carlos-teran

Ashen Sorrow is so far my most widely accepted graphic. It has been featured at DAZ on their monthly gallery and became a Daily Deviation at DeviantART. This scene was created while listening Away From Me by Evanescence. The background that can be seen on the window, was modeled as a separate file on Vue d'Esprit and added as a texture to a sphere, to give depth. The effect of sepia is given by the texture on the window's glass, that eliminates the colors from the exterior and gives a "frosted" look. In this scene there are many light groups in soft tones of yellow and white, most of them at close range. The content of the glass on the table is actually another glass texture, that gives a liquid impression. The texture of the dress is aluminum paper foil, that gives a very delicate look and reflects just a slight amount of light back. Regarding the men's jacket she's wearing, I tried several textures that were too distracting, so I decided to keep it with a neutral tone. The falling rose has a light source inside of it and bright plastic textures. All the texturing on the wall was done by hand, on Painter, before the render. The "soft" quality on the dress is achieved over-exposing the scene with white spotlights at close range, so the dress reflects most of the light, but keeps some on the texturing. The concept behind the graphic is that she's waiting for someone who will never return. She's wearing a jacket of that person, as a reminder of a happier time, now gone. What it was supposed to be a joyful reunion, suddenly becomes a sharp pain on her heart, as she realizes of the loneliness on her horizon. The falling rose represents her resignation, how she gives up and faces her own sorrow. This graphic was dedicated to Heidi Ames, a victim of domestic violence. I guess that her spirit has become a part of this image, as everybody gets emotionally involved with it at some level, and that's wonderful to me.

Back Where You Belong was created to celebrate a great year at DeviantART. The colors of the scene are some of my favorites (I just can't get enough from red) including a lighting scheme that draws her silouette and makes her stand out from the background. The red rose has again a light source inside and plastic textures, that I've found very effective to make them different. There was originally a second pillow on the scene, but somehow seemed out of place. The posture of the feet with those high-heels was also a final-minute idea. On regarding the gloves, I just can say that I love vinyl and it has become one recurring element in most of my graphics, regardless of the theme. The face was modeled after a real person (and the smile of hers is precisely what took the most on this one to get just right), but in this case my favorite feature is the posture. I wanted a expressive pose. This character's bodyshape is very slender, without the typical Pamela Anderson "look". Therefore the posture enhaces the breast size in an elegant way, and give us the impression that she's about to rise, that is precisely the idea. Here we have someone who has been waiting for her lover, and when the door opens, she's rising cheerfuly from bed to offer to that person the view of a lifetime. Just as the title says, there are times when we really have to return to those moments where we've found out that we belong, either with a place, or a person (or let's just say that I'm in love with that smile on her). The background music while creating this piece was I Touch Myself by Divinyls.

Winter Dreaming was created as a gift for a friend at DeviantART and it became my first graphic to have more than 20,000 pageviews, and really is a phenomenom. On this one, the character is a faerie rising from the winter's first snow. The background was modeled on Vue d'Esprit and the veiled look was achieved with volumetric fog, added as a layer between the tree and the character. The lighing here is mainly composed of black light spots, that draw the silouette of the faerie so the body painting of the eagle (that represents courage) shines. The face features are mostly oriental, and I was looking for a neutral expression. The vegetation elements in front of her are rendered, just as the snow particles (that snow incidentally reflected too much, so I had to place black light near, so they look as black droplets). When this graphic was first posted, I got what I can only describe as very mixed opinions, that made me realize that sometimes the best I can do is sit back and enjoy the controversy. On a personal note, there was a temperature of 39°C in Monterrey when I created this graphic (it's funny, but my summer graphics are often created while it's cold outside). Nobody's perfect, right?.

The Hunger Within is one of my favorite graphics. It's also the one I selected to become the image of this site and my promotional banner at Renderosity. This character is loosely inspired on Leeloo from The Fifth Element, and created while listening Someone Like You by New Order. As you can notice, the pose is dynamic, and the muscles on her arms and neck are in tension. The face features on this one took a little bit longer than usual to get just the right look of someone who is blinded by lust. I gave also some attention to little details as the acrylic nails that she's wearing (so we realize that she isn't but a child trying to play being a woman) and the shine on her eyes. In case nobody notices, from a time ago, most of my characters feature green eyes (I feel that is the most beautiful eye color). The lighting also is composed of terra cotta and orange tones, that give a nice look and keep the scene agreeable dark. My intention was to get the kind of look you see on a graphic novel. But the tricky part here is that this shot is impossible to get in real life at this angle unless you get rid of the floor and move in 40° the wall behind her, just as I did. So this become a perfect example of how much freedom I feel when creating 3D art. The greatest compliment I got from this one from a dearest friend was that she looked as a supermodel. And that alone, made my day.

Immortal Sadness is one graphic that is very fond to me, and it was inspired by the song My Immortal by Evanescence. What I like the most about that song is that remind us that even when there is someone we truly love, sometimes is just better to say please, leave and go away, a situation I've been involved several times. The character is on a forest, in a pose that suggests that she's about to unfold her wings and leave, with a last bitter look at us. The red-colored tips of her feathers are a symbolism of love and tragedy, and how vulnerable we're when we love (you might notice that the wings are folded in a protective pose). The atmospheric effect was achieved using lens and scatter light effects inside the render engine (oddly enough, the only complains I've got on this one are precisely those effects, that I personally like), so again, there isn't postwork on this one. I can only say that I was extremely stressed when working on this graphic, and I think it really shows. My favorite part of this graphic is the expresion of the face, where tears are about to burst open. Sometimes I wish I could just fly away like this.

Broken Doll is one of those pieces that seems quite simple, but that also holds many meanings. I was listening Voodoo Baby by Hypnogaja when working in a fully fledged fetish scene that was originally planned to be featured at Renderotica, but after working so long on just the face, I decided that this was also the best way to go, so I devised a light setting that keeps only visible those features that I wanted to use to get the message across. Her expression here can be seen in several ways, but it's mainly that calm bitterness that comes after a particulary sad moment. Nobody notices, but she's whiping her chin after a slap. Yes, I said a slap. That single tear is also one of rage, and the expression that is building inside can be constructed as hate, but also as calm. Calm because she knows that her strenght can overcome any obstacle, that she's invincible. I'm pleased to say that many people relate to Broken Doll, and things like that are the ones that keep me creating more art. The Dutch poet Ilona Krijgsman used this graphic to illustrate her piece Hidden Eyes, an unexpected pleasure. The best compliment that I got from this graphic was that if my stress is my art, my stress must be awfully strong. Well, you got that right.