Are Eyes Really the Mirror of Our Soul?
Ever wonder why your character looks flat and lifeless?
You did the work, set your camera, your lights, adjusted the shader and rendered…..yet, the result is just a 3D image… You did your best but yet something is still missing… Your character doesn’t somehow come alive…
The Secret…It’s All in the Eyes!
I spent a lot of time browsing the internet, galleries and forums trying to reproduce this lifelike appearance…without finding THE solution…
Many artists are doing great texturing using all kinds of settings but Gypsyangel’s characters always have this little touch that “captures” your eyes and drowns them in her character’s eyes…
And that’s not all…
What it is, is that gypsyangel understood that in order to acheive an outstanding character you needed a combination of the eye Shader, brows and then linking eyes to the make-up. But still…the most important are the eyes.
and not only women’s eyes…but men’s as well…
How is GypsyAngel doing it?
Frankly, I don’t know… but I would love to!
I have followed her work for many years now. What I do know is that she does her textures with a 3D painting application and she uses Photoshop.
Over the years, the constant thing in her work is the quality of the eye’s shader.
I have seen many of her WIP renders, tweaking eyes, brows, and details to find the right balance.
It’s not a question of rendering engine as she gets amazing results with Iray, 3Delight, Firefly, Reality….
Like many great artists, she has her own Secrets!
One thing for sure is that she really takes care of her map’s quality and shader settings.
I have purchased many of her products, trying to reproduce the same quality…but there is always something missing.
3D texturing, setting and rendering can be a challenge, Gypsyangel’s work is a great source of inspiration, like a goal!
A few great artists are able to make pieces of geometry come alive.
She is one of them.
Gypsyangel not only creates characters but she has also created many resources you can use to enhance your own character customization.
You can find some of them here at DAZ:
Get this great ARTIST’s products, analyze them and try to find the secret of the soul to get the best of results for your renders.
Whith CG 3D,
The eyes really are the mirror of soul.
Success!
Val Cameron
Happily sharing how to create great 3D & 2D art in DAZ Studio, Lightwave and Photoshop, Val Cameron, CEO and founder of Dreamlight, has been coaching and mentoring hundreds of thousands of artists since 2005. Bestselling DAZ 3D vendor with over 230+ video tutorials, plug ins and light sets.
I think the first thing I notice in Daz style artwork is that the eyes rarely look as if they are truly focused on anything. Lots of attention may be paid to the setting, clothing, etc, but the face remains unclear of intention long before the subtle distinction of dermal layers and reflections. As a method actor, I try to spend time feeling what the character is supposed to be feeling and practice looking in the mirror sometimes to see what I’m getting. Then the technical issues sort of work themselves out.
Great stuff Chris!