Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

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ghostofmyeyes
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby ghostofmyeyes » Fri Jan 14, 2022 12:29 am

sixgunzloaded wrote:
ghostofmyeyes wrote:Excellent!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!


I want to elaborate on what I think is so excellent.

It's not just the slow, steady sink from ankles on down (which has been a strength in all of your work), but the dynamic way the dramatic tension is kept taut. A carefully-arranged series of turns for the worse unfolds for poor Sapph, and the payoff is that we are treated to a whole series of reaction shots of her progressively realizing the extent to which her luck has run out. Several times she wavers from being cheeky and blithe, to gaping worriedly down at the quicksand, and back again. Her expressions are priceless.

Various possible directions of salvation are dangled before Sapph, but they evaporate one by one. Struggling doesn't help, but neither does holding still in the struggle-agitated quicksand. Esme turns out to care more about doing evil and getting away with it than about her sister, Hailey could have intervened earlier, but puts mission first, and Susan of course is tied up.

Sapph is plucky and innocent enough to be endearing, for me to care what happens to her. But we see that she can be unprincipled and impatient, and so she struggles, despite knowing better, then does it again, moments after being warned again not to, and a third time, when her brave face dissolves into mortal panic at Esme's betrayal, and it all leads directly to her passing the point of no return before a rescue attempt actually becomes feasible. Blup blup blup!

A great deal of care went into this elaborate weave of tension and release. Perhaps that is why so few quicksand creatives manage to match the tight energy of the MSM quicksand scenes that alerted most of us that we weren't normal. I do wonder, though, if some have unrealized potential just because they mentally lump what they're making in with 'porn', leading them to fixate on 'T&A in the mud' while neglecting cause and effect, stakes and payoffs, pacing and energy, character and context.

But I digress. I'm glad you got into whatever space led to you making this, and I think others should take note!

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sixgunzloaded
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby sixgunzloaded » Fri Jan 14, 2022 4:05 pm

ghostofmyeyes wrote:
sixgunzloaded wrote:
ghostofmyeyes wrote:Excellent!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!


I want to elaborate on what I think is so excellent.

It's not just the slow, steady sink from ankles on down (which has been a strength in all of your work), but the dynamic way the dramatic tension is kept taut. A carefully-arranged series of turns for the worse unfolds for poor Sapph, and the payoff is that we are treated to a whole series of reaction shots of her progressively realizing the extent to which her luck has run out. Several times she wavers from being cheeky and blithe, to gaping worriedly down at the quicksand, and back again. Her expressions are priceless.

Various possible directions of salvation are dangled before Sapph, but they evaporate one by one. Struggling doesn't help, but neither does holding still in the struggle-agitated quicksand. Esme turns out to care more about doing evil and getting away with it than about her sister, Hailey could have intervened earlier, but puts mission first, and Susan of course is tied up.

Sapph is plucky and innocent enough to be endearing, for me to care what happens to her. But we see that she can be unprincipled and impatient, and so she struggles, despite knowing better, then does it again, moments after being warned again not to, and a third time, when her brave face dissolves into mortal panic at Esme's betrayal, and it all leads directly to her passing the point of no return before a rescue attempt actually becomes feasible. Blup blup blup!

A great deal of care went into this elaborate weave of tension and release. Perhaps that is why so few quicksand creatives manage to match the tight energy of the MSM quicksand scenes that alerted most of us that we weren't normal. I do wonder, though, if some have unrealized potential just because they mentally lump what they're making in with 'porn', leading them to fixate on 'T&A in the mud' while neglecting cause and effect, stakes and payoffs, pacing and energy, character and context.

But I digress. I'm glad you got into whatever space led to you making this, and I think others should take note!

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a lovely and thoughtful comment/review!!! :D :D :D I really do very much appreciate it. I mean, the main reason I do these big stories (hopefully obviously) is simply that I love doing them and sharing but, in all honesty, the feedback is a wonderful validation. Hope that doesn't make me sound needy... :? :lol: It's like the icing on a big, fat birthday cake! :D

Sapph and Esme and Hailey were my first serious ventures into using the V4 figure as main characters in a large story. I gotta say, I was very impressed with it even though it's a 13+ year old model.

Your interpretation of the characters was spot-on with my intentions for them so that makes me happy to know that I was able to get their personalities across successfully!
I did want Sapph to be something of an innocent who's been corrupted by her sister's evil. And in the end, she pays the ultimate price for her poor choice.
Esme is just straight-up a nasty piece of work. She's jaded and greedy and vindictive from incidents in her past which I'll get into in future installments.
Hailey is a very mission-centric character who is also Susan's best friend and was sort of like a mentoring, big sister type when Susan was in training. She's got some adventures coming up too. :twisted:
Susan (V3) has been my favorite go-to character for a long time and she'll have more to do in this storyline as well.

I was always really the most drawn to the dramatic qs scenes we see in movies and TV. Much more so than the overtly sexualized scenes. Though those do have their attractions as well. ;) That's why I do, almost exclusively, dramatic stuff.
I always wanted to do a continuing series focusing on a larger organization of mostly women in a very sinky universe. Think of it as the "Muddyverse"! :lol: :D
How long did Tarzan watch before deciding to save Jill..?

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Theo
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby Theo » Sat Jan 15, 2022 4:23 am

I’ve been waiting to set aside some time to give this the time it deserves. And today, I finally had the time to go through both parts 1 and 2, and I was anything but disappointed. All I can say is… WOW! :o The story progression, the detailed illustrations, the characters and their outfits ― I just loved the whole thing! Even Susan and Hailey’s choice of sidearms: the 1911, one of my all-time favorite handguns! Too bad Susan couldn’t take a shot at the snake before it wrapped around her, but oh well… she filleted it nicely in the end :lol: I can’t wait for the next chapter!
Finally broke down and went to see a psychologist. She told me I just have an overactive imagination—and it really excited her. We're going sinking next weekend. Theo's AI Quicksandbox New stuff every weekend (unless life gets in the way)

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sixgunzloaded
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby sixgunzloaded » Sun Jan 16, 2022 2:33 pm

Theo wrote:I’ve been waiting to set aside some time to give this the time it deserves. And today, I finally had the time to go through both parts 1 and 2, and I was anything but disappointed. All I can say is… WOW! :o The story progression, the detailed illustrations, the characters and their outfits ― I just loved the whole thing! Even Susan and Hailey’s choice of sidearms: the 1911, one of my all-time favorite handguns! Too bad Susan couldn’t take a shot at the snake before it wrapped around her, but oh well… she filleted it nicely in the end :lol: I can’t wait for the next chapter!

Thank you very much, Theo! :D Yeah, these large stories do take a little time to go through and I always hope folks find it worth their while to sit through all the pics. I'm glad you found it so enjoyable! That's my goal. :D ;)

The outfits the characters wear are "standard field attire" for the A.H.G. with plenty of allowances for personal customization for the agents to better suit their own tastes and that extends to their choice of weapons.
Sapph's is flashy and her choice of western-style six-shooters is as much for her vanity as they are for function.
Susan's is more practical and includes the combat knife for any up-close encounters (i.e. big squeezy snakes lol) and her grandfather's 1911. (My own real life grandfather had one in the army. He passed away before I was born and my mom traded it for a little 9-shot Sentinel .22 revolver. A quote 'friend' of hers convinced her it was more of a 'ladies' gun... :roll: )
Esme's black leather fits with her blackened heart - more on that part of the story in a future chapter! ;)
And Hailey's dark red is fairly standard except she picked the color to match her dark red hair (her personality is more practical also, but she does have a little fashion sense as well). And her choice of sidearms - the twin Tanfogs (not sure if that's even a real handgun. It just looked cool when I found the prop. lol) reflect her enthusiasm for firearms.

Plans are already in the works for the next chapter! :D
How long did Tarzan watch before deciding to save Jill..?

Rusty Shackleford
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby Rusty Shackleford » Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:48 pm

This story is epic, thank you so much for posting. I really enjoyed reading it, this was a great comic from start to finish. I really appreciate all of the work you've put in here, I can tell this was a lot of effort and a labor of love. Some parts I wanted to highlight as a 3D artist that I thought were really cool-

1) Your work with the snake in Part 1 was great. Those models are really difficult to work with in posing, and I thought that looked awesome. Nice work here.
2) You background is great, and I love your depth of field work with it. Super cool jungle model with ravine, plank bridge, temple and a QS pit you created and specifically worked into the story (noting the intentional square design)
3) Your shader for the bog looks great - very dirty but also wet at the same time. That's a difficult effect to make. Plus I appreciate the additional postwork around the sinking characters.
4) Great to see you're using the V4 models (and Susan as V3)- they have a lot of great life left in them and look great in comic form

I also appreciated the story and how you translated that into a comic format. The ending was great - very melodramatic and you used the panel by panel format to heighten the tension. I also appreciated the meta story that Susan has learned from her prior adventures to look out for quicksand - and she does here (except she still winds up in it, poor girl).

Thanks for sharing this, it was a great holiday treat. Looking forward to next year! (no expectation, but always love seeing what you come up).

Rusty

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sixgunzloaded
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby sixgunzloaded » Mon Jan 17, 2022 3:29 pm

Rusty Shackleford wrote:This story is epic, thank you so much for posting. I really enjoyed reading it, this was a great comic from start to finish. I really appreciate all of the work you've put in here, I can tell this was a lot of effort and a labor of love. Some parts I wanted to highlight as a 3D artist that I thought were really cool-

1) Your work with the snake in Part 1 was great. Those models are really difficult to work with in posing, and I thought that looked awesome. Nice work here.
2) You background is great, and I love your depth of field work with it. Super cool jungle model with ravine, plank bridge, temple and a QS pit you created and specifically worked into the story (noting the intentional square design)
3) Your shader for the bog looks great - very dirty but also wet at the same time. That's a difficult effect to make. Plus I appreciate the additional postwork around the sinking characters.
4) Great to see you're using the V4 models (and Susan as V3)- they have a lot of great life left in them and look great in comic form

I also appreciated the story and how you translated that into a comic format. The ending was great - very melodramatic and you used the panel by panel format to heighten the tension. I also appreciated the meta story that Susan has learned from her prior adventures to look out for quicksand - and she does here (except she still winds up in it, poor girl).

Thanks for sharing this, it was a great holiday treat. Looking forward to next year! (no expectation, but always love seeing what you come up).

Rusty

Hey Rusty! Thanks a lot for this great review!! :D It's always extra nice to read the thoughts of fellow 3D artists! It's such a great medium for exploring and sharing our interest. Especially for those of us (me) who can barely hand-draw a straight line. lol
And whenever I'd stumble across an actual printed comic with a quicksand scene in it, I almost always found myself wishing the artist had spent more time on the scene. I guess they have to focus on the larger story, but it seems like they only ever commit 3 or 4 frames to the qs scene before the character is either sunk or rescued. So I decided that needed to change. ;)

1) I love that snake model! It's older, but it still looks and works really great. It has the EasyPose feature, which I used to hate, but now I can't live without. lol There's definitely a learning curve with it and I found it helped a lot to turn the morph limits off when posing it.
2) The background and jungle model are from a set I found on Renderosity by a modeling artist called BlueTreeStudio and really fit the story I wanted to tell. Sometimes I cobble together my own sets from various props and figures but the professional modelers do it so much better. The square quicksand pit was originally a deadfall spike trap that I swapped out the spikes for a morphable quicksand plane and scattered some foliage around it.
3) Glad you were impressed with the bog! In all honesty, I can't take full credit for how well it turned out. :oops: Manipulating shaders is still a challenge for me. I achieved the final look by trial and error until I found the right combo of textures and highlights and bump maps. Somehow I got lucky with the shaders. :lol:
4) I still have a soft spot for the V3 figure. I know she's got fewer polys and can be a little challenging to get right with her less advanced bends and stuff but I still think she can be beautiful. And Susan was my first original character designed almost entirely by me so I still love to use her all the time.
I've been a bit slow to get on board with more advanced models until recently and, at first, I wasn't tremendously impressed with V4. The earlier characters available for her looked a little odd to me, with their bug-eyes and sort of cartoonish legs. But then I found some "fix" packages (also on Renderosity) that I thought really tidied her up. And later, some truly stunning characters from some truly talented content creators.

Yeah, I wanted this to be an ongoing universe with continuing characters that learn as they go along. Well...they learn, but that won't really keep them out of deep trouble. :twisted: :lol:
Thanks again! I'm really happy you enjoyed it! :D
How long did Tarzan watch before deciding to save Jill..?

ghostofmyeyes
Posts: 104
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby ghostofmyeyes » Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:13 pm

sixgunzloaded wrote:I was always really the most drawn to the dramatic qs scenes we see in movies and TV. Much more so than the overtly sexualized scenes. Though those do have their attractions as well. ;) That's why I do, almost exclusively, dramatic stuff.


Heh, don't get me wrong. One can observe the difference between what I say and what I have actually been making in my post history :lol:

And if Sapph's clothes had been torn to useless vestigial shreds (or just clean off) by pesky jungle brambles moments before stepping into the mire, it would not have distracted me from appreciating depth of plot and characterization at the same time, just sayin :mrgreen:

sixgunzloaded wrote:I always wanted to do a continuing series focusing on a larger organization of mostly women in a very sinky universe. Think of it as the "Muddyverse"! :lol: :D


Oh my, but in the course of such high-stakes intrigues, with so much quicksand lying in wait, we might see more of these women overplay their hand and pay the ultimate price in the mire!

And that would be terrible :mrgreen:

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sixgunzloaded
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby sixgunzloaded » Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:08 pm

ghostofmyeyes wrote:And that would be terrible :mrgreen:

Just awful!! :o And we haven't even seen all the characters yet! My goodness, I fear for the well being of all involved!! :mrgreen:
How long did Tarzan watch before deciding to save Jill..?

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Theo
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby Theo » Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:49 pm

A “ladies gun” :roll: There’s plenty of videos on YouTube with ladies shooting the Desert Eagle .50, and bigger 8-) I’ve shot both older and newer 1911’s in .45 and they’re a very nice gun to shoot. A shame your Mom’s “friend” convinced her to trade it in. He probably went to the pawn shop after her and bought it for himself :x

sixgunzloaded wrote:I always wanted to do a continuing series focusing on a larger organization of mostly women in a very sinky universe. Think of it as the "Muddyverse"! :lol: :D

sixgunzloaded wrote:And we haven't even seen all the characters yet! My goodness, I fear for the well being of all involved!! :mrgreen:

I like where all this is going :D Excited to see what's next!
Finally broke down and went to see a psychologist. She told me I just have an overactive imagination—and it really excited her. We're going sinking next weekend. Theo's AI Quicksandbox New stuff every weekend (unless life gets in the way)

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sixgunzloaded
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Re: Happy Holidays 2021! - Part 2

Postby sixgunzloaded » Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:41 am

Theo wrote:He probably went to the pawn shop after her and bought it for himself :x

Nah, he didn't even bother to be sneaky about it. He owned the .22 to begin with. He just traded her straight-up for it. I would have loved to have that .45.
Theo wrote:I like where all this is going :D Excited to see what's next!

Stay tuned! Wheels are turning! ;)
How long did Tarzan watch before deciding to save Jill..?


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