I didn't get the last update to this thread.  Now, somehow, I feel fortunate...

 I forgot that I put that up there. Silly me.

 Is this better?

 When I get the UV map thing figured out, I am going to add some more material zones to those boots and make them stand out a bit better from the costume. I don't think I will opt for a leather texture. Overused. I will also not make it mirror the suit texture. Overused. But they will be cool. Uh, overused?

Looking good.

 Thanks! Did you do any renders with the new textures yet? I am dying to see what you've done.

I'm thinking an outline of green Lightning for the boot tops would look kinda cool!  Nice Render!

 Hmmm. I was going to go with a metal surface, but then I thought a guy who produces lightning from his body would probably not have anything metal on him. Did you notice the yellow bolts on the sides of the boots? They are modeled in, so maybe the outline on the top would be redundant. I will come up with something cool.

The only post work on that render is the lightning... 

 I just realized the bolts are probably obscured by how the cape draped him. If you don't look close it looks like that is part of the cape hitting the boot.

 I used this as an avatar the first time I tried to make Green Lightning. Back then I used Simon and did a really cheesy looking second skin texture. I added a watermark to it...

Rokket; leveling the status quo of men in tights to bent over Vickies one thread at a time. ;D

Oh come on Rokket, you have to admit that was at least mildly funny.

I did say you were all about the quality.  Now that you pointed it out I can see the lightning on the boots AND I notice they go over the knee like a catcher's shin guard.  As far as the second skin being cheesy.  I'm not seeing it.  Super-Heroes are allowed to skintight clothing if they wish like Green Lightning.  Plus you do realistic style renders that lend itself to less tight clothing like Bane in the last Batman movie or Magneto in the first 3 Xmen movies. Heck even (movie) Batman now has armor rather than grey skintight spandex.  Works well too and makes more sense.

Lastly, Metal and a guy who shoots lightning from his fingertips?  Mmmm, no...but that's just me.

Oh come on Rokket, you have to admit that was at least mildly funny.

Actually, that was pretty funny!  

I was just imagining that would be the result of Superman and Wonder Woman having a kid and he's a little, shall we say, flamboyant...

I did say you were all about the quality.  Now that you pointed it out I can see the lightning on the boots AND I notice they go over the knee like a catcher's shin guard.  As far as the second skin being cheesy.  I'm not seeing it.  Super-Heroes are allowed to skintight clothing if they wish like Green Lightning.  Plus you do realistic style renders that lend itself to less tight clothing like Bane in the last Batman movie or Magneto in the first 3 Xmen movies. Heck even (movie) Batman now has armor rather than grey skintight spandex.  Works well too and makes more sense.

Lastly, Metal and a guy who shoots lightning from his fingertips?  Mmmm, no...but that's just me.

It was cheesy because I didn't know back then how to do things like take the nipples out of the mesh, so they could still be seen. I didn't know how apply a bump map to give the suit a natural feel. I could do all of that now, but what for? I know how to model the costume, so messing with a texture map to create a costume is, for me, a waste of time.

 And in case there was any confusion as to what I was referring to as 'second skin', this is it. Basically, it's something akin to painting a bathing suit on a Sports Illustrated model. If you make boots, the toenails show through. Gloves, the same thing. And no way to hide the ears on a cowl. There are workarounds for these things, of course. But it's time consuming and tedious, and for me, it's easier just to learn to model.

In this very quick, very sloppy example, the lightning bolt on his chest is the same one I used for my Green Lightning shield. It's supposed to be straight, and because it had to follow Tyler's topology, that's what happens. 

 There are other figures that are easier to paint of course. Tyler's shader is very complicated and includes bump and a few other things required to make second skin textures work. I was using Simon back then, like I said, and he only has a texture map plugged into the main tree.

Like this rendition of the Bat's get up circa Frank Miller's DK. Grey scheme.

 That is way cool. I thought about creating Miller's costume, but I don't have the right figure to model it to. I am going to have to see about getting M4 from somewhere so I can have the flexibility it offers. 

Yeah, I don't have him either. Funny cause Daz gave away the M4 bundle a while back and I just never got around to putting it in my cart. Not a high priority really, I have tons of M3, the Freak, and Apollo Max stuff... there really isn't any kind of male character that I can think of that I couldn't replicate with one of those 3. For you, considering what kind of character content you like making, getting and working with M4 would increase your audience significantly. But then there are also a lot of other artists doing fan art type content for M4. You have a niche right now with the Poser native figures.

...back to painting tentacles, uuugh.

I guess I do have a niche. But everyone is using him, and a lot of the fan art stuff I've seen for him isn't up to my standard...

I didn't know that DAZ was giving M4 away. I should go see if he's still there. Probably not. Those things don't last long. 

 I saw that you were making one of those tentacle creatures in that other thread. Considering the rigging on that thing, I wouldn't want to do it. You are a better man than me for doing it.

Riggings been done for a while. Most of the morphs are done. Erc for the eye rotations are done. Just painting textures and creating displacement maps now, I already have one texture set done and am well into the second. What's left are geometry switching for the tentacles ends, alternate eyelids, erc to sync the pupil morphs, ah christ and whatever else. And then renders, wireframes, a little .pdf and then I quietly upload it somewhere. I really shouldn't be talking about it and just get the thing finished. Whatever, you know how it is. Thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown uv mapping and grouping the thing. Lol. Sorry won't post a single image until it's finished. It'll probably be traumatically anticlimatic after all is said and done with all the time spent. Poser, pretty obsessive hobby.

Btw Rokket, Roadkill is pretty good but don't write off wings uv mapping so quickly. I've gotten pretty good at unwrapping with it so if you ever have any questions about the process just ask. The key with wings is a lot of cutting, remap uv, pinning and stretch optimization, and stitching it all back together. Virtual mirror also comes in handy. Just like all of wings features, they don't seem very fancy on the surface but I think it can stand toe to toe with the best of em. Yeah, I'm a Wings fanboy. More so than Poser.

"And in case there was any confusion as to what I was referring to as 'second skin', this is it. Basically, it's something akin to painting a bathing suit on a Sports Illustrated model. If you make boots, the toenails show through. Gloves, the same thing. And no way to hide the ears on a cowl. There are workarounds for these things, of course. But it's time consuming and tedious, and for me, it's easier just to learn to model.

In this very quick, very sloppy example, the lightning bolt on his chest is the same one I used for my Green Lightning shield."

Yes I've noticed this before in second skins and I'm not happy about it.  There are products that list the second skin leg bottoms as boots.  I thought there were was perhaps a morph that would let you turn feet into socks.  It doesn't.  In the end you must texture boots to match the model or find a suitable texture.

Riggings been done for a while. Most of the morphs are done. Erc for the eye rotations are done. Just painting textures and creating displacement maps now, I already have one texture set done and am well into the second. What's left are geometry switching for the tentacles ends, alternate eyelids, erc to sync the pupil morphs, ah christ and whatever else. And then renders, wireframes, a little .pdf and then I quietly upload it somewhere. I really shouldn't be talking about it and just get the thing finished. Whatever, you know how it is. Thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown uv mapping and grouping the thing. Lol. Sorry won't post a single image until it's finished. It'll probably be traumatically anticlimatic after all is said and done with all the time spent. Poser, pretty obsessive hobby.

Btw Rokket, Roadkill is pretty good but don't write off wings uv mapping so quickly. I've gotten pretty good at unwrapping with it so if you ever have any questions about the process just ask. The key with wings is a lot of cutting, remap uv, pinning and stretch optimization, and stitching it all back together. Virtual mirror also comes in handy. Just like all of wings features, they don't seem very fancy on the surface but I think it can stand toe to toe with the best of em. Yeah, I'm a Wings fanboy. More so than Poser.

I guess it's more my fault for not giving Wings a chance. When I first started and I asked about UV mapping everyone was downing Wings UV mapper. But that was probably 2 versions ago? So I went and found UVMapper classic and never looked back. Perhaps that will be what I do today. I am making a drop down visor/eye shield for GL's suit. I'll give Wings UV another go.

Yes I've noticed this before in second skins and I'm not happy about it.  There are products that list the second skin leg bottoms as boots.  I thought there were was perhaps a morph that would let you turn feet into socks.  It doesn't.  In the end you must texture boots to match the model or find a suitable texture.

Ditto. That's why I started learning to model. I couldn't find what I wanted (wasn't then and still am not allowed to spend any more money for this hobby) in the freebies, so I started making my own stuff. Look where that got me.

Uv mapper classic isn't even remotely in the same class as wings, whoever told you that obviously didn't know how to use it. Uvmapper pro? maybe. Classic, about all it's good for is planar projection, sorting maps for templates, certain grouping functions (barely, I've had it dump polys out of groups before), and .obj export functions such as saving out uvs files or stripping out usemtl and n lines. Forget cutting and stitching, nada. With wings you can relax, tighten, cut, stitch, and use many of the standard modeling functions in the autoUV window.

Hey, you remember this thread?

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2868574#msg4072619

We've actually had quite a few conversations over the years Rokket. I used to go by primorge and deathmetaldesk. Lol.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2868574#msg4072619

We've actually had quite a few conversations over the years Rokket. I used to go by primorge and deathmetaldesk. Lol.

We're allowed to have secret identities?  I never get the memo!

You might find this tutorial useful for getting the hang of wings UVing tools.

http://www.quinlor.de/tutorials/fig_uv1.html

Nah, those user accounts no longer exist. But yeah, you can. It's not encouraged though, that's for sure. People do it.

 Holy cow! I guess you had your reasons for changing the name, but wow. Am I ever glad I got over myself. It pays to check yourself every once in a great while...

Again, I am sorry for being an ass to you. I could make excuses about stress on the job and at home, but that's all it would be: an excuse.

I am going to go back and read through that cyberman thread. 

You might find this tutorial useful for getting the hang of wings UVing tools.

http://www.quinlor.de/tutorials/fig_uv1.html

Bookmarked!

 The visor was a bust. It didn't quite look how I pictured it. It was going to be a drop down visor, a la Catwoman from Dark Knight Rises, but when I got it on his head, it didn't look right.

So I will rest my eyes and foggy brain and then restart it later.

And also do what I intended to do when I started this thread: package up and upload that add on texture for the MOS suit.

After I tweak it. I think the bump map is a bit strong, and I noticed the boots give off a glow on the ground. 

GREEN LIGHTNING

ORIGIN STORY

Green Lightning first came into being when I was 10 years old. I started fantasizing about being a super powered being able to beat up the local bully who was picking on me and beating me up almost on a weekly basis. But I didn't want to fight him Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee style, I wanted to kick him into the next county. So Green Lightning was born. He started out dressed in an all green version of the costume Robin wore when he first met Batman, but with a floor length yellow cape. His powers varied depending on what my sick little mind needed at the time: defy gravity, teleport, invisibility, xray vision, superhuman strength. You name it. He was an alien from another planet who chased a dangerous criminal to Earth. He manages to capture him, but is nearly killed in the battle. A Wizard rescues him, and transfers his soul into a ring to preserve him. If someone wears the ring and reads the inscription, they will transform into Green Lightning. What can I say? I was 10, and I had the ring.

By 12 years old, I'd beaten the bully during one last showdown on the way home from school and he became a friend. He had stopped bullying all together by the time we went back to school, and even taught me how to shoot a .22cal rifle! But the need for Green Lightning was still there. Now I was battling an enemy that no one can beat: being dirt poor. My dad got laid off from work, and was doing odd jobs, so we had clothes on our backs, food to eat. But not much else. I would sit in the backyard dreaming up things I could do if I was Green Lightning. So his costume changed to something a little flamboyant: The tight shorts were replaced with long pants, and the cape was now attached to his wrist and was shortened. He now had a secret lair in the sky (I wasn't reading Marvel comics yet, so I guess I came up with this one without the aid of S.H.I.E.L.D), a really cool car (somewhere between Batmobile and The Green Hornet's car), and a rocket powered motorcycle. But no superhuman strength. No heat for xray vision. He was just super cool and super rich.

And still all this time, no rhyme or reason to call him Green Lightning other than it sounded cool.

By 16, I had started drawing both DC and Marvel comic characters. I had a pretty good life, a part time job, a car and money in the bank. But no girlfriend. Didn't want or need one either. I had Green Lightning, Red Devil, the DC and Marvel Universe.... and Heavy Metal (both the magazine and the music). Who needs girls?

By this time, I started giving him what would become his final costume change. He was now about 25, so the kid wear gave way to a full on Flash-like suit complete with cowl, gloves, and boots. But no cape. His powers were now super human strength, agility, invunerability, sight, hearing, and he could shoot lightning from his fingers. He could fly by manipulating the air currents around him with a static electricity charge. I changed the alien origin to a particle from a distant planet, which hurled its way across the galaxy after the planet explodes. It nearly lands on John Forester, who touches it and becomes Green Lightning. Hokey, right?

At 21 I attempted to work for Marvel and was turned down. They said my art was good, but my portfolio lacked in Marvel heroes. They wanted someone how drew their characters their way. I was crushed, but at the same time I was realistic. The world didn't need Green Lightning when it had 15,000 other superheroes fighting for it.

5 years ago I came across Poser 8 in Baharain of all places, at a Navy Exchange. I was curious about what the box said, so I bought it. As I started getting into it more, I started waking up the old fires inside me. Green Lighning was begging to get out. So I started learning the program, and everything else I was going to need, because I was going for the gusto: I was going to make a full length Green Lightning movie. Yeah, it's five years later and still no movie. But I do have a pretty good back story. I think.

Let me preface that by stating that superheroes and comics have been around nearly 100 years. There are no original 'origins' anymore. So what I have here best fits both John Forester and Green Lightning best.

In 1948, Arthur Forester and Niles Bespin started an electronics company. Everyone thought they would fail. They were wrong. By 1965, they opened their first factory. The night before the grand opening of a factory that would give jobs to more than 2,500 employees, both men were on the main floor, a little champaign, a little celebration. Suddenly, a small particle burst through the roof of the building and lands at Arthur's feet. He picks it up, saying his son would like something like this. By 1985, the factory had closed and everything was moved to a much larger, more modern facility. By this time the Forester name was synonymous with quality, and the family was worth millions. Also in 1985, the family welcomed Jonathon James Forester J. into the mix.

In 2010, 25 year old college graduate John Jr. was set to take over the company. He had full reign, but there was one catch: the original factory, which stood as a figure head for the Forester name, was to be left alone. This didn't stop Carlo Beneducci from making an offer every week for the property; first to the Arthur, when he was turning over the company to John Sr., then to Sr., and his first offer to Jr., who said the same thing as the other two men: the factory stays in the family, but mistakenly added: "as long as the factory stands."

This put a wild thought into Beneducci's mind. He hires two of the best to rig the building to blow.

Karen Sanders started at Forester Industries only a couple weeks before John Jr. came home to take over. She fancied him, but he was way out of her league. He was tall, handsome and rich. She was his employee, and liked her cupcakes with extra frosting, extra whipped cream...uh...

But Karl Stevens, one of the want-to-go-all-the-way-to-the-top as fast as he can types, seems to take an interest in Karen. She's not stupid, she knows it's to get in the big door. John's office door. Not on her watch. But she plays along with his monkey business long enough to actually fall for his bull. He sets a date with her at the factory, 8pm. She has the key, right? Sure. Ok.

The particle that Arthur Forester picked up on the factory floor all those years ago now resides on a necklace around John Jr.'s neck. It was an heirloom handed down from his grandfather and he swore to never take it off. It was on his neck the night he didn't call the police before him and best friend Alex Perkins went to investigate the silent alarm at the factory. It was on his neck when he entered the building just seconds before the bomb went off at 8:05pm. It wasn't on his neck when they dug his body out of the rubble. And he wasn't hurt. Not even a scratch. But he was in a coma for a week.

That's all I am giving you. Karen Sanders becomes Blaze. Living fire. The particle was absorbed into their bodies, combining with the DNA and enhancing everything. John is Green Lighning because he hit a charged electrical panel when the concussion knocked him over. Karen was roasted alive and became living fire.

 Gaahhh. Should have spell checked better on that last post. Sheesh.

 Wooo. Scarey.

I went into the Wings forum just now. Nothing in there but a cockroach eating a twinkie. He offered a bite, but I told him I was full and left. 

 Dang that origin story is so hard to read because of all the typos. Wish I could delete it.

Yeah, the wings forum is a ghost town. I've seen a lot worse typos in posts around here, hell there's one guy that doesn't know where to place commas in a sentence. His sentences look like this ,this ,and this. Or someone who spells though as thou and uses ......... instead of... or the one that seems to be epidemic which is using chose instead of choose, such as "go to edit and chose delete." or "I don't know which one to chose." ;)

 If you think that's annoying, I live in the Philippines. Don't get me wrong, I love the people, and compared to most Asian countries they are Rhodes scholars, but sometimes I get peeved at how they pluralize things that are not supposed to be: can you hand me that knives? Wha???

First of all, EldritchCellar (EC) is right.  I've seen a lot of worse.  I personally spell everything correctly but my nemesis is the missing word.  I think it in my head but somehow it gets lost between here and the keyboard.  Rest assurured I know exactly what you meant to write and it's a nice origin.  A bit derivative but no more than anyone else's origin. Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, the Fantastic Four was in an accident in space, Barry Allen was accidently doused with chemicals at the same time as a lightning bolt strike.  They are all accidents or an unintended happenstance of incredible odds.  What are the odds that a planet is going to blow itself up but a civilization that is advanced beyond reckoning, even to the point of having space colonies like Argo City would decide "Naw, our leading scientist is full of it.  Yes we have space colonies but we won't keep a couple of ships handy just in case."

Really?

Yet that gave us the most popular Super-Hero of all time.  Origins are reworked over the years to fill in huge plot holes, like the fact it would take 4.3 light years or approximately 165,000 years by an non-warped rocket ship to reach the nearest star from Earth.  Krypton is supposedly beyond that.  He's had his powers since the day he arrived then magically they didn't manifest for years as his cells soaked up solar radiation.  Every hero besides Batman has had a change in canon as if they became inconvenient truths.  Really, just give us some plausible deniability and we'll buy it because we want to.  If they don't like the origin or feel the hero has run his course, they give us a new hero to pick up the banner.  It's okay.  A superman that over 70 years old won't do, even less likely for Batman.

It's what that hero does with his gifts or mutation that really makes the hero.  That and a hero is only as good as his Villain.  You don't have to give us anymore until it's time for the origin issue or even the first issue.  Superman didn't get an origin until almost 20 years after he was introduced.

I think the reason Marvel turned you down was a terrible reason.  Neal Adams drew Archie before he drew Batman and is without question one of the greatest comic book artists of all time.  The same with Frank Frazetta.  Before he gave us those iconic Conan paintings, he drew Lil Abner.  It would've been better to take you in and then ease you into the rotation.  I would've jumped at the chance to just be an inker!

 I was offered an internship, but I was just getting ready to get out of the Navy and was married to my first mistake, I mean, wife. So I needed a paying job. I kick myself now because I was divorced a year later and had reenlisted in the Navy.

But life has a way of giving you what you need when you need it. I have been very happily married to my second wife going on 20 years and have 2 awesome kids to show for it. And I retired from the Navy, so I get a pension. Don't have to worry about money. It's all good. 

I'm glad it worked out for you!  My first mistake didn't care a thing about my dreams and she had none.  Never again will I let anyone stop me from reaching for the sky.  I settled for a job in electronics.  In hindsight and regret, I wish I had used that money to go to the Joe Kubert School of Comics.  I'd have ended up fired with the other greats of the day when DC cleaned house but I would've lived my dream.  Still I shoulda went for it.  Like Margaritaville, I'd like to blame a woman but I know it's my own fault.

Decades pass. Then after reading my favorite X-Men comic with Jim Lee art, I thought, good story but maybe I'd like to tell my own story and I picked up a pencil again.  The Art was good but I finally realized what a tremendous undertaking it is to make your own comic without a sponsor.  I found Poser and I never looked back.  I make corrections, do my own expressions, recolor and I get to tell a story.  Like anything, the longer you do it, the better you get at it.  When I see what I did in 2008 versus now, I shudder at the coloring, ink work and mistakes.  Luckily I found a small audience that help support me in my endeavors and have helped in my story telling.  I didn't even know what a Mary Sue was!

One thing, Rokket.  The net has changed the way Comics are put together.  An Artist can live anywhere and transmit his work.  Collaboration is a hundred times easier, I wouldn't go to Marvel until they straightened themselves out internally (going by what I've read) but I still think fans are clamoring for more comics.  You never know which idea will blow up and become the next big thing for a bit.  It's enough that a guy like me can actually stand a chance to reach for the stars again.

 It's always something to strive for, I guess. But first, I have to perfect my art. I don't want to look back on 10 years of work and see the mistakes. I want to look back and see consistency and great art. But that's just me. I know I am probably among the hundreds of thousands with lofty ideas who fail to launch. Real life and young children keeps you grounded. My oldest is 14 and girl. So she's a handful. My boy is only 8, but he can be a little fire cracker when he wants to be. I am going to make him a Captain America costume. He was playing with a top for some plastic shelving we used to use and proclaiming he was Captain America. So... but I have to gather materials first. I downloaded the templates for the shield. The costume will be another matter. First I have to decide which version of the current CA I want to create.

 I am also quite certain that Marvel and DC are just a shell of what they once were. Now that both are also film companies, I am sure their focus has shifted. So even if it was a really good story, I am sure they would turn it down. The focus seems to be on their long established bread winners. But even so, I know there are successful indy comics out there. Look at TMNT. The art was bad but the concept and story were good enough to elicit a following. Too bad the latest movie wasn't worth the ticket price, even with a hotty playing April.

That's the way it seems to me as well.  Marvel and DC aren't the same companies you and I grew up with.  I'm going independent as well.  As much as we would like to see our idea's put into movies, the idea of giving up control over our babies is like the thought of giving up control over our real babies.  I'm talking about the Fountainhead if you can make the connection.  Our idea's.  Our way.  There's no way I would let Ellsworth Tooey get hold of it. I can pick at your idea's, you could pick at mine but we both know what we want and nothing less than executing it our way will do!

You're lucky!  I have one kid, a young man now and probably one of two things I've done right.

You know, if I were successful for the big boys to take notice...I'm one of the people who was in tears over Man of Steel.  Superman done right.  Did the series Smallville make it to Luzon?  If it did take note of Erica Durance.  With all of the incredibly gorgeous movie starlets to pick from, they picked the absolutely best, right one for Lois Lane.  She is the first since Noelle Niell that I thought...THAT is Lois Lane.  Sometimes, the movies/TV get it right.  If Sweetheart woke me up and punched me in the face I know I would deserve it for my thoughts about her!  I'm beginning to like that new Wonder Woman by the way.  So keep working...you never know if Poser can actually help us make a movie.

 Actually, I have all 10 seasons of Smallville on my harddrive! Yeah, Erica was perfect and so was Kristin Kruek.

I will keep plugging away, of course. Although I am not so sure about getting a movie made with Poser. The online comic thing had my attention for awhile. I even downloaded a demo version of comic life at one time, but never used it. I don't think I was ready to really get involved with it yet. I am still refining my story. I don't have much past the origin, no real villain yet. Blaze starts out as the villain because of how traumatic her transformation was; it left her psyche scarred. But she becomes a friend later on. And in one storyline, remember the best friend was with him the night of the explosion? He was also affected by the particle and was secretly doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes because of jealousy and feeling that John's approach to life was a little too lax. But I still have to work all that out. Green Lightning has been on the shelf for quite awhile and I have a lot of dust to wipe off.

 Oh, and I don't stay in the Philippines full time. My family lives here. I work for the DoD since retirement and pretty much am still a sailor. A civil service mariner, actually. I spend a couple months a year at home, maybe a month or two in the states, then I am usually in the Pacific somewhere.

My best friend went to the Kubert school. I went for an interview with Joe also. He was very nice and told me a funny anecdote about the cartoonist Gahan Wilson. He was also very blunt with the analysis of my work. I got accepted but ended up attending the San Francisco Art Institute for a fine arts degree instead. Sculpture. Anyway my friend, Dave, was freelancing for a while as an illustrator in New York after he graduated. Unfortunately he Developed Schizophrenia in his mid twenties. He was found dead in San Diego about 6 years ago. I used to draw comics too in my late teens/early twenties. I can't really link much to show because most of my pen and ink stuff isn't on the web right now or is 'pornographic' in nature. Here's a couple that are safe though... 

http://i.imgur.com/v8y527y.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/h2zg2gc.jpg

I kind of drifted away from drawing comics into the realm of painting, but the comic aesthetic played a role there as I became really interested in outsider art, lowbrow painters, and the more iconic paintings of the early northern renaissance. Ended up applying my drawing skills in ceramic work loosely associated with California "funk" ceramics, pop surrealism, and the pattern and decoration movement. Now I'm trying to hone my skills with 3d modeling too. It's another case of finding my way into a medium via the marginalized outskirts I guess. Have to admit that I can draw and sculpt a hell of a lot more intuitively with traditional media than digital. Whatever though, I've caught the bug. I seem to keep growing in my knowledge and ability to express ideas with the medium so I guess I'm on an ok path. Have to admit that the 'art making with someone else's content' aspect of this particular cg corner is becoming a little problematic. I can understand from a directorial or photographic perspective wherein assets are just facets and expedients of a larger picture, not the emphasis. Not so much from an artisan perspective and my tendency for isolated minutiae. I could go on at length about my thoughts on these things but I'm getting tired, and who cares bout that stuff anyway? ;)

 I can get where you are coming from. For me, I haven't drawn anything in the better part of 25 years. My balloon got deflated I guess, and I put it down and haven't really touched it since. That and arthritis makes drawing a pain now. Poser is the one thing that brought back the desire to create, so I don't down it for that. But I do understand the whole concept of what you are saying. Most of my old drawings probably ended up starting a fire in the old man's woods stove years ago. I never put anything online, so I have nothing to show. But I think I remember you posting those images under your old username. The beast looks familiar.

@EC - You met Joe Kubert?  That is simply amazing!  He was one of my favorite artists growing up and when I read he had a school, it seemed amazing!  The big boys are blunt about their art and your art but they have to be.  Besides, they are true professionals and they don't say it to squash you.  They say it to let you know where you're at.  In the end, I would've loved to be in your place.  By the way in addition to drawing Archie, Neal Adams also drew some comic porn, I think for Mad Magazine or Cracked.  I was stunned for a second then like always I appreciated his work.  Isn't something that yesterday's porn is considered merely erotic today?

@Rokket - Geez!  Anything I think of you're already way ahead!  You're gonna give me a complex!  I mention what rank I made when I left the service but you're probably at least two or three grades above it.  During the Bush years everything fell through the roof regarding my IT position.  Starting over (again), I got a job as a digital printer.  That left me with plenty of time to create and think so my brain didn't turn to mush.  Just a light ping so I can keep lurking this thread!