Blood and Gore - in 3D

Blood and Gore-day!

I've been busy working on blood and battle wounds. The results look pretty good, I think...in a horrifyingly painful way.

When I do stuff like this, I work while wincing.

I was pretty happy when I saw the test render though.

I've done blood and gore before. Notably in our previous graphic novel, where we had one pretty horrific scene. (If you have read A Rift in Time, you know exactly what I mean. If not, I'll spare you the details.)

Previously, I've only done it in 2D. This is the first time I am doing 3D blood and wounds.

Doing things for the first time is part of the reason we are doing this. We want to push ourselves in new directions.

Style Experiments: Laborec vs. Soldier with Spear

Lennart Guldbrandsson as Laborec

We are trying out some new tools to create the graphical style we want. The picture above was created using Daz Studio, AutoPainter, and Affinity Photo.

We are also optimizing the workflow a bit. Rendering this image was about 8 times faster than before. This is really important when making a graphic novel.

One problem with 3D is that it is difficult to make faces that look right. They tend to have stiff expressions, and be a little bit off. So, we are using live actors for face shots.

Laborec is played by the author Lennart Guldbrandsson.

For comparison, check out below what the picture looks like if we use 3D only.

Laborec, 3D only version

As you can see, there is a lot of difference. The version with Lennart Guldbrandsson wins hands down.