Shhhhhhhhhh, I'm back.

Ah yes, life has a way of getting in the way of itself.

Well, I figured I'd better make a post in my blog so it's apparent that I'm still enjoying all my artistic pursuits.

Lately, I've been putting some of my ideas in to motion. Literally - MOTION. I've been approved as a contributing videographer at Istock and Shutterstock! Let the fun begin!

This has really given rise to pulling out and dusting off some models I'd been 'collecting' in my runtime since the good ole Daz days when the 3D bug first bit me.

Alot of the cool freebies I've picked up at Daz and RuntimeDNA and of course the ones I've paid license for will now come to especially good use.

My referral link for Daz is buried way back in an old post - so here it is again for anyone looking to get a FREE 3D posing program and some FREE models to get started with:



Well, I'm off to animating!

Cheers All!

Where did the time go?

I'm over 8,600 sales now at Istock and 6,700 at Shutterstock and a couple more thousand at the other 3 sites! It really is great to do what you love!

I promised to share another great 3D find. Here it is:


This is a great site for picking up unique poser models and TONS of freebies. They have EXCEPTIONAL modelers and OUTSTANDING service. HIGHLY Recommended - Hey, and I don't make anything for sending you their way - I just love them!

All this microstock work has put my skills on display and I've found myself getting more and more freelance design work. Which brings me to my newest find. The freelance work I'm doing involves making vector designs for output to garments and although I can certainly draw my own in Illustrator, I decided to see if the market I supply (microstock) could serve me as a consumer too. The more I looked the more I realized that I would be best to find a collection of high quality vectors that were separation ready for screen printing.

Well, I searched and searched and searched (flying the internet red eye) and low and behold I found what I was after. It was their auction at Ebay that led me to their page. And, as great as that already is that I found what I've been searching for - greater still was the 'try before you buy' as the site has a whole lot of sample files to download, view, and admire. And from the looks of those - this is one GREAT find. The images and quality of the vectors (closed paths with minimal nodes) more then meets my own high standards. And, I'm paraphrasing here so please read their terms - they can be used for making the garments I design for. Even though I'm admittedly a total square when it comes to being 'in style' - I even love the cool and popular tribal and flames packs they offer. My next purchase, however, is likely to be their Ornamental Mega Pack (the samples I downloaded are perfection) and then maybe the sports one...or maybe those unique racing flames...hmmmmmm. Only another Artist can understand the love!

Clip-art Design

Be sure to check out their way cool samples and other packages, and see the superb quality for yourself.

FEATURED ARTIST - : ) : ) : )

It's a great feeling! For the week of Jan 16, 2006 - I was choosen as a featured artist at Bigstockphoto.com

See the cropped screen shot.

It's great to get the recognition and the exposure.

Thanks Bigstock Photo!




I've got a lot of information about another great 3D find that I'll be posting soon, and some updates. Stay tuned for that... :D

Learn 3D for FREE (Yes, FREE - I know...)

For the past several months I've been expanding my artistic horizons. Thanks in part to DAZ Studio.

I found out about DAZ when I went looking for the 3D application called Bryce (formerly a Corel application). While at their site I saw a lot of 'FREE' things (which usually leaves this natural cynic decidedly skeptical). I signed up for my free membership anyway and downloaded their free stuff and then didn't really look at it seriously until I needed a model for some poses I wanted to illustrate.

At that time, I opened the program and tried some model posing. From that, I've been hooked ever since. It's like having a live model who can hold the perfect pose forever. I have control over everything: clothing, hair, lighting, environment, pose - etc. etc.

The real great thing is the models and add-ons (like props, environments and apparel) that I've purchased can be used in commercial* renders. I've become seriously addicted, but even still, with so many freebies and specials - I've built up a huge library of 3D stuff for less then the cost of other 'cookie cutter' posing 3D applications. (* be sure to read the license agreements for the commercial use terms). You can see some of my creations at the various stock sites I contribute to.

But you said FREE Tara. Yes, I did! And you don't really have to buy any add-ons to learn and render some decent images or short animations. Their free bundle that comes with the free application is more then enough to get you started and with the free membership you have access to weekly freebies (and an archive of ones from the past). I'm sure there are some artists who have managed with the free stuff. But, hey, I'm a woman, and I just have to have those leather boots, and great hair and that new outfit ;) !

As an affiliate, I invite you to check it out:



ENJOY!!!

2,500 ISTOCK sales - and climbing!!!

Yesterday my canister at Istock got a shiny new coat of silver paint. What does that mean? It means that I've reached the second level of achievement there - with 2,500 of my images now sold at that site.

If you love making photography or illustration and want to reach a wide audience - this is the spot. Or if you need images - you are sure to find what you need in this vast library.

I like all the agencies I supply, but it's no secret that Istock is the biggest and busiest. They spawned this growing market of micropayment stock.

See for yourself:

Dreamstime launches referral program

How exciting! Do what you love (photography/illustration), share it with others (upload for approval), and make royalties for each sale of your images - it's really that easy!

Or, if you're a designer, just buy a credit package and start downloadng immediately - you'll marvel at the high quality and low prices of this stock library!

Joining is easy!

The forum community there is helpful and fun ~ the prices for contributers and buyers is unblievable ~ the images are top notch ~ and, if that weren't enough, the new referral program is the icing on the cake!

How to SWOOSH in Illustrator in 3 easy steps

Wonder how I made the 'swoosh' in my logo? - it was easy as 1 - 2 - 3 and no tweaking of handles!

I'll assume you have general knowledge of Illustrator.

1. using the 'elipse tool (L)', make a long horizontal oval (as shown in the image)
2. using the 'convert anchor point tool (SHIFT+C)', click on both side anchors of the oval to make them pointy
3. select the oval and apply: Effect /Warp/Flag/horizontal/Bend: 100%/Distortion Horizontal:0%/Distortion Vertical: 0%

That's it! It's really that easy!

Tip 1: for smooth ends, skip step #2
Tip 2: expand the appearance of your new shape: Object/Expand Appearance) if you want your path to change to the new shape as well
Tip 3: By not expanding the appearance of your oval object (it's path stays the original shape), you have more options later on - you can still easily revert back to the original oval shape or make changes to the warp effect by choosing the 'Warp : Flag' effect from the 'Appearance palette' for the object.