Yzabel / September 29, 2013

Review: Art Models 7

Art Models 7: Dynamic Figures for the Visual ArtsArt Models 7: Dynamic Figures for the Visual Arts by Maureen Johnson

My rating: [rating=5]

Summary:

Artists in search of figures in intense action—flying through the air, punching, kicking, and crouching—will find more than 100 poses of male and female models in 28 categories of dynamic movement in this DVD-ROM that is the latest addition to the Art Models series. With over 2,000 high-resolution images on the disc, artists have the ability to study these motions at length, opening up a world of high-intensity movement that can be incorporated into their artwork without taking up space on their computer hard drives or working with the cost and time constraints of hiring models. The ability for multiple-angle viewing and drawing at the artist’s pace becomes as easy as putting in the disc—which is both Mac and PC compatible and doesn’t require any special programs—and opening any photo. Poses have been carefully chosen to illustrate important effects, such as foreshortening and perspective changes. For artists who work in fine detail, close-ups and dramatic perspectives have been added for many positions and can be found in resolutions up to 20 megapixels. A section of photos depicting frozen actions, including jumping, falling, or swinging a sword, offers artists a series of expertly photographed views that would be very challenging to achieve with a studio model. Art Models 7 also presents a number of the series’ trademark stationary poses photographed in 24-point rotation and shot in the round.

Review:

(I got an e-copy from NetGalley last year, in exchange for an honest review.)

I didn’t review this one as soon as I got an ebook copy, due to various reasons (first and foremost, my lack of an attention span, I suppose), and what a shame this is. The poses it contains are definitely interesting and inspiring, and any artist will likely get at least a few ideas just by looking at them, dynamic and varied as they are. Besides, the models aren’t all cut from the same mold, and feature people who aren’t necessarily of the very lean and/or very muscular kind, which is great in terms of variation, and allows to get a better feeling of the human anatomy no matter height or weight.

Since what I got was a review copy, I only had the PDF, not the CD-Rom. What I could see in it already inspired me, but I think the book really does wonder when you have the whole package: from what I understand, the pictures on the CD can be viewed from different angles, thus making the poses even more interesting to work with.

This is definitely a book/CD I’ll buy for myself.

Yzabel / July 5, 2012

What I’ve been working on

Back when I created this blog, I had some art/writing projects going on.

That was in 2005-2006. Since then, obviously, a lot of time has passed—enough for me to have moved on, shelved some of those projects temporarily, shelved some others for good… and started new ones as well. As I was recently asked in a comment what I’ve been up to, I thought it’d be a good idea to post a recap of where I can be found these days, and what my writing has been evolving into.

WRITING :

  • Des Mondes et des Lunes: This is the place where I (try to) keep track of my works. It’s in French only, not very developed at the moment, and mostly set as an “author’s website” for the writing I do in my native language. I will develop it more at some point in the future.
  • Eien: Back in 2007, I took part in NaNoWriMo (as usual, or almost) and worked on Oraison d’Être, a one-shot story set in the world of Eien. This one is part of the stories that I’ve shelved, but not given up on.
  • Was: An ongoing urban fantasy story that I may or may not end up publishing online for free, and/or through self-publishing. I’m more and more tempted to go the self-publishing road, because, let’s be honest, this story is in English, and has no future in France unless I translate it, which I won’t do. It’s one of the two projects I’m having the most fun with, and it’s been going on slowly but steadily since 2009-2010. (For now, you can read the first chapters on its dedicated website.)
  • Our Darker Purpose: This story in French (2/3  completed) isn’t available online, because it’s the one I seriously want to try and peg to a traditional publisher in France. It’s a dystopian Victorian (or, rather, Stuartian) story set in a parallel England, dealing with a world on the brink of destruction.

ARTWORK:

  • Yzabel on deviantART: The place where I post my drawings. You can also find them on Paradygma, the latter however being more of a portfolio. If you want to comment on my drawings, strike a chat, or get fresh updates, dA is your best bet.
  • Yzabel on Facebook: My FB *page*, not my personal account. ‘Yzabel Ginsberg’ is the pen name I go by for anything fiction-related. My real name is to be kept for official research papers, the day I finally bite the bullet and decide to go for a Ph. D. (I know myself. I’ll probably do at some point, if only because I’m too easily bored intellectually-speaking.)

READING;

  • Mostly Goodreads, although you can find my reviews here on The Y Logs anyway.

RPG:

  • Shadow Nexus: My attempt at chronicling a 1880 Victorian England Mage: the Ascension game (all in French, sorry). I’m terribly late in keeping it updated, though.
  • If you’re interested in Was: I’ve also been writing reports (in English) from the point of view of my character in another, 2009-based game of Mage, in which I play an alternate version of Ewan Doyle. It’s been fun. It’s only available on Google Docs, not publicly, but I don’t mind giving you access if you send me your e-mail address.

There you have it—where I can be found.

Yzabel / June 13, 2012

Toying with themes

Because I was so fed up with revising all day long…

… I spent a couple of hours tonight toying with themes, to try and find something new for this blog. After all, the former theme dated back to 2005 or so; it was high time for a change, wasn’t it?

I still don’t know if I’ll go with the present one in the end, or if I’ll work on something else. I’m definitely going to add a few more things to the banner. But this will happen later. I still have much work to do in terms of school work tomorrow.

Yzabel / December 21, 2005

Launching The Vectorized Blog

Here’s a blog project I haven’t advertised heavily, since I first wanted to start it and see if I could get it going for more than just a few days. The answer to this being a definite yes, I’m therefore proud to announce that Vectorized is alive and kicking, and that everyone is of course invited to go and take a look at it, if the theme remotely interests you, that is.

So what’s the theme? Illustrations and animations done in vector-based software such as Illustrator, Freehand or Flash. What’s often called “vector art”, for reasons of convenience, is used in advertising and logo-making, among other fields, due to the scalability of the images it produces. I’ve even written entries there on what vector art is and what vector art isn’t. I use this media a lot myself in my illustrations, and I’ve come to realize that there weren’t many blogs dedicated to it (in fact, I found one only, and a handful of “personal” blogs which creators put their own works on). My resolve was strengthened. I decided to launch the blog.

The template itself isn’t totally fixed yet, but this is something I’m working on as well.

Yzabel / December 5, 2005

The Power of CSS

I really need to find a good book regarding the art of wielding stylesheets to their full extent. I’ve only used them for basic formatting, I admit, and this is a shame, since there’s just so much I could do with them if taking the time to dive deeper into it.

Recently, I was flipping the pages of an old computer arts-related magazine that I had grabbed at the office (or was it at school?) and never finished; that’s when I stumbled upon an article mentioning effects that could be created on images through the use of stylesheets. The image on the right is a screenshot of what I obtained in my browser thanks to the Alpha filter, and to do so, a simple line of code did the trick. No need to fire off Photoshop or any other graphic tool. This is the reason why I want—no, I need—to learn more. I don’t want to remain standing here with the feeling that I’m brushing past something interesting, when I could in fact embrace it with both my arms.Of course, there’s the problem of browser compatibility, but this is where all the fun lies, isn’t it?

Yzabel / December 2, 2005

Website Update Finished

And I didn’t put any Flash into it.

Not much got written nor prepared today, since most of my free time has been put into finishing the redesign for Paradygma. It’s not totally done yet—I may decide later on to add some more information to the pictures, among other things—but at least, it’s now rid of the blah-blah, the frames and the iframes, as well as of the guestbook and news-with-comments that were attracting spammers and spambots faster than a porn mag does a teenager. Who needs these toys on a portfolio, anyway? I like simplicity.

PS – It’s in such moments that you realize that a Spam Karma or an Akismet is a two-clicks blessing.

Yzabel / December 1, 2005

Websites and Flash

As I was working on a redesign for Paradygma—among other things, I want to make it more of a portfolio, not a showcase for every tiny bit of an illustration I’ve done—I realized that I’m really not fond of Flash. Not fond at all.

Every graphic-designer, illustrator and their dog seems to have this liking to creating their webpages in Flash. Alright, it’s pretty. The first thirty seconds. After this, I grow tired of not being able to open links into a new tab/window, of having to cope with intros and images displaying square by square or line by line only, in other words: all the bling-bling. I’m not really for the tacky stuff, and my, some of these are tackier than the deco of all of our five local Chinese restaurants put together.Read More

Yzabel / November 29, 2005

Inspiration Overload?!

I’d never thought I’d say that one day.

I believed the lack of inspiration was the worst thing in the world. That when it hit, it was a catastrophe. Well, I’ve just found out that the contrary can just be as problematic; there are only 24 hours in a day, and my chronic lack of focus really becomes a hassle in this case. (I can’t focus well nor for long, really. I hide it well, but I can’t.)

I’m currently in the throes of inspiration overload. Too many things going on in my head, too many things I want to do, much more than what I can do, in fact. Ideas for short stories are bursting out of my mind every ten minutes, and when it’s not for stories, it’s for illustrations. I can’t focus on work well, I can’t focus on finishing my novel, since five minutes into my writing, I already feel like doing something else, not out of lack of inspiration, but out of wanting to concretize other thoughts.Read More