SCIENCE FICTION ARTIST IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS

DigitalArtLIVE.com

THE ECOFUTURES ISSUE

HAL TENNY

FRANK LITTLE

ISSUE TWENTY-ONE
HERA OF STOCKHOLM AUGUST 2017

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 Front Cover:
"Fantasy Tree
Cottage (detail)
by Hal Tenny.

THE ECOFUTURES ISSUE

CONTENTS
OUR LIVE
WEBINARS!
03

EDITORIAL
09

BACK ISSUES
INDEX
32

CONTESTS
INTERVIEWS
36
10 38 54
ORGANICS IN
HAL TENNY FRANK LITTLE LINDA GRANQVIST
PULP SCI-FI
ART Hal is a Mandelbulb 3D Frank creates fabulous Linda is a keen user of
expert and was recently Vue science-fiction DAZ Studio for science
52 fiction, and has created a
tapped by Marvel as a key pictures, developing
GALLERY designer for their major worlds to showcase his lengthy picture novella
new science-fiction movie. organic plant designs. with her renders.
66
MANDELBULB 3D | PS VUE | MAYA DAZ STUDIO | PS
IMAGINARIUM
It was a great experience Im most interested in A lot happens during the
90 to work with Marvel on insects because they initial development
Guardians of the Galaxy seem the least like us. I process, things can
Vol 2, and I was honoured also love tide pools. I become something
to be asked. [] the used to take photos of entirely different, and one
biggest visual effect ever those on the coast here in planned picture might
made was based in part California, and try and become several or several
on the style of the fractal imagine them on a might be blended into
designs I had sent them. grander scale. one.

7
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Credits for pictures, from top left: detail from What Remains of Sjunsjiere by Frank Little; detail from The Great
King Surveys His Realm by Frank Little; In Search of The Lost Gods by Linda Granqvist.

Paul Bussey Dave Haden Seaghn Hancoxs

Editor, Conference Director Assistant Editor and layout Webinar and podcasts
paul@digitalartlive.com dave@digitalartlive.com seaghan@digitalartlive.com

Copyright 2017 Digital Art LIVE. Published in the United Kingdom. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written
permission of the publisher. No copyright claim is made by the publisher regarding any artworks made by the artists featured in this magazine.

8
EDITORS LETTER

WELCOME...

In Science Fiction, theres a tendency include original design work from his
to gravitate towards Dystopias rather sketchbook in planning the flora and fauna
than Utopias. A dystopian environment of his worlds. In relation to this - look out
provides more grit, more angst and more for our free webinar PlantFactory mini
interesting stories to write. Theres going to course that shows the capabilities of this
be an urban sprawl and the inhabitants are software and its use with companion
isolated from all contact with the natural software VUE.
world. High levels of pollution that destroys
nature is a common theme in many Read our interview with Swedish artist Linda
dystopian films, such as WALL-E, The Matrix Granqvist as she talks about the influences
and RoboCop. of the Roman and Greek myths and the
similarities between them and our more
A utopia is what we may strive towards, yet modern sci-fi and super hero stories. DAZ
wed probably miss some of the adversity Studio is her application of choice for
once that level of civilisation is attained. representing her dreams.
But in this issue were going to celebrate
utopias. Our Eco-future themed issue is
about a more successful integration and
balance with nature for our future
habitations and this is shown in a wonderful
way by Mandelbuld 3D artist Hal Tenny.
Natural fractal shapes incorporated into
architectural designs work extremely well.
Explore his artwork and discover his primary
influence on a recent Marvel movie release
Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
VUE allows for the exploration of natural PAUL BUSSEY
landscapes and its popular use to create Editor and LIVE Webinar Director
science fiction scenes is demonstrated paul@digitalartlive.com
superbly by Frank Little . Were pleased to

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/3DArtDirect RSS: https://digitalartlive.com/feed/

9
Digital Art Live talks with Hal Tenny about exploring the
worlds of Mandelbulb 3D, Photoshop compositing, and
working with Marvel on their big new sciencefiction film.

DAL: Hal, welcome to this ecofuture themed issue

of Digital Art Live. Many thanks for taking time out
to give us this in-depth interview. Youre one of the
most accomplished Mandelbulb artists, and youve
taken this a step further by integrating additional
elements into your art using both the Mandelbulb
softwares advanced capabilities and also Adobe
Photoshop.
HT: Well, thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it!
Fractal software has come a long way over the years
and it's good to see that fractals and fractal related
art are gaining more attention. The Mandelbulb 3D
software I use can create images that go way
beyond the kaleidoscopic, snowflake shaped and
swirling rainbow coloured fractals of the past, and I
think that has helped fractal art to grow in
popularity while still co-existing with old school
traditional fractals.
DAL: Yes, fractal based art is certainly developing in
all sorts of interesting ways. I had a degree student
come to me wanting to write his dissertation on
fractal art, circa 2004. I was quite wary of it, didnt
think it was a good choice for him, but eventually I
let him do it. He was very keen. Id be much more
positive about it today. Anyway how did you first
encounter fractal-based software?
HT: I've always been interested in 3D art. Many of
the good 3D programs are quite expensive, and
while trying out free trials and looking around on the
Internet, one day I came across the Apophysis
10
 Picture: Porcupine Den.

HAL TENNY

USA

MANDELBULB 3D |
PHOTOSHOP | VFX

WEB

11
fractal software, which was a free 2D program. At the time there were
many Apophysis resources on an artist site called DeviantArt, so I
joined in posting art there as well. A short time later Jesse Dierks
created the Mandelbulb 3D software, with the help and input of a
bunch of people at fractalforums.com where there had been a long,
ongoing discussion on creating the first 3D mandelbulb. Eventually I
switched from Apophysis to almost exclusively using Mandelbulb 3D.
DAL: I see. Yes, Ive tried it a few times myself, and made a couple of
pictures with it. Its still fun to use, and quite refreshing to navigate
into the fractals, but I can see it would take time to master. Youre
now a Mandelbulb master and write excellent and detailed tutorials for
others. But what were your first experiences with Mandelbulb like?
And what were your first breakthrough pictures made with it?
HT: My first couple of tries with Mandelbulb 3D were not that
successful. I was never one to ask a bunch of questions or ask for
help. And in the early stages of its development, learning resources
were pretty scarce so that made it more difficult to learn too. I kept at
it though, and other program users started sharing a bit of knowledge
that helped. I think my first 'breakout' piece was Porcupine
Den [which opens this interview, Ed.] and also Probably Broken.
They were both based on the formulas used in a new style at the time
that a friend of mine had discovered.
DAL: And at that time you also made some nice models using the
Groboto software, such as Groboto Sentinel and Rocket Man. Was
that the start of you thinking: I can add these into the Mandelbulb
pictures, or did that sort of idea come later?
HT: Actually at that point I was still quite interested in learning some
traditional 3D modelling. So the model making was more of a side trip
I think. Groboto was a very reasonably priced 3D modeling program
that created fantastic meshes for further production in Zbrush, Modo
or whatever you wished to use.
DAL: Yes, I looked a video of it recently, and it seems that Zbrush is
still playing catch-up with its amazing Boolean operation shape
intersection in plain English capabilities. And I read that it had
beautifully clean remeshed .OBJ output. Did you start with Groboto or
were their earlier tries with other software?
HT: I had gained a little 3D modelling experience a few years
previously, with a free copy of TruSpace on a cover CD that came in
the back of a popular PC magazine. With Groboto I actually tried to
recreate some of the 3D fractals I was making at the time in a 3D
model form.
DAL: Wow.
HT: Indeed. I found that to be a lesson in futility for me, as I just
didn't have the 3D modelling talent equal to the task. But I had fun
and gained experience anyway. I don't think I've actually fused any
Groboto work with my Mandelbulb 3D images yet but you never
know.
12
 Picture: Fantasy Tree Cottage.

13
DAL: What did you like about Groboto 3, which I used a primitive to shape or cut another
think finished development about five years ago primitive, then you were done.
now? As I said, it still looks like a very tasty bit
Picture: Groboto modelling by Hal.
of software.
HT: The work of Darrel Anderson, the creator of
Groboto, is what inspired me to give Groboto a
closer look. I liked the user interface and as I
said previously the amazing meshes it could
create. It was probably not quite as intuitive of
an interface as a lot of 3D modeling programs,
but Darrel posted many video tutorials that were
pretty easy to follow and very helpful in getting
you up to speed. The Boolean operations were
unique, as you say, in that the primitives used As you continue to work on and shape your
for cutting and shaping are always editable model, you can't go back and change the
throughout the whole process. If I remember original Boolean operation. In Groboto, you
correctly, in TruSpace for instance, once you would simply reactivate the Boolean operatives,

Pictures: New Settlement and

Above The Waterline.

14
and make any changes you want at any point
without disturbing the forward progress you've
made on your model. I hope I explained that
right because I'm no expert with 3D modeling!
DAL: Yes, that says it well. I was amazed that
modelling software could do that, and then I
remembered that some of brand new features in
Zbrush do something a little similar. Is it still
worth learning, perhaps in combination with
Modo I think there was a Modo plugin from
the Groboto which did something similar inside
Modo or is Zbrush the way to go these days?
HT: I still enjoy using Groboto from time to time,
but I believe Darrel has run into some health
problems and I don't think a Groboto update is
coming. And there were some stability problems
with Groboto for Windows as well that never got
15
taken care of. So unfortunately I don't believe
Groboto is a good 3D modeling path to follow at
this time, unless something changes.
DAL: Ah well. Back to Mandelbulb. In your early
work I especially like Another Place Another
Time, and the steampunk-ish Porcupine Den
which opens this interview. Could you tell us
about those and how they were made, please?
For instance, I see mention of a slice and rotate
method for creating a cross-section of a
Mandelbulb scene? Was that technique used?
HT: Porcupine Den is where my interest in
Mandelbulb 3D really took off. And that image
does use a cutting method. The program creates
actual 3D structures, and we have the ability to
cut them at any point along the X, Y, and Z
planes. It's like cutting an apple in half, you can
then see what a cross section of what the fractal the fractal just like you were flying an airplane.
looks like at any given point. Porcupine Den It's like composing a model of a bunch of
also shows the repetitive nature of fractals as separate models but you can always change it in
you can see sphere shapes inside of spheres, real time, at any point zoom in or out, rotate
and inside are more sphere shapes. With the and pan, and also change formula variables to
programs 3D navigator, we can fly all through change shapes. And thus be able to see your

Picture: Dome Village.

16
changes almost instantly without having to
export it for rendering.
Another Place Another Time uses cutting too,
but it's not nearly as obvious because of the
finer details and the nature of the image. When I
17
created this image I was just starting to use a
post-process water effect occasionally to
enhance my fractal images. It's such a simple
thing but really changes the feel and adds
impact and a certain sort of realism that might
be otherwise missing.
DAL: And then you began your nature + fractals
series, which we think fits very well with this
issues theme. It mixes Mandelbulb and
Photoshop compositing work with stock
photography. You did you first make a start on
that series, and what was the inspiration?
HT: I had been using water, and sometimes
lightning or waterfall brushes in my work for a
few years, before I went for the more robust
post processing. Late last year was when I first
added some real-life stock plant photos to an
image. It seemed to be well liked, so I
continued on with the concept. My goal is usually
to create a fractal that looks like something real
or could actually exist somewhere. Whether that
would be in the future or the past, or on an alien
planet. Some of the styles I create images in are
organic looking and can easily be complimented
with real plant life. Scenes with structures I've
created are much improved with the addition of
trees, rocks and plant life too. So it was the goal
of creating more realistic images that was the
inspiration. It's hard to imagine a photo-realistic
fractal, but that's what I was trying to do.
DAL: These pictures are a beautiful, but slightly
eerie, evocation of a future-fantasy. Half sci-fi
and half faerie, in a very attractive way. Have
you been tempted to compile them in some
way? Illustrations for a story, or a calendar?
HT: I have considered both of those ideas. I
think almost all of the print on demand websites
have easy to make calendars. It's something on
the back burner. I created a science-fiction
calendar a few years back that didn't do too well,
so that kind of discouraged me. Fractal artwork
may still be too much of a niche market at this
point. I hope that changes. I would be more
interested in creating a fractal photo type book,
but for large formats they can be prohibitively
expensive and probably a harder sale than wall
prints are. I've had a small measure of success
selling fine art wall prints, and licensing work for
CDs and book covers though.
DAL: Thats good to hear. And talking of stories,
you have several books available: Standard
Affair; Waves In Time; and Nightland Tales:
Finder's Keepers. Are those inspired by your art,
or does the art inspire the stories?
HT: It's really a separate process between the
writing and creating images. I do imagine some
of my images going with certain parts of the
stories, but I don't actively connect them that
way. I do consider the majority of my writing
and imagery to be science fiction oriented, so
really that would be the main connection
between the two. I'm an avid science fiction
reader and as far as I'm concerned, a bad
science fiction movie has never been made. So I
like it all, even the B-grade stuff. I created all
my own book covers from my fractal work too.
DAL: From among these nature + fractals
pictures, what would you say is your favourite
picture and why?
HT: It's hard to pick favorites, but one of my
personal favorites is "Above The Water Line". I
really like how the massive unknown structure
placed in a natural setting. So you have the
known and unknown mixed together and
coexisting rather well without any need for an
explanation. The viewer can imagine whatever
they please. The structure could be an
abandoned piece of machinery or could just as
well be a functioning integral part of the
ecosystem for all we know. I try not to over
think things, but I feel the structure is something
very alien that served an important purpose in
the past. Many of my images lean toward an
abandoned or dystopian feel. The more
mysterious, the better. Sometimes I explain my
thoughts on an image and other times I leave it
to the viewers. That way the image can be
whatever they can imagine on their own.
DAL: How much time goes into post-production
of a render, if you arent adding elements such
as backdrops, plants, and suchlike?
HT: There's little to no post production if I don't
add elements. I may adjust contrast or exposure
some, but mainly I have to change the dpi
because Mandelbulb only renders at 72 dpi. The
raw image might print at 100 inches, so I
change the resolution to 200 dpi for a good 36
inch print image, and 300 dpi will give a very
nice 24 inch print. I set up almost my all my
images at DeviantArt for prints at 200 dpi or
better.
18
Picture: Organic Entanglement. 19
Picture: Summer Getaway. 20
21
Pictures: A press still showing the fractal throne room on planet Ego, plus early
promotional concept art released to the press, in which Hal-flavoured fractals
are seen at the right-hand back. Press pictures, courtesy of Marvel.

In September of 2015, the supervising art director

for Guardians of The Galaxy 2, Ramsey Avery,
contacted me to ask if I would be interested in
working on the film as a visual consultant. [...]
Ramsey said, all along, I would be surprised how
much of my work would make it to the big screen,
and I was certainly not disappointed. [] I ended
up getting screen credit as a concept artist for my
work. Hal Tenny.

22
23 Picture: Another place, another time by Hal Tenny.
DAL: Have you ever tried taking a huge fractal
OBJ to another software like Vue, and rendering
it there with the full benefit of the Vue
atmospheres? Im not sure thats even possible,
but I thought Id ask.
HT: Newer versions of Mandelbulb can create
meshes directly from the fractal image. Older
versions can export voxel slices that can then be
combined in other software and made into a
mesh. I have made a few OBJs from fractals and
experimented a little in Zbrush, but I've never
gone so far as trying to incorporate a fractal
model into a scene of any kind. I get on these
kicks sometimes where I experiment a little, but
in general, the learning curve to produce
something nice in other programs is more time
than I'm willing to spend on a whim. I would
have to be really motivated. It can be pretty
time consuming just composting in Photoshop,
and learning how to use Photoshop is a chore all
by itself.
DAL: Yes, thats true. I love it now, but it takes
a few years to learn.
HT: It's nice finding video tutorials that help with
that, and has been key in self learning the ins
and outs. I don't actually have any formal art
training or further education other than high
school a long time ago.
DAL: If you could mash together a concept from
sci-fi and a concept from fantasy, to make a new
fanta-sci or ecofuture thing, what would it be?
HT: I'm always trying to make a good looking
fractal spaceship. I've had limited success with
that so far, but have made a few shuttles. I
think a nice fractal spaceship in an organic
fractal scene might be interesting. To me, many
of the organic fractal shapes that can be created
are very much fantasy oriented. They can look
like giant mushrooms or have intricate root
structures and unusual protrusions. Ideally I
think a space ship in a scene that has fantasy-
like organic structures, with futuristic building
structures combined would be good fanta-sci
scene. And some water and real plants of
course. I have one image that came close to that
called New Settlement, but it's much more
structural based and lacks the organic fractal
element. New Settlement is kind of like an
abandoned Borg structure being explored by
settlers.
DAL: Yes, I think the combination of organic and
technological is perhaps the most interesting
way to combine fantasy and science-fiction,
something which can also slip over into an
ecofuture look. I hear you also do concept
work for big-budget movies? On your Deviantart
profile you recently added a mention of: "my
recent work as a concept artist on the Marvel
film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. That
sounds incredible. Are you able to talk about
that, or is there a studio non-disclosure
agreement in place?
HT: Sure, I can tell you a good bit about that
now. For those that haven't seen Guardians of
the Galaxy Vol 2, be warned that there may be a
few spoilers following!
Picture: Fractals in Marvels promo video for Guardians 2.
DAL: OK, I might snip a few out...
HT: Right. In September of 2015, the
supervising art director for Guardians 2, Ramsey
Avery, contacted me by email to ask if I would
be interested in working on the film as a visual
consultant. As the conversations continued, he
explained that some of my fractal images that
they had found posted online would be a good fit
for the look and feel they were pursuing for
some scenes in the film. I ended up getting
screen credit as a concept artist for my work.
DAL: Wow. How long was the work?
HT: I worked on and off for five or six weeks,
total, during the next few months, as an
independent contractor. While I did send Marvel
over 300 images and twenty or so sample OBJ
24
meshes, I didn't have much input or even
knowledge about how my work was going to be
used, or how much of it would even be used.
They were pretty secretive throughout the whole
project, as they always are on their films.
As it turns out, my imagery would be used
exclusively on a key characters planet, and
concepts of my images can be found there
almost everywhere you look including the
outside scenery, the palace itself and the
underground passages and caverns. I was told
that at the time I was hired, they were still
trying to settle on a design for the palace, and
my fractal imagery was key in helping them
Incredibly, the intriguing
Max Ernst-esque landscapes
of the planet Ego required
half a trillion polygons to
produce, making it the
biggest visual effect ever
created! [in the history of the
movie industry, and] the
mathematically-inspired
creations of artist Hal Tenny
were so influential that Tenny
himself was hired to work on
the design.
Into Film, on Guardians 2.
settle on a design concept, so that is something
that I felt very good about.
I want to be clear and say that all of the work I
submitted was further processed and
conceptualised by many other concept artists
before it appears on screen. So while my work
actually has a lot of impact on how the planet
looks, I'm not sure there is much of it that is
actually seen in its raw form.
For instance, the palace was constructed from
pieces of many different fractal images. The
floor patterns were other fractal designs. In
some areas, the furniture fabric, bed and wall
25
covers were made from an image I created in a
different 2D fractal program, Fractal Explorer. It
amazed me how the concept artists combined
fractal parts, and to a certain extent that's also
what inspired me to start creating my own
composed images that include mixing in stock
photos.
I also sent parameter files to four different VFX
companies working on the film so that they
could possibly create models directly based on
my imagery or use them as reference images.
Parameter files hold all the information to
recreate our images, and from there you could
create models from any part of the image. I
believe they eventually used other techniques to
create models of the fractal imagery.
DAL: And they must have huge render farms. I
hear they created the biggest record-breaking
VFX shot ever, for the film.
HL: Ultimately, the biggest visual effect ever
was based in part on the style of the fractal
designs I had sent. Probably not directly from
the images or parameters I submitted, but
certainly based on the gasket style fractal
concept.
Overall, it was a great experience to work with
Marvel. Ramsey Avery and the production
manager, Scott Chambliss were fantastic to
work for, and the concept artists I had a more
direct contact with, Sam Michlap and Craig
Sellars, were helpful and supportive. I had never
worked on a project of this magnitude, and was
honoured to be asked.
DAL: So, if you were counting up as you
watched the finished film, how much of your
work made it to the screen in some finished /
built / supercomputer-rendered form?
HT: Quite a bit! I'm not exactly sure what
proportion of the film takes place on that planet,
but from what I saw while watching the movie,
there are very few shots on the planet that don't
include at least a piece of fractal imagery that
could be seen in the background. Ramsey said,
all along, I would be surprised how much of my
work would make it to the big screen, and I was
certainly not disappointed.
DAL: Fantastic and did any of that make it
through to any of specific press/publicity
pictures, so that we can show an authorised
example here?
HT: Yes. I believe the very first official promo
image that was released had a small amount of
fractal work showing in the background. The
concept image was made by Andy Park. You can
vaguely see some of the gasket style tower
fractals in the background on the right [see page
22]. I believe all of the official trailers also
showed some fractal imagery [see page 24].
DAL: Thanks. A lot of your composited personal
work seems quite architectural. Does that
reflect some other aspect of your creative work
or interest? Do you do architecture
professionally? Or perhaps theres also
inspiration from your locale I imagine that
somewhere sub-tropical like South Carolina has
a similar mix of water, foliage, architecture and
light to some of your pictures?
HT: I've been in the construction industry all my
career and have always been interested in how
things were built. The more unusual and unique
something is, the more I like it. I think I kind of
carry that through in my structurally based
fractal imagery. You can make some fairly
realistic, normal looking buildings in Mandelbulb
3D, but I would rather try to create something
never seen before just like ambitious
professional architects would. And a lot of what I
do is otherworldly or alien in nature, or
fantastical. I think I could put some trolls, elves
or a unicorn in some of those images and they
would fit right in. My reading interests also
inspire the science fiction and fantasy aspects of
my work as well. We live very close to Hanging
Rock state park in North Carolina and there are
several waterfalls in different areas. So that has
probably inspired the water effects I sometimes
use in my work. I've always been fascinated by
waterfalls anyway.
DAL: Sounds like a great place to live. What sort
of view do you have from your studio window,
and what sort of setup does your studio have?
HT: My studio is actually a sectioned-off area in
the garage! I have heat and an air conditioner,
so it's comfortable and quiet, even with
unpainted walls and concrete floor. My setup is
pretty humble. I have just my computer, a large
format printer and a matte board cutter for
cutting my own mattes for prints. In the other
half of the garage is my wood shop, where I
sometimes make my own picture frames.
My desk is right next to the window, though, and
from there I can look out over the back yard. I
live in the country and can often see deer
grazing on the side of the hill fifteen or twenty
yards away. I've also built a pond and waterfall
at the bottom edge of the hill. It runs about
thirty feet uphill, where I have one of the feeds
from the pump spill onto a real water wheel that
I built in the wood shop. I can see all that from
where I'm sitting, and listen to the waterfall
when I have the window open in the summer.
It's pretty relaxing and sets a nice mode for
creating my art.
DAL: Idyllic. So I imagine theres going to be a
few upgrades, when you get the royalties
payments from Guardians ... What are you
planning? Or has it already been spent is
there a small Disney-badged render farm under
the desk, perhaps?
HT: I was hired as an independent contractor on
a daily rate basis, so no royalties
unfortunately. I managed to catch up a few bills
and some normal things like replace the
refrigerator and hot water tank too. So that was
good. I was able to upgrade my computer to an
Intel i7 with an SSD drive though, and also
stepped up to a 29-inch IPS monitor. If I ever do
move on to Mandelbulb animations, I may pick
up a used, multi CPU server. Mandelbulb 3D is a
32-bit program and that means it can only use
4Gb of memory, and it also only uses the CPU,
not the graphics card. So a machine with
multiple multi-core CPUs is the way to go.
DAL: Yes, those new Ryzen CPUs look
interesting in that regard. Although I did read
that Vue would maybe not work on them if they
were overclocked. So thats a bear-trap to
watch out for if a 3D creative is buying a new PC
soon, and its an overclocked gaming rig. What
software apart from the fractal software and
Photoshop do you find most useful? Plugins?
26
Picture: Not Thanos.

I've been in the construction industry all my career and have always been
interested in how things were built. The more unusual and unique something
is, the more I like it. I think I kind of carry that through in my structurally
based fractal imagery. You can make some fairly realistic, normal looking
buildings in Mandelbulb 3D, but I would rather try to create something never
seen before just like ambitious professional architects would.
27
HT: Other than what you've mentioned, I use a
program called ImageJ to assemble the voxel
stacks exported from Mandelbulb 3D, and then
also use it to convert the voxel stack to an OBJ
model. From there I import the OBJ into
MeshLab to further optimize the mesh. MB3D
creates absolutely huge meshes if you want to
keep the detail. Many times the mesh is in the
range of fifteen to twenty million faces and file
sizes of 1.5 to 2Gb. Those obviously need a lot
of optimization. I've also played a bit with
Zbrush, but again the learning curve has kept
me for going far.
DAL: Yes, MeshLab is usually good for poly-
reduction, and was recently updated to a more
stable version. Its freeware, too.
HT: The only non-native Photoshop plugins I use
are from Flaming Pear. I use the original Flood
plugin for water effects and Melancholytron for a
sepia effect and soft blurred edges.
DAL: I see. What would be your usual workflow
to make a picture, in 2017? Do you pre-plan or
do you just dive in?
I discovered at ArtStation
that someone there had
stolen almost my entire
DeviantArt gallery, and
posted it there as
their own work.
HT: I normally just dive in. I probably have over
50,000 parameters saved from over the years so
normally I will load a saved set of parameters
and rework them into an entirely new image.
The parameters consist of using one to six
formulas and then adjusting the formula
variables to change the shapes that the default
formula settings create. It sounds complicated,
but you don't actually need to know math to
create images in Mandelbulb 3D.
You can use background images within the
program, you can use any combination of up to
six positional or global lights. You can use height
maps formed on a flat plane, cylinder or sphere.
You can generate volumetric lights and fog, hard
shadows, transparency, reflections and depth of
field effects. So it's a fairly full-featured
program. A lot of times I will create my image in
a grey monotone so the colours don't distract
me. From there I'll either colour the image with
lights, change colour palettes or use a texture
map for colour effects. I may spend a few hours
creating a basic image and an hour or so to
28 Picture: One of Hals early Grotoboto models.
render it. Depending on what the finished image
looks like, it may inspire further work in post
processing by adding stock images to enhance it.
DAL: Thanks. You mentioned you enjoy all sorts
of science-fiction. What science-fiction or fantasy
storytelling inspires you, these days?
HT: There are a lot of science fiction TV shows
that keep me inspired. Older ones like Star Trek,
Babylon Five and Firefly are a few. Movies like
Blade Runner, Alien and The Matrix. And many
books like the sci-fi fantasy Amber novels by
Roger Zelazny and the original robot novels of
Isaac Asimov. With the ever growing popularity
of ebooks and a slew of reasonably priced books
out there, I can safely say I read one to three
books a week. So there's plenty of inspiration
readily available.
DAL: Great. What are two of your favourite on-
line resources related to digital art? Be it a
forum, on-line galleries, model sites or other
resources?
HT: I find a lot of free to use stock resources at
Picture: Its always Spring somewhere. 29
DeviantArt. I've been a member there for eight
years so that's one of my favourites. And there
are many great digital artists there to gain
insight from and be inspired by. I recently joined
ArtStation where there are also many fantastic
artist galleries. Unfortunately, the way I
discovered ArtStation is that someone there had
stolen almost my entire DeviantArt gallery and
posted it there as their own work.
DAL: No! Oh, wow. One occasionally hears about
people worrying about such things but to
hear that it happened and the whole gallery.
HT: Once I informed the admins, that user was
quickly banned of course. I haven't uploaded
much of my work there yet, but I plan to.
DAL: You have to wonder what someone gets
out of ripping off like that. Did they just want the
money from print sales? To get a job-offer/visa
ticket into the USA, and then abscond? Anyway
lets talk about something more positive. What
are you working on at the moment?
HT: Nothing special right now. I work on fractal
images every day and usually post something
new at DeviantArt four or five times a week. I'm
currently working through somewhat of a slump
that seems to occur two or three times a year. I
do a little gaming and I got side tracked with a
new one. I usually buy at least one new game
every year when Steam runs their summer sale.
But I'll get back on track soon enough.
DAL: Yes, big games can take a lot of time.
Even just downloading it, installing, modding it
and figuring out all the tricks and tips can take a
day. Then theres mastering the controls,
getting out of the training section. I thought
recently play Risen again, or Titan Quest, or
even revisit the great Morrowind? But theyre so
huge and take months, and theres so much else
to do thats more productive. Movies are quicker.
Talking of movies. If the Guardians of the
Galaxy team came back to you and said: Hal,
Pixar are busy make us an awesome short
film we can show in front of Guardians of the
Galaxy 3 what might you want to make?
Pictures: The Only Way Out and Giant Mushroom Forest.
HT: I would kind of like to do... a video of
exploring some of the dystopian visions I've had
in my pictures. [See the picture shown below]
I'm pretty certain I could come up with a fairly
entertaining story to go along with it. A good
Mandelbulb 3D based animation takes a long
time to create though, sometimes many months
just to get the renders. Maybe some day I'll set
aside the time to do that.
DAL: No online render farms for Mandelbulb 3D,
to help with the load. Maybe the render farms
are missing a trick there. But if someone was
wowed by your pictures and wanted to get and
learn Mandelbulb, what tips would you give
them? Basic mistakes to avoid, and the must-
do things
HT: The main advice I would give is to give it a
fair chance. You can make some nice things right
from day one, but it will take time to learn what
formulas work well together. Combining
formulas is where you can discover new styles
and create unique work. There is a lot of
30
information out there now to help learn it, and
that's something that was lacking when I first
started. So do the tutorials, and spend the time
to learn your way around. There's also a great
Facebook Group called Mandelbulb Maniacs (with
nearly 10,000 members) where everyone is
there to help new users learn the program. Play
with other artists parameters to learn what it
takes to make the different styles. Many artists
freely share their parameters to help others
learn. And what ever you do, always give credit
to the original artist if you tweak their
parameters and make your own image from
their work. We're a pretty close community and
watch out for each other.
DAL: Wonderful. Thanks for the tip. Great,
well thanks very much for taking the time to do
this in-depth interview with us. We wish you
well with your future projects, and hope that
Marvel will come calling again for Guardians 3.
HT: Well I certainly appreciate it! Mandelbulb 3D
was a good alternative for me for getting into
31
creating 3D imagery without using the more
popular and well known traditional 3d modelling
programs or making digital paintings. Being
asked to work on the big new Marvel film was
totally unexpected and gratifying. And I'm happy
to have had a part in bringing fractal imagery
closer to where it can be appreciated and
accepted as a more mainstream kind of art
work. Thanks for having me on Digital Art Live!
DAL: Our pleasure. Thanks for a great
interview.
Hal Tenny is online at:
http://haltenny.deviantart.com/
Guardians 2 official trailer at Marvel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=dW1BIid8Osg
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 Terragen 4.1.1 has been released. This
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37
FRANK LITTLE

USA

VUE | MAYA |
PRODUCT DESIGN

WEB

Picture:
Hanging
Artichoke. 38
Digital Art Live hangs out with Frank Little
to talk about modelling alien plants for
Vue, learning Maya, and re-training to
become a product designer.
39
DAL: Frank, welcome to Digital Art Live
magazine. We recently had a Vue special
issue and long review of the new Vue, so
were pleased to have such an accomplished
user of Vue accept an in-depth interview.
How did you first encounter and get into 3D?
Was it straight-to-Vue or was there some
other software like Bryce?
FL: Yes, I did actually start with Bryce. My
dad is a 3D hobbyist as well and one day he
said, very offhand, Hey, I think youd like
this program. He really had no idea how
that one suggestion would change my life.
DAL: Wow. And was it Bryce which got you
into modelling, as well? I know that, back in
the day, Bryce was thought of as a
comparatively easy modelling tool?
FL: I didnt model for quite a while after I
started using Bryce. I remember getting
some advice from another Bryce user,
Orbital. He told me it was best that I make
my own models, and from then on I tried my
best to do so, first with Silo, and much later,
when I started going to school at the Art
Institute, with Maya.
DAL: Tell us about your experience with Silo,
which may not be a familiar name to many
readers.
FL: My dad also got me started with Silo. I
watched some tutorials, but had a hard time
really grasping the basics of 3D modelling.
Instead I played with the program and
figured out what I could on my own.
DAL: And this was to build your own fabulous
science fiction worldscapes? I see you
recently posted some of the pages from your
sketchbook at that time, showing your
sketch designs for creatures and plants. Was
the intention to build compete living worlds
for Vue, with creatures as well as plants?
FL: I think, like a lot of people who read
Tolkien, Martin, and other fantasy authors, I
from an early age wanted to emulate
them, and so from the very beginning I
wanted to create a believable world. I wrote
stories, created histories, drew creatures,
and then finally came to 3D, where all those
ideas could coalesce.
DAL: Theres definitely a stylistic legacy from Bryce,
going into your Vue work. Do you think there was a
Bryce style, and if so what was it about that
software that nudged people in certain directions?
FL: Bryce was the first program where I was able to
create models, though not polygon-based models.
Bryce had a plant creation system that, though it
wasnt as clean as Vues, was in many ways superior,
at least for me, in that it had a wider range of
options. And some of those early plants definitely
influenced later creations. At the time I also started
modelling with Xfrog, another component based
modelling program, and to this day I still use it,
though I often modify the models in Maya.
DAL: I see. Were there some digital artists that you
first looked up to, when you started out? Who were
they and what did you like about their work?
FL: Sadly I cant remember a lot of the names of
those early artists, but they were definitely there.
Some worked exclusively in Bryce, while others
showed me the possibilities of what other programs
could do. There was Orbital, who I mentioned
earlier, and Carlo Traversi. When I saw his work I
realised how much I had yet to learn.
DAL: And then you made the move to Vue, with some
beautifully imaginative work like The Bull and His
Harem and Guardian of the Mansions, which we
show in this interview. Am I right in detecting the
influence of the famous Morrowind videogame there?
I thinking of the floating Bull Netches in Morrowind.
The city of Tel Mora also.
FL: Yes, that image was definitely influenced by the
Bull Netch from Morrowind, though stylistically I
wanted something very different.
DAL: You also like unusual dragons, insects and
lizards and what might be termed speculative
evolution. Undersea creatures too. Do you have an
interest in those in real-time too? Do you go out on
bug-hunts, or sea-diving, or keep a bug-arium in the
corner of the studio?
FL: Im most interested in insects because they seem
the least like us. I did go on bug hunts as a kid, but
there was an unfortunate incident with a praying
mantis at the time I was unaware they had wings
or even if they did that they had the power to use
them and as a result for a time I was a bit phobic.
Im not sure when that wore off, or if it has entirely,
since most of my exploration of the insect world is
through media of one form or another, usually
accompanied by David Attenborough.
I do also love tide pools. For a time, I used to take
photos of those on the coast here in California and try
and imagine them on a grander scale. Im sure there
are obvious influences there as well.
DAL: Yes, I noticed recently that Vue and Poser are
both deficient in really high quality tide-pools, in
terms of 3D store content. I would have thought that
would be the perfect Vue still life content. Yes, the
California coast must be fabulous for undersea diving.
And of course these days theres increasing interest
and buzz around seasteading, undersea living.
Creatively too. Were hoping to have a profile soon of
the Subnautica game, which has some wonderful
undersea alien creatures, without the need to suit up
and strap on the air tanks. But back to dry land. Tell
us about The Old King series of pictures, which I
presume was inspired by the famous crossroads
scene with Sam and Frodo in The Lord of the Rings?
FL: Its possible that was where I first encountered
that, but I have drawings from much earlier of similar
ideas. Ive always loved ruins, both ancient and
modern. The series of pictures I did though really
theyre more of an evolution of an idea are
supposed to represent a four sided faced pillar of an
ancient king. There are several, this one just
happens to be one that has since been toppled and
overgrown.
DAL: Have you kept up with the newer versions of
Vue? Or was there a wholesale move to Maya?
FL: I still use Vue 8, actually. When I started school
at the Art Institute, though, my focus went to Maya.
DAL: Was that the school pushing you to a
professional choice, thinking that Maya skills would
open up employment opportunities in games? Does
Maya still fit in your current workflow?
FL: Maya being the industry standard at the time, I
figured it was best to really focus on it. I had
planned to be a 3D generalist, possibly specialising in
environments, but in the last year Ive found that I
really love, of all things, product visualization, and
Ive started to get freelance work in the industry.
DAL: Super. Yes, thats a growing market, and then
theres a the intersection of that with VR on the one
hand, and 3D printing on the other. Talking of
marketplaces, I like your Maya scene Above the
Marketplace. Some lighting hot-shot on Deviantart
wrote The texture gamma balance is off here. But I
think its great, it gives it that bleached ultra-bright
Mediterranean look. It makes it look like a believable
really sunny place, where the textures have just
faded out under years of sun. Tell us about how the
Marketplace series of pictures came to be, please.
40
 Picture: The
Great King
Surveys His
Realm.

41
Picture: Guardian of the mansions.
42
43
FL: I understand what you mean by the bleached out
look, and that was definitely what I was going for, but
in a general sense he was correct, and it was the first
time Id been introduced to the concept of gamma
correction and linear light workflows. That series of
pictures was for a 3D environment class I took. I
wanted to create something with interesting
architecture and strange plants, since those are two
things I really love.
DAL: And you live in Long Beach, California, so Im
guessing the sunny desert-ish sort of climate there
may influence your work? Im thinking also of the
succulent and bleached nature of some of the plants
in many of your pictures. Do you get that kind of
inspiration from your surroundings and weather?
FL: Its funny how often someone asks me if I live in
coastal California, based on my images. I didnt
realize how much influence the landscape had on my
work.
DAL: Does it worry you about the whole California,
dropping into the ocean one day thing?
FL: Funnily enough, when I was young the running
joke in my family was that at the dinner table,
whenever the conversation had grown stale I would
suggest we talk about earthquakes. Im not nearly as
worried now as I was then.
DAL: Are you still living on Long Beach, California?
FL: I actually left Long Beach five years ago. I have a
five year old daughter and I wasnt able to go to
school, work, and take care of her, so I moved back
home with my parents.
DAL: I see. Whats your setup these days, in terms of
studio and render box and suchlike?
FL: My studio is the bedroom I share with my
daughter, just a desk with some monitors. I try to
work at school as much as possible.
DAL: I see. Youre also interested in unusual
musical instruments, and have also modelled these.
Do you play as well?
FL: Yes, I started playing guitar in my late teens and
still do, but mostly I play piano. I do have a
hammered dulcimer as well, and I would love to be
able to own some of the other instruments Ive
modelled.
DAL: Have you ever thought of modelling a series of
alien musical instruments? Kind of like your plants,
but made musical. Much as tribal peoples made
musical instruments from dried gourds and so on.
That might be quite fun.
FL: I have, but I would want to know if those
instruments could actually play. So for now, since
Im not knowledgeable enough, Ive stuck to creating
variations on those instruments were familiar with.
DAL: Im not sure that anythings future-proof these
days, but what set of starting software would you
recommend for a young beginner, making science-
fiction scenes?
FL: If they can afford it, I would suggest Vue. There
are quite a few versions one is free, I believe so
most people probably can.
DAL: Yes, the free starter version, thats still there.
And most people have quad-core CPUs meaning
faster rendrs, as Vue is CPU-bound and the latest
version Vue 2016 R2 is a lot quicker and more stable.
Theres also the easy ability to get Poser 11 scenes to
Vue without any re-texturing hassles. Whats your
own personal favourite image from your portfolio and
why?
FL: Oh, thats such a hard question to answer. Its a
toss up between The Old King has Company,
Oasis, and Emperors of the East. I feel like those
are stylistically the most interesting and the best
compositions, although I now see several things I
could do to make them better.
DAL: When the Music is Over was a stylistic
departure for you. Very nicely dark and glowy,
compared to your light and airy other work. Was that
a deliberate decision, to do something 180-degrees
from your usual style? Would you recommend that
approach to others, to flip around their usual style or
approach, once in a while?
FL: That was an image I did for my first lighting and
texturing class. Its really the first true Maya image I
think I ever made.
DAL: You also make fantasy maps, of your world,
Minzaron, and back stories. How is Minzaron
progressing? Has it continued to develop?
FL: Yes, all of us that is based on world-building,
along with my pictures. Maps were some of my first
attempts at creating that world. Actually, the ones I
have posted are out-dated now and I have since
changed them quite a bit, hopefully for the last time.
DAL: What sort of fantasy or science-fiction do you
enjoy, from other creatives, in that line?
FL: I actually dont read as much fantasy as I used
to, except for George R.R. Martin. I grew up with
Tolkien and Ursula K. Le Guin. I read more historical
non-fiction these days.
44
Picture: Asjawan
and the maiden.

45
46
 Pictures:
The Bull and
his harem,
inspired by
the Bull Netch
creatures in
the famous
videogame
Morrowind by
Bethesda.
The Old King
has
company.
Detail from
pages in one
of Franks
personal
sketchbooks,
showing ideas
for alien
creatures and
plants, to be
modelled in
3D and then
rendered in
47 Vue.
48
 Pictures:
Detail from pages
in one of Franks
personal
sketchbooks,
showing ideas for
alien creatures
and plants, to be
modelled in 3D
and then
rendered in Vue.
Insets: Walker
and Hermitage,
showing one of
Franks plant
ideas realised in
Vue in different
ways.

49
DAL: I see. Im currently reading Erasmus Darwins
The Botanic Garden: The Economy of Vegetation
(1791), a fascinating early work of almost proto-
science fiction at times, in which he attempts to meld
all the old classical motifs of naiads and fauns and
gnomes and goddesses to the newly emerging world
of science and industry, while also forecasting with
great foresight the ways the modern world would
develop. He does a fairly good job of it in the
Economy half of the book, and is mostly optimistic.
It fits well with the theme of this issue, the melding
of science-fiction with fantasy, usually with a good
serving of future greenery. What specific things from
science-fiction would you like to see mashed up with
elements from high fantasy?
FL: I dont think Ive ever really contemplated that,
although yes I could see interesting ideas arising
from taking classical mythological ideas and melding
them with sci-fi and science.
DAL: Yes, I think that general approach may be
where augmented reality is headed heralded by
the Microsoft hololens, the recently Pokemon Go, and
suchlike, but with much further to go offering a
sort of re-haunting of the world with animistic
spirits. But the new ones, the ones that catch on for
adults, will probably be more sort of a techno-fantasy
hybrid. Have you explored the possibilities of VR or
AR yet?
FL: Yes, I think AR and VR are where were headed as
a species. I think before we ever really explore other
50
worlds, well create them here and live in them.
Thats going to be quite a long conversation for
humanity to have, though. As for my own world, I
would love to live long enough to create a virtual
version of it and explore it.
DAL: Ah yes, well the future comes up quick these
days. Keyshot 7 was just released, with really easy
VR environment authoring complete with collision
detection walkthroughs and objects. Costly, but I
believe their educational version is now full-featured.
You mentioned youre still learning. What do you
have planned for the near future, both in terms of
creative work and in terms of learning?
FL: I have three more quarters of learning, so when
Im finally done with that Ill probably focus mostly on
Pictures: Above the Marketplace; What Remains of Sjunsjiere;
Tausis, a musical instrument modelled by Frank.
Frank Little is online at:
http://fclittle.deviantart.com/
51
my career in product design. But in this industry you
take what you can get, and I may very well find that
the work I want isnt available, forcing me to try
something new. Ive started using Vue again,
actually because of this interview, and again Im
finding I have a lot to learn, or re-learn.
DAL: Right, then you should check out our recent Vue
issues in-depth Vue 2016 review. There are also new
affordable online render farms happy to see Vue files,
such as the UKs GarageFarm.NET. Great, well
thanks for your time, as you sound quite busy. We
wish you all the best in your studies and for the
future.
FL: Thanks so much for the consideration!
CREATIVE IDEA: giant insects on thin metal structures.
ORGANICS IN SCI-FI PULP ART
Amazing Stories
May 1926.
In 1926 Hugo Gernsback had just begun
this famous magazine title, and was
quickly nick-named the Rat for his miserly
and late payments to accomplished
authors. May 1926 was only his second
issue, and Gernsback was playing it safe
by reprinting names such as Wells, Poe
and Verne. The cover artist Frank R. Paul
(1884-1963) portrays the moth-like
Martians of Wells's early story The Crystal
Egg (1897), in which sort of 'palantir'
seeing-stone mysteriously arrives from
Mars and allows the unsuspecting Mr. Cave
to see the creatures and landscape of the
red planet. The red cliffs and the canals of
Mars are present, but the sky is blue rather
than red. The curious metal wheel is
nicely echoed by the ripples in the canal.
CREATIVE IDEA: mystical blending of a river and a tiger.
Weird Tales
January 1943.
Angelic women intercepting doomed airships
and aircraft has been an occasional recurring
theme in science-fiction and fantastic art.
Here the idea is portrayed by A. R. Tilburne
illustrating Frank Owens Quest of a Noble
Dragon, a mystical war story of an American
airman shot down over China, rescued by a
river-spirit and taken to a curious dreamland.
Her flowing hair echoes the river-like nature of
the spirit, while the pose of her limbs suggests
a crouching tiger done in the Chinese manner.
A. R. Tilburne (1887-1965) served in the U.S.
Navy and started selling commercial art in the
depths of the Great Depression in 1935. He did
many covers for Weird Tales including one for
a reprint of Lovecraft's lesser Catskills story
The Lurking Fear in 1947. He later painted
many
52 scenes of the Old West in America.
CREATIVE IDEA: flowing upward mix of metal/organics.
Galaxy Science Fiction magazine
November 1954.
This striking mid-1950s cover by Ed EMSH
Emshwiller (1925-1990) is titled Space-
Time in One Tough Lesson on the
contents page, and it doesn't appear to
illustrate any particular story in the issue.
It is a pleasing mix of space art, organics
and technology, anchored by a questing
woman scientist. Emshwiller began
working for New York pulp magazines in
1951 and also worked on paperback covers
for Galaxys spin-off line of news-stand
books. From 1964 he took an interest in
experimental film and became an early
video artist, his career bridging the world
of 1950s New York pulp covers and the
world of Californian computer graphics in
the 1970s and 80s. His work was fairly
recently collected in book form in
Emshwiller: Infinity x Two (2007).
53
CREATIVE IDEA: geometric design intersects characters.
SF magazine (Japan)
#8, 1970.
SF Magazine was established in Japan in 1959
and became one of the nations leading
science-fiction magazines, offering new
translations of English works alongside
original Japanese stories. This dynamic front
cover by Keizo Iwabuchi (1942) is one of a
long series of covers he painted for the
magazine in the 1960s and 70s, many
featuring a near-symbolist blending of the
organic and the technological, with touches of
modern graphic design. Here he has
successfully suggested outer space, alien
symbiote spacesuits, portals in space, and
futuristic architecture, all in the same picture.
In the 1970s he also created covers and
illustrations for the Japanese translations of
Edgar Rice Burroughs (Princess of Mars) and
Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), and worked
on various local boys book series.
 We talk with Hera of Stockholm (Linda
Granqvist) about Star Wars, beachfront
studios, DAZ Studio, and creating a lengthy
picture novella with her renders.

DAL: Linda, welcome to Digital Art Live, and to our LG: It was back in the mid 1990s, I encountered a
eco-future issue. Its based around the idea of the small 3D program which was a freeware, included on
melting of science-fiction and fantasy, most often by a disk which came strapped together with a
using a future nature as the glue between them. computer magazine. Unfortunately, I don't
When we saw your blending of genres in your large remember its name and the CD is lost. I installed,
gallery, plus your recent beach pictures, we were had a lot of fun with it, within the limits available
sure youd make for an interesting interview. back then. You could mostly just play around with
primitives like orbs, boxes, pyramids, triangles,
LG: Thank you! I'm honoured.
change colours and textures on them. Naturally the
DAL: Youre obviously having a lot of fun with your only thing you could do with that application was
art. When did you first encounter 3D art, and realise abstract art, and a render of 250 x 200 pixel took
how much fun could be had in that way? 54
almost an hour, but it was fun nevertheless.

DAL: Sounds cool. That might have been Organica,
perhaps. We really need a sort of archaeological
enyclopedia of old 3D software, these days!
LG: Then I got my hands on a more advanced
program, Micrograph X or something similar, and
this time it included props like furniture and cars and
sports items, musical instruments and suchlike. Plus
a simple human 3D figure which you could dial in
settings to make a man or a woman. I became
hooked instantly. I still have some of those works,
some surreal pieces with post-work in Photoshop.
55
LINDA GRANQVIST
SWEDEN
DAZ STUDIO |
CARRARA |
PHOTOSHOP
WEB
Picture:
Minouka's
Bath (detail).
DAL: Micrografx Simply 3D, by the sound of it. After
that software, was it straight to DAZ Studio? Or were
there other software choices in-between?
LG: I was also working quite a bit with Bryce and the
early Terragen, but Terragen was left behind when I
bought a new computer and never got around to
install an update. Then, when I eventually got the
new computer, the software had changed too much
for me that it was impossible to just jump right into
it again and start where I left off. I had to start all
over again learning it, and there simply was no time.
DAL: I see. Lets talk about your art. I like the mix of
Gods and Divine Places with science-fiction, in your
art. Was that inspired by reading or viewing? Jack
Kirbys superhero gods, or a series of novels
perhaps, or a TV series? Nordic mythology?
LG: Actually, it goes back to the 1980s and Star Wars
and the early superhero movies at that time , and to
art works by surrealists like Dali and the Swedish art
group Halmstadgruppen (The Halmstad Group). And
to classicists who were doing landscape work with
fantasy roman ruins. Then I've always been
interested in and inspired by the Graeco-Roman
myths and their multitude of inspiring characters. In
my mind the airy vistas of Olympus reminds a lot of
the sci-fi visions of societies in the sky and surging
high-rise architecture. And the heroic endeavours in
many sci-fi epics reminds me of the old myths.
Nothing strange in that, really, because there's a
clear line running from the ancient adventures to
those we still tell And these similarities have
challenged me to create a blend between those
words. Like a sci-fi take on Olympus for instance. To
create something Anachronic outside of time.
DAL: And there are a lot of kings and queens as well,
in your art. Is there some childhood influence on
those themes, perhaps? Perhaps you had an interest
in the Swedish royal family?
LG: Yes, indeed I have. Well spotted. In Sweden
we've always been proud of our royal family, they're
very popular here. And the monarch, in real life as in
the fairy tales is an inspiring character. There's the
glory of an atoined monarch and the grand
coronations, there's the leader who rides in front of
an army or takes responsibility for the day-to-day
governing. Or there can be the tyrant, the badass
who backs off on nothing in order to keep their
power. But most of the time there's your solid hard-
working monarch on the throne, and those are the
ones who inspire me. Even in the tales for children,
there are such monarchs. Like Snow White's absent
father for instance. It was obvious that he loved his
daughter, yet he was unable to save her from her
jealous step mother.
DAL: Yes, and I think a lot of that feeds into a certain
type of science-fiction. Im thinking that Star Wars
looks like quite a big influence on you?
LG: Yes, Star Wars was my first real door-opener to
the world of sci-fi. I was only a kid then, when my
dad brought me to see the first movie, and I was
blown away. It was Star Wars. By the characters, by
the environments, the technology and several other
things.
DAL: What a great introduction.
LG: And still today I love to work with those simple,
obvious visual symbols of good or evil such as the
colours of the light sabres. Just attach a red or blue/
green sable to a character and you can tell who's
good or bad. No need for further explanation.
DAL: And you also make back-stories for your
pictures. Do they all link into a unified back-story?
LG: No, they are not linking in to a universal story.
Most of the time they are tiny sketches, minimalistic
short stories, told in visuals as well as in words. Often
a picture tells its own story but sometimes I feel the
need to add a little something too.
DAL: I see you also have a lengthy Medusa's Eyes
picture novella on DeviantArt, with about sixty
pictures? How did that come about?
LG: It started with four or five pictures of a modern
Medusa, who had a desire to be able to see her lover
for real. And then I added characters and side
stories to that and slowly it evolved to a picture
novella. Actually, there's about 50 more pictures to
that one, which never made it into final cut of the
story thats now online. Mostly because I felt that
they were not up to par, or that I missed some
important element. Some of these became picked up
and remade later, like a display of Medusa and her
two sisters, others still live on a hard drive
somewhere, perhaps waiting for a revival.
DAL: I see. What are three of your personal favourite
images you have created? What did you learn from
creating them and what inspired you to create them?
LG: The first one, Message from Earth is more than
a decade old now work, a surreal / sci-fi story of what
we Earthlings might write to another race and send to
them. Inspirationally, it's a blend between the NASA
Voyager space probe project, the ongoing search for
life in the universe and of several art works with
bottled messages. Then theres Stellar Driftwood
which is about the long and hard venture for love
which eventually pays off. Most of the times in
unexpected ways. Here I worked a lot with colours,
reflections and light, I used two stock pictures as
base and added 3D elements and worked with
creating realistic water reflexes to match that of the
sky. I also spent a lot of time with Somewheria, I
even dreamt it in the end. I added and removed
pieces and moved them around and worked with
details. And I became really pleased with the
outcome, because in the end it corresponded a lot
with what I wished to do. It's just pure fantasy, and
with the aim to convey the rare tranquillity that
sometimes exists between dream and reality.
56
Picture: Laira.

57
DAL: And tell our readers about your studio please?
The setup, the environment, and the view from your
window.
LG: Thats a bit hard because the studio varies for
me. I usually bring the computer, camera and other
items with me. At home I work in a corner of the
living room. Right now, I'm at my summer house and
sitting in a small living room with a view over the sea
and a low, flat shore landscape. It's very beautiful
and inspiring regardless of weather. Actually, today
it's grey and rainy, but usually I can see the most
magnificent sunsets here.
DAL: Yes, its a wet summer in the UK and Europe.
Pictures: Melina vs. the Metatron; Worlds Apart.
But being by the sea sounds great. And when you
get back to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, what is
the creative life like? Is there a 3D scene? Is the city
still enjoyable despite its recent misfortunes?
LG: Yes, though today the Stockholm scene revolves
a lot about music and photography. I enjoy going to
concerts and to visit various art galleries and I get
see different kings of art, both in paintings and
photographic work.
DAL: And what software does your studio run these
days? And render engine?
LG: I use DAZ Studio and the iRay render engine and
58
then I do a lot of post work in Photoshop. I also use
Lucinda Explorer, J-wildfire and Incendia for creating
simple fractal patters which can work as great
textures and / or objects. Sometimes I work in DAZ
Carrara as well, I mostly create backgrounds there
which I blend with other work.
DAL: DAZ Carrara is powerful and often overlooked,
which is a pity, but at least it got its 8.5 update, and
now has a Lux renderer plugin. What would you like
to see in the long-awaited DAZ Studio 5 (or Studio 8
or whatever name it eventually appears under)?
LG: There are a few things, like an ability to render in
layers, an easier way to work with dials and morphs,
59
volumetric for iRay and suchlike. I wish there were a
way to add real god rays and bokehs and similar
effects directly in the render process. There are some
functions for doing god rays in DAZ, but they are
very limited and hard to work with. Indirect and
atmospheric light would be nice to have too. And
most of all, I'd love a better way to organize items in
DAZ, now my items library is in a more mess than my
attic. I feel that I spend too much time searching for
items and fighting a losing battle when it comes to
organize and structure thing in DAZ a bit better.
DAL: Ah yes, well we recently ran a webinar at
Digital Art Live on that very topic!
Pictures: The Unrevived, The Kaliphessa of Derhemen.60
61
LG: But foremost, at the present time, I'm looking DAL: Yes, its great that we now have so much
forward to Michael 8. I'd also love to have a new cat royalty-free content available, and an ongoing market
and dog. There has been a while since. which is only growing. If one wants a life-size
steampunk jack-rabbit with side-whiskers and pirate-
DAL: Right. The flagship male character. Im
leg there it is! Plus costume! And stranded short
guessing its a November release, probably, for M8.
fur, even. One just has to bash together a few bits of
LG: I was actually surprised to see Victoria 8 appear content. What is your standard approach to a
before the release of the main DAZ Studio 5 software, workflow?
since I'd figured they would plan for a release of her
LG: I start with something in my head, then I sketch
together with the DAZ 5 features and thus give that
on paper. Simple stickmen, horizons, buildings,
lady a real injection of improvements. I felt that,
vehicles and similar. Thats just to get a feeling of
coming out now that she felt quite rushed and I still
the balance in a picture. Then I see what I have
fail to see what makes her so much better than
available and I start working with it. A lot happens
Genesis 3 which in some ways was even a step
during the process, things can become something
backwards from Genesis 2.
entirely different, one picture might become several
DAL: Itll be interesting to see what features from or several might be blended into one.
the next DAZ Studio feed into and enchance V8 /
DAL: I see. And then at the other end of the process,
Genesis 8, certainly. Do you have favourite content
how much time do you usually put into post-
creators, who you buy from again and again on the
production work?
stores? For instance, I see that 1971s has a lot of
Poser models put to good use in your Cloudtopia LG: It depends. Sometimes there is only little things
series (three of which are shown below). to be done, like edit out a poke-through or fix a
character's hair. Other times I put in a lot of work
LG: There's 1971s of course, but I'm also really fond
with lighting, background, adding effects like rays of
of Stonemanson, Danie-Maforno, Aeon Soul in her
light, bokeh, blurs etc. And sometimes there are
various incarnations, and also Nightshift, Polish,
render errors to take care of, which leads to several
Lilflame and suchlike. I love how these makers put
re-renders of parts of the picture. Some errors I
effort both into creativity and quality and challenge
might discover as late as during the post work.
my imagination.

Pictures: three from the Cloudtopia series.

62
DAL: I see. Do you get inspiration for your art from
the city, or from elsewhere in Sweden? I see you
have posted some architectural photography, for
instance, at your gallery.
... the studio varies for me.
I usually bring the computer
and camera with me. Today
I'm at my summer house and
in a small living room with a
view over the sea and a low,
flat shore landscape.
LG: Yes, from Sweden and other places. I travel a lot,
I always take a camera. I seldom use them directly,
just as inspirations. It can be anything from a
German castle to a Tibetian monk, and they become
transformed into something entirely different.
DAL: Which digital artist communities do you use and
recommend and how have they helped your work?
LG: These days I'm mostly on DAZ forums and on
DeviantArt. I used to be on Elfwood as well, but that
one disappeared about 2 years ago. There was also a
63
3D forum I loved but it was overtaken by spambots
for about 5 years ago and I've never found anything
alike again. That was a place where you could discuss
3D art from all perspectives and people there had
been around long enough to actually remember the
netiquette from the early days of Internet. Thus they
were helpful, respectful and nice, even to those who
were beginners in a discipline or otherwise. I really
miss a place like that today. But the DAZ forum is a
great place for me, there you get all kind of answers
connected to DAZ Studio, DAZ Carrara and more.
DAL: How do you refresh your creative energies?
LG: I take a few days off from it. I go out in the
nature and re-charge. I go powerwalking, as I
cannot run anymore because of a bad knee, and I
consume culture. Just movies, books, art. Or I cook, I
love cooking when I can then offer my food to others.
DAL: What new themes are emerging in your work?
LG: These days I'm working quite a bit with sci-fi
robotics, which is old and favourite inspiration of
mine. Theres a political edge developing, things like
future environmental hazards, religion gone bad and
similar. I'm also experimenting a bit with more gritty
cyborgs and robots, but so far there's nothing coming
out of it that has pleased me enough to may it worth
finishing and publishing. They're still sitting on my
hard drive and one day they might show up. Or not.
DAL: What aspect of your artwork or software In Sweden we've always been
would you like to improve on next?
proud of our royal family, they're
LG: I'd love to learn to be better at working
with light in the iRay engine in DAZ Studio. To very popular here. And the
create smoother passages between lights and monarch, in real life as in the fairy
shadows, indirect light and so on.
tales is an inspiring character.
DAL: Right, well our next issue is on Lighting
for character, so that may be useful.
LG: Interesting, Ill keep an eye open for that.
There are also quite a few lighting functions,
like bloom, that I have yet to master in DAZ
Studio. When I kick in the bloom on a render
for instance, it all goes Monet on me. Then,
on another note, I'd love to improve my real-
world photography skills. To discover how to
get better with colours and light and depth.
DAL: Finally, what three tips do you have for
those who are just starting out in model
creation and/or digital artwork?
LG: Firstly, to not give in, one day they're
going to cross the threshold and it all become
so much easier. Secondly, to not hesitate to
ask for help. Find a forum where people are
actually helpful instead of calling you Noob and
tell you to read the manual. And then to use
that forum. To ask but also to read. To go look
for tutorials. There are a lot out there. If you
find someone who has done something
amazing, offer your praise and ask how they
did it. Personally I'm a learner-by-doing, I
experiment until I get what I want, find what
kind of learner you are! If you prefer to
experimenting or tutorials. Or a blend
between. And finally, to not forget to have fun.
DAL: Great, well thats all good advice.
Judging by your Gallery, youve certainly got
the having fun side of things sorted out.
Many thanks for doing this in-depth interview
with Digital Art Live magazine. We wish you
all the best in the future.
LG: Thank you!

Linda Granqvist, aka Hera of

Stockholm, is online at:
http://hera-of-
stockholm.deviantart.com/

Picture: Loyalty to the Queen. 64

65
Digital Art Live examines some ecofuture visions
which seem to illustrate the emerging idea of blending
futuristic technology with genre elements more often
associated with fantasy most usually by using
nature as a way to bind the two approaches together.

66
67
 Pictures: Previous page, and top strip shows
The Supertree Grove, part of the Gardens by
the Bay Nature Park in Singapore. Credits
right: Derrick Brutel, and left, William Cho.
The trunks of the supertrees can be up to 160
feet high and are covered with 160,000 living
plants from tropical flowers to ferns and
climbers. The structures harvest solar power
and moisture to sustain the plants, and serve
as cooling towers for plant conservatories
below. At dusk the trees glow with the light
they have harvested from the sun during the
day. Below: Mushrooms of Agememna by
Lupus Deus Art.

68
69
Picture: Giant Sequoia Skyscraper, Honorable Mention in the 2017
EVOLVO Skyscraper Competition. Giant Sequoia Skyscraper was
designed by Ko Jinhyeuk, Cheong Changwon, Cho Kyuhyung, and
Choi Sunwoong of South Korea. The Giant Sequoia have enormous
volume and height, but does not grow deep roots. This means that
when the heartwood, or the structural backbone, starts to naturally
rot away, the tree falls dead due to its own immense weight. This
projects suggests that architecture quietly takes place in the empty
void of rotted trunks, without encroaching on the powerful visual
landscape formed by these giants. http://www.evolo.us/
70
71
72
 Artificial bioluminescence for aesthetic
purposes is likely to be one of the first
widely deployed fruits of biotechnology,
once the science steps beyond energy
and medicine. Appearing first in
fashionable smart clothes, the
temptation will then be to create glow
in the dark animals as home pets.
Bioluminescent jellyfish genes have
already been successfully spliced into
cats for research purposes, creating
cute glow-in-the-dark kittens.
Pictures: Opposite page, Glowy Things
2 by Arki. This page, top: Phaser
Cat by 000fesbra000; Making of
Rudolf by Junowski.
73
Our cultures digital
imaginaries are also
likely to be overlaid
with visions of cyber-
styled spirits and
archaic worker
behemoths, as AR
overlays for the real-
world emerge for a
grown-up audience.
Pictures: Aesther
Summoner by
KoTnoneKoT, for the
Gloomhaven
Kickstarter; Troll,
also by KoTnoneKoT.

74
75
Even in space there will
be a need to introduce
and overlay natural
elements, if we are to
live and work there
permentantly and not
go crazy. Will the
citizens of future colony
-ships to the stars
humanize the cosmic
void with animistic AR
overlays, and be unable
to imagine experiencing
outer space without
such aids?
Pictures: "Universe
Wolf" by Dumaker;
"The Nereid who
Wanted To Live In The
Stars", by Soniamatas.

76
77
Will a future humanity need to have
formal regard for new forms of identity
and partnerships such as a marriage
between a person and a human
companion whose only embodiment is to
inhabit a robot animal via telepresence?
What about a coven-like group of
telepathic symbiotes made up of three
people, enabled by brain implants and
bio-engineering? Or will certain nations
make it illegal to have a relationship with
a nude virtual interactive avatar if
presented in a spiritual form?
Pictures: Winter Night by Greta Heron,
and the outfit is Arkis Nightqueen
Wardrobe Collection; Covenant by
Carlos Quevedo; Dreams by Xxadrxx.

78
79
For many new users around the world it
may feel more right to interact with a very
advanced technology that has first been
infused with organic design elements and
localised overlays. For instance, a solar
panel that looks like a large flower and
reacts to sunlight and rain in the same
manner; a nomadic off-grid self-propelled
house that blends beautifully with the
natural environment and topography; a
visiting hospital airship that adapts and
adorns itself with giant holograms of
greeting and reassurance in the local
idiom.
Picture: Waiting Somebody by Salvuky.

80
81
82
 Picture: The Egg
Thief by Mutinate.
By the time we set
up large nature/
zoo reserves for
resurrected extinct
creatures, might
the bio-spliced
tourists look
more odd than
83 the animals?
 In some fragile eco-
systems it may eventually
be thought useful to
entirely do away with
certain recently-
introduced destructive
animals such as goats
and camels. Where the
animals were also used
for personal transport and
prestige purposes, they
may be retained in the
form of a few advanced
robots. For cultural
reasons these may take
the physical form of the
removed animals, such as
this robot racing camel.

Picture: D O G Days: Sand Walker by MrJB27.

84
85
86
 In the future we will also create new
habitable spaces deep under the
deserts and under the sea, perhaps
quite easily making these spaces by
seeding small natural gaps with fungi
that naturally and rapidly eat out the
space to a larger size we may grow
our underground spaces, rather than
build them. Very probably these
spaces will then hold harvests of new
types of engineered edible organisms
based on fungi. It seems sensible to
make a sub-species of such new
organisms into natural light emitters, to
avoid the need for energy transmission
from the surface. Will we be more
comfortable with these light floaters if
we design them to look less like insects
and more like fairies?
Picture: "The Journey Begins" by
87 Dottorfile
In the 1700s it used to be
thought that certain
insects might be naturally
formed by plants out of
their own flower-stamens
and petals, the new-born
insects then detatching to
persue their own
autonomous paths
through the air, while also
returning to pollinate the
plant. Might we in
future engineer new
types of plants that form
eggs in this manner, and
which really do produce
their own autonomous
symbiotic insect-like plant
-creatures?
Pictures: A gift by Star
Rik ; Demi god: Aang
Daleth, by Ignus Dei.

88
89
 The Expanse:
Season Two
Syfy's hit series The
Expanse is one of the most
acclaimed shows on TV.
Season 2 has completed
and all 13 episodes are
now available on download,
DVD or a three-disc Blu-
ray, complete with extras.
A third series has been
green-lit by Syfy and is
now being cast. Syfy is
also making Heinlein's
famous science-fiction
novel Stranger in a Strange
Land as a mini-series.
http://www.syfy.com/

Our pick of the most inspirational art, science and sci-fi. Make your imagination LIVE!
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 takes science fiction, makes it human, and rips
it all apart before reconfiguring it into something
new-yet-familiar. Nerdist review of season 2.

Picture: Promotional picture with thanks to Syfy.

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Book: H.G. Wells in the Potteries
This magazines Assistant Editor has a new
book out, H. G. Wells in the Potteries:
North Staffordshire and the genesis of The
Time Machine. If you've ever wondered
where large chunks of the famous science
fiction novel The Time Machine (1895)
came from, look no further. The book
explores the origins of the Time Traveller,
Weena and the Sphinx in a 35,000 word
scholarly essay from a highly experienced
source-hunter, with footnotes and copious
illustrations. Plus a closely annotated
edition of the macabre Potteries short-story
The Cone, and more. The book has lots of
well-documented new discoveries, and
should please Wellsians and Stokies alike!
at Etruria my real writing began. ...
Moreover I began ... the original draft of
what later became The Time Machine
H.G. Wells, Autobiography.
http://www.lulu.com/
DVD: A Trip to the Moon restored
About 25 years ago a long-lost colour version of
the classic Georges Melies science-fiction film A
Trip to the Moon (1902) was discovered
crumbling away in Barcelona, Spain. This
unique copy of the famous film was badly
damaged and decayed. Several decades,
13,375 frames and $600,000 later, the
Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage put
the finishing touches to a painstaking and
difficult restoration. The world can now see the
restored film which was the 2001: A Space
Odyssey of its time on the beautiful Flicker
Alley DVD Blu-ray release A Trip To The Moon &
The Extraordinary Voyage. The French band Air
(Moon Safari, Tron: Legacy) have composed a
new original electronic soundtrack. There are
also additional Melies short films on the disc,
along with a documentary on the restoration.
Well worth getting along with this is the
complete works as a DVD box-set: Georges
Melies: First Wizard of Cinema 1896-1913.
Available from all good video retailers.
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Videogame: Subnautica
Subnautica is a beautiful 'open world' single-
player videogame, which allows the players
to explore an aquatic alien planet by scuba-
diving and using submersibles. Imagine
Avatar's Pandora planet, crossed with the
Great Barrier Reef, plus fab futuristic gear.
We installed and tried the game and had a
great first two hours encountering scary
abysses, dancing luminous manatees, and
exploring vast undersea forests. Theres
obviously a great deal more to explore, and
there are no worries about being eaten by
sea-monsters because Subnautica offers
an easy 'explorer' mode to just swim and
explore. Subnautica coped with a basic
Windows PC, but will obviously benefit from
a fast graphics card or an XBox One. It also
integrates with VR. Available now on Steam,
with the full version 1.0 in September 2017.
Picture: official Lilypad Islands concept art
for Subnautica, by Jengineerr.
https://unknownworlds.com/subnautica/
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Picture: Derek Ramsey, an
ecofuture island which 3d-prints
itself from floating ocean plastics.
Non-fiction book: Seasteading
What will it take to design and build a Silicon
Valley of the sea, a floating city that would be
the first step-off to oceanic colonization? This
carefully researched new book from The
Seasteading Institute starts with existing
floating cities such as the mega-sized cruise
liner ships that already exist and work well.
The author Joe Quirk then works outward
through other existing technologies such as
floating mining rigs, oil platforms and tankers,
submarines and research vessels. He talks with
marine biologists and nautical engineers about
near-future materials and new technologies
that will harvest metals and plastics from
seawater, as well as providing cheap energy.
He also explores the build costs about 25%
more expensive than on land, but in free
ocean. While unnecessarily alarmist about our
reasons for needing sea colonisation, this
pioneering book lays out a plausible plan for
sea-living experiences and research by 2050.
https://www.seasteading.org/book/
2017 : A Clarke Odyssey
9th December 2017, UK
This one-day conference and event in the UK
will mark the centenary of Sir Arthur C.
Clarke, one of the most important science-
fiction writers of the 20th century. The
event is to be held at Canterbury University
in the UK, and award-winning science-fiction
writer Stephen Baxter will give the keynote
speech. Conference talks will be academic
but limited to 20 minutes to ensure variety
and reduce waffle, and these will be on a
wide range of Clarke-related topics.
http://www.metmuseum.org/
Pictures, from left, across double-page spread:
Arthur C. Clarke (centre) visits NASA, to consult
on the making of the movie adaptation of 2001.
Crime detection laboratory set, part of the
Sherlock Holmes exhibition in Sydney.
Detail from the cover of Dec. 1952 Magazine of
Fantasy and Science Fiction, Chesley Bonestell.
Detail from an inked original John Romita pencil
drawing of Spider-Man. With thanks to Marvel
Comics.
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Sherlock Holmes
Until 8th October, Sydney, Australia
The International Exhibition of Sherlock
Holmes comes to Australia for the first and
possibly only time. This major gallery show
will display original manuscripts and first
edition books, accurate recreations of 221B
Baker Street, plus a comprehensive display of
Sherlock items produced since 1888, including
movie costumes and props. Produced by the
Museum of London and the Conan Doyle
Estate, this is a respectful and detailed
exhibition on Doyles famous creations of
Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and the evil
Moriatary. The large exhibition is interactive
and has plenty of activities to keep detectives
occupied, including a Victorian-era crime
laboratory which invites visitors to solve a
murder but reviews state that the
sleuthing is rather complex and as such is
best appreciated by over 10 year-olds.
An enjoyable exhibition that whirrs in as
many intriguing directions as the mind of the
great man himself review in The Daily
Telegraph.
https://maas.museum/
Dreaming the Universe
Opens March 2018, Pasadana, USA.
This major new exhibition at the Pasadena
Museum of History will explore the history of
science fiction in Southern California from
1930 to 1980. When the U.S. movie industry
moved en masse from New York to California,
many artists and writers followed them out
west, establishing a baseline of talent there.
Then in the 1930s and 40s the cross-country
postal service improved, meaning that
science-fiction and fantasy writers and artists
could live in wonderful weather while liasing
with the New York magazines and publishers
by post and perhaps snag some local
movie work too. After the war the growing
market of high-budget movies, and then TV,
turbo-charged this imaginative mix, and the
whole scene fed into the West Coast's world-
shaking science and computing boom.
Curated by the Los Angeles Science Fantasy
Society, this unique exhibition is currently
being actively researched so if you have
museum-worthy artifacts from the science
fiction scene in Southern California then they
would very much like to hear from you!
http://www.lasfs.org/
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The Art of Spider-Man
Until 26th August, New York City
This New York Society of Illustrators show is
the first ever exhibition of original Spider-Man
artwork by John Romita and other significant
artists including Steve Ditko, Todd
McFarlane, John Buscema, Gil Kane, John
Romita Jr. and others. Significant early
original inked pages will be exhibited here for
the first time, including Spider-Mans battles
with the Green Goblin, the Rhino, Doctor
Octopus and many others. The exhibit runs at
the Society of Illustrators galleries in New
York City until 26th August 2017, and focuses
entirely on rare original Marvel artwork
including advertising and other illustrative
work making it "the largest, and most
comprehensive exhibition of Spider-Man art
ever seen anywhere in the world."
Accompanying the Spider-Man show is a
companion exhibition The Korshak Collection:
Illustrations of Imaginative Literature,
presenting a rare opportunity to view some of
the originals of some of the greatest fantasy
illustrations of the 20th century.
https://www.societyillustrators.org/
Are you interested
in being interviewed
in a future issue of
the magazine? Or
presenting a webinar
for our series? Please
send the Web address
of your gallery or
Back cover: Forest
store, and well visit!
Pixie by Redanta.
paul@digitalartlive.com Made with Poser.

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