Thanks very much!
What is raising the realism of your work? The increase in computing power, or how you learn how to harness PC power to ever greater effect? Or is it a bit of both?
Computer power would help making it less frustrating, but fact is I am working on a seven(!) year old single-core dual processor machine. It’s just about coping… 🙁
Naturally I learn new stuff as I go along, which helps, but the main difference between models I make now and models I made a few years ago is simply the amount of time I’ve invested in them. The Ki-44 took four times as long as my Mustang from 2004 and still more than twice as long as the TSR2 from 2010.
The next step of improvement for me would be to optimise this detail (i.e. only put there it where it’s appreciated), be slightly less obsessive about accuracy (if you were to measure the Ki-27 model I’m working on now you’d find the gap between the aileron and wingtip to be precisely 8mm as per construction drawings…) and once I buy a new PC I shouldn’t have to wait half a minute for my viewport to refresh every time I spin the model around! :rolleyes: But more importantly I need to focus more on the artistic side of things again, before I become a rivet counter rather than an artist.
Mind you, realism isn’t a goal per-sé! It’s “art” after all. But it’s fun bringing “dead” planes to life. And for the Ki-44 and Ki-27 I also generated scale drawings from the 3D models, which I want to be as accurate and detailed as possible. Because if anything is frustrating for 3D modelling, it’s inaccurate “scale” drawings. I’d say that more than 99% of scale aircraft drawings is not accurate (enough) and this drives me slightly nuts…
Which other artists that employ your medium do you admire most? I do have someone in mind, let’s see if we are in agreement…
Gareth Hector without a doubt and ironically because he also masters just about any other technique, being it 2D digital, oils, acrylic… Incidentally he also illustrates Osprey books, so you’ve no doubt seen his work.
Another awesome digital aviation artist is John Wallin, though he doesn’t use 3D software, but paints in Photoshop. John also demonstrated to be equally skilled at oils, though he simply prefers working digitally. I can’t blame him, it’s far less mess! 🙂
As for skilled 3D modellers, there are plenty! Just check out some of the work being done here: http://www.military-meshes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4:
Some truly insane stuff going on there, check any of the Mi-24, AH-1Z, F-14, SR-71A, Phantom, etc, etc…
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