issue 17 of 3d art direct magazine
DESCRIPTION
The best 3D digital arts magazine that interviews digital artists in depth. Discover unique and inspiring artwork in the science fiction and fantasy genres featured in vibrant galleries. This is a free edition. The full-length premium edition can be found at 3DArtDirect.com/BackIssuesTRANSCRIPT
3D Art
BE INSPIRED BY 3D DIGITAL ART
Discover New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Worlds
DIRECT
Inspiration for 3D digital artists
Insightful interviews
Vibrant galleries and portfolios
Issue 17
May 2012
Mini Mag Edition
3D
ArtD
ire
ct.c
om
Lewis Moorcroft
Bjorn Malmberg and Ryan Malone
Glenn Clovis
Nebula Tutorial
2
3D Art
BE INSPIRED BY 3D DIGITAL ART
Discover New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Worlds
Direct
Paul Bussey
Editor
Main cover art : Orbital Hive by Bjorn Malmberg and Ryan Malone
Mickey Mills
Assistant Editor
Brian Christensen
Article Writer
Copyright © 2012 3D Art Direct. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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3
Editorial
Collaborations: Digital art really lends itself to co-operative
projects.
0404
CONTENTS
Interview : Ryan Malone
“Since Asimov was my first Sci-Fi love and influenced me later on
to write my own stories, that is ultimately what brought me to the
3D world. “
1616
The ExtraSolar Project
“We realized we had the potential
to create not just one image, but a
whole universe of connected scenes
and stories and we must have talked on Skype for hours trying
to flesh out ideas and lay the foundation. “ - Ryan Malone on
1818
Interview : Bjorn Malmberg
“With the Wacom I had a tool that could be anything from a
pen to a brush in my left hand again. All of a sudden I could
paint hair on models and add fine
detail. From that moment on I felt
at home.”
2222
Interview : Lewis Moorcroft
“The final renders themselves are taking days instead of hours
as I am using a new method to really maximize image quality.”
3434
Tutorial : How to Create a
Nebula Scene
Glenn Clovis specialize in Space and Science Fiction Art and
presents a tutorial using Photoshop to create a stunning nebula
scene.
0505
FULL INTERVIEW IN PREMIUM EDITION
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FULL INTERVIEW IN PREMIUM EDITION
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4
Creating digital art, although rewarding, can
be a solitary experience – it’s just you and your
workstation . All those hours can be burned away and
you may have your next masterpiece ready to upload,
but there hasn’t been another human soul in the process.
So what about collaborating with another artist on a
project? This offers the advantage of bringing together
additional strengths to a creation. For example, one artist
may be excellent with landscapes or starscapes, another
may have good experience with Poser figures – so
combining this example of skills could really generate
something eye-catching.
There’s also the gain of bringing hardware assets
together. If the artists are close by, then it’s possible to
network machines together to take advantage of a
“render farm”. Some 3D art packages allow the sharing
of processing power to render the final image more
quickly. This is really useful if it has a lot of included figure
elements and it will be rendered to a high resolution.
It’s Like Constructing a Movie Set
Digital art really lends itself to co-operative projects.
Individual elements of a 3D scene can be assigned to
each artist, even down to the textures or materials of
each object. It’s almost like the construction of a movie
set with a crew knowing which parts they are responsible
for. Indeed film production designers and most
commercial theatres have begun producing scale
drawings with the aid of computer drafting programs
such as AutoCAD or Vectorworks. With more artists in a
collaboration, then specialists on model making, lighting,
natural elements, figures and so on could be engaged,
but this would really need an overall art director (in a
major film production this would be known as the
“supervising art director”) to ensure everything fitted
together well. It is more common to find a group effort
with just two or three artists involved.
ExtraSolar
My assistant editor Mickey Mills spotted an excellent
collaborative project entitled “ExtraSolar” by Björn
Malmberg and Ryan Malone and a great interview
ensued. Initially the partnership was to just last with one
image, but they soon recognised a lot more scenes and
stories could be created under the umbrella of
“ExtraSolar”, the project was named by Björn. The joint
venture between Björn from Sweden and Ryan from
North Carolina in the States worked well, with both
having similar mind-sets on where they wanted to go with
the artwork. The only real challenge was the six hour time
difference, prompting them to work on weekends, rather
than work day nights.
Adding a Narrative
The richness of this alliance of minds also produced an
enfolding story from the images. I think it’s very useful to
add a narrative to artwork, causing extra depth and
meaning to the effort. In the case of Björn and Ryan, they
realised that there was a good amount of back story to
create when they started writing, so they ensured that
the account was set straight from the beginning, to
understand the context of the current artwork they had
shaped.
Your Collaborations?
If you are currently working on 3D art images in a
collaboration to do with the science fiction or fantasy
genres, then we would like to hear from you – we would
be happy to explore what you’ve created and consider
the possibility of publishing this for others to discover.
Collaborations
Paul Bussey
Editor
5
Welcome to my quick and dirty Nebula Scene
tutorial. My name is Glenn Clovis and I specialize in
Space and Science Fiction Art. I have put together a
tutorial here to illustrate the steps used to create a
nebula scene. The original image, titled Cetia Nebula
was completed in 2010 using Adobe Photoshop.
There were no custom brushes or textures used in this
project, so you should be able to follow this tutorial
without hunting for additional resources. I hope this
tutorial is useful for those just starting in the Space Art
genre.
If you need do find yourself in need of additional
resources, you can visit www.visionchronicles.com for
Space Art resources, news and tutorials.
GLENN CLOVIS HOW TO CREATE A NEBULA SCENE
STEP 1 - Begin
Fill the default background layer with
black and then turn it off. Create a new
layer, name it “Nebula Base” and then
select a brush with a soft edge. Here, I
started with a simple round brush at
between 25-50% opacity with a solid
black color.Lay out a general shape,
darkening the center area with
additional brush strokes. Next, switch to
the smudge brush, put the pressure
somewhere between 65-85% and begin
smudging the shape. Try to create a sort
of flowing pattern, like rolling smoke.
Don’t forget about using the erase tool
with some sort of grunge brush, erasing
can add just as much detail as painting.
6
STEP 2 - Blur & Smudge
If necessary, run a blur filter or blur it by
hand to soften some of the edges and
tone down any obvious brush artifacts.
Continue to use the smudge ad blur tools
to add detail to what will become your
nebula ‘cloud’. Don’t skimp on this step,
spend some serious time adding details,
shadows, highlights and a unique overall
form.
STEP 3 - Invert
Invert the image using
Image>Adjustments>Invert (Ctrl+I).
STEP 4 - Transform & Distort
Now to adjust the general shape more to
our liking. Grab the Transform tool
(CTRL+T). Rotate, scale and distort the
image until you get something that you
want. Don’t be afraid to warp the image
if necessary. Important! Check for any
hard edges and/or painting mistakes
after the transform. If you find some, use
a large soft round brush on a lower
opacity and erase.
TUTORIAL: Glenn Clovis
7
STEP 5 - Invert Again
Invert the images again
Image>Adjustments>Invert (Ctrl+I).
Then turn the layer off temporarily
(click on the eye next to the layer).
Turn the Background layer (the one
filled with black) back on.
STEP 6 - Glow 1
Create a new layer below the
Nebula Base layer, label it “Glow 1”.
Using a soft round brush at a low
opacity and the color of your
choice, tap out a general glow in
the center of the image. Try not to
saturate the image too much.
STEP 7 - Glow 2 & Begin Highlights
Add another layer, label it “Glow 2”
and place it just above Glow 1.
Place the layer on “Luminosity”
mode. Using the same brush as the
step before and a brighter color,
tap out an area that you want your
highlight elements to reside in. For
the areas you want to be REALLY
bright, change the brush mode to
“Linear Dodge”. If you make a
mistake or just want to add more
enhancements try using the smudge
tool here, with a higher pressure
level around 90%.
TUTORIAL: Glenn Clovis
8
STEP 8 - Add Depth
Turn the Nebula Base layer back on,
adjust its orientation and scale if
necessary to line up with your highlights
(you may need to put this layer on
Multiply mode if you painted it on a white
background). If you want, duplicate the
Nebula Base layer, drop its opacity,
scale/rotate it to create additional
details to the image. The goal in this step
is to change the copy so it looks different
than the original and to provide the
overall image a sense of depth. If the
Nebula Base Layer or its copy look too
overpowering, simply drop the opacity of
the layer or change the Nebula Base
Copy layer to Soft Light mode. You can
also invert the Nebula Base layer again
and change is blending mode to Screen,
Multiply or Overlay.
STEP 9 - Vibrance Adjustment
Add a vibrance layer from the
Adjustments panel (or
Image>Adjustments>Vibrance and move
the sliders until you get a warmer glow. A
little bit goes a long what here, too much
and the image can look cartoonish.
Another option is adding background
layer (name it “Background Glow”), filling
it with a soft, low saturated color and
placing in below the Glow 1 layer.
STEP 10 - Add in Details
Begin to add in your central stars, your
main focal point. You can also use a soft
round brush, set on low very opacity with
the color white (yes, I know white isn’t a
color :P) and tap out a small area around
the center to give an additional glow.
It’s at this point you may also notice
some banding on your Glow layers.
Banding is a noticeable line between the
changing of colors on a gradient. This is
a persistent irritation but there is a way to
get around it: Simply select the offending
layer, go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. The
TUTORIAL: Glenn Clovis
9
amount you will need will vary, but
start at something very low, like 2 or
3%. Distribution should be Gaussian
and the Monochromatic checkbox
should be checked. This should take
care of the problem. If you see a
bunch of noise in your image now,
you used too high of a percentage,
press Ctrl+Z to undo your last action
and then go through the steps
again but at even lower
percentage of noise.
STEP 11 - Starfield
Add your starfield. It usually helps to
put this layer on either Screen or
Linear Dodge mode. If you don’t
know how to make stars I suggest
looking up a tutorial or downloading
the Apophysis application at
www.apophysis.org and playing
with that. You can also download
some starfield resources at my
deviant art page at
tsarye.deviantart.com.
STEP 12 - Additional Details
Add more details, such as larger
stars and light streaks. Here I used a
Hue & Saturation adjustment layer
to alter the color and brightness of
the image. A Curves adjustment
layer can also be used to tone
down an overpowering nebula
layer.
TUTORIAL: Glenn Clovis
10
STEP 13 - Even More Detail with Burn and
Dodge
You can now add even more Nebula
details. Again, you can do this by
duplicating previous Nebula layers and
distorting them or by repeating steps 1-5
on a new image and then copying over
the results. This is all about personal
preference. Also, here you can add
some more depth to the image by going
back over your Nebula layers, especially
the Nebula Base layer, with the Dodge
and Burn tools. These are great tools to
increase specific highlights or to enhance
shadows. Once again, adjust the
opacity of the tool to fit your individual
situation. Using these tools at 100% will
often create an unnatural contrast.
STEP 14 - Tweaks
The overall image color can be adjusted
again with another Hue & Saturation
adjustment layer if you’re not happy with
the original, or by simply tweaking the
original Hue & Saturation adjustment
layer. I will often pile on several different
adjustment layers to get the desired
effect. It’s all about personal taste.
STEP 15 - Orientation
Play with the orientation of the image
and see if there’s something that better
suits your vision. Rotate and flip the
image until you get the orientation you
want. Not everything has to be in
landscape.
TUTORIAL: Glenn Clovis
11
STEP 16 - Clean up
This is similar to what was done in
Step 4. Create a new layer and
place it just above your black
background layer. Fill the layer with
white. Any artifacts, errors and
gremlins should now be much more
visible. Note that every time you
copy a layer and the rotate or
scale/distort it, you run the risk of
exposing that particular layer’s
edge. If you have at some point
painted to the edge of the image
on any layer, when you distort that
layer that edge is brought into view.
There’s nothing like a big straight
edge to ruin a painting. If you find
these edges (and I always do), take
an eraser, the blur tool or the
smudge tool and deal with it. Once
cleanup is done you can delete the
white layer.
STEP 17 - Finishing up
Add more stars if necessary, modify
any nebulas or any basic structure
that you feel needs some more
work. It’s important to create a
strong focal point, something that
stands out and draws the eye. If
you’d like some variation to the
colors of the image, create a new
layer and using a low opacity round
brush start adding some color here
and there. Play with that layer’s
blend mode and see what you can
create.
TUTORIAL: Glenn Clovis
FINALLY...
The biggest piece of advice I can give is this: SAVE. Save often. Save all the freaking time! You never know when
Photoshop will crash and it has a nasty habit of never saving a cached copy. During a typical art project I will have
close to 20 different versions saved and each one of those versions will have a dozen saves within them. Anytime I
make a substantive change I change the revision number (or letter) of the save. For instance this one would have
been saved as CetiaNebulaA.psd, CetiaNebulaB.psd....
Also, it's a good idea to start on a relatively large canvas. You can always shrink the image down to wallpaper size,
but trying to expand and image upwards will result in the loss of detail.
Good Luck
Glenn Clovis
12
14
BJÖRN - EPISODE 1—AN UNFORUNATE ACCIDENT
13
15
Björn Malmberg is currently living and working in Uddevalla, Sweden.
Like so many others in the digital graphics world, art was an avoca-
tion rather than occupation. He got into role playing games in his
early teens and along with that began to draw characters and im-
ages inspired by the game. His passion is science fiction but he ex-
plored fantasy and new age art using acrylics and water colours.
He started out in the digital realm using Poser and Bryce in 1997. In
time Björn embraced the computer as a viable art platform and be-
gan to really hone the 3D work after incorporating a Wacom tablet.
He taught Photoshop and multimedia applications at Komvux, Ud-
devalla. Today Björn works full-time as a wage administrator.
BJÖRN MALMBERG
RYAN MALONE
Science fiction is a favorite playground for digital artists. It’s a never ending pallet of planets, creatures,
characters, and story where the artist can create, experiment, and build worlds immersed in never-
ending possibilities. The creative minds who gave us Flash Gordon, Star Wars, Blade Runner and thou-
sands of other fantastic stories have inspired a new generation of creative minds.
Björn Malmberg and Ryan Malone connected at Deviant Art and out of their mutual love for Science
Fiction and art, a collaboration was born – ExtraSolar.
Ryan Malone hails from the mountains of Western North Carolina in the US.
A veteran of the military, Ryan works today as a network engineer for a
mobile telephone company. Ryan's earliest excursions into the arts was a
mix of writing small plays with his sisters and sculpting clay where he forged
his Sci-Fi roots by building creatures and alien monsters.
When Ryan got his first computer, a Commodore, in the early 80s a whole
new world opened up. He swapped clay for bits and began drawing his
creatures using bits of crude code on the new machine. The technology of
the time was limited but it set the stage for Ryan's growth as a digital artist.
Ryan dove into the 3D art world in 2006 with Vue, initially using it as a plat-
form to storyboard for his writing projects. Today he uses a mix of Poser,
Daz3d, Marvelous Designer, Hexagon and Photoshop to create images.
Shortly after joining the Deviant Art community Ryan crossed paths with
Björn Malmberg and together they began working on the ExtraSolar pro-
ject, constantly encouraging, learning and teaching each other new tech-
niques.
"It is deeply rewarding, satisfying and, above all, fun!"
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14
3DA: The magazine is happy to welcome JR “Ryan”
Malone to the pages this week. Thank you for agreeing
to the interview.
JRM: It's my pleasure! This is quite an honor.
3DA: You list your favorite Sci-Fi writer as Issac Asimov.
How big an influence has Asimov have on your art?
JRM: Since Asimov was my first Sci-Fi love and influ-
enced me later on to write my own stories, that is ulti-
mately what brought me to the 3D world. I absolutely
love the universe he created with the Foundation and
Robot stories. His worlds and characters are tangible,
and that's something I always try to emulate with what I
create, whether written or visual.
Last year for the Asimov Club over at DeviantArt, I
made a fan art image of The Caves of Steel, one of my
first reads and a favorite. A few months later I was ap-
proached by Hayakawa Publishing in Tokyo, who saw
the image in my DA gallery and asked to use it as the
cover for the newly revised Japanese translation of the
book.
To have something I created be the cover art for one
of Asimov's books, even in a language and alphabet
completely foreign to me, was like winning a grand
prize. It's hard to put into words how honored and
thrilled I am to be linked to Asimov. I certainly hope it
grabs the attention of someone new to Asimov's work
and pulls them into the amazing story within (as long as
they have a good understanding of Japanese!).
3DA: Which part of your creative side came out first –
the artist or the writer? How do they influence each
other in your work today?
JRM: I never really considered myself a writer or an artist
until a few years ago, but looking back I would have to
say it was the writer who came out first.
When I was very young, my two older sisters and I
would write plays (mostly murder mysteries but also
some really corny dramas) and either perform them in
front of our parents or record them on tape as if they
were radio broadcasts. It was so much fun and helped
expand my ever-curious and imaginative mind.
Many years later, I started using digital art for story-
boards and mock book covers to help in whatever sto-
ry I had going on at the time. So while the writing did
come first, the 3D artwork actually grew into more of a
passion than any other hobby. I have much more con-
fidence in publishing my images than I do in publishing
anything I've written, but I love having the ability to not
only write what's in my mind, but to also illustrate them
in images. To me, one feeds the other and they both
play an important part in expressing my creativity.
3DA: What software was your first 3D experience?
JRM: Vue 5 Esprit was my first 3D experience back in
2006. I was instantly hooked. I found it very intuitive and
relatively easy to learn. I spent every moment of free
time playing and creating. The thing about any medi-
um of art is that it takes doing, over and over again.
The first images were so primitive and mainly just land-
scapes and trees, but that's part of the learning. It took
nearly two years for me to get up the nerve to post any
of my work online, being a novice along side some re-
ally mind-blowing artists. Once I overcame that "noob"
fear I met the most wonderful people who encouraged
me to keep pushing on with my work. I look back at
some of my early work and see a little flaw here and
there and think of things I could have done differently.
Those images remind me of how far I've come and
how far I still have to go.
3DA: One standout image is Reflections. Talk about
how you used HDRI mapping on this one.
JRM: I really love HDRI mapping and I think it's one of
the easiest methods to implement, but sometimes a bit
tricky to get a really convincing image depending on
the objects placed in the scene. In Reflections, I used a
free stock HDR image I found online. The image was a
360 degree panoramic, which works best since it maps
to the 3D environment seamlessly. Since it was specifi-
cally a High Dynamic Range image, Vue used the in-
INTERVIEW: Ryan Malone
REFLECTIONS
15
formation stored in the image for the world illumination
and reflection map. It's basically like wrapping an im-
age around the scene, also serving as the main light
source (image-based lighting).
I used an imported character from Poser, modifying the
materials on the suit and face plate in Vue so that they
were more reflective, thus picking up the information
from the HDR image. Since the camera was zoomed
close into the character's face, I implemented a little
blur to mimic how a real life camera would have
blurred the environment behind him. That was it in a
nutshell.
3DA: Another image that caught my eye was Imminent
Demise. The sense of motion and the contrast between
the foreground fighters and the background ship is star-
tling. How did this piece unfold?
JRM: That was one of my earlier images and was a little
tricky to get the effect, but I learned a lot from it. I
probably could have done a number of different tech-
niques to achieve the motion blur, but I wasn't satisfied
with doing it all solely in Photoshop in post work. Vue
did most of the work in this scene. I wanted a true mo-
tion blur where the foreground was in motion more
than the background objects.
Once I had the scene staged and the objects placed,
I set the two main object groups (the fighters and their
hover bikes) as the focal point and then animated the
scene along with the camera which was locked onto
them. I think Vue does a good job with the motion blur
effect on animated scenes, and it's fairly precise with
getting the details I wanted. I set the objects' path to a
long distance with a very short two or three second se-
quence, then backed up the timeline to a point where
the objects were centered to the frame. This gave the
illusion of them traveling very fast against the stationary
ship in the background. The wheels of the bikes were
not spinning in the animation, so I did have to apply
motion blur in Photoshop as well as some minor touch-
ups here and there.
3DA: What three tips would you have for people just
taking up 3D digital art?
JRM: 1: Find the right program or programs and work
into them slowly. Jumping into a complicated program
for a beginner is daunting and may lead to frustration.
2: Don't be afraid to put your work out there for people
to critique. I realized that there were many others just
like me who were starting out, and I came to welcome
critiques and feedback.
3: The most important
tip is to
have fun.
If you get
frustrated
http://
IMMINENT DEMISE
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17
RYAN MALONE
18
BJÖRN - CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? BJÖRN - AMBASSADORS
BJÖRN - BARON’S SEARCH
The title of the image sums up the very essence of
EXTRASOLAR. Secrets within secrets. Behind the veils of
the everyday life there are those guarding lies. The
title can be read in two ways. One as a question to
another person but also in a philosophical way, with
an emphasis on “Can” Is it possible to keep a secret
or will it find a way to claw its way out?
19
INTERVIEW: Björn Malmberg & Ryan Malone — EXTRASOLAR
3DA: Tell us how the ExtraSolar project came about
JRM: The initial project was to be just a joint collaboration
on one image, something that Björn and I had already
been doing with some friends. Björn came up with the
idea of an epic poster for a fictional movie titled, "War
and Peace 3000". Björn had created buildings and space
ships in Hexagon, and I decided to create an image just
for fun to try them out. With the Future City image we re-
alized we had the potential to create not just one image,
but a whole universe of connected scenes and stories.
We must have talked on Skype for hours trying to flesh
out ideas and lay the foundation. It was so exciting when
we realized that we were onto something extraordinary.
Björn threw the “ExtraSolar” name out there and it stuck.
3DA: What were the biggest challenges to overcome
when putting together this collaboration?
JRM: There really weren't many challenges except may-
be the six-hour time difference between Sweden and
eastern US; we were stuck with just the weekends to talk
due to our busy workloads during the week. Probably the
biggest hurdle was just getting down to the core of the
story and where we wanted to take it. We still find that
the story is constantly reinventing itself, so we've actually
had to go back to some earlier stories and work in the
changes, additions and new characters. It's a bit uncan-
ny sometimes, but Björn and I have this mind link where
we just mesh perfectly. For me that's what is so special
about this project: we don't have egos or wild ideas that
might disrupt the flow and overall theme of the story.
Björn: The unanswered question is both a challenge and
a labour of love. We started a story that took place 200
years after the colonization of Pi3 Orionis solar system. By
that time three distinct worlds had been formed: Orion,
Venice and the Orbital nation. As we began to write we
quickly realized that we needed to understand the histo-
ry behind the current events. The only way for us to truly
understand this was to write it from the very beginning. In
a way we are discovering the past of the present we cre-
ated, but as we answer one question two new ones arise.
3DA: In the beginning what drove the development of ES
- character, story, art, a combination of all, or something
else?
JRM: It is very difficult to know precisely how it all devel-
oped because they are so intimately connected. The
images certainly helped, but once we actually started
fleshing out characters, that's when the story ideas really
came out. We didn't originally set out to write stories, but
you can only tell so much in an image, so it begged to
be to written in an open-ended story.
3DA: Episode 1 – An Unfortunate Accident was written by
Björn. Are you the principle writer on the project or do
you share writing duties?
JRM - FUTURE CITY
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20
What inspired the creation of your new Astral Realm
website? Was it an idea that you’ve harbored for a long
time?
LM: In a word - yes. I forget when exactly, but maybe
about three years ago the idea came into my head - I
wanted to re-invigorate my portfolio by taking it the next
level with my next-generation artwork, as well as
incorporate another 'bedroom' hobby for mine - being a
DJ. My first site has done well over the years and I will
keep it up so that the content will always be accessible (I
may even update it with the odd WIP or anything that
doesn't make it to the Astral Realm site), but it was time
to move things on. Instead of just adding new areas to
my existing site, I wanted to create something fresh to
home a gallery of images that were of a higher quality
and of a more focused theme (atmospheric landscapes
and spacescapes). I worked on the first eight images
before working on the design of the site and after a
couple of months of kicking the design around, it was
ready.
3DAD: Tell me about the tag line for your site which is “Art
and Music for the Body and Mind.”. Is your aim to provide
LEWIS MOORCROFT
21
a
holistic effect with your art and music?
LM: Yes I think you can say that. To me there is quite a tie
between the style of artwork and music you will find on
Astral Realm, as both are showing their atmospheric side.
3DAD: You’ve fronted the website with a star map
interface. What gave you this idea and is it based on a
real section of the Milky Way? You’ve mentioned you
might develop this map over time- how will you be
enhancing it?
LM: This was one of the first things that came into my
head when I thought about the design. After-all, the
artwork is of 'alien worlds' so how could I create a cool
gallery interface that would allow users to navigate these
worlds, without the usual thumbnail grid design? The
answer came pretty easily - an interactive star map! It is
not based on the Milky Way so could be anywhere, but it
is one thing I am keen to develop over time, as web
technology improves. One day I hope the map will take
the form of a rotating galaxy, so one day you may find
that the planets have moved around to cater for the
development of the map.
“The final renders themselves
are taking days instead of
hours as I am using a new
method to really maximize
image quality.”
Since 2003, Lewis Moorcroft has
been impassioned with digital art,
with the use of Pandromeda’s
Mojoworld. He has produced an
extraordinary portfolio which has
now been extended with new
artwork and music showcased at his
new website “Astral Realm”.
www.astralrealm.co.uk
www.theartoflewismoorcroft.co.uk
22
3DAD: You have mentioned that your new generation of
artwork will have higher detail and resolution, with more
attention to detail given to each image. Is it case that
you are spending more time over each image than
you’ve done in the past and that you’re trying to create
a greater impact with each?
LM: That is right. A lot more time goes into all aspects:
landscape setup, lighting, satellite composition, starfields,
postwork and so on. As a result each image requires
many more test renders (than I use to do) before I am
happy to let the final render start. The final renders
themselves are taking days instead of hours too as I am
using a new method to really maximize image quality.
3DAD: You are focusing on showcasing atmospheric
landscapes and spacescapes with this site, what attracts
you to this particular zone of art?
LM: I have always been drawn to 'the atmospherics',
whether it is other inspirational digital artwork, from
photography or from seeing 'it' first-hand. Put simply I
think I just get mesmerized by the effects of what a low
sun in the sky can do to an environment.
INTERVIEW: Lewis Moorcroft
“Mojoworld is a top notch program
and still ticks a lot of boxes. Yes the
development may be frozen, but
for my needs I have yet to see any
alternative applications leap
considerably further in-front in
terms of what Mojoworld can do”
23
3DAD: I imagine
that you are
continuing to use
Mojoworld to
create your works.
Are you still happy
using Mojo, despite
its frozen
development by
Pandromeda?
LM: Mojoworld is a
top notch program
and still ticks a lot of
boxes. Yes the
development may
be frozen, but for
my needs I have yet to
see any alternative
applications leap
considerably further in-
front in terms of what
Mojoworld can do. It
would be great to
have true erosion
fractal capabilities in Mojoworld, maybe one day - you
never know!
3DAD: You have Arctia, Shive, Rausal, Caius and
Equanimity on your star map at the moment plus you’ve
provided some good detailed data about your planets.
Are you going to flesh out some more details about these
worlds, perhaps provide some sort of backstory?
INTERVIEW: Lewis Moorcroft
24
LM: That is a possibility as the site develops, we could see
more of a story also develop.
3DAD: I notice that some of the exploration dates are
from some time ago. Are
these the dates you
created the planets or
when you rendered the
original scenes?
LM: The dates represent
when the individual scene
was finished. I started work
on some of these quite a
while before the site was
released which is why some
go back so far. Some of the
world files themselves go
even further back as I have
re-visited and re-developed
them or components of
other worlds.
3DAD: Arctia has a striking
and cold looking sun. and
really fits well for the frozen
landscapes you have
rendered. Is this one of suns
from the original Mojoworld
library– or a brand new
star?
LM: It is a heavily modified
library sun which I believe
shipped with Mojoworld 2
(and one of the worlds). The
sun flares are actually post-
worked but I am sure they
could be done within
Mojoworld.
3DAD: For Arctia, you’ve
made good use of a thick
atmosphere to create more
ambiance. Was this world
built from the ground up?
LM: Yes this world was built
from scratch. The terrain
was originally imported from another volumetric world
(by Yaroslav) but again, it has been modified fairly
extensively. The simplistic ice-like material and sun came
from a piece I had posted a couple of years
beforehand, and the atmosphere was built from scratch
to compliment those other aspects.
3DAD: You’re using the wonderful world of Shive by
Armands, Bob Buttery and Calyxa. Tel me about the
images you generated from this world, did it take some
time to get what you wanted?
LM: Call these images a re-visit to the stunning world of
Shive, one of my favourite worlds for sure. The first is
actually very similar (but not from the same position) to
one I posted back in 2005 called 'Paradise Lost & Found',
and more predominately features the eerie landscape
INTERVIEW: Lewis Moorcroft
25
towers. The second takes you more to the beautiful,
rolling hill landscape of Shive. Both took many test
renders of different locations and once I had found that
'perfect location' for each, many lighting test renders too,
so there was a lot of time spent in the navigator for these.
3DAD: Rausal uses some nice moons for impact. What
are your favourite aspects of the two images you’ve
created for this planet?
LM: Again, this world uses components I was messing
around with a few years ago which I wanted to further
develop. The two key components were the water and
sand materials (with traces of sea weed) to create that
crystal water paradise beach. I developed a technique
to 'fake' water caustics which I re-used and re-
developed for this world. A lot of time was spent on the
water itself (balancing the colour, transparency and
surface displacements) as well as the sand materials
(how the sand texture changes as it gets closer to the
water line).
3DAD: The images from Caius just focus on it’s
atmosphere. Will we be getting some peaks of the
surface? It looks like this Mojoworld is using the volumetric
plugin.
LM: That is right - Caius is all about the atmosphere and
really shows you how good the volumetric plugin is for
both clouds and shadowing of the atmosphere (to
create sun rays). No plans to do any focus shots on the
surface but the dark nature of the surface really helps to
bring out the sun rays. I must admit, when the volumetric
plugin came to Mojoworld I think I was most exited about
the fact that sun rays would be possible.
3DAD: Equanimity has a great look to it, reminding me of
Ralph McQuarrie’s matt concept paintings of Tatooine
for Star Wars.
LM: A re-visit of a world I had previously created with the
addition of a huge neighbouring gas giant. I think the
gas giant took a lot longer to do than Equanimity itself!
3DAD: What other worlds are on the cards for Astral
Realms?
LM: Firstly I plan to re-visit and re-develop another older
INTERVIEW: Lewis Moorcroft
26
world of mine that was
very popular at the
time, the image was
titled 'The Cloud Sea'
and, as you may be
able to tell from the
title, focuses on looking
over a sea of
volumetric clouds. I
also plan to create a
couple of new worlds
over the next few
months. One will be on
the theme of an
abandoned man-
made world. The
second will probably
be themed on a moon
or small rocky world.
3DAD: You have one
track at the moment in
your audio section of
the website, Timeless
Sonics. Tell me about
the creation of this –
was there a lot of
thought behind this, or
was it a more impulsive
or organic process?
LM: There is always
quite a lot of thought
that go into my mixes.
The styles of the tracks
are always the first
consideration but
beyond that they have
to be able to flow from
one to another. Having
a keen ear and an
understanding of the way the music is structured helps
this process, so for example music timing and being able
to identify when components of two tracks may clash or
whether two tracks have clashing keys.
3DAD: Are you aiming to eventually produce an album
centred in this style of music?
LM: Not and album as such. I hope to build up a
collection of these mixes over time which are effectively
mixed compilations of some of the artists and music
genres I follow. It won't be limited to this single style so I
will hopefully get around to doing a new mix or two in the
future months.
INTERVIEW: Lewis Moorcroft
“There is always quite a lot of
thought that go into my mixes.
The styles of the tracks are
always the first consideration
but beyond that they have to be
able to flow from one to
another”
27
INTERVIEW: Lewis Moorcroft
28 3D Art Direct : Be Inspired By Digital Art Issue#17
Astral Sunset by Lewis Moorcroft