Renderosity members have voted dbwalton as our December 2021 Artist of the Month. db joined Renderosity in 2018 and already has over 160 followers. It’s easy to see why; his work is so creative and stylish that one visit to his gallery will make you an immediate fan. He is so good at creating a mood with his character portraits and scenes. We congratulate dbwalton for becoming the Artist of the Month for December.
DB kindly agreed to answer questions about his background and working methods. Thank you very much!
Renderosity: Your biography mentions you have strong religious convictions: how has this influenced your work?
dbwalton: I try to avoid overly sexualized images. I also enjoy doing scenes from scripture stories. This is hard because the wardrobe is so limited, so I have to make do with what’s out there. (Sometimes that’s a bit of a frustration.)
What is the workflow on a typical project?
dbwalton: That depends. Most of my work these days are in DAZ. I think Poser is easier to use, but I like the results from DAZ better. I have both, but DAZ is my go-to these days. If I have something already in mind, it goes like this…
1) I select a set, background and props and create the “scene” for my render.
2) I then place my characters. If I’m going to rely on dForce. In frame 1 they are all zeroed, but not overlapping. In frame 30 they are posed.
3) I then clothe my character(s).
4) Run dForce if applicable
5) Make adjustments as necessary and run dForce again. I repeat this until I get what I want.
6) Set the lighting. If outdoors, I like using sun and sky. Otherwise, if I don’t have anything in mind, it is usually character based. I love a pretty face, and so I’ll place the character in my XLight set (available in Free Stuff here on Renderosity), pose, cloth, add hair styles, and then play with the lighting.
dbwalton: I find many of the artist here on Renderosity are very talented. If it is okay to mention favorites, my favorites are (in alphabetical order): 1971, DM, LilFlame, Lully, Sabby, SASE, Sveva and Zoro_d. I’ve conversed with some of these folks and have become good online friends with some. They are more than talented artists. They are really nice people. I also find most of the people leaving comments are civil. It is a refreshing break to not have to listen to arguments. Some of their comments lead to private messages about rendering and some good friendships.
dbwalton: I have no secrets (I say with a wink). I work hard at creating believable poses, expressions and most importantly - LIGHTING. If I were to stress anything to those trying to improve their art it would be this: Study lighting. When I had my photography studio I discovered anyone looks good under “flat” light. That’s light hides all shadows. BUT, lighting someone to create a mood and emotion is beyond looking good. It’s looking great. I study the lighting in movies, advertisements, and paintings. Watch a good movie. Pay attention to the lighting. Imagine to yourself, “What if that were simply light with “flat” lighting?” You then start to see what they are doing. Here’s an example. My wife and I were watching reruns of NYPD Blue. There was a scene I pointed out to my wife where the light was coming in through the window behind the female detective, giving her hair this beautiful rim lighting of a red/gold glow. Of course, the scene was somewhat romantic as she locked gazes with one of the male detectives. Chance? No way. They planned it.
Any advice for digital artists just starting out?
dbwalton: Renderosity has made all the difference for me as a vendor because if it wasn’t for Renderosity, I probably wouldn’t even be a vendor. Sure, there are other sites, but I’ve always felt that Renderosity was the right fit for me. Although I usually keep a pretty low profile, I really enjoy the sense of community at Renderosity and it is so wonderful to have a place where like-minded digital artists and/or aficionados can come together and share their creations.
Any advice for vendors just starting out?
dbwalton: Go for art that pleases you. Pin stuff on Pinterest that you really like and that you’d like to imitate in a render. Trying to imitate something else forces you to more than put a character in a setting and render. But, whatever you do, don’t do it to please other people. Once you start doing art to get the accolades of others it no long becomes fun. Watch tutorials. Read tutorials. Ask questions in forums. Most of all, relax and be happy with what you’ve done at the end of the day.
One short anecdotal story in closing…
I had a professional portrait studio for 18 years. It was 18 years that carried a LOT of stress. Recently, I was at a steampunk festival where my wife’s cousin was showing off some of my steampunk renders. He came back all excited, “This guy wants to know if you’re interested in doing some cover art for him.”
He took me over to the author’s table, introduced me, and after he asked if I was interested, my answer was quite simple.
“If you see something of mine you want to use, let me know and we’ll work out a licensing price. Otherwise, I only do this for myself. It’s retirement relaxation therapy. No stress. No deadlines. No mandatory revisions. It’s just me doing what I enjoy.” I told him.
He nodded his head in agreement and said he understood.
The moral of that story is two fold. First, if you do what you are happiest doing, you’ll have less stress in life. Life has its way of creating stress on its own. You don’t need to add to it. Second, people will notice you and start coming to you. (This is the 3rd such request I’ve politely turned down to do cover art. Call me a fool if you want, but I don’t need the money, and I don’t need the STRESS.)
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