Q: So, Mr. Kramer, how are you today?

A: Please call me Will. I'm doing quite well thank you, even though you might think otherwise after reading the current 'soapbox'.

Q: Miffed?

A: Yeah, but that's over. Already written. Let's get on with it.

Q: Okay. So how long have you been creating digital art?

A: You can read all about that in the 'artist' section of my site. Let's get to the bones here.

Q: Alrighty then. What programs do you use?

A: Poser 3 and 4, Bryce 3d, and Photoshop 5. I won Painter 6 in a contest, but still haven't figured it all out yet. Right now, Photoshop is king.

Q: How do you do it? You start with sketches?

A: No. I get a general idea. Picture in my head.  Spend a while with Poser getting the figure in the pose I'm looking for. That usually takes a couple hours to get it right.

Q: A couple hours? Why so long?

A: It takes time to view the figure from all angles. If you want to make sure the figure looks natural, you have to look at everything. Get up, get in the pose yourself and see where your fingers and toes fall.... that sort of thing.

Q: I know people who can put together a Poser picture in ten minutes.

A: Sure, but don't the figures look a little stiff? Unfortunately, due to limitations in the program, I need to spend a bit more time.... relaxing the shoulders, the head, etc. There is no gravity in the program. That's the toughest thing.

Q: Ok. So you've got the figure. Now what?

A: I export it as an .obj file and import it into Bryce 3d.

Q: You assign a texture to it there?

A: Yes. I use the standard Poser texture that came with the program, although I have tweaked it a bit in Photoshop. Hue and saturation, mostly.

Q: Why don't you download one of the great textures that are out there on the web?

A: I know they are out there... I just don't want to have to have a long list of credits next to every picture that I do. And whenever I do commercial work, I don't want to have to remember who it is I'm supposed to ask permission of. It's just easier this way.

Q: Right. So you've got your figure in Bryce...

A: That program and the way I use it are pretty straightforward. WYSIWYG. I really don't pull any magic out of the hat on that program. Many other artists are much better than I at that.

Q: What size do you render the picture at?

A: As large as my computer can handle. Right now, that's about 2500 pixels on the long side. I can do larger, but once I get layers in Photoshop, the file size approaches the ludicrous, and the computer starts to cough. I hope to fix that later this year when I buy a machine, baby.

Q: So, one render, then off to Photoshop?

A: No. Two or three, depending on the picture. One has all the textures; the other ones will be mask renders to be used as alpha channels.

Q: What's an alpha channel?

A: Well...that's pretty deep.  I'll just skip that one.   I would encourage you to RTFM.

Q: RTFM?

A: The manual.

Q: ???

A: Read the manual, so to speak.

Q: You want me to read the manual.

A: Riiiiiiight. And don't tell me the dog ate it, warezboy.

Q: Ok, now you're in Photoshop?

A: Yep. That's where the majority of the hours are spent. Without writing a complete tutorial, suffice it to say I use just about all the tools and end up with between twenty and thirty layers in each picture.

Q: Could you be a bit more specific?

A: To get an idea as to how I paint hair, you can go here. You can see it takes four layers or so just for that. So you might extrapolate and see how many I might use for the whole picture.

Q: Clothes?

A: Painted. When they're on. I used to do more pin-up work. Some may say I still do; that's fine. But when one's goal is to digitally paint and eventually get published, I have to realize who the audience is. It's hard to sell a fantasy novel with a nude cover if it never gets published because of it. Not that I agree, but that's the way it is.

Q: Back to Photohop. Are you going to write more tutorials?

A: I plan on it; however it takes some planning. I need to remind myself in the midst of painting to stop and take a screenshot of what I have at the time, so I can show the sequence of events. I'll eventually get something up on the site.

Q: If we have to wait, perhaps just a hint....

A: Okay... but you're going to have to find the hard parts out for yourself through practice.  First I use the brush tool to paint the outline of, say, a shirt. Then I'll fill it in with solid color. Then, with the burn and dodge tools, and lighter and darker colors, fill in the shading. Then a few turns with the smudge and blur tools for the folds, and I'm close to getting it done. I'm not too worried about the color, because I usually go back and colorize it, then put a duplicate layer over it in a different mode, like overlay.

Q: So with practice, I can do this too.

A: Sure. Along with practiced observation. Take a look around you. See how clothes form around a body... both at rest and stretching.  Something I'm definitely still working on getting better at.

Q: One question that a few people want to know... how is it that the bodies are so non-Poser looking?

A: I'm still not satisfied, because to me they do look 'Poser'. More than anything I suppose it has to do with the amount of airbrush work I do on the body.

Q: How do you do that?

A: Just like a real airbrush artist. Using the pen tool, I'll draw patterns, make them active selections and use them as masks. Some figures I might use four or five.... others, twenty. Then again, I may use no masks at all.  It all depends on how much the program has distorted them.

Q: Distorted them?

A: Yeah. In the bending of the joints... it always comes off a little, well.... 'off'. Not to mention the standard Poser figure is quite a bit 'supermodelish' to begin with. Not like a normal figure at all.

Q: So what's your standard figure?

A: Haven't gotten there yet. But that's where I'm hoping the painting will take me. Frank Frazetta could take a curvy, strong woman and made her very desirable. I mean, has anyone really looked.... really looked at his women and seen how little they have to do with modern society's ideal of beauty? Starvation was not in their vocabulary.

Q: How do you hope to be successful painting women who are larger than all the current pinups and swimsuit models?

A: Because they're more attractive... They don't have hips like a boy. They don't have bones poking through their skin. There are more curves, which to me makes them infinitely more interesting and attractive.

Q: Do you mind a criticism?

A: Shoot. I can take it.

Q: Okay. What's this fascination with black hair? Don't like blondes?

A: Ouch! Alright. Here it is: I paint what I like. Period. Nothing to me more luscious than long dark hair. Nothing more to say about it, really.

Q: But if you want to succeed, don't you have to diversify?

A: I have given this an awful lot of thought lately. You are absolutely right. And I have plans... for blondes.... even males. Now get that shocked look off your face.

Q: Males?

A: Yes. Let's face it; every artists knows they can spend a lifetime drawing the female body. But to get to where I want, I need to diversify a bit. Need to get better at creating total scenes.... something more than just figures in them.

Q: Let's get back to the technical stuff.

A: Could we take a break? Give me a few minutes and I'll come back and try to fill you in on more.

(interviewee walks away muttering blondes? guys? what was I thinking?)

To be continued....