The idea of depicting a virtual enchanted garden was at the
back of my mind for a long time. I wanted to create an image in
which I could depict a virtual enchanted garden, where people work
together in cyberspace, yet each artist could visualize his/her
individualism. When I discovered Renderosity, I knew this was the
place where I could get the inspiration to depict that garden. But,
it seemed to me that Renderosity was too large for depicting an
intimate fun virtual garden. I mean it was hard for me to describe
a place that has hundreds-of-thousands members as an
intimate place. I was also very excited to explore
additional online art communities, like Runtime DNA (RDNA). I
discovered RDNA conducted a challenge that celebrated the RDNA
staff. That challenge gave me the opportunity to create an image
that described the essence of a small virtual team working
together. The time for the deadline of the challenge was very
short, so I decided that I would include only two people from the
RDNA staff; Syyd and Rena. I described Syyd as she was doing her
morphing thing, that is metaphorically speaking, she is
sculpturing I described Rena in a special moment when she gets
inspiration to create textures. I put both of them into an
enchanted virtual garden in cyberspace.
 Koty
Lapid [bonbonish]
I could not believe that my image placed in their contest. It was
from the encouragement that I received from that image that gave me
the courage and inspiration to create my online childrens book.
The Wild Virtual Enchanted Garden is a story about Lilly and
her daughter Lorie. Lilly is a digital fashion designer who sells
her digital clothes over the Internet. The book starts out showing
the lovable little Lorie enjoying daily events such as helping her
mother. As the story unfolds, Lorie finds herself experiencing a
great adventure.
 Koty
Lapid [bonbonish]
I especially owe a note of gratitude to Rena, for her input and
patience in answering my questions pertaining to the background
information of a successful digital texture designer. I could not
have created the book without her help! When I felt I had enough
information about Renes way of working, I then developed a series
of rough renderings (storyboards) that fit the storyline. Rena, in
the form of Lilly, was my storys heroine. As this was also a
childrens book, I felt adding a daughter would also add to the
storyline, and that is how the character Lorie was conceived. After
that I created the preview images, which I sent to Rena for her
opinions, remarks and suggestions. Again Rena gave me a lot
encouragement. She also gave me a lot of technical advice, which I
incorporated into my images. When I finished the first draft it was
time to settle on a final title The Wild Virtual Enchanted
Garden and to do additional editing. Initially I felt that
the book was too short, especially since I wanted to create the
book as a downloadable online purchase.
 Koty
Lapid [bonbonish]
At the same time that I was putting the finishing touches on the
book, my daughter was preparing to move into her own home, and even
before she left, I started missing her. Each day I remembered one
or two memorable things that we would to do together when she was a
little girl. To keep those memories alive, and I admit, to keep my
daughter close to me, at least virtually, I decided to incorporate
those shared moments in the book. Before I started to create the
additional images depicting those shared moments, I jotted them
down and sent the ideas to one of my best friends, Crystal, whose
opinion I value very much. She liked all of the ideas! So,
with her approval, I started creating the extra images with the
corresponding new storyline. As I was completing the final touches
on the images for the book, Firebirdz released a new package of Poser poses (
Pitter Patter) for the Millennium Girl Preschooler
to the Renderosity MarketPlace. I used almost all of Firebirdzs
poses in the book, and those poses definitely sped up the creative
process.
 Koty
Lapid [bonbonish]
I also posted samples of my work to my Renderosity gallery, especially the images that
depicted the personal shared moments with my daughter, and I
received a lot of helpful comments and support from the Renderosity
community. This really became important to me in the days that I
just wanted to give-up the project the community gave me the
strength to continue my book to completion! I would like to take
this opportunity to thank all the Renderosity community for their
input and encouragement. Eventually I finished my little book, and
have had great success in its distribution, and wonderful comments
from its many readers. For all of you who have yearned to see your
works published, especially those who envision publishing a digital
graphic novel, please never give up on your dream! Thanks to the
Renderosity community, and endless help from my friends, my dreams
came true!
The Wild Virtual Enchanted Garden is currently
available at LuLu.com Publishing. Downloadable version: $5.50 Printed
version: $16.18
All supporting images are copyright, and
cannot be
copied, printed, or reproduced in any manner without written
permission from Robert Duncan Studios
Koty Lapid also known on Renderosity as bonbonish has been a longtime Renderosity artist, and has
written several graphic novellas. We also invite you to visit
Koty's Renderosity MarketPlace January 9, 2005 |
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