MOPHO Last Analog Transmission

In 2008, the Editor in Chief of Producer’s Edge magazine, Drew Spence, was inspired by the Dave Smith Instruments synthesizer MOPHO. Sound designer and Media Editor Griffin Avid released a soundpack of elements created purely by the MOPHO. Rap Artist Lenzmen Dynamics Plus released the album Dynamic Universe Volume 12 Battlestrux Year One: Captain of a Starship. The bonus track “MOPHO Last Analogue Transmission” was bundled with the magazine DVD. That song was entirely composed of sounds made with the MOPHO.

This work is a depiction of the events detailed in that music recording. It’s a song created in tribute to the Dave Smith Instruments MOPHO desktop synthesizer. A vessel responds to a hail and find out what the Push It button is for on the MOPHO.

The young Captain Dynamics Plus will see the light of destruction. 22 Pages, full color, standard format for your collecting pleasure.

We also have a music video for MOPHO Last Analogue Transmission.

This video is Dedicated to the Memory of Dave Smith.

Comic Book Creation Kit : Romance and Relationships

Details

Emotionally driven love scenes are a powerful part of a story in any genre. These scenes can and should inform the arcs of both the characters and their relationship, letting readers understand more deeply both what is pulling these characters close… and also what is keeping them apart. So how do you accomplish that with the writing and with the art in visual narratives?

This video course by Drew Spence embraces Storytelling Romance for Visual Narratives, looking at essential keys to crafting relationship arcs. The running time is just over 3 hours and 10 minutes. This product includes searchable versions of the videos, allowing you to search on any keyword or phrase spoken during the course.

This tutorial set includes a super content pack of PNG renders rendered from DAZ Studio to drag and drop into panels, to easily make your own romantic visual narrative! These renders are royalty-free.

You’ll learn:

• The hidden keys to Storytelling Romance.
• Creating and crafting a relationship story arc.
• Pulling inspiration from real-world experiences.
• Logic, love, and the logistics of long-term relationships.
• Three Terrible shortcuts of establishing a loving relationship.
• Three Rarely used storytelling techniques to create a relationship.
• Guest appearance by BeeMKay of Demon Division with her experiences on setting up a romantic scene in DAZ Studio.
• How to choose the best pose-based products from the Daz Store.
• What to avoid when creating an attraction.

Some tutorial videos contain PG 13 content

Software Used in this Mini-Course

• DAZ Studio
• Photoshop

A sample of included content

Daz Store Comic Book Creation Kit Bundle

https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation-kit-bundle

https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation-kit-part-1

https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation-kit-part-2

https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation-kit-part-3

A comic book is a powerful medium of expression that speaks to a wide variety of ideas and emotions across all genres. DAZ Studio is a great tool to generate renders for your creating comic book artwork!

However, it can take a great deal of time in building and rendering those scenes. The Comic Book Creation kit (bundle version) saves you time and energy in providing you with over a hundred renders ready to select from and build your own comic book. This kit includes an extensive video course of over 13 hours of instruction and insights on composing your comic by Drew Spence, a professional comic book artist.

The artwork in this kit is royalty-free – so you are free to create and publish your own stories with this kit. Over 1250 PNG renders of various characters are included across contemporary, sci-fi, and fantasy scenes. The renders come in a selection of styles ready to select, sequence, and compose into your own story.

Drew teaches you how to use and arrange the elements of a comic book:

• Panels
• Lettering
• Word/Thought balloons
• Captions
• Sound effects
• Panels
• Borders
• Gutters

He shows you how to…

• Map a story structure onto a comic book layout
• Show, rather than tell a dynamic story
• Progress and express characters through their story arcs
• Create strong visual appeal
• Gain a comic book style that fits your story
• Comprehend comic book elements and use them to your advantage
• Compose comic book elements with confidence
• Master composition of characters in a shot (for a panel)

This course is for you if you are…

• Overwhelmed with the prospect of creating a comic book
• Wanting to add extra impact or emotion to your visual story,
• Needing a comprehensive understanding of comic book elements in all their varieties and how to use them effectively.
• Having challenges in using composition for comic book elements
• Wanting to experiment with comic book creation without having to render scenes yourself.

This is Part 1 of a 3 part Course. There’s also a bundle version available.

Searchable Tutorials

https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation-kit-bundle

https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation-kit-part-1

https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation-kit-part-2

https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation-kit-part-3

The Advanced Comic Creation Course Week 7 Artist Features

Drew Spence from the Dynamic Universe and Digital Art Live presented the Advanced Comic Book Creation series. I was joined by Paul Bussey and Tiffany Gray in a course designed to push your Visual Stories into new and exciting directions. Week 7 featured the works of four artists. Ed LaRoche from Image comics and his series The Warning, Pam Harrison and here series A Deviant Mind and House of the Muses, John McClellan and his Monster of Egypt and John Byrne and his X-Men Elsewhen.

The Warning (10 book series)

An enormous machine slowly materializes in a major West Coast city. Who sent it—and why—is a mystery, understood only by the malevolent beings gliding silently toward Earth through the inky vastness of space. In response, a multinational combat brigade called Gladiator Two-Six is deployed. Outfitted with next-generation military science and weapons, they’re tasked with stopping any extraterrestrial threat that emerges.

https://imagecomics.com/creators/edward-laroche-1

Monster of Egypt (Graphic Novel)

International Jewel Thief Jonathan Fox is caught in a vicious game of espionage as he fights to stop a deadly terrorist in this hard-hitting graphic novel.

Jonathan Fox

Deviant Mind & House of the Muses 

Pam Harrison is one of the first and best-known CGI artists in Independent Comics. Her work with the historical fiction series House of the Muses earned her the 2008 Prism Comics Queer Press Grant for Outstanding Series, and she continues her storytelling in a gripping sci-fi space opera adventure, A Deviant Mind, that far transcends its original LGBT audience. 

https://houseofthemuses.com/product-category/graphic-novel/

https://houseofthemuses.com/2021/08/house-of-the-muses-10/

X-Men Elsewhen (ongoing series)

His most famous works have been on Marvel Comics’s Uncanny X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’s Superman franchise. During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works including Next Men and Danger Unlimited.

John Byrne’s X-Men: Elsewhen #1 In Full & Free! 39-Page Debut Issue! Marvel Comics Universe Spoilers!

https://insidepulse.com/tag/x-men-elsewhen/

The course should be available for purchase in the Daz Store in December 2021 under Digital Art Live or Drew Spence.

This course is designed for the comic artist who uses 3D Assets, photography and graphic design. This course is designed for the writers who want to polish their storytelling skillset. For the beginner, this course will be a deep dive into comic book telling and for the advanced artist this course will explore new concepts and ideas.

Iray Lighting Solutions Tutorial Set

Daz Studio Product Release

Details

Lighting your indoor or outdoor set in Daz Studio can be one of the most time consuming activities when setting up a scene for render. Most artists will have lighting as a pain point during their workflow and it is not always easy to get to the root cause of why lighting may not work on a set.

In this tutorial set, Drew Spence shows you how to set up lights from scratch for both indoor and outdoor environments. He also picks his top ten recommended resources from the Daz store and demonstrates how these work, saving you time in your workflow.

Drew has designed lighting for hundreds of sets for the production of his Force Six, The Annihilators and comic series and he is pleased to share his lighting experience and adventures in creativity.

This product includes

Search transcription integrated inside the videos. Find search results on the video timeline. Every word spoken is indexed. Maximise the use of your tutorial’s content. Tutorial videos include subtitles

About the Presenter Drew Spence

Drew Spence is a graphic comic writer and illustrator from the United States. He creates under the title of The Dynamic Universe . He has combined his music and video into several works- including Mark of the Griffin , which is both a graphic novel and web series. He is part of the instrumental group Fallout Shelter which provides the soundtrack. The other band members are Domino Grey , Dynamics Plus and Xodus Phoenix.

What’s Included and Features

• Iray Lighting Solutions Tutorial Set
  • Four MP4 videos
  • Searchable integrated transcripts
  • Subtitles included
• Part 1 : Indoor Lighting for Iray
• Total running time : 35 minutes (introduction) + 1 hour and 16 minutes (main session)
• Section 1 : Creating lights from scratch
• Case study used : Medieval chamber set with fireplace and candle lights; designing lighting for a fantasy set
  • Why monitor calibration can be essential for your art
  • Composition focus : ensuring the main subject(s) are well lit and highlighted
  • Point lights
    • How point lights work
    • Types of paint light
    • The advantage of linear point lights
    • Point light geometry
    • Recommended Luminous Flux Settings
  • Spotlights
    • Lighting a specific area
    • Positioning
    • Beam length
    • Applying to the main subject
    • Using a spot light to creating leading lines
  • Emissive Lighting
    • Adding an emissive.
    • Flame props

• Section 2 : Product Recommendations
• Case study used : Dramatic medieval keep set with three characters
  • Consistency in lighting for sequential art
  • How to use IRay light probes
    • Selecting colours and intensities
    • Keeping light levels low for light probes
  • Demonstration of flaming torch products
  • How to use a Ghost Light Kit
    • Selecting light colours
    • Placing ghost lights underneath characters.
    • Test of an Iray ghost light kit 3 (God Rays) through a window
  • Epic props : Godrays and volumetric light for Iray
    • Particle spread in god rays
    • Volumetric light through a window, great for dramatic atmospheres.
  • Recommended Learning Task Included
• Part 2 : Outdoor Lighting for Iray
• Total running time :30 minutes (introduction) + 1 hour and& 20 minutes (main session)
• Section 1 : Using DAZ Studio’s Built in Lighting
• Case study used : Using an island beach set with a single character
  • Picking the render frame size
  • The Sun
  • Default HDRI background : The default lighting conditions for a set.
  • Sky dome mode options
  • Dome rotation
  • Using Iray Sky 36
  • The headlamp off
  • Iray settings : About tone Mapping
  • Iray settings : Camera properties
  • Checking the sun in an environment
  • Duplicating the sun and using this as an additional lighting source
  • Blend renders in postwork (same scene lit differently) for final lighting options.
  • Using instances of DAZ Studio in your workflow for rendering
• Case study used : Medieval Melee action fight scene
  • Solving blown out lighting problems
  • Tone mapping
  • Fix lighting in the scene rather than in postwork
  • Environment mode, lighting resolution,
  • Turning off the HDRI default dome: lighting from scratch
  • Environment Sun node (special effect)
  • Latitude and longitude
  • Environment sun settings
  • Altering the sky backgrounds
  • Rendering night scenes
• Section 2 : Recommended Resources Demonstrated
  • Longitude and Latitude Lighting and Render presetsfor DS Iray
  • Dreamlight : Quick Iray Outdoor presets

Daz Studio start up Course Part I Saturday July 18 2020

DETAILS

Start: PART I Saturday July 18 @ 8:00 pm BST

PART II Saturday July 25 @ 8:00 pm BST

3:00 PM EST (New York, East Coast)

each part runs approx hour and a half

Cost: Free (introductory course) – $67 (Full course + Material)

This course explores the learning of DAZ Studio for new users, with the objective of visual storytelling.

If you’ve had a story in your head for years (perhaps decades) and have always wanted to illustrate it, you may have considered using DAZ Studio.

This virtual studio has everything at your disposal to illustrate your characters – in any scene you can imagine. With tens of thousands of supporting assets, there’s an unlimited set of possibilities to create your visual stories.

But there is a learning curve to go through. Have you had these types of questions when beginning to learn with DAZ Studio?

• Where do I start?
• How do I create dynamic poses for storytelling?
• How do I apply clothing and props?
• How to avoid the most common 3D artistic mistakes?
• How do I use my virtual camera effectively?
• How can I improve lighting in a scene?
• What render settings should I use?
• How do you organise so many assets?

Drew Spence has logged hundreds of hours using DAZ Studio to illustrate volumes of comics, including “Force Six The Annihilators”.  All of the questions above and more were experienced by him during his DAZ Studio learning journey.

In this two part webinar series, Drew provides his insights and learning journey in overcoming the most frequent hurdles in using DAZ Studio for storytelling. Save time and money by utilising a more efficient workflow and getting more out of your DAZ store purchases.

This course explores the learning of DAZ Studio, looking through the lens of an artist that tells dynamic stories.

In this webinar class you will learn:-

• The beginning of Drew’s journey with DAZ Studio
• Drew’s first struggles with DAZ Studio : only know what you need to know
• Drew’s first (disastrous) renders and what he’s learned since
• Winning with the virtual camera
• Lighting tips and shortcuts
• Render settings that work
• Creating a learning diary
• Posing – Drew’s two greatest mistakes to learn from.
• Applying clothing
• Characters interacting with props
• Scene optimisation tips
• Mindset : Overcoming the artist’s hurdle of perfectionism

Who is this Course for?

• Digital artists who are just getting started with DAZ Studio or who are in their first year of learning.
• Illustrators wanting to learn DAZ Studio for visual storytelling

You can find other series that Drew Spence has created with Digital Art Live for purchase in the Daz Store. https://www.daz3d.com/digital-art-live You can take classes, watch tutorials and attend webinars and much more https://digitalartlive.com/events/

2D Postwork Assets: Planets Vol I

Daz Store Product Release

Postwork: The process of taking an image, like a digital photo or render, and performing additional edits and adjustments to bring the work to competition.  These edits may include adding and subtracting elements and post-process filtering.

Want to take total control of your backdrops and outer space scenes? Have you hit the wall or run out of skydomes and HDRI environments? Rendering with the dome off leaves your main scene intact, but leaves the backdrop transparent. Once your render is done, it can be dropped into any program that supports layers and these 2D assets can be added to finish off your scene.

It can be a chore to find royalty free and useable images of alien and interesting planets. Here is where the 2D postwork series shines as it supplies numerous PNG images and plates of various planets, planetscapes and space backdrops. Quickly drag and drop these 2D assets onto your digital canvas and have total control of your space scenes or any art that requires high quality heavenly bodies.

Multi-shot planets: Single planets created at different points of rotation. This series of images represent different phases as they add a different look to any planet that might be shown more than once and needs to look fresh. These are presented as PSD files with all the different angles combined as multiple layers.

Planet Plates Planetoids: Incredible Images of planets ready to be dropped behind your renders. Available as PSD layered files AND separate PNG images for browsing ease. These are fully realized planetary images in space, great as backdrops and desktop wallpapers.

Planet Plates Surface: That “space” just above the planet gets special attention as we present 20 different images (of three planets) from near orbit and close to the surface. These are complete images that are ready to be dropped behind your Daz render as an instant epic backdrop. Can be used ‘as is’ or tweaked to your heart’s content.

Space Motion Plates: Its 23 images of that space ‘far in the distance’. These are finished backdrops that make a colorful canvas for your main subject. These are beautiful enough to be used as desktop wallpapers, but functional enough to send your art – off to the far reaches of the galaxy.

Spectrum Planets: Isolated images of planets organized by color. Of course you can alter the color, but we’ve supplied an assortment of planets that are ready to mix and match against any backdrop. Sometimes, all that’s needed is a small blue marble…or a yellow marble or…

Colorful Near-orbit surface shots: Partial planet images that would be good for orbiting space stations or events occurring just beyond the planet’s atmosphere. Enjoy a colorful patch of pretty planet parts. These are the partial arcs of a planet’s surface, place them on the edges of your scene to hint at the larger world beyond.

Ringed Planets:  A thin field of asteroids and pulverized space dust creates a beautiful band around these planets. We present entire planets and their rings. Additional media is also found in the planet plates directory.

– Includes instructional video on the various products in this series and lighting tricks for beautiful deep space renders.

Bonus Images of the 2D spaceships (used in the promotional art) provide quick-start content for your own space scenes.

You can find other series that Drew Spence has created with Digital Art Live for purchase in the Daz Store. https://www.daz3d.com/digital-art-live You can take classes, watch tutorials and attend webinars and much more https://digitalartlive.com/events/

Character Development for Visual Stories

If you’re building a 3D character, have you struggled to find a consistent method to make sure they are distinctive and recognizable? Or are you just using trial and error….feeling your way to a possible result?

Drew Spence has solid experience in building dozens of 3D characters, including those for his Force Six Annihilators graphic novel series.  In this tutorial, he’ll show you his approach to developing distinguished and memorable characters, with Daz Studio at the heart of his workflow.

Included is a bonus tutorial that provides a great foundation for understanding basic elements of a character as well as character archetypes.

Content for this 3D Character Development Tutorial Includes..

• Building your story world
• Identifying characters and roles
• Who is your character design aimed at?
• Character strengths and weaknesses
• Define the character’s “look and feel”
• 15 Recommended products for developing characters in Daz Studio.
• Writer and reader perceptions of characters
• Making the character distinctive
• Real world checks on your character
• Dealing with an ensemble of characters

Bonus tutorial : Creating Compelling Characters by Peter von Stackelberg (part 1 only)

• Our understanding of the characters is shaped by the actions they take
• Elements to understanding a character
• Key Properties of Characters
• The Characters Populating Your Storyworld
• Major, Minor and Placeholder Characters
• Character Archetypes
• Avoiding Clichés and Stereotypes
• Raising the Emotional Stakes
• Why is it important that characters be distinctive?
• What makes a character distinctive looking?
• What keeps characters from looking distinctive?
• Purposeful Resemblances
• Challenges In Distinctive Features
• How characters are typically differentiated
• Ways to test your cast’s distinctiveness

You can find other series that Drew Spence has created with Digital Art Live for purchase in the Daz Store. https://www.daz3d.com/digital-art-live You can take classes, watch tutorials and attend webinars and much more https://digitalartlive.com/events/

How to Create Sci-Fi Special Effects (in Daz Store)

Drew Spence webinar tutorial product available in Daz Store!

In order to create an astounding Science Fiction Universe it requires numerous special effects!

Want to know how to produce laser swords, energy bolts, explosions, laser blaster effects, battle damage, starship jets and contrails to give your artwork extra dynamics? Drew Spence takes you on a step by step journey to help you generate some Sci-Fi vitality in your renders.

Drew uses both Daz Studio and PhotoShop to show must-have resources and techniques to help build a better looking Sci-Fi Universe. He goes on to using ParticleShop and a mix of other powerful resources rarely considered to create stand-out effects.

This product includes tutorials totaling 2 hours and 55 minutes and many supporting files to get you started fast in making your own special effects.

Software required to follow along with these tutorials:

• Daz Studio
• PhotoShop
• ParticleShop is used to a lesser extent

Tutorial Content Summary

Laser swords:

• Laser sword effects
• Laser sword trails
• Sabre locks : laser swords clashing
• Cutting and slashing effects
• Recommended lighting for laser sword effects
• Best laser sword related products

Laser Guns/Blasters/Phasers:

• Laser blaster effects
• Sci-Fi muzzle flash
• Blaster explosions
• Blaster scoring effects
• Shattered glass
• Streaming phaser beam
• Best blaster/laser/scoring brushes and products

Spaceship jets, contrails and damage:

• Jet effects – using authentic lighting
• Jet engine trails and high energy plasma exhaust
• Battle damage : dirtying up a spacecraft in a laser battle
• Best brushes and resources for jets and contrails
• Bonus : Must-have – three incredible resources – surprising source of special effects you wouldn’t expect.

Inside a Spaceship:

• Creating a convincing spaceship interior scene using modular elements in novel ways.
• Unexpected uses for Sci-Fi props and gadgets.
• Lighting and dressing up your own Sci-Fi set using Nurnies and Greebles
• Creating a star-gazing viewport scene with modular parts and the supplied galactic backdrops.

We’d like to thank ERA-7 for providing a free Sci-Fi Textures Pack included in this product.

About the Presenter : Drew Spence:

• Drew Spence is a graphic comic writer and illustrator from New York. He creates under the title of The Dynamic Universe. He has combined his music and video into several works- including Mark of the Griffin, which is both a graphic novel and web series. He is part of the instrumental group Fallout Shelter which provides the soundtrack. The other band members are Domino Grey, Dynamics Plus and Xodus Phoenix.
• Drew Spence is a graduate of Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and holds various certificates – from graphic arts to web design. Drew Spence was the CEO and Editor-in-chief of Producer’s Edge magazine, a quarterly publication dedicated to all aspects of music production. The magazine was packaged with a DVD which included sound samples, instructional videos and software. He currently lives on Long Island, New York and produces his work from the aptly named Fallout Shelter Studios, where he crafts crafty and clever comics using CGI and photo-realistic image manipulation.

You can find other series that Drew Spence has created with Digital Art Live for purchase in the Daz Store. https://www.daz3d.com/digital-art-live You can take classes, watch tutorials and attend webinars and much more https://digitalartlive.com/events/

Digital Kit Bashing in the Daz Store

Easily Create Innovative Props and Scenes

Details

Digital Kit Bashing : How to create new innovative props and scenes all from your existing content

Drew Spence presents a tutorial on how to extend the usefulness of your Daz Studio library. Learn how produce your dream place or prop!

Drew will include highly recommended resources as part of this comprehensive process to give you “prop permutations” from your library. Save money by utilizing your existing assets to the max!

In this tutorial:

• Two kit bashing case studies
• The best product and product types to facilitate kit-bashing.
• Generating textures and creating a uniform look.
• Shading props and tailoring the feel of your assets.
• Expert uses of scale and lighting to create a signature style
• https://youtu.be/iqbg3J6S4zc

What you’ll need for this series:-

• Daz Studio
• Photoshop or a photo-editing program (light use)

This and other tutorials are available from Digital Art Live, in the Daz Store.