Dealing with Daz3d Creative Block

[Morgan42]

I'm having a bit of "Creator's block" right now. Everything I make, I'm deeply unhappy with.

Whenever I try and morph a character to change up of the face and body, I feel like it turns out hideous. I'm unhappy with all my renders, I think my lighting is trash no matter what. I know I'm not bad, per se at Daz, but I'm not having the "AHA" moment of creating a good render or model. Does anyone have any adivce?

 

[MissFortune]

As a non-artist that grew in up in a home full of artists, the biggest piece of advice I can give is take a step back from it all. Maybe that's a day, or a week, doesn't matter. Getting aggravated chasing something isn't going to change anything, nor is criticizing everything you do. I'll reiterate, walk away and try something new, something different. If you're doing the same thing all the time, it gets old, and quick. It becomes a routine, and when it becomes a routine, some of the creativity that inspired the work in the first place may go with it. New, fresh eyes may give you that "AHA" moment you are looking for.

If you think your lighting is trash, then work on that for the time being. Go to a park, or art gallery, or something of the sort and study it. See how the real world is lit up and what types of shadows are created at what angles, or see how artists apply their lighting and light sources. You can also take that as a chance to broaden your horizon's some, immerse yourself into art or surroundings you wouldn't normally find yourself in (within safe means, of course.). From what I'm seeing on your progress thread, though, your lighting is hardly trash. Maybe a bit dim in spots with just quick glances, but not at all trash. Better than a lot of other devs out there, at the very least.

Don't be afraid to push your boundaries and experiment, either. This is more of fine artist approach, but sketch things - inspirations. If you can't draw, jot down notes of what you see and apply it later. It doesn't always work, and again, time is your best friend sometimes. Again, this is more of a fine artist approach and perhaps a bit too new-agey for you, but sometimes it's best to just sit down and face the block itself. Talk to it, look at it objectively.

Why are you unhappy with what you're creating? Where do you think root of the issue lies? Are you trying to solve a creative block with an uncreative solution? Find what you think the problem is and attack it. If that's not it, try again. This is coming from the outside looking in on more than a few career fine artists, so it could be completely wrong or partially right. Not quite entirely sure myself lol. Good luck, though. I'm sure you'll get back on track.

 

[Fatalmasterpiece]

The most important thing to me artistically is not to try to reinvent the wheel. Art should imitate life and expand upon it.

I usually start with a Daz model which I already like as a basis. Then the goal is to "make it yours".
For inspiration, the best thing IMO seems to be to draw from real people and places. I try to think of people, places or events which inspired me, then just run with it by saying "Yes and... (what if)". Like "Remember that time" but then make the fantastic fiction version.
Most of my models are trying to capture the essence of some real person who gave me feels. Of course you eventually have to settle on "close enough" with recreating since you'll never get an exact replica of X person. That is the source of true inspiration. The rest is just battling your own skills and tech limitations.

Finally, you need a goal. "In this scene I want to creep the player out" or "I want to get their attention" so, then you're just experimenting with your expressions and lighting to invoke that mood. Ultimately you're taking the player/viewer on a ride through a "fun house" of smoke and mirrors. You just need to set up the trip to achieve the highs and lows of the journey. Each scene should be a high or low point on that ride. Try not to coast too often.

Looking at your renders, they appear great. The lighting is very good and the models have emotive expression. Keep doing what you're doing!

 

[osanaiko]

One thing I find about Daz is many of the sliders for various morphs etc let you add way too much of the effect. If you do this on the face, you can easily end up with something "hideous".

Subtle, small morphs and changes are the way to go, especially for facial expressions etc.

In the real world, most people can read how others are feeling just from very small clues in their facial expression.