Retired professional full-time portrait artist and engineer (degrees in mathematics, engineering and photography... go figure).
If you read bios, and sometimes revisit them, you'll know in 2018 I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. Then, in 2020, a new neurologist (because I moved across country) diagnosed me as having Parkinson's. Then, after some serious issues with jerking movements, she sent me to a movement specialist, and NOW this new neurologist who specializes in movement disorders has said I don't have MG, MS, ALS, Parkinson's, or any other host of neuromuscular diseases. She classified the movements as non-essential tremors, and said, "My hardware is over loading my software." That's the 2022 diagnosis.
2023 Update - It turns out that I have a half-dozen discs in my spine that are collapsing. Thus, Degenerative Disc Disease, or DDD for short. I never knew that DDD could cause tremors (well, the pain causes them) and stuff like that. Now I go to physical therapy 4 days a week to hopefully avoid spinal surgery.
I've got high hopes and remain positive.
I started doing 3D renders in DAZ and Poser started when I first became sick at the start of 2018. It is a distraction from my symptoms, and I'm not under any pressure or deadlines to get things done. Even this is difficult on some days, but I can always stop temporarily to get some rest. In July, 2020, my wife and I moved across country to be closer to children and grandchildren.
If I'm not cooking or preparing for a meal, I'm rendering. Art and food are my passions.
I used to enjoy travel, bicycling, cooking (which I can still do in short bursts), photography (again, in short bursts), hiking and painting (which I now do digitally). I'm determined to do something with my time even if my strength is greatly limited.
Just prior to getting sick I drove ALL of Route 66. I've been using some of the photos from that trip and adding 3D characters to them. You can see them in my Route 66 gallery here on Renderosity. You can actually follow the story at Route66Photographers.com. It's a fictional story about my travels with a rambunctious young lady named Charly.
My wife is my biggest supporter. She helps me come up with ideas to render and paint.
Brent's Rules to Live By...
1) Everyone can teach you something regardless of age or education.
2) When you're down, a child's smile will always lift you up.
3) Keep God's commandments, as best you can, but when you can't, repent quickly.
4) Read your scriptures daily, but pray all the time.
5) Love everyone, but don't expect anything from them in return.
Artist of the Month - December, 2021
https://www.renderosity.com/article/24824/interview-with-december-2021-artist-of-the-month-dbwalton
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Comments (5)
Saby55
Very beautiful, delicious image!!!!👍🙋♂️
starship64 Online Now!
This is lovely work!
dbwalton
Thank you.
contedesfees Online Now!
This image is lovely indeed, but, let's be candid, AI isn't work. It's typing. I have no quarrel with the results and I interpret AI as a vastly superior form of Poser or DAZ Studio; eliminating the need to learn to draw; to study and master anatomy, perspective, lighting, and composition. I remember an art student resolving to make 25 gesture drawings and five contour drawing every day to master her craft. I wonder what she'd say now. I also wonder what will happen when AI gets to music. And sooner or later it must. We live in an interesting age.
dbwalton
Oh, it's already to music. Most of the AI music sounds techno (which I'm not crazy about). As a musician (I play piano, organ and trumpet), where I currently see AI music is for backtracks with melody and harmony added the old fashioned way. (I used to have a synthesizer with a sequencer. I'd use it to laydown some backup instrumentation. I can see AI music being used for that.)
I don't think ANYTHING will replace learning how to draw or paint, as well as learning anatomy, perspective, lighting and rules of composition. I see some stuff in the galleries that just makes me cringe. I took up DAZ because my hands were having tremors and I wasn't able to draw or paint. Even now, just signing my name doesn't look anything like what it did before I started have neuro-muscular issues. That said, I wouldn't be able to do what I do in DAZ without that knowledge I gained in photography, drawing and painting.
I'll beg to differ with you on "it isn't work". Just like DAZ or Poser, you can create an image, but if you don't put the "work" into it (and that includes studying what makes a good image), you're going to get junk.
Yet, on the other hand (it not being work as you have stated), it can be like playing the slots. You keep pulling the handle until you get what you want.
But, at what cost?
Lots of lost time.
Yesterday, I approached my dabbling in Ai with a different view. Instead of the pull-the-handle slot machine mentality, I methodically made ONE change at a time and observed the results. If they were bad. I backed out that change. If they were good, I made note and continued by changing another variable. I guess you can say it was more of a scientific approach than an artistic approach, but seriously... ever mix media and try it to see if it would work? (i.e. like mixing some ground up dried flowers with your oil paints) If it worked as you hoped, then you implement it. If it didn't, at least your tried. Hence, the scientific approach... which, in my book, is work.
dbwalton
Oh, and one final thought...
My seed images are ones from my studio archives. One might argue that they were good to start with, but that's not the case here. I intentionally chose ones I wouldn't show to ANYONE. They were the culls from what the client was shown. ;)
ladylake
Great discussion. :-) I have not heard of Payground AI, will check it out. I too just keep trying new words or combinations of words. (But I don't start from seeds.) Perhaps I would if I had your store of ones to use. :-)
dbwalton
If you can find some high resolution images on the Internet, you can always snag them for seeds. Yeah, there may be copyright issues, but who is to say the Ai Engine doesn't find those same images to incorporate them.
Ai is a copyright nightmare. It could be a good time for someone to get their J.D. degree and specialize in Ai copyright law.
Okay, Spencer Davis Group's "I'm a Man" just came on. That's motivation to jump out of my browser and go to my rendering machine and work in DAZ. ;)
contedesfees Online Now!
Spencer Davis said of Steve Winwood that, at fifteen, he played piano like Oscar Peterson and sang like Ray Charles. "I'm a Man," "Gimme Some Lovin'," These are classics.
dbwalton
Back in the day when Spencer Davis group was playing on the top 40 stations (long before MTV and the Internet), I always thought Spencer Davis was this black soul singer. LOL... imagine my surprise when I learned decades later he had red hair and freckles. Both Steve Winwood and Spencer Davis are two of my favorites, as well as David Clayton Thomas (another singer with a strong soul voice).
But, now, I'm listening to the Eagles. Every one of them individually was a great recording artist.
I used to... no, I still do... fanaticize about playing keyboards with some of those guys and singing backup.
LOL... so in 2017 I drove all of Route 66 with a friend. I had created a playlist of "road trip songs" - lots of Eagles, plus songs like Mustang Sally Bought a GTO, Hit the Road Jack, etc. My friend's wife calls about 2 weeks in to our 30-day journey to see how her husband was doing. He told her things were going great and that I have good taste in music and how I sing along.
I could hear her comment and ask, "Oh, brother. Is he any good?"
My friend replied, "Oh, yes. He's got a great singing voice. It isn't bothering me."