrianaLimaPicture.jpg

Hope you like her,
Serena.

What your cat wants

Mon, 01 May 2006 11:21:29 +0000

Yesterday afternoon I was having a video conference with a dear friend when his cat jumped in front of the keyboard (and webcam too) and started to push keys in a human-like way.
So he asked me to create a wallpaper with "a cat", a simple, quite 'fast' pic, just for fun.
I've realized it in about 4 hours (ok, 6....with messenger opened :P ) using painter essentials and wacom intuos3 tablet.

I think you can really understand the pic reading lcdpanel display at : http://aureamediocritas.com/images/itchings/WhatYourCatWantsDetails.jpg

What do you think about it?

Hidden Face

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 19:27:12 +0000

Sometimes we have to smile even if we are feeling blue...yes...nowadays I must smile but I get angry so I've thought to show my mood using a pic.
Have I rendered the idea?
Painter ( charcoal soft and gritty ) about 2 hs of work.