Gary Bouton's Xara Stuff

[Gare]

I went through a Fast Food Faze in illustration about five years ago.

[Ron Duke]

Pure vanity, Paul. Pulling my shirts out of the wardrobe to see which one I'll wear today

-g

So, was it a tie dye today?

"Beef Barn"..hmmmm, sounds like a description of my anatomy...

[Gare]

So, was your choice of tops a tie dye today?

Yes, dude! I already have the pony tail, and now I'll go get my embroidered jeans and go paint our Prius rainbow, Peter Max designs. In tempera paint, of course, I'm bent but not stupid!

"Beef Barn"..hmmmm, sounds like a description of my anatomy...

You only wish, Ron...

[Ron Duke]

"You only wish, Ron..."
No, really!.....









I always took it as a compliment!

[Gare]

The hardest part of this piece was determining an opacity for the glass that would allow part of the background to show through. I think I did the original study with the Extrude tool, creating a bunch of cylinders.

My Best,
Gary

[Ron Duke]

Nice photo, when are you going to show us you're rendering of it?

[Gare]

Nice photo, when are you going to show us you're rendering of it?

I should be flattered, Ron.

And so I am. :)

There are a thousand and one perspective and lighting things I'm unhappy about with the fishbowl.

My Best,

Gary

[gray]

Gary, that's a stunning piece of work.

[Ron Duke]

I should be flattered, Ron.

And so I am.

There are a thousand and one perspective and lighting things I'm unhappy about with the fishbowl.

My Best,

Gary

Well, if that's your opinion on this work, than I might as well throw in the towel...

[Gare]

Thank you, gray.

Ron, there are 2.5 reasons why you would rightfully be interested in my Xara work:

.5) I frequently model an object and then bring the render in to trace over in Xara. I've been modeling for about as long as I've been using a vector drawing program, and have this weird belief that the best tool for creating a photorealistic scene is to use a program that provides photorealistic results. :) Seriously, and I've mentioned this before on other threads: don't fight your calling. If it's 2D renders that look like 3D compositions, I doff my cap to you. If it's modeling and you're like me, you were probably dropped on your head repeatedly as a child to be able to "see" in 3 dimensions projected onto multiple views on a 2D monitor.

1.) I use one heck of a lot of blends instead of gradient fills. By doing this, an artist can offset bright and dark areas in a way you can't do with a multi-stage gradient. Example:




You cannot do exactly this sort of stuff with gradient fills. Oh, but gradient transparencies can help.

2.) I almost never pose stuff in one point perspective. It's a little more labor to calculate two point perspective, but it pays off in the long run because there is more opportunity to add detail and realistically? We don't look at stuff head-on, not people with stereoscopic vision.

Notice this is all "Art Stuff" and very little application-specific stuff? I'm much more interested in conveying Truths and the "Why"s in tutorials than I am telling people where to find the Shape tool. :) People want to be self-satisfied artists, not authorities on the contents of a toolbox.

My Best,

Gary