Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Bryce skies and Photoshop brushes: Ron's Birds




Bryce meets Gimp ... and it's love at first sight. In fact, what you have here is an outstanding collection of Photoshop brushes from the Ron's Brushes range (available at DAZ 3D). It's only very recently that I've gotten into Gimp, and even more recently that I discovered that Gimp will shake hands with Photoshop brushes. I've used a lot of Gimp and PS in the last few weeks, and I have to say, Ron's Brushes are the best out there ... and Ron's Birds are just amazing...

What you have here are a range of Bryce skies, with Ron's Birds (and a bit of fog here and there) painted directly on. I tend to make Bryce skies half a dozen at a time, to use as backdrops in my DAZ Studio 3 work. Bryce is at its best when making skies. Landscapes -- okay, too; but it's the skies where Bryce really, really excels...


...but there's always an element lacking. Birds. And this amazing set of brushes makes it so easy to add the extra dimension. I'm constantly amazed. I actually read the set-up notes, too ... and was sad to see that the designer who created these brushes seems to be havign a rough time due to e-piracy. People just giving away his work, which really hurts the artist. The same thing happens to writers, whose ebooks are pirated left and right. In the end, writers and arists can be hurt so badly by the piracy that they have to give up their art and go get a job! So, in the end it's art as a whole that suffers, when the real talent is driven away.

It's sad to hear of artists and writers being taken advantage of this way, but I'm afraid it's so common these days. But if I can add my ten cents' worth: five stars awarded right here to Ron's Birds -- highly recommended! They work perfectly in cooperation with Gimp ... full pro quality and not even expensive (eight or nine bucks). Get them via DAZ 3D -- click on the banner in the left column, and when you get there just search on Ron's Brushes ... see the whole vast range!

Jade, 18 May