Is that Apollo? by ClawShrimp
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
To unnecessarily answer my own rhetorical question, yes this is most certainly Apollo.
I don't generally use other people's characters without first putting them through some serious tweaking, but I found this particular gentleman to be perfect exactly as he is.
You can find this and a great many other incredible Apollo characters at Carodan's site (all free I might add).
http://carodan.blackraven3d.com/
I used BagginsBill's genius shader, and toyed with the mole dials (among others) to get this effect. The lighting is a custom HDR and Specular setup...just two lights!
A little post-work in Photoshop to adjust levels. The depth of field was using a Depth Cue render and Photoshop's Lens Blur. I only discovered this recently. Up until then I was doing this the hard way!
This isn't perfect by any measure, but ultimatley it was only a two-for-one test render (morph and shader). The lack of shadowing in the open mouth is what irks me the most though.
Comments and criticism always welcomed.
Thanks for looking.

Comments (12)
Nice work!!!
Excellent!
Awesome i love it
Depth Cue render? in Poser? Well you got me there grin Means I gotta dig into Poser and find out about it laughing Man - that guy - he looks lovely! The shader does do the picture justice nodding it gives that ... oomph to the image. I don't know - maybe its the eyes ... maybe its the sweet smile ... I don't know but he's just simply lovely. Technical side - I love the bump on the skin and the light really helps it stands out ... The teeth, I feel is a tad too bright when it comes to the "shadow" areas ... especially when it should be a wee bit "darker" deep inside the mouth. oh! you've just said so yourself - lack of shadowing in the mouth - never mind :) This image is just lovely - especially for a test render. Just too lovely. nod Cheers :) Tina
nice character! in regards to the shadow in his mouth: bagginsbill also has some lighting advice in various places. one of the things he does that's really helpful to proper shadowing is control the bias and shadow map size on spots and infinites (with mapped shadows, of course). tutorial thread on lighting
I think this is a great image; I really like the depth of field effect. The shadowing in the mouth looks good to me, but it might be more natural looking if the teeth were toned down a bit and not so bright. Other than that, great render!
Well, you know I cant give any advise on morphs-mapping-remapping and a lot of technical issues cause I dont really know a (thing) about that. But I do like a lot what youve achieved here and its really very estimulating for the rest of us; I agree with a previous comment: hes just lovely!
Very interesting and unusual character I must say. The skin looks great, and I love the DOF and expression. I think the teeth look a little underexposed or something, but he's quite a unique fella. Good work.
This is just fantastic, really fantastic. I must try this morph some time. Bravo!!!
That is so well done :)
Thanks everyone. It's always good to see familiar faces checking out my images, but it's really cool to see some NEW faces too. Yeah, the teeth and mouth are the real let-down here. I usually don't do open mouth shots...this is why :). Thanks Cobalt, I'll have to read up on BagginsBill's ways to avoid the shadowing/exposure problems. The issue is I didn't use a spot or infinite light here at all. Just 1 HDR IBL and 1 Specular.
You have Vision Imagination Creativity and Excllence 5+ you friend VICE.