The Snow Queen (for Igolochka) by PhilW
PhilW is the Renderosity members choice for Artist of the Month for December, 2016. A skilled digital artist, PhilW has a deep gallery with outstanding renders of the female figure. He works primarily with Carrara using the Octane Renderer. I had a chance to chat with PhilW about his development as an artist, a bit of biography and his workflow in Carrara.
Congratulations to PhilW for being voted Artist of the Month!
Interview with Artist of the Month for December, 2016 - PhilW
PhilW: Wow - I am honored! This was a total surprise, I feel very humble. And just when I was thinking that I hadn't posted anything for a while!
Tell us a bit about yourself; who is PhilW?
PhilW: I have a long history of using computers - my first was a BBC Micro (by Acorn) in 1982 (were these around in the States? I am from the UK) - I wrote a couple of games for that which were published and also wrote my own 2d graphics program! I then upgraded to an Amiga and used my first 3d software, Imagine 3D. I eventually migrated again to a PC and used Inspire 3D, a cut-down version of Lightwave.
With work and family commitments, I neglected 3d for a while, only to rediscover it in around 2005, which is also when I discovered Renderosity! All my old gallery images are there so you can trace my evolution through Poser, Vue and finally Carrara, which is now my main 3D software. A few years ago I was contacted to create a video training course for Infinite Skills and since then, these have become the best-selling training available for Carrara - and I have a new title which will launch shortly about Animation in Carrara.
Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to get into product creation, again mostly for Carrara (I have a store on Daz) and also done a number of freelance projects, including an album cover, a music video and a couple of years ago I did a complete animated short for a small US studio which was very well received at Film Festivals around the world.
Have you had any training as a digital artist or are you self taught?
PhilW: I am self taught and try to absorb information from many different sources and from a range of different software platforms, it is always interesting to see what is happening and whether advances in other areas can be adapted to what we can do in Carrara.
"Tourist in Venice" by PhilW
What is your typical workflow on an image? How do you progress in your work and what applications do you use?
PhilW: I am always experimenting with different approaches and trying to perfect things - to an extent that I sometimes feel that my gallery lacks a specific focus. You get artists who are very good at a specific genre and tend to stick to that, but I love my experimentation too much to do that! I suppose these are a lot of females in my gallery, I just prefer rendering them (and they are more popular!) and lately I have been trying to optimize my skin shaders to be as realistic as possible. I render most of my images these days with Octane Render for Carrara which has given the software a tremendous boost. I am also a big fan of the Virtual World Dynamics plugin (available on Rendo) which brings decent cloth simulation to Carrara for the first time - long overdue!
Can you go into a little more detail on the making of your works: Olympia or Tourist in Venice? I think our readers would love to know more about your techniques.
PhilW: As for the images, they both use Genesis 2 Female with the Olympia maps and morphs applied (I still use V4 characters a lot too). I loaded them into Carrara, and then applied my own materials for rendering with the Octane Render for Carrara plugin - I use this for most of my renders these days. While Carrara has an excellent renderer, and a couple of years ago I discovered some tricks to bring even more realism to that, it does take time to set things up and it still doesn't do certain things that well, or very slowly, such as blurred reflections and sub-surface scattering. I find these are much better (and quicker!) in Octane and I have developed my own formula for skins which mixes a glossy material with a specular material to give the most realistic skin that I have yet achieved.
"Olympia" by PhilW
I usually use Carrara's dynamic hair for my characters, I have been doing this so long that I can do styles for a particular image fairly quickly, just loading one of the many styles I already have and then adjusting length, brushing or cutting it as required (and then saving the result for another time too!). The lighting for each image was a pure HDRI, no other lights were used. This varies between images, but I seldom use more than 2-3 lights plus a background HDRI, unless there is a good reason to. Octane renders as you change things in your scene so it is very easy to interactively adjust lighting, materials, etc, to get a good image every time. And because it renders so realistically, it highlights anything in your scene that isn't quite right and almost forces you to correct it!
Clothing wasn't a big aspect of either of those particular images, but in addition to using bought clothing, I also use Marvelous Designer to make my own, and Carrara has recently been blessed with the VirtualWorldDynamics plugin (available on the Rendo store), bringing dynamic clothing to Carrara for the first time. It was the one big omission in the software so I am hugely grateful to have it, even for still images, as it makes clothes just fit and lie that bit more realistically.
There is an endless amount to learn in 3D - posing, lighting, modeling, texturing, composition, etc. - so always try a little something new with each image you do.
How has renderosity made a difference in your life as an artist? Do you have any favorite renderosity artists?
PhilW: Renderosity has been my graphics home for many years and I have made so many online friends through it. In the early days, it was their encouragement and help which kept me going, and while some people have come and gone, there are still lots of people here who I follow, or they follow me and I love being a part of that wider community.
What advice do you have for a beginning digital artist who's trying to create compelling images?
PhilW: Advice for a beginning digital artist? Focus on doing what you love, but always try to push the boundaries. There is an endless amount to learn in 3D - posing, lighting, modeling, texturing, composition, etc. - so always try a little something new with each image you do. I am still learning and at least trying to progress - even after all these years!
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