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
Comments (3)
TwiztidKidd
Oh man, I just hope that's not the Aokigahara Jukai forest, where there are signs all over urging distraught visitors to value their lives. People don't go in the woods in a suit, that's all I'm saying. Killer atmosphere, sorry no puns, make that Great atmosphere lol
dbwalton
You'd be surprised how many people I've seen wearing suits in the woods, but they were not off the designated paths. Got to remember I was a professional photographer for 18 years and did many portrait sessions in wooded areas...some of men in suits.
Crystalis
This is gorgeous, going in my collection. If you want to re-use this as a background, I can remove the man in the picture for you. What you do is you select the figure and then use the Fill feature with Content Aware in Photoshop (that's a very old feature using AI BTW). Then touch it up using the clone stamp tool if it looks like it still needs a touch up. You can replace the man with a unicorn, but creating volumetric shadows is going to take some time and talent to postwork in.
dbwalton
Yes, I know how to do that. So, they removed content aware fill in Photoshop? I stopped using Photoshop years ago (CS6). My studio switched to non-Adobe products when they went to the Creative Cloud model. But, I can do what you described in other programs.
TwiztidKidd
People getting married out in the woods, I never thought of that. You sure can tell looking at your gallery that your still very talented with the camera.
Have a Great Sunday!
dbwalton
Well, thank you very much for the complement.