Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Silverblade_The_Enchanter Aug 17, 2009 19:32:44	long term inhabitants here know my stuff, but for those who've just arrived due to the announcement of 4th ed Dark Sun... I've been doing fan art on Dark Sun and Spelljammer for years 'cause I love the settings (and D&D ) so much note I often do several different versions of the same piece. Dark Sun works: http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/darksun/index.htm LOTS OF BIG PICCIES! DARK SUN - SEA OF SILT The Dark Sun sets over the infamous Sea of Silt, the dusty remains of a dead ocean! Now it's choking dust fogs are sailed by ships held aloft by gas, psionics or giant wheels, and the silt itself is home to vast, tentacled horrors... DARK SUN - OASIS The world of Athas maybe dying...but some still fight against the end of life, refusing to let the waters of life be burned off by a sun gone mad! A thri-kreen druid performs a ritual that summons water back to the old oasis, as the larger moon and the sun hit a specific alignment...as he and his forebears have done for untold years... DARK SUN - GLORY The wastelands of Athas are harsh, but they are also beautiful DARK SUN - SALUTE A Denizen of the wasteland salutes in triumph! DARK SUN - CRODLU RIDER In the wastes of Athas, a lone rider protects himself and his crodlu mount, from one of the many scavengers...no need to waste effort and precious water, no need to fight...not when your mind can bend even the will of a scorpion to your bidding! Crodlu, one of the favoured riding beasts of the world of the Dark Sun. Tough deadly, dependable, but expensive. The rider is experienced, no need to panic, as panic is a dangerous thing indeed in the wastes. So he calmly deals with the threat with his formidable mind. DARK SUN - DEFIANCE! He has escaped slavery, fought the beasts of thew wasteland, all to achieve freedom! To escape slavery, to escape slaughtering other people in the gladiatorial pits, to escape slaughtering his comrades for the perverse pleasure of debauched nobles and merchants... But he cannot beat the desert, with his water gone, and death soon to come, he cries out his defiance, his anguish! H he is not some brute, though he was bred and trained to supernally strong and lethal, all he wants, is freedom, to have a family, to live for HIMSELF! And so, if he must die, he does not do so with the animalistic hate his masters wanted him to be full of, but with anguish, and despair at lost dreams, but also, defiance: he WILL die a FREE MAN! DARK SUN - PYRAMID Lost, alone, an escaped mul slave finds shelter in the ruins of some ancient city, where a spring keeps him alive...but something else as well! DARK SUN - DEAD OCEANS Wreckless, greedy, destructive magic has reduced the world of Athas to a baking desert under a bloated sun. Dead ocean basins lie beneath what were once islands and continents... LAST SEA OF ATHAS Only one small sea remains on the parched, shattered world under the Dark Sun... DARK SUN 2 A wyvern, or something worse? hunts for prey, as the two moons of Athas bake under the crimson sun, as well as everyone else! DARK SUN DAWN The giant crimson sun of Athas rises over the parched lands... KOBOLD CANYONS
#2 Zardnaar Aug 18, 2009 0:28:17	I've seen a few of those before but. :OMG! Not all of them.
#3 Silverblade_The_Enchanter Aug 28, 2009 1:05:13	FINALLY I can login, jeesH! sorry for delay! :/ Glad ye like 'em!
#4 Supernal Sep 01, 2009 14:03:55	You've certainly got some rendering skills.  I like the canyon pic best with the distant moon. Also Silverblade, we have eerily similar avatars.
#5 Silverblade_The_Enchanter Sep 01, 2009 18:18:09	Supernal, thank you! Nowadays I use Vue Infinite for rendering andbefore that, Bryce lol, great minds think alike.... ;) it's one of my old renders, by the way
#6 madjec Oct 08, 2009 12:04:35	ok, this may sound pathetically stupid to anyone who has made fan art before, but would anyone mind telling me how these images were created, whether it be some kind of drawing software, or a certain type of paint, as I am horribly inexperienced in this area (I have never drawn anything anywhere close in quality to this before - the only thing I have ever drawn on my PC is what i have inserted on this post, drawn on paint, and very sorry-looking compared to the above) I would appreciate a response =P
#7 madjec Oct 08, 2009 12:06:10	oops, forgot to add the image, lol
#8 Silverblade_The_Enchanter Oct 08, 2009 14:34:41	Oh no worries mate!! we all start some place I started over 10 years ago, when I came online to talk on the forums for the "Baldur's Gate" computer game, a pal posted a link to art made with Bryce (a 3D program) form www.digitalblasphemy.com (early site hosting computer "wallpapers"  made with such apps back then) I use "VUE INFINITE"nowadays, a 3D digital art program. years before I used to use "Bryce". there's all different kinds of 3D apps that do different things. I like Bryce and Vue because they are pleasant to use! All the bells and whistles and price don't matter a damn if you don't enjoy using an app. There is no such thing as the "best" app, no matter what folk say. It's what you like using and what skills and time you put into it that count. I've seen gorgeous portraits done with MS Paint for Pete's sake, lol! That's talent and hardwork, that is. To make these images I use several apps: Vue is my main one, I assemble parts and people in it, and render it. I use Poser to make and cloth the people. Photoshop to improve the image afterwards and add some special effects.  I also use Particle Illusion to add some effects like the fire cleric of fire's hands. if you wish to learn about the field of digital art, I recommend highly starting with www.renderosity.com it has forums for many apps and styles of digital art. Please don't limit yourself ot one app or style to begin with, there's os much you can do! and, it's most important ot find what is right for you, not what other folk say you should do. I preffer 3D art building characters, objects and scenes up as if they were a film set, others preffer 2D using Photoshop or Painter to make images much like with oil paints etc You will find many big artist nowadays "Paint" on their computers.  You can get "graphic tablets" that let you draw on them like using a pen or paint brush that makes it much easier to do so  this is my tutorial on an introduction to digital art..I do lots of tutorials on digitla art as that and D&D are my "passions" www.silverblades-suitcase.com/tutorials/... to get as good as myself (I'm just a taleneted amateur, you should see some of the REALLY good stuff out there!) takes time, you cannot learn this stuff overnight, but, it's much easier and more fun, IMHO than learning traditional art media, because you can undo mistakes, save and alter projects at a later date, and with 3D, you can easily get quick feedback and make basic but fun images right away. I'd recommend trying the demos of Vue (Personal Learning Edition, on E-On Software site); Painter (by Corel); and if you are more technically minded try Lightwave (the easiest of the big professional apps, IMHO, bt sitll much harder to learn than Vue or Bryce). bryce 5.5 is a free legal download form www.download.com
#9 madjec Oct 08, 2009 15:24:38	awesome, thanks for that. I might have to do some experimenting with some of this stuff - it sounds like fun =]
#10 Silverblade_The_Enchanter Oct 08, 2009 15:56:47	My pleasure! oh it's a great deal of fun ;) But, if you get into it...it grows on you, lol ;)