Hey Spirit, Ive been following your thr4ead for some time now and have seen petty people come and go some slaining your work others loving it some saying ‘ok this guys different’ im gonna go a bit simon cowell on yah right now ok? i can see you are a very talented artist, while others wont like many others will. its funny because your work (as im sure sum1 once said, is what your username is very dreamlike, but most of all yah can tell a story, (especially like the oil buisness one among many others)
yeah yah need to brush up more on anatomy
yeah yah need to brush up on composition/lighting etc, but thats what this ****s all about, were all on a learning curve here, the points im making out here i also say for myself as im only learning too, its very early days for me in this field, i stepped outta iraq (whilst serving the british army after 6 years) and turned to my love of art.
you have held yah chin high and plodded along as many a punk that got nuffin better to do, wanna try and smack yah down, yah a good artist man keep at it, i do have dreams like these thats why your stuffs real man. you can paint them well 
Chewlew, what is the name you normaly use at this forum?
Why you do not use that name?
I admire your creativity and insight to help SpiritDreamer finding his way to express.
Spirit, you do not have to prove yourself, just enjoy like we all do.
the work has technically been improving, his 2d stuff is quite awesome. but what i like most about this thread is its actually quite inspiring, i appreciate the thought and creativity behind his ideas. he is trying to say something with each picture, whether you get it or not, its a breath of fresh air on the zb forum.
THANK YOU guys for all of the support…Much appreceated…and like the man said…we are all here to learn…when learning stops, ignorance begins.
Rabbit 77…I don’t have a desire, or a need to trace…I have the learned skill to see what i’m looking at. Comes from many years of art school, alot of studies and some great teachers along the way.
I did over 22 of those Open Figure Drawing Workshops in the Artistic Anatomy Forum…I put in alot of effort and hours doing each one of those workshops…
Before you call someone a cheat,liar,fraud ect.,… you should at least confirm and be able to back up what you claim to be true about that person.
Just because an image is like the reference, doesn’t mean it is a tracing, it means that the person who painted it knows how to see and also knows what they are looking at, and how to describe what they are seeing.
If you ever take the time to check out those Open Figure Drawing Workshops in the Artistic Anatomy Forum over at CG TALK, You will see works alot closer to the likeness of the models than mine.
Some of mine are way off the mark, and some are spot on…The outcome depends on alot of things…my feelings toward the subject, my mood that day…ect. ect. ect.
Just because you have caught some of your students tracing, doesn’t intitle you to call everyone who does a nice and acurate job… a cheat,liar,fraud ect.
I really really pitty your students if that is the case with you., and I for one surely would never want to be a student of a teacher who accused me of cheating every time I did a good job…But then again, I really have my doughts that you are a teacher, or would ever be allowed to be one…not with the way you have handled yourself in this forum.
If you are a teacher, …PROVE IT…Show us what you and your students can do, …and I don’t mean opening up a thread that mocks someone elses work by using that persons work instead of his own as Chewlew does…I mean a serious thread with serious works and studies in it…Yours and examples of your students works.
You like to dish it out, but are you man enought to take it…As is said in the U.S. …PUT UP, OR SHUT UP…
You’ve just been challenged …are you man enought to except it, or are you going to continue to hide in the shadows as you cast your stones.
Let us see what you’ve got to offer this learning forum, besides insults, and insinuations.
you still haven’t explain why your final woman painting is almost exactly the same as the reference picture, this includes the silhouette , shadow, and muscle layout…
no, saying because you follow the reference doesn’t explain this, especially when there is a big gap between your third and fourth wip.
if people look at the wip of the painting, they will find out there is a pretty darn big difference between the second and third wip, this includes so many things such as the position of the fingers, muscles, silhouette and other minor things… If you want to show people that you didn’t reverse engineered the picture, it should be you who should provide more wip…
to make matters worse, the quality of your recent paintings aren’t exactly first class… did i mention reverse engineering existing pictures or 3d models (or doing some really bad painting or distortion over them) are all you have shown in this thread?
people don’t have to show their works to critic your works, this is just as stupid as saying those film critics out there should have make their own movies before being able to critic a film… In reality every single person, be that a professional or an amature, can comment on one’s work… .
again, there is a difference between “similar to the reference” and “almost exactly the same as the picture”…For someone who failed to povide meaningful wips OR other works at similar level to back up their work, it is normal for people to doubt you… Saying some stupid things such as “put up or shut up.” is the lowest any artist can go when they face a critic.
This guys sketch has become anything but. Spiritdreamer has become a pseudo celebrity for very negative reasons.
Now not taking either side I really don’t think we really need to keep issues like this going. If he traced it so what? I know many artists using projection and round about tracing methods to keep realism in their work. If he didn’t even better. But at the end of the day, who gives a ****? I mean really, have none of you nothing better to do than pester this guy? What is the gain. Are you that deaparate to have the last word? Then have it. Now go back to making pieces using a software we all love. They are his paintings, however he acquired them or created them is irrelevant, for he was given rights to use it. However he uses it is his own damn business. I see no financial gain, and I won’t call him a plagerist until I see proof of such, which I have not.
All I see here is a guy making pieces and having fun. His art might miss the mark sometimes, but so what? Who CARES?! It’s his damn thread, he may post whatever he likes.
I admit I wish some of his pieces I wish he finished, but he likes them as is, and you know what? HE’S ALLOWED TO. Cause they’re his pieces. He’s not making them for you, he’s making them for him and him alone.
Now honestly enough stress has been put on this man, for stupid reasons.
Spiritdreamer, do not call them out, you’re sinking lower becaus of all this mess, get your head about you, please. No one need be an artist to judge your work, one need be a person, keep that in mind. It’s truly unfortunate to have such a tainted thread on this forum.
This was this man’s personal journey to use zbrush as an aid to other pieces. Whether they were sucessful was not for us to say, as these were all experimental.
I say spiritdreamer post some newer paintings, something a little stylized, purposely off reference for the sake of art. Just shut them up.
Then we’ll all just move along.
Good night
o so it’s okay for an artist to paint or modify a real photograph and claim he hand painted it from scratch now huh?
by your standard, if I post a real life photograph here and claim i model it in zbrush, no one should ask me how i made that because this is my “painting”?
if he posted his works in this forum, then people will have the right to judge him whether he likes it or not. This is especially true when the artist claimed he did something he didn’t do. Saying this is his works and we shouldn’t critic them is ridiculous…
you know what? if it is his works and him alone is just stupid because he posted those works on the forum. How many times did he use 3d models make by other people and didn’t even include their names in his posts?
Whether his works are bad or not is non of my business… but lying about how he got his works is a totally different issue, and you don’t seem to understand this.
OK I know I said “last comment” last time but this guy has thrown down a challenge and it behoves me to respond.
Firstly - well said PIGGY!!!
Secondly - I will definitely NOT post my work here until I feel it right to do so.
Your childish response of a challenge to deflect from your own very spurious situation is like obama crybaby blaming everything on Bush - just idiotic behaviour.
Thirdly - to those of you who think that we are being harsh on this guy, well all we want is verificatiion of authenticity and doing trace work from photos is just NOT acceptable when it is claimed that they are HIS works. That is just straight up WRONG in any language. As has been seen there is very little other supporting evidence of his ability. That raises serious questions.
Fourthly - what right does this guy have to suggest that some people who crit him have no right in this forum? That is madness.
Fifthly - I did not call him a cheat but I definitely did suggest that his work raises serious doubt and I ASKED for clarification.
Get a grip people and this peace love and happiness hippy thinking that some of you indulge in is hilarious. Grow up!
PS I was an art school lecturer for 25 years and now I teach part time so I feel pretty good in my skin and I have had a lot of fun with hundreds of students most of whom are still friends and contacts I enjoy to meet.
OH - all the best with your development - may I suggest a new artwork post from you because I think you flogged this horse enough.
Did you have a close look at the pic I sent regarding overwhelming similarities and NO I do not believe that you are such a great observer and translater of what you see because the oil thing is a total joke - as far as the models which are definitely not yours - well Piggy said it all.
Definitely last post which should make you happy - NOT!
LOL… Are you guys still ranting and raving…Only makes you look more foolish …you know…maybe not.
I’m not above saying i’m sorry if I have done wrong or offended someone…As seems to be the case with a few in this skecthbook of mine…So SORRY…In my eyes, that is a true sign of maturity.
As far as that tracing issue goes, I thought my description hand written along side of each step was pretty clear as to how I got to the next step…Maybe not enought for a few people I guess.
So here is the part that I forgot to mention…I taught it to a few people in the anatomy forum, and it really helped them to see things differently and clearer when doing work from a photo…And it is so simple that even a child could understand it.
All you do to capture a perfect likeness when working from a photo,…is to forget about the subject in the photo, and concentrate on the negitive space surrounding it…You will find in most cases that the negative spaces surrounding the figure or whatever are really simple shapes and easy to create…They are like simple abstract pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, and not very complicated at all…Get those simple shapes right and in place that surround the figure or whatever the subject may be, and the subject cannot be off in the slightest…it’s an impossibility…
So their you have it…
Sorry I left that part out,.I forgot that not everybody would know about the negative space approach to getting a perfect likeness…It’s just one approach of many, and never fails.
CHEERS
WIP.
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Hey SD! Maybe slightly off topic, but I wanted to get your take on something
Would you say that the movement of muscles and bones is related between the wings and arms on a dragon such as yours? I’ve been trying to figure out a dragon’s anatomy in that regard, whether the wings and arms (more specifically the shoulders and collar bone) share bones/muscle connections, or if essentially there are four independent shoulders/collar bones (two for the wings, and two for the arms). That, or if there were a good anatomical reason for one or the other… Please forgive me for a definitely overblown and off topic query! 
~ T
Talster…Hey that’s a great question actually…I kind of go along with the notion of a seperate shoulder blade attached further back on the dragons back, away from the shoulder blade that controls the front arm movement.
Two very close, but different funtions envolved.
Each would need it’s own special ratio of muscle to bone attachment in order to funtion properly…Seems like that would be more possible with a little more room around the shoulder blade to work with.
Here is a link that may be useful to you, if you haven’t already found it.
http://www.elfwood.com/farp/dragons/
I really liked that dragon in Dragon Heart…One of my favorites.
Also a couple of thoughts that entered my mind while thinking about your question…were…How about a modified Dragonfly type of attachment…not positive, but I think that insects have an exterior skeleton arangement…might be an interesting combo.
Also there are the small gliding lizards that glide through the air in the forest from tree tops… They have a wing type of ribbed skin that when opened and extended act like a wing giving the ability to glide through the air…not really flight, but a start to it’s evolution.
Those are just a couple of passing thoughts that might be incorporated into a dragon that passed through my mind while writing this.
Don’t get so caught up in the interior anatomy though that you end up forgetting that dragons are exterior symbols of MAGIC, LIFE, and THE POWER OF NATURE
Hope i’ve been of some help…even if only a little…every little bit helps…
CHEERS
I’ve always though that this guy had an interesting take on the anatomic structure of dragons, one of endless possibilities
Seriously, I say pursue painting. Those are great, you seem to enjoy it, 'cause feels like you worked on them plenty of times and tried to make it perfect. If you painted those, stop using Zbrush because you have not improved a single step in 3d in many years. Whenever I start a new model from scratch, when it’s gone bad, I keep thinking your models and it gives me the creeps, demoralizes me. Honestly, you are my worst nightmare. And every morning seeing your works at the top of the zbrushcentral page, it does not help one bit.
Yeah, you are free to post, who cares the dbase space in these times. But those 2 stars mean something. Why don’t you improve and come back later. Or don’t include your work at the top of the page every single day.
WIP.
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WIP.
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WIP.
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Seriously??? 
You’ve just knocked someones ZBRUSH work that would’ve more than likely benefited from someones critque or help just because you’ve put some random black splodges on an image you’ve already posted up several times already.
I mean, c’mon… Wouldn’t it be better to put something like this up on your cgsociety link or somethin’? I think that’s rather arrogant to use up some of that precious bottom row space with a tiny addition like that, don’t you agree? :rolleyes:
Pablo…The only person I knocked out of a slot, was myself…I was the last one in the bottom slot…The rest is just your opinion, not mine.
SpiritedDreamer should be banned.
Seriously.