Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Rambunctious

It is a little known fact that the addition of the ninth reindeer to Santa's Sleigh was a result of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). By 1938, tens of reindeer were out of work. It was the time of the Great Depression and Santa Claus was asked to do what he could for down-trodden and out-of-luck deer. The most famous and, arguably, best loved reindeer employed at this time was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Few are aware that there was another Reindeer on the sleigh-team prior to Rudolph's arrival in 1939. That reindeer's name was Rambunctious the Rambunctious Reindeer. It was intended that Rambunctious live up to his name and add an extra 'zip' to the team, allowing it to finish its Christmas Eve visit to all the children of the world in a speedier fashion, leaving more time for recuperation for Santa and the rest of the team. Unfortunately, Rambunctious lived up to and exceeded his name. Once harnessed to the sleigh-team, his rambunctious energy caused an unfortunate series of mishaps eventually leading to an unplanned and rather hard landing in a wooded area of western Indiana. Several calls were received by the local sheriff and a couple of deputies were dispatched to the scene. Santa and his team was found shaken but none the worse for wear. They quickly gathered the sleigh and repacked the gifts and were sent on their way. Santa finished his rounds that night, but regrettably, Rambunctious was let go.
The 'photograph' above is the only evidence of that fateful night. The 'photo' was taken just after the sheriff's deputies arrived and shows the overturned sleigh and presents strewn about. Deputies were sworn to secrecy because Santa feared that children would stay awake worrying whether he would have time to visit them.
Not long after the incident, Rudolph was brought on board and the rest, as they, 'Went Down In History!'



Illustration originally rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 800 x 600 resolution. The scene took 40 minutes and 12 seconds to render. Many hours were used to the model and position the scene. I modeled the sleigh using standard CSG solids. The trees were rendered using the Arbaro tree generation for povray program. The resulting image was processed in JASC (now Corel) Paint Shop Pro 7. The image was converted to Grey Scale and Noise was added to give it a grainy look. It was cropped to add the photo edge. The result was tinted yellowish to give it that old look. A coffee stain and some writing were added. The 'photo' was turned slightly and a Drop Shadow added.

Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer , Paint Phop Pro

Click here or on the image for larger size.
Click here for the original color render.

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Similar



Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 1024 x 768 resolution.
The scene took 6 minutes and 8 seconds to render.
The Santa 'paint' was created using JASC Paint Shop Pro 7 (now Corel).


Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer , Paint Phop Pro

( Click here for entire blog )

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Clique

Mouse Cliques


Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 1280 x 1024 resolution and was cropped to 600x400.
The scene took 17 minutes and 23 seconds to render. Numerous hours were used the model and position the scene.
I modeled both mouses (mice?) myself. The mousepad graphic was created using Microsoft Paint.
HDR Lighting was used to achieve the realistic lighting and refections.

My entry for IF:Spotted may also
qualify as a clique.

Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer

( Click here for entire blog )

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Memories

Memories

This image contains two memories for me. The first is vacationing in the Northern Michigan Area. The "slide" is the Mackinac Bridge that spans the two peninsulas of Michigan. My family spent many summer vacations in this area. Many fond memories.
The other memory in this image is the slide projector. It was always fun to spend an evening darkening the living room, popping some corn, and watching old slides. Kind of a poor-mans theater. I've always preferred
watching slides over looking at a pile of photographs.


Click image for larger size.

Digital Image :: Corel Paint Shop Pro 8.10
The bridge photo is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License and can be found here.


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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Detach

Some poor soul is now detached from life.

Click image for larger size.

Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 1024 x 768 resolution.
I modeled the cell phone myself. The display was created using Microsoft Paint.
The path was modeled using information found here.
The grass was generated using Gilles Tran's Grass Generator Macro for POV-RAY.

Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer

( Click here for entire blog )

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Sail


Sail

Here is the inspiration for this piece.


Click image for larger size.

Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 1280 x 1024 resolution.
Cropped to size and stars were added using Paint Shop Pro.

Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer & Corel Paint Shop Pro 8.10

( Click here for entire blog )

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Canned


Canned Laughter

I purposely used an overpowered light source directly behind the viewer to
simulate a flash camera being used.

Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 1280 x 1024 resolution.
Cropped to size and saturation adjusted using Paint Shop Pro.

Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer & Corel Paint Shop Pro 8.10

( Click here for entire blog )


( Click image for larger size )

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Foggy


I have finally been able to post again after a four month hiatus.
It's good to be back.

Digital image :: Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI

Click image for larger size.

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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Garden

After one of the largest snowfalls since 1948,
This is what our Garden Gnome looks like.

Digital image :: Corel Paint Shop Pro 8.10
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Friday, March 7, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Leap

One Giant Leap for Man

Digital image :: Corel Paint Shop Pro 8.10
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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Multiple



My first thought for the topic was multiple births.
This piece is taken from a set of photos of my twins in their younger days.
I tried to create a psuedo-Litchtenstein style.

Digital image :: Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI
( Click here for entire blog )

Friday, February 22, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Theory


Digital image :: Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI
( Click here for entire blog )

( Click image for larger size )

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Choose


Choosy Artists Choose gif

Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 800 x 600 resolution.
The scene took 22 minutes and 24 seconds to render.


Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer

( Click here for entire blog )


( Click image for larger size )

Friday, February 8, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Blanket


Pigs in Blanket

Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 640 x 480 resolution.
The scene took 13 minutes and 50 seconds to render.


I didn't get this anywhere near where I wanted it. Perhaps I can finish it later.
Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer

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( Click image for larger size )

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Tales And Legends


Digital image :: Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI
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( Click image for larger size )

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Plain


Three Plain m&m's,
Plain Water,
And a Plain Paper Cup


Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 1280 x 1024 resolution.
The scene took 15 minutes and 22 seconds to render.

Table cloth was drawn in Corel Paint Shop Pro XI.
Image was cropped to 600 x 600 pixels.

Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer

( Click here for entire blog )


( Click image for larger size )

Friday, January 18, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Stitch


Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 1080 x 1024 resolution and cropped to 600 x 450.
The scene took 2 minutes and 22 seconds to render.


Shadow was added using Paint Shop Pro 8.10

Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer & Paint Shop Pro 8.10

( Click here for entire blog )

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Illustration Friday :: 100%

100% Florida orange juice and 2% milk

Illustration rendered in MegaPOV Ray Tracer.
Scene was rendered at 1024 x 768 resolution.
The scene took 9 hours 7 minutes and 5 seconds to render.


Digital Image :: MegaPOV raytracer

( Click here for entire blog )

There seems to be a problem with perspective at the right side of the image.
I believe my 'camera' is too close to the subject - resulting in a fish-eye effect.
Unfortunately, I ran out of time to adjust for this.

( Click image for larger size )

Friday, January 4, 2008

Illustration Friday :: Soar


Digital image :: Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI
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( Click image for larger size )