Category Archives: DAZ
A Little Lovecraftian
A character piece I put together in DAZ Studio and Photoshop. A Call of Cthulhu investigator in that den of safety and calm, the library. At least until you start reading old books…
Click for larger image.
Light Son
I have more than enough to distract me at the moment (we’re moving house!) but last week MOB (Michael O’Brien) published the cover of Sun County to his FaceBook page, and he got me thinking about Yelmalians. Sun County’s mix of insight, humour, clarity and downright playability still sets the bar for Gloranthan supplements. Those Yelmalians in my head just wouldn’t go away This is just a concept sketch, but it’s enough to allow me to start thinking about the move again. I will post the final when it is complete.
Light Son – character concept for a Yelmalian Rune Lord. Work in Progress, DAZ Studio and Photoshop.
Songline Rangers – SQ Mag Cover
Songline Rangers by John Hughes. [Click for larger image]
SQ Mag is an international, free speculative fiction ezine, published every two months by IFWG Publishing. It’s a great read, a fantastic initiative, a great vehicle for new talent, and it’s available as an ebook via email! And did I mention it’s free?
When my old friend Gerry Huntman, the Chief Editor of IFWG Publishing, approached me to do a science fiction cover for the July 2012 edition, I came up with Songline Rangers. My workplace, the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at ANU, works very closely with a number of Indigenous ranger groups in the Northern Territory and the Kimberley. Over the last six months I’ve been working on a ranger monograph, People On Country, edited by Jon Altman and Sean Kerins, and it seemed kind of natural to extend that interest in a creative way.
‘Songline Rangers’ is rendered from a 3D model created in DAZ Studio 4 with postwork in Adobe Photoshop. It is © John Hughes, with perpetual use granted to SQ Mag, and published here by permission. And yes, there’s a (not very) hidden message!
Thinking About Ninja
[Click for full size image]
I’ve been thinking about ninja. Kind of. And as with most of my creative thinking these days, I did a little art along the way. My render above depicts a fairly typical Japanese shinobi, or ninja. It’s adapted from Lubthbel’s lovely Way of the Shinobi model available from DAZ. It was conceived and rendered in DAZ Studio with postwork in Photoshop.
(The ninja bit stops here. The rest of this post is obscure rpg stuff. Strictly for completists and Ontolosnans).
What was I really thinking about? Ontolosnan ninja-equivalents. Empty Sky Dharmists. There are four or five key ‘adventuring’ groups which will be of key interest and concern to player parties. There are of course the Dakinis, solitary tantrikas who serve the Aji. There are the Mirror and Lens cults, who primarily serve the purpose of the rajina courts. There is the Ministry of Sunlight and the Graceful Iron Forge, who police the creation and worship of kut. And there are the Empty Sky Dharmists, servants of the kut temples.
The central passages of the Bhagavad Gita describe Krishna’s teachings to Arjuna on perfect action and perfect duty – dharma yoga. My (evolving) conception of the Empty Sky Dharmists are an elite ‘whatever it takes’ force who usually work in secret, agents of the Theagyns and the kut temples, They espouse an ethos of perfect duty and perfect obedience, no questions asked. They’re starting out a little bit like ninja. I wonder if you’ll recognise them at the end? Stay tuned.
Xenomorph: Margaret Baron (NPC)
Margaret Baron is Executive Director of Strategic Projects on Shackleton, and directs station security. Her quarters are on Toorak level. She is guardian to Cai Gentle.
Ah, Mr Gould, sit down here. I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it. And I like you Mr. Gould. We can do business together. The trouble, though, is that your spine does not always reach your brain. Sometimes it seems I am a tigress surrounded by hamsters.
This situation represents a unique opportunity. We must be bold. Are you afraid, Mr Gould? Frightened? Frit? Can’t take it? Utter rubbish. You do not achieve anything without trouble, ever. This lady’s not for turning.
Be aware of what is expendable and what is not. Do whatever the mission requires. Mr Gould, you have my authority and protection. Remember who cares for you. Do you think I am heartless, cruel? Let me share with you a brutal but powerful truth, Mr Gould. The company has evolved to perfection. it comprises a small number of sadists and a large number of masochists. And I, Mr Gould, am no masochist.
What about you?
And Mr Gould, one final thing. If you want to cut your own throat, don’t come to me for a bandage.
Myth-O-Logic 