Saw this one in the bookstore today. :)

Quote - Saw this one in the bookstore today. :)

Send it to DAZ for a gift voucher. ;) Hehe.

I'd have suggested that to anyone else,  LOL

EDIT:  I like it but I'm not crazy about her face.  Her eye balls are crooked and her face is too "stoney". She's being embraced by a hunky guy, her face isn't expressing that at all.

Quote - I'd have suggested that to anyone else,  LOL

Which is why I suggested it to Anton.  :D  I do believe the gent has a very sharp sense of humour. :)

LEDA SWANN???!!!! Oh, my gawd......did Zeus 'ghost write' the thing, too? ROFLMAO!!

Quote - > Quote - I'd have suggested that to anyone else,  LOL

Which is why I suggested it to Anton.  :D

hehe, I know  :b_tonguewink:

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - I'd have suggested that to anyone else,  LOL

Which is why I suggested it to Anton.  :D

hehe, I know  :b_tonguewink:

Ewww. You don't keep that in your mouth, do you? :D

there is a lady in one of the forums who does those bodice-ripper covers for a living. I can't recall if it were the writers forum or some other.

:) hehe

Attached Link: Alice Unchained

Anton, there's quite a few companies that are using Poser artists for their book covers. I have been doing some myself (the link included is an example) and some of those you wouldn't believe. :P Send me an IM if you want more details, I can't talk about the ones that are on the pipeline or haven't been shown yet, but the latest one I've done was a riot :)

That's a beautiful render, but it troubles me whenever we can so easily "spot" a piece of art done with Poser.  Not to criticize the work done there, of course, because it really doesn't matter to the "mainstream" audience, who would obviously never know unless they've been exposed to the software.

I always wear pigtails when I'm dressed up in formalwear.

Quote - there is a lady in one of the forums who does those bodice-ripper covers for a living. I can't recall if it were the writers forum or some other.

Bodice rippers. Gawd how I HATE that idiotic term.

And btw - 99.9% of those "Bodice Ripper Covers" as you like to call them, are more tastefully done than most stuff in the galleries here.

Grr... that just really offends me.

I guess you must like it when people say "Oh. It's Poser. Anyone can do Poser. It has a "Make Art" button."

Same thing, in my opinion.

And no, it's not me doing covers for a living.

Quote - Actually, for what the people from Ellora's Cave said in an interview, they're phasing out the Poser covers, because apparently the stores say they don't like the "dead doll" look.)

Well there is no denying that bookcover render is definitly a  "dead doll look".  That and the crooked eyes were the first thing I noticed. Now it's the only thing I notice.  What could have been a very nice pose/scene was ruined by those 2 things. I'm not sure how it got accepted as a final submission for a bookcover. Those are usually quite professional but this one screams amateur.

Attached Link: Grave Silence

Most of my stuff you can see under my portfolio on my own website here http://www.skyewolfimages.com/

But I do have a couple up here at Rendo.

Mundania Press
http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1138695
http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1133924

Comic Book cover
http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=964589

See, no dead dolls :D

Silke - don't let em get to you. :)

Hey anton, which bookstore? Maybe I should go looking for some of my covers LOL!

The romance book cover's woman has a victoria specific armpit to chest  distortion that looks very unrealistic and could have been postworked.  Her skin texture is not as detailed as the man's, and I think the lighting/shadowing on her could be improved somewhat.

I usually don't spend that much time improving the fine aspects of my renders as I do them for my own entertainment, but I'm sure if I were given a commission I'd be willing to spend the extra time.  I wonder if I could make some money making romance novel covers?  Does it pay well?  And is my art good enough for the job?

Any advice?

Yes, the "dead doll" look is operator error, not a Poser defect. I spend a fair amount of time on expressions for my characters. It isn't hard, though, and not all that time consuming.

http://www.fotoonz.com/FoToonZ/Imitating_Art.html

Gordon

There's nothing I hate more than that blank stare that just screams I'm not real!

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1118185

The eyes on the cover have no highlights, with highlights they would look a lot more realistic and less dead doll.

my experience (with comic book artists) is that they are instinctively repelled by poser renders of expressionless zombie girls, and as graphic artists who have used pencils, inks and bristolboard all their lives, they have absolutely no knowledge of poser or other generators of machine-made images. unfortunately, poser users can get so caught up in the technical details of trying to get poser to do a presentable render, that they may consider facial expressions to be a waste of their valuable time. in one cartoon group, there's a guy who regularly posts renders that are ignored, because the artists there are too polite to tell him how bad his stuff is on so many levels, compared to a cartoon drawn by an actual human being. however, it is not too difficult for a poser user to get a very nice expression on a figure's face, hence it's really sad that most of them just try to slide by with a dull, staring zombie face instead. :lol:

Quote - Silke - don't let em get to you. :)

It just does. I can't help it. :)
It stems from having been on both ends of the publishing industry, so I know how such comments hurt a writer, as well as the publisher. So yeah, I get a bit obsessive about it lol.
It's just not needed, just like we don't need the "Oh... Poser..." rolls eyes type comments from other members of the 3D community.

Mind you, I've once seen an animation on a "Maya Showcase"... and it was done in... Poser lol. It was Victoria and it was obvious. They might have animated it in Maya, but they didn't create the model. So where is the difference? (Wish I could find the link now but this was probably 2 years ago.)
I also know a lot of the cover artists work very hard on those covers. I used to do some myself, but we used to hire painters more than anything.
The "Dead Doll" look is a dead give-away. And it's not so very hard to fix that, even if you have to postwork it. What gave the cover away immediately was the use of the 3Dream hair. It's so overused that it immediately screams "POSER!" whenever you see it.

I liked the picture. Seems like many Poser images I have seen. There are things I might postwork, but that may not be what the artist wanted. Post work is a medium, and not always a must or even wanted.

Perhpas people were a bit unkind. Hey forums are like diaries.

Quote - I always wear pigtails when I'm dressed up in formalwear.

I don't know why but that made me laugh my butt off.

Quote - This gallery image would have been a stunning book cover :)

You're not kidding. Superb picture.

Heh. I wish 3Dream would do a lot MORE hair models. They're overused 'cuz they're excellent.

But it's true, though. You see the 3Dream pigtails a lot. I even use them with one of my characters.

Silke: That's true, That and Quarker's models.  Grace Lion get's used more than just about anything. And thanks for the comment on Grave Silence :)

Anton: I wasn't trying to be unkind :) And that said, playing devil's advocate, most e-release publishers don't pay it's cover artists  oodles of money (at least to start) either so it's quite easy to get caught in the "you get what you pay for" trap, and throw a rushed cover out there trying to mass produce them in order to get paid more.

But, on the fliip side, if I hadn't done the best I could do for them at the time I wouldn't have been able to move up the pay scale to bigger and better things. :)

Why does the book cover have an extra woman`s hand that looks like it is about to grope the woman?  Near the centre left of the picture.

Quote - Why does the book cover have an extra woman`s hand that looks like it is about to grope the woman?  Near the centre left of the picture.

That's  her hand.

Quote - I always wear pigtails when I'm dressed up in formalwear.

lol I thought the same thing. helen

Because the Lesson is Seduction was to kick the competition to the floor and throw yourself in the arms of her man while she reaches for help getting up.....

Because the Lesson is Seduction was to kick the competition to the floor and throw yourself in the arms of her man while she reaches for help getting up.....

LOL Anton!!

The real kick about these is that usually the author gives you their "vision" of what they want for the cover. It's up to you as an artist to either follow those instructions, or to create something in the same vein but different. I have to say that the two most satisfying images that I've done for covers came from not following the instructions, but using those to create something slightly different. The "Alice Unchained" cover that I linked above was one of those.

Right now I'm having an issue with a cover that I'm doing. While I understand why the author chose the scene, and I can see what she wanted to do, the problem is that the setting itself is awkward and not really working, at least according to what I can imagine can be done. But I lack enough of a frame of reference to put together something else that would work.

Doing these covers can be fun, can bring giggles -oh yes- but as any "pro" job, can also be a royal pain every now and then.