Moving!

Well, my blog, website and stuff are.
If you head on over to scotthagel.com you’ll find my new, under construction, site and blog. Still WordPress powered.
Lots of work to do yet. I’d better get busy!

Here, have a skull.

Playing around with ArtRage and PostworkShop a bit tonight.  Another odd skull.

Designing a Corset in Hexagon

So, lots to learn. I have started over numerous times. You wouldn’t think such a simple garment would be so complicated to produce in 3D…

Still. I am quite pleased with the results so far. Still a lot more to do though. Will post updates soon.

Still playing around with styles.

Here are a couple more images to compare.
The first is a straight render – no post work at all.

The second – quickly done to just get a feel for another style – has had post work done via filters and some hand work in ArtRage.

A composite filter, clouds, sparkle in eye, some pink in her skin, etc.

 

Thoughts?

Playing with some post work styling – having some fun.

So, just playing with the look of some of my renders. Not really quite sure yet what I want. The more “realistic” straight render with only some touch-up and detailing or something completely different done by a combination of hand drawing and filters? Can’t decide. This will be a tough decision.

So here is a sample of the latter option. A render with some hand drawn detailing and a variety of special filters.

And as a comparison, here is the straight render.  Absolutely nothing was done with it.

Another Teaser for The Blood of Amvil-Nok

Hey! Here’s another teaser pic from the comic The Blood of Amvil-Nok.
I believe what I will do is set up another blog specifically for the comic itself. All teasers, how-to’s, rants, etc. will remain here. Yep. That’s what I’ll do.
You’ll have to excuse the cheap photoshop work – not only have I got a lot to learn but I rushed this one just to get it out there before I head off to work.
And so…
Off to work.

Time For Bed

Here’s a little skull just for you!
(Man I really need to go to sleep).
Quick sketch done in ArtRage Pro

Teaser

Slowly working on the images for the first chapter of The Blood of Amvil-Nok. It is coming along quite nicely. I still have a lot to learn about CG from the setup in DAZ Studio to postwork in Photoshop (Elements) and ArtRage Pro. I’ve gotta start producing though or my work will never get done. So the final art may be a little iffy at times but hopefully as the story progresses, things will improve. Anyway, here is the latest teaser. Zero (who’s been re-designed via DS4 and Genesis) has awakened in the desert only to discover she’s being watched.

Tired of the area where I live…

Small town closed-minded people are getting to me.
Was personally called by a gallery asking me to submit a new piece for a show they are having. There were few requirements – a portrait neck up made from recycled materials and a size (that I can’t quite remember).
So when a small town gallery calls you asking you to participate, you would hope they have some idea of what your art might be like, yes? No. So Brent from the Soap Lake Art Museum comes to my house last night to pick up the piece. He doesn’t say anything about the content then and there, instead we chat a bit about art. He takes the piece and leaves.

This morning, he calls me and goes on about how personally offended he is by the subject matter and that there will be kids there, etc. What a fuckin’ douche. He could have said something last night for starters. And thanks for wasting my time – I could have been painting instead of cutting up pieces of scrap leather.

22x35 Portrait in Leather.

I suppose I at least tried something new. Damn, leather is a pain in the ass to work with. And even with the pieces cut – which was a nighmare, they kept expanding and contracting with the morning cool n damp and the afternoon dry heat. Unlikely that I will work with leather again.

Anyone want a cool leather portrait? Cheap. $150 plus shipping.
Yours!

Oops!  Left out some fun information.  We couldn’t decide on a price last night so he said “It doesn’t matter because nothing is selling anyway”!  Maybe because you are too afraid of showing anything that might stir up some conversation!

Also, I had forgotten to ad a wire for hanging – which he pointed out.  So I installed eye screws and a wire while he was standing there chatting about art some more.  Really?!

Final thought:  I apologize to small towns.  I’m sure there are some out there with open minded people.

Sorry, one more “final thought”.  I used DAZ Studio 4 to pose the initial image which I turned into the final leather piece.  DAZ Studio is an amazing tool when you need a model and there is no one around.

Here is the initial DS4 image with some postwork.

Artist’s Statement

I am in the process of updating my website http://www.scotthagel.com with the idea of contacting galleries and hopefully getting a show or gallery representation.  Either outcome would be great.  Many galleries now simply accept an email with a link to your site (instead of the old-fashioned box of slides).  However, they do want to be able to find very specific information including an artist’s statement.  It is that artist’s statement that I am struggling with.

I haven’t written a new artist’s statement since my time at WSU – several years ago.  So I dug out my old notes and the written feedback that I’d gotten from faculty.  To my surprise I still had all of it.

The notes I’d written for myself were quite a read.  A fun little time capsule from the past.  It was interesting to re-visit my thoughts from that period.  The feedback from faculty was interesting as well, although for a very different reason.  Much (not all) of the faculty at that time had some very specific ideas about my artwork and what I should be doing and saying in my artist’s statement.

Some of the faculty decided my work was pornography.  Most of the faculty believed my work had no redeeming value.  Yet at the same time, the very same faculty members expected me to really push what they felt was the pornographic nature of my work.  They wanted to see some very graphic imagery.  Odd.

As for the artist’s statement, they wanted the truth behind my motivations and what I’d hoped to achieve with my art.  Yet they brushed aside the truth as BS and expected me to tie my work to various artistic movements as though I was inspired by said movements or working within a movement.  In their eyes, this would give my work legitimacy.  So apparently, my truth wasn’t THE truth.

I can understand why so many people think artists are pretentious and that artist’s statements are crap.

Where does that leave me and my artist’s statement?  Not really sure.  I will try to be honest and precise.  No pretentious bullshit.  After that I’ll cross my fingers and hope for the best.