Renderosity member ArtByMel is our March 2023 Artist of the Month. She joined Renderosity in 2004 and has over 500 followers. She works primarily with Poser and VUE to create fantasy scenes for his gallery. She’s a skilled artist with an eye for detail.
In addition to the gallery video (above) which features 10 of her gallery images, we completed a short interview with ArtByMel. We thank her for taking the time to talk with us and share her thoughts. Her bio on his artist homepage is also very helpful in understanding the way that ArtByMel looks at the world. I like this part, "Without a doubt, I am happiest in the woods. Something about the forest makes me feel as if I have come home after a long journey. It might be my roots since I am half Irish on my father's side and part Native American mixed in from my mother's side".
Be sure to visit ArtByMel's excellent gallery for more of her work
How did you get interested in digital art?
ArtByMel: I’ve always enjoyed art, admiring the works of the great masters in museums and the modern-day artists like Luis Royo. To this day he remains one of my favorite artists in the fantasy genre for portraits. But my journey really began with role-playing online back in the days when Prodigy was born and continued on AOL. I formed a guild on AOL and had to make the graphics for our website, as well as the site itself. That was the start of it all.
I started with Daz and switched to Poser along the way. I used Bryce and switched to Vue. Lightroom for adjustments, Photoshop for corrections and painting, and ON1 for special effects. I’ve also begun incorporating AI into the mix.
One of my favorite works of yours is the Woodland Goddess. How did you come up with the idea for this work and what was your workflow?
I’m one of those folks who spend a lot of time in the woods. There are actually 900 acres of mountain forest about 100 feet behind my yard. A lot of my images are about the forest and the creatures of fantasy that live there. A goddess of the woodlands was an easy jump for me. She was born in AI after numerous attempts with MANY very descriptive prompts, then dropped into Lightroom, Photoshop, and ON1 for more work.
People like Sir Francis Dicksee, John William Waterhouse, Luis Royo. I also admire a number of digital artists like Kerem Beyit and a few others.
Dream. Then follow that dream no matter where it goes. Talent counts but so does hard work and determination to create your vision. Boundaries? The only ones there are the ones you believe exist.
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