Unbelievable that it's 2 years and 4 months since my last upload. 5 years and 8 months since the one before that! I've been half-heartedly keeping up with Poser releases in the meantime, and with what's been happening here and in 'the other place' - the one ending in -dna, not -otica! But I've had no urge to make anything worth looking at. I don't pretend or aspire to be an artist, at least not in this medium - I think my render gallery kind of makes that clear. I just like to experiment, and occasionally I come up with something that I find interesting. For me, though, "believability" is an essential element of what I like to see in a render. Even Zlata has to look as if she really popped up again in my studio after the Amsterdam fiasco, although we all know she didn't! Sometimes I'll share what I've done and maybe wrap it up in a snippet of my life (like this) or an attempt at a funny story. So what's this portrait about? Well, I was reading a couple of forum threads in 'the other place' - one on using area lights, and one on developing a new skin shader for Superfly. I particularly recommend (if I may) the area lights thread, which turned into a Bagginsbill tutorial. I decided to get stuck in, and chose Miki 2 as my model - or rather, she jumped out of my library, grabbed me by the throat and screamed "I've been stuck in this £u(&!^@ place since 'Fade to pink', I want OUT!". She's right, it was 7 years yesterday that she last saw any ray traces. Unbelievable! I threw out almost all the old material shaders and built simple new ones from scratch. And I was astonished at how quick and easy it was with Superfly to create that spark of believability that I need. The render on which this image is based is just one example, but this is actually a Gimped version of Miki2 looking gorgeous and hot, and perhaps a bit flushed. Well... she's just my type. Umm... I have no choice but to click that green button labelled "Upload Art". The one I really need is missing. Unbelievable! :)