"The Art of Perseverance" By David J. Reid aka "Shardz" Software used: Poser 5, Photoshop CS *~* Dedicated to Prog *~* As artists, we sometimes battle a creative struggle within our minds that prohibit us from producing our beloved artwork in a timely fashion; sometimes not at all. During my time here at Renderosity, I have had a couple dips in my creative flow, as well as experiencing a few blue moods regarding my artwork and place here on the site. With this comes the undying support of the community to pick you back up, fire up the mojo, and get back into render mode. Such an inspiration to me would be an artist we all know, love, and respect by the name of Prog! Dudley's artistic excellence, very kind disposition and supportiveness to others in this community go unrivaled and compels me to push myself harder to be a better artist, as well as a better person. Thank you so much for your help, advice, humor, and wonderful comments; not only to me, but the entire online community. Given these thoughts, I would like to dedicate this image to you as a reminder to me that persistence and perseverance ultimately pay off, and dedication to realizing your dreams and ideas is the primary goal and my new mission statement. Thank you, Dudley, for your words of enlightenment and your perfected craft that astounds and amazes the masses beyond belief! *~ Image Notes ~* This scene was an abandoned work in progress from about two months ago that, at the time, I felt was not possible given my experience level with Poser. Over time, and with the help of many people here, I built up confidence in my ability to conquer this turkey once and for all. I decided to add this installment to "The Art of..." series as it compelled me in so many ways to rethink my approach to image creation and to solidify my techniques a bit. Also, there were a few first-time events within this piece; 1.) I used more than one character, 2.) First sitting pose of a character, 3.) My first dedication, and lastly, 4.) The lights in the house actually went dim creating the FX. LOL! Another note of interest is the skull in the foreground; I have absolutely no clue where this thing came from, only the fact I had it on a CD that I recently found burned at least 6 years ago. Its