FW 005

Free Item
Our Editor, Anna Bird has
created a beautiful set of
lights for the Poser Software.
The lights will work in Poser
4 Pro Pack and Above.

If you purchased FW 5 you

will receive the full pack.

If you downloaded the Lite

Editorial FW 5, you will receive half
the pack.
Welcome to the fifth issue of Forbidden Whispers Magazine. Since the last
issue we’re back with a beautiful colourful issue, full of artist interviews,
workshops, and galleries. ENJOY!
What have we got in store for you for this issue? We point the spotlight on ARTIST/ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS
some talented artists such as, Malcolm McClinton, Chris Parsons, Benjan- Want to be part of the magazine?
min Friess, and sisters Marie-Michelle and Vanessa Pepin showcase their Contact us at:
fw-submissions@forbiddenwhispers.co.uk
works in our galleries.

Improve your artistic techniques with our workshops and artist walkthroughs,
featuring Eleni Laela with her haunting image ‘I was innocent’, and Verónica
Atanacio brings us ‘The Gathering’ in her step-by-step walkthrough. Let us know what you think!
If you have any comments or suggestions
about the magazine, anything you’d like
And if that wasn’t a treat already we’re showcasing some of the best artists to see, things you would like changed, or
in our galleries . Such artists include, Scott A. McEwan, Massimo Cressano, just to ask us about anything. Please get in
Lee Crystal, and making his second appearance in FW Magazine Joerg touch with us via the following ways.
Warda shares his most recent digital paintings. Email:fwmag@forbiddenwhispers.co.uk

We have some fantastic interviews for this issue. Kicking off our interviews Tel UK: 07917204968 (Mike)
we have Poser Artist and ZBrush Modeller, Calum Andrews talking to us 07888853467 (Anna)
about his love for the dark arts. We also feature Miss Anne Pogoda as she Tel Overseas: (+44) 7917204968 (Mike)
makes her second appearance with her in depth interview. Many more in- (+44) 7888853467 (Anna)
terviews inside!
 Interview Artist Spotlight
N. Aleksander B. Friess
Page 51 Page 57
Articles Artist Spotlight
Artist of the month Yangqi
Page 46 Page 48
Artist Spotlight Interview
M & M Benya Anne Pogoda
Page 37 Page 39
Interview Artist Spotlight Artist Spotlight Interview Artist Spotlight
Chris Parsons Veronic Atanacio M. McClinton Calum Andrews Rodrigo Damian
Page 4 Page 9 Page 16 Page 21 Page 33
The Galleries The Galleries Artist Spotlight Workshops Workshops
M. Michelle Pepin Fabio Caserini Eleni Laela Walkthroughs Cori Zen's bag tut
Page 82 Page 84 Page 92 Page 97 104
The Galleries The Galleries
M. Cressano Fredy Wenzel
Page 76 78
The Galleries The Galleries
Joerg Warda Freya L. SidebottomPage
Page 72 74
Interview The Galleries
John Girouard
Page 59 Page 70
My name is Chris Parsons and I’m a freelance illustrator based in

Ch ris Par sons

Devon, UK. I’ve painted traditionally for more years than I’d like to

count. There must be hundreds of my paintings out there somewhere

but none that I would hang on my own wall.

I have recently switched to digital so of course I’m looking for as

much exposure as possible.

I live with my wife and three children in a little picture postcard village
on Dartmoor National Park in the UK.

I’m fast approaching 40 and not too happy about it. I’ve spent most
of the past fifteen years painting traditionally, mainly in oils. I was
what some people call a “working artist” which means producing
vast amounts of paintings of dubious quality and little value. I did
start out painting fantasy artwork but sort of drifted into fine art. I’ve
now returned to the fantasy genre and couldn’t be happier. Digital art
has rekindled the excitement I had when I first started painting.

The mainstay of my work at the moment is DVD cover art with the
odd book cover thrown in, I would like to do a lot more book covers,
we’ll see.
 ArTIST INTErVIEW
Chris Parsons

Hi Chris. Thank you for taking part in this interview. Are

you self taught artist or have you had any formal train-

ing?

I’m self taught.

What’s interesting about digital software?

Taking the time to look at the work artists are producing

digitally. I used to be one of those people that thought

digital art was just a case of pushing the right buttons.

When I saw the quality of some digital art and realised

that it required just as much skill as traditional art I

couldn’t wait to give it a go.

How you create your digital images?

Although the process changes slightly between profes-

sional and personal pieces I generally start with the

main focus of the image, usually a figure. Once that’s

sketched in I start to think about colour and the general

mood of the image. Next is the background in full colour

and detail. At this point I will sometimes experiment with

moving the figure around (which I keep on a separate

layer) and cropping the image until I’m satisfied I have

the right composition. Lastly, I finish the main focus

using the colour and lighting I decided on for the back-

ground.

Do you have any artistic influences?

A lot of work I see by other artists has an influence on

me, from “ I want to paint a sky like that” to “ I’m going to

have to work harder to get that good”.

recognise my style but I can’t. I don’t aim for Continuing from our last question, what do

a particular style, I paint the only way I know you like about your image “the mirror” and
How important are these influences?
how. why?
They’re important in that they help me to focus and work
I have to admit that I don’t particularly like this
hard to improve.
Your image “the mirror” seems to be a popu- image and I don’t really understand why any-

lar image out of your portfolio. What was the one else does. For me it was just a technical
Do you have any strengths or weaknesses?
initial idea behind this image? exercise.
I think I’m pretty good at interpreting what a client is
It started with another image that I scrapped.
looking for. I have lot’s of weaknesses but I’ll only admit
I liked the swirly space stuff in the mirror so What are your preferred brushes to use when
to the ones that people occasionally point out.
I constructed the rest of the image around painting?

that. I’m afraid it was one of those make it up Coming from a traditional art background I
How would you describe your artistic style?
as I go along ones. find myself a bit overwhelmed by the amount
That’s a tricky one, people have said that they can
of brushes, so I tend to keep things simple.

6

A couple of airbrushes and blenders are my
main tools although I do have a couple sets of
custom brushes for skin and hair.
What do you use as a source of inspiration?
Absolutely anything. There are so many
sources, Internet, films, books, other artists
etc.
Which was your most challenging image?
There is no particular image that springs to
mind. They all pose a challenge in some way,
I make sure of that. If I haven’t learnt some-
I’m usually working on something or other, a book or DVD
cover etc. I’d like to do more book covers but I think I must
have missed the call from Stephen King.
How do you hope to advance in the future?
I’d like my artistic ability to match my imagination more.
Sometimes my imagination comes up with something I
just don’t have the skill to reproduce.
Would you ever do a compilation with another artist?
Also if you had to pick one artist that has inspired you
to work with, who would you pick?
I would never, ever do a compilation image with another
artist because one of us would be sure to die. I’m a total
control freak when it comes to painting. But if I were a
more pleasant, easy going person, I suppose Jim Burns
would be an interesting choice simply because his work
first inspired me to paint.
Which would you rather paint. Animals or humans?
Definitely humans, you can convey a lot more with a hu-
man face. And they’re not furry, I hate painting fur.
Do all your images have a story attached, and how im-
portant is this to you?
My personal images will have a snippet of story, just
enough to give me a feel for the mood of the image. I
find it important to have some kind of understanding of
the characters in an image and the situation they’re in.
thing new or improved a certain technique
Any words of wisdom to our Readers?
with each picture then I feel I’ve wasted my
Yes, instead of calling a broadband help line, jab yourself
time (except for my fee of course)
repeatedly in the eye with a cocktail stick. It’s more fun.
What else do you like to do with your time
http://chrisparsons.cgsociety.org/
when you are not painting?
I like to practice my slob impression, I’m get-
ting pretty good at it. I can read a book, watch
TV and cover myself in cake crumbs for hours
at a time now.
Any new projects in the works at the mo-
ment?
Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005
8
Verónica Atanacio
Verónica Atanacio
See Veronica’s full article
in the full hi res PDF!
 I have been drawing and painting science fiction and
Malcolm McClinton fantasy subjects as long as I can remember, but un-
til 8 or so years ago illustrating it was only a hobby,
something I would do to relax. Most of my efforts had
been in academics. After earning advance degrees in
Physical Anthropology and Archaeology I spent five or
six years working out in the field excavating. But, I ex-
perienced burn out and took a job at Dark Horse Comic
managing their prepress department. Looking at all the
really cool and beautiful art that passed through my de-
partment re-ignited my creative drive and after three
years at I left to pursue my own painting and projects.
I have been illustrating as a means of making a living
ever since. I have found a nice little niche for myself
that satisfies my anti-authority nature, reclusiveness
and need for adulation all at once. Over the years I
have worked for many publishers including AEG, Wotc,
Saber-tooth, Elder Signs Press, Inc., Triking games, Ep-
och press, Playroom Entertainment, Steve Jackson’s
games, Atlas games, and DNA publications.
My work can be found in genre magazines of sci-fi and
fantasy, collectable card games, role-playing games,
board games and on book covers. Besides working
for game, magazine and book publishers, I do a fair
amount of work for individuals-- ccg and rpg players
who want an image of their favourite character, as-
piring authors who are in need of inspiration for their
Novels, screen writers that want concept images of
their scripts.
I am self-taught on the computer and have had no for-
mal training in art, so for me there is always a lot of trial
and error. There is a song by Laurie Anderson called
“Walking” in which she sings:
“You’re walking. And you don’t always realize it, but
you’re always falling. With each step you fall forward
slightly. And then catch yourself from falling. Over and
over, you’re falling. And then catching yourself from
falling. And this is how you can be walking and falling
at the same time.”
This is sort of how I create. Whether I am working on
the computer or in traditional mediums I hate to do pre-
liminary sketches. I tend to work in a more free form
organic way. I have a general idea of the image but no
firm picture of what I want it to look like. Usually I start
by creating a central character or object and build out
from there. Making mistakes-- correcting mistakes. I
often do very large and complex scenes involving mul-
tiple characters, and battles, and each element in the
image, their shading and highlights are on different lay-
ers (some of my more complex images have upward of
300 layers). At times it is complete chaos and I have
absolutely no idea how it is going to be resolved and
come together. I am often surprised by the direction
and shape that my images take as they stumble and
grow and expand across my computer screen. I move
elements around the canvas, change their lighting, put
them in the background or move them to the front. It is
a lot like stage blocking a scene for a play and in a real
sense my newer stuff has a more cinematic feel to it.
 ArTIST SPOTLIGHT
Malcolm McClinton

14
 READ MALCOLM’S
full SPOTLIGHT in
the full hi res PDF!

ONLY $3.50!!

Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005

 Calum
Andrews
 ArTIST INTErVIEW
Calum Andrews

I’m a 36 year old self taught

3D/2D artist by night and a retail
store manager during the day. I
work and reside in central London,
(Marylebone) with my partner of
18 years and our 2 children Jake
who’s 16 and Amy who is 8 , and
not forgetting my 2 year old Staf-
fordshire Bull Terrier ‘Ria’.

I have created art all my life for

pleasure starting at around 7
years old. I grew up in Local au-
thority care with my 18 month
elder brother John and started
drawing monsters I guess as a
reflection of what human’s meant
to me early on. My Dad left when
I was born and my mum had rea-
sons along with her young age
that made it better for us to be
re-homed. By being alone I found
drawing an enjoyable time immers-
ing my thoughts with pleasure and
creativity, an escape from the
surrounding of the life I was living.
Drawing stayed with me all the way
until I purchased my first PC back
in 2000.

After about 6 months I discovered

Jasc Paint shop pro and started
to use the programme to create
some basic artwork and signs
for my shop. Drawing on screen
was first a bit weird but soon I let
it take over from my pencil draw-
ing style. I discovered the Internet
not to long after and it led me to
Bryce 5 the 3d world generator,
through my searching for artwork.
It was my first 3d experience
which I still use from time to time
today. Bryce art led me to some
web sites for Bryce artists to
upload and display their efforts
and that’s where I started to see
some human models in Bryce
images. After enquiring I discov-
ered poser 4 and the Renderos-

18
ity web site. I slowly learnt the process of using different software in
combination to make images nearer to what I wanted them to look like.

Now being a member of a massive Renderosity online community I discov-

ered many more elements to making artwork and new software tools to
help. More web sites like 3d commune and Rdna, Curios labs all showed
me artwork that I wanted to produce like. I met hundreds of artists’ with
different levels of abilities some improving and some happy with what
they do. Browsing the galleries led me to certain styles and qualities of
individuals’ artwork that I wanted to produce work like. Dark fantasy and
Horror stirred my initial passions and I still love the darker theme artwork
now. Only ‘in art’ can it be created, are the types of images that inspired me.

I was seeing a lot of remarkable images by artists and was learning by

what they used along with their own talents, how to go about my own
goals. Many tutorials from software I studied and attempted to use in
my own way. Lots of kind artists I found posted their methods to help
others along in the forums of the 3d art sites and I’m forever grateful to
them all for what I’ve learnt that way .Miko0 at Renderosity once sent
me a tutorial on post work and cloth painting which I still look through
now. Finding friendly helpful talented artists that share their techniques
for free to beginners like I was ,pushed my efforts and showed me
anything can be achieved with knowledge and patients .I worked for
around 4 years making images with Poser and upgrading each year until
now ,currently I have version 7 of poser ,Bryce 6.1 and psp7.4 . As time
passed I felt I reached a limit in personal satisfaction due to the easy
create process these great programmes make it. I still continued as my
style began to get a good audience through image hits and comments. I
added Photoshop and some other effects software to further my image
potential. Getting images of mine onto the chart systems was a lifting
experience at first. I enjoyed my incoming comments and high stats,
I discovered Zbrush2 thanks to an online artist friend Ron Harris. I can’t
seeing how many times my images were commented on, viewed, fa-
thank him enough as I found my own style creating from scratch any-
vourite etc I found a temporary fulfilment. Seeing my work on the front
thing I want in my work from my mind.
pages for highest ever ranked and most commented still gives me a lift
occasionally.
Zbrush is a great tool for muse overloaded artists as I class myself.
Never short of ideas but never the time to do everything I want due to my
.But as time passed I began to dislike my images and I could see many
lifestyle. Sculpting in 3d and painting in 2.5 which was all new to me really
flaws and wondered why a lot of people would still say how great they
has relit my artistic desires of excitement. No software could do what
are. I wasn’t developing due to these just kind comments and you tend
Zbrush3 does for me .Its a major part of my life now and I look forward
to get caught up in I guess as a learning artist attached to main stream
to starting it up as often as I can. The latest upgrade has been a revela-
forums. I needed honest criticism but wasn’t getting them. My own
tion for me, the simple real-time renders have so much realism and high
perceptions to what great art is then began to drive me on again. My
display level you can post work without actually rendering the image out
will to want to create my own models and paint my own clothes and
with fancy lights and shadows. I have screen grab images amongst my
hair for example instead of assembling other peoples items to make
work, some preferable also. But its the sculpting and building potential
my shallow but nice looking art took me away from that road and a new
that really grabs me.
beginning was about to start . I wanted to make the characters myself
for fulfilment and paint the light, the background and visual effects. To
I enjoy mostly making everything in an image, but sometimes get lazy
realise my own potential completely and to rid this hollow sensation due
and modify meshes to use in flat quicker artwork, I use some poser
to the way I was creating my art. Some artists make amazing images
character bases occasionally and add my own style in clothing them
like I was and are content with their workflow but I needed to move on.
or decorating them . I have a lot of request to make items /props and

Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005

 READ Calum’s full
12 page interview in
the full hi res PDF!

ONLY $3.50!!
20
 a m ian
rigo D
Rod
 s e a n
o c a u
a v e t
y o u h e r . ”
i o n s , e v i e w
t r a t i n t h
i l l u s c t i o n
m a k e l r e a
“To i o n a
emot
Rodrigo Damian, born on May 12, 1976 in the city
of Mar del Plata, Argentina. In 2000 he graduated
from the College of Visual Arts, Martin Malharro, in
the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina.

His works can be placed within the genre of Digital

Fine Art. His techniques involve a mixture of
collage, graphite, acrylic, ink, 3D and photographs.

Rodrigo mainly specializes in illustrations for

cover art for CD’s, covers of books, magazines,
illustration for posters, movie posters and of course
his own personal works and has recently completed
a CD cover for music producer, Matias Kritz.

His works have been published in three issues of

Art and Design Computer Magazine. Along with
Spanish editions of the journal ‘Computers and
English Arts.’

Amongst his many achievements Rodrigo also

won the “Open your mind to digital art” Competition
organised by ‘Ford of Argentina’..”

At the moment Rodrigo is focusing on his current

projects, and creating CD cover art for his clients.
 ArTIST SPOTLIGHT
rodrigo Damian

24
Matt & Myriam
Benya
Matt and Myriam Benya are award

winning illustrators, concept and

comic book artists. They are both

based in Duisburg, Germany and

with skills reaching from traditional

and digital painting to 3D modeling

and sculpting, they have done work

for the games industry, comic book

and rpg publications as well as TV

commercial projects.

26
 Anne
Pogoda
Anne is a 21 year old digital artist, Could you tell our readers what you have

and has always liked drawing, writ- been doing since being featured in our

ing and film making, but tells us she previous issue?

was never that good at making music. I have basically been working on some

Since Anne was 16 she has worked new personal projects and many arti-

as freelancer and started her cles for the 2DArtist and the Official

first experiments with graphic de- Painter Magazine. Then I had the funny

sign. At this stage in her life she idea to test if my painting skills are good

was very much into traditional art. enough to meet the tight deadlines of

a comic company and sent some test

Anne is am still somewhat new to digital pages over to Zenescope where I now

painting. It all began by fooling around with work as comic colourist.

a mouse and Microsoft Paint some years

ago before it became really serious. She Are you still working on your Dark Town

has been practicing for 3 years now, and project? How is this progressing?

has since purchased a graphics tablet. Well, I had to give Dark Town a break

actually for 2008 because my mother

Proudly, Anne is self taught in all you started working as author for children’s

can see so far: Mainly character de- books and “of course” wanted me to do

sign and theme based fine art paint- the designs and illustrations for her.

ings. Since 2006 she has also been

teaching herself how to bring up char- What is it about portraits that you en-

acters with a good fashion design and joy?

how to make character concept art. The eyes, the lips, the hair. I can’t tell for

At the moment Anne continues to sure but I know that eyes have always

learn Painter, illustrate children’s’ been highly fascinating to me. As I was

books and last but by no means least, younger I used to make drawings with

Matte painting. Once she has learnt over detailed eyes, staring at you and

a considerable amount about these nothing else. That is why.

mediums she hopes to learn 3D art.

Firstly Anne, we’d like to offer our Thanks

for letting us do this interview with you.

 ArTIST INTErVIEW
Anne Pogoda

READ Anne’s full

7 page interview
in the full hi res
PDF!

ONLY $3.50!!
28
Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005
The Artist of The Month Awards
Welcome to the FW Publishing Artist of the Month awards. In
our forum each month we hold an award for our best submit-
ted artists, in the categories of 3D,2D and Photography/Photo
manipulation. At the end of each month we choose at random
artists we feel displayed exceptional talent in their chosen
medium.

In this issue we are showcasing October 2007, January and

February’s 2008 Artists. Due to ISP issues FW Publishing could
not announce our artists for November/December of 2007. We
do apologise for this but as you know ISP issues are something
out of our control.

Artist of T
We have to inform you we cannot showcase January’s 2D AOM.
If you would like to see the winning entry please feel free to visit
the forum.

Anna

October 2007 - AOM 3D October 2007 - AOM 2D

FW Publishing would like to congratulate Dimitri Elevit for being Sikko Valk is FW Publishing’s October AOM, with his image,
3D Artist of the month for October 2007 with his image Remem- Moonlit Car in the Rain.
brances-Through the storm.
He is based in the Netherlands, speaks both English and Dutch
Based in Barcelona, Spain his main interests include music and is studying Sciences at University.
and art. His favourite bands include Nightwish, Elderdawn
and Enigma. He also has many sources of inspiration for http://falconsv.cgsociety.org
and people he admires. Some of his favourite artists and po-
ets are, William Blake, E.A.Poe, Salvador Dali, and F.Goya.

Dimitri’s images are created using software such as Cinema4D,P

ainterX,Bryce,Poser,Photoshop.

http://delevit.deviantart.com

The Month
January 2008 - AOM 3D
Chris Wilson is our 3D AOM for January. Congratulations!
He has been working on my film, ‘The Chronicles of Nerm’ for the
past few years. The film is a sequel of the first film he created,
‘The Adventures of Nerm and BG.’ The film will be a short ani-
mation, but Chris tells us that it should be rather epic, especially
compared to the first film in the series ‘The Chronicles of Nerm’
has six sets and over ten characters.
http://cwanimation.com
February 2008 - AOM 2D
Our 2D AOM for February is Miranda Adria. She has been work-
ing with Photoshop since version 3.0 and has been an avid addict
ever since. Most of the work she does is photo-manipulation,
taking several images (her own or free stock) and creating some-
thing new and different. However, she also enjoys doing digital
paintings, mixed media pieces, fractal art, and photography.
http://bitchinblack.deviantart.com
February 2008 - AOM 3D
We want to congratulate CaeJay for being February’s 3D AOM.
Ceajay’s artistic journey first started with drawing, then painting.
Art has always been the first love of her life.
“I’ve drawn and painted from as young as I can remember and
done well as an artist, not financially yet sadly, but in what I’ve
made, given away, sold.... And even had stolen. Amazingly, and
to everyone who knew me, I was refused entry into Art School
back in the 70’s, as having no talent If only they could see me
now..
http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.php?userid=416764
Yangqi showcase artist
FW Magazine would like to Introduce Yangqi. A freelance illustrator specialising in il-

lustrating novels, children’s books, and some areas of advertising. Currently residing

in Zhengzhou, China, Yangqi has been painting since childhood.

You can view Yangqi’s portfolio at http://yangqi.deviantart.com

/
Nykolai Aleksander

Nykolai was born in 1978 in Germany, where she spent

her childhood and teenage years, always drawing or being
otherwise creative. At 17, she left for England to study A-
Level Theatre and Music. After one year, she returned to
Germany, working on film as a set assistant for a short
while, and in 1999 moved to London for good.

In 2000, she met Andrew E. Maugham and began get-

ting involved in the writing of his novel “Convivium”, which
was published in 2005. During those years, Nykolai also
started drawing
 READ NykoLai’s
full 6 page inter-
view in the full
hi res PDF!

ONLY $3.50!!
I know will suit the painting, or my
mood, then get going.

Another thing I tend to do is visual-

izing what I am about to paint in mo-
tion. In the case of characters, I let
them wander around in “their” world
in my head, through light and dark,
and different colour schemes. Again,
music helps me with this. Different
sounds literally evoke certain colours
and scenes in my mind, rather than
feelings. – And now here is to hop-
ing this doesn’t sound too disturbing.

We noticed in your portfolio that you

draw a lot of people, would you ever
be tempted to draw animals?
I would be if they play an important
role in the painting, or have something
to do with the story behind it. Like the
ravens in three of my works, and the
dove in another. Or if someone com-
missioned me to paint their pet. Other
than that, I am not too keen on work-
Ben
jam
in F
ries
s
 ArTIST SPOTLIGHT
Benjamin Friess

Benjamin Friess is inspired by heroic fantasy illustrators. He started to

draw with pencils and in 2001. He tried oiled painting and found a new
passion. In 2006 digital painting was a new experience with his more
popular work “Emerveillement”.

Benjamin’s main aim artistically is to create beauty with realistic and

fantastic pieces of work. He wants to offer us a more beautiful and
lighter vision of the life, by adding imagination.

http://benf.deviantart.com

40
John Girouard

Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005

 ArTIST INTErVIEW
John Girouard

My name is John Girouard and I am 45 years old. I was born in the

United States in Belleville, New Jersey. I grew up in a rural area of
New Jersey called Andover where my parents still live. I spent a few
years wandering about the country and finally settled in Las Vegas,
Nevada where I met and married my beautiful wife Pamelia.

When I am not working on my day job as a Senior Programmer Ana-

lyst in the service industry, I help run a non-profit organization which
assists young impoverished children and AIDS orphans in Kenya re-
ceive an education (www.kenyakeep.org). In the precious little time I
have left over I like spending it with my wife. I also love travel, reading
movies and art.

Hello John. Thank you for taking part in this interview. Are you self
taught artist or have you had any formal training?
It’s my pleasure, thanks for having me.
I have had no real formal training to speak of, although I haven’t ruled
it out...

What first fuelled your passion for working with digital software,
especially Poser?
In the mid 1980’s I started working in the Information Systems field
and became obsessed with anything and everything computer re-
lated. It was not only the technical aspect of computers which cap-
tivated me, but the creative potential of them as well. Back then,
there were a limited number of consumer software programs avail-
able and most of the better packages were very expensive.

While I noticed that many programs like Poser, Bryce, Adobe Pho-
toshop and Painter were making great leaps forward in accessibility,
it wasn’t until I stumbled upon web sites like Renderosity in the year
2000 that I saw the true potential of the digital medium and where
it was heading. It was at that moment I was inspired to try my hand
at digital art.

What would you say are the pros and cons of using software like
Poser?
I have seen questions like this on many different digital art and 3D
web sites across the internet and it always seems to be a heated
discussion to say the least. Arguments about one program being
better than another program are common. By far the most debated
subject is whether digital artwork is “real art” because software
was used to create it. Personally, I look at all forms of digital crea-
tions as works of art and the use of software programs as simply a
tool to help you bring a creative vision to life.

The benefit of using a program like Poser is in its versatility. Besides

the apparent use of Poser in the majority of my mixed medium im-
ages, I have also used Poser for lighting, shadow and anatomy refer-
ences in my 2D work.

42
One of the bigger drawbacks of using any software program is becom-
ing too reliant on the program to do the bulk of the work and the end
result being very generic and unimaginative.
We can see from your portfolio that you don’t just work with Poser. What
other software do you work with and what do you like and dislike about
them?
While the majority of my work consists of Adobe Photoshop and Poser, I
have used Bryce, Ultra-Fractal, Painter X, DAZ Studio, Hexagon, Vue and
Carrara. I tend to use these other applications to fulfil a need. The right
tool for the job as the saying goes.
I really don’t have any dislikes for any of these applications, except for
maybe when I get frustrated with the learning curve.
Out of all the software you work with, which would you recommend to
our readers and why?
Personally, I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone wanting to
work in digital is to invest in a copy of Adobe Photoshop. From simple
photo editing and colour correction to digital painting and complex graph-
ic design, there really is not a better, well rounded program available to-
day. Plus there is more support and tutorials available on the Internet for
this program than any other graphics program I know of.
One of the main reasons I really enjoy using Photoshop is it appeals to
my traditional art background (when I use my tablet) while giving me
the versatility of a digital program. For me, I really enjoy the ability to
keep several painted elements of an image on different layers so I can
recolour, repaint or completely redo those elements without changing
the entire image.
Could you take us through a step by step process of how you create
your digital images?
Could you please ask some easier questions? Jeez (laughs)
Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005
 ArTIST INTErVIEW
John Girouard

READ john’s full 10 page in-

terview in the full hi res
PDF!

ONLY $3.50!!

44
Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005
 Joerg Warda

THE GALLERIES
Warda is a Berlin based artist and designer with
over 15 years of experience in a wide range of ar-
tistic fields. He holds a bachelor degree in Graphic
Arts and also enjoys a successful photography ca-
reer.

Since appearing in our last issue Warda has been

working on a number of beach style pin-ups which
he has kindly let us showcase.

http://www.warda.de

Freya Langford-Sidebottom
Since appearing in the forth issue of FW Maga-
zine Freya has started going to a local mar-
ket to have a go at selling some of her prints.

She tells us that it was a wonderful experience,

and even though some people didn’t buy anything
they would still stop and give lots of encourage-
ment and compliments about her work. Freya
plans to go to more markets in future and defi-
nitely recommends it to any artist.

http://freyals.deviantart.com/

Massimo Cressano
Born in Turin, in Italy, in 1987 Max has always
loved drawing. Ever since he can remember he
has always used pencils to fill a white sheet with
his scribbles. I think that the pencil is part of my
body.

“I never studied at a particular art school, I just

learn by myself. Training is everything. I bought
a tablet a month ago, and I discovered it is an in-
credible tool. I think digital art is the future, but I
admire those who are capable of using traditional
colours. My dream is to become a famous illus-
trator, maybe to work in the comics, or maybe in
advertising.”

http://madmax1987.deviantart.com
Fabio Caserini
Born in Milan and living in the city province, a
degree in Graphics and Advertising Fabio is self-
taught in digital painting. When he isn’t painting
he’s a webmaster and web designer. All his digi-
tal paintings are created with Adobe Photoshop
CS2, a Wacom Grapphire Tablet and a bit of Corel
Painter X.

http://www.imagewall.deviantart.com

Scott A. McEwan
Scott is a digital artist that works with a variety of dig-
ital software. His work covers a variety of mediums
and genres, such as Poser Pin-ups and semi-erot-
ic, to beautiful landscapes in Vue 6 and Bryce 6.1.

http://www.fantasy3d-art.com

Fredy Wenzel
Marie-Michelle Pepin
Vanessa Pepin
Lee Crystal
Ian Liddle

Since appearing in issue 3 of FW Magazine,

Fredy has been trying to educate himself by
learning Vue 6. He has told us that he hopes to
make some new images with it very soon.

Recently Fredy has been fortunate enough to win

the deviantart ‘Evolution in 3D’ contest with his
image ‘Reverse Engineering’

http://www.fredy3d.deviantart.com
 THE GALLErIES
Joerg Warda

Dog Jivel
Joerg Warda
Top Left

Red Special
Joerg Warda
Top right

White Hibiscus
Joerg Warda
Bottom right

Soaked
Joerg Warda
Opposite Page

48
Larissa (character Larissa Rasputin copyright Ina Howe Burns)
Freya Langford-Sidebottom
Top Left

Zhira (Zhira Fay is copyright Lara Guffanti and Christel Bro)

Freya Langford Sidebottom
Bottom Left
White Witch
Freya Langford-Sidebottom
Opposite Page

Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005

 THE GALLErIES
Massimo Cressano

Why so Serious
Massimo Cressano
Opposite Page

In Thy Name Project - Heilm

Massimo Cressano
Top right

In Thy Name Project - I-Frost

Massimo Cressano
Bottom right

50
Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005
 THE GALLErIES
Vanessa Pepin

Vanessa Pepin
Born in Drummondville, Canada in 1989 Vanessa has always been
attracted to the arts. She drew Manga when she was younger,
and even took oil painting classes and learnt Gothic calligraphy.

Some years ago she found ‘CGtalk’. At the time she didn’t
know what digital painting was. But as she browsed the gal-
leries she found herself amazed by all the fantasy style im-
ages. She found herself inspired and got herself her first Wa-
com Graphire tablet and started to learn to paint. From that
moment she had fallen passionately in love with digital painting.

Vanessa tells us “I’m totally fascinated by the beautiful, the dark, and
fairy tales. I paint in my free time, and since painting is my true real pas-
sion, I swear, one day, I’ll be good enough to paint freelance for a living.”

http://vanaomielth.deviantart.com/
Simple Girl Portrait
Vanessa Pepin
Top Left

Gothic Girl
Vanessa Pepin
Top right

Somewhere around Nothing

Vanessa Pepin
Bottom right

La dame au corbeau
Vanessa Pepin
Opposite Page

52
Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005
 THE GALLErIES
Marie-Michelle Pepin

54
Ornement
Marie-Michelle Pepin
Top Left

Hell Baby
Marie-Michelle Pepin
Bottom Left

Don’t Catch
Marie-Michelle Pepin
Opposite Page

Marie-Michelle Pepin
Marie-Michelle Pepin is 18 years old and is studying graphic design at
Quebec City in Canada. Art has always been a part of her life and she
did paint with a mouse when she was younger. She tells us that this tech-
nique didn’t work very well for her so she stopped painting for a little while.

A few years later her sister, Vanessa Pepin (previous page) was
given a Wacom as a Christmas gift from her parents. She saw Va-
nessa painting and decided she wanted to give painting another
go. At the moment Marie-Michelle admits that she is very much a
beginner and tells us that she’s working very hard to improve her
work and learn as much as she can. She really loves drawing char-
acters and focuses on the fantasy subjects in the arts genre and
one day she hopes to be able to use her artistic skills as a career.

http://azraele.deviantart.com/

Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005

 THE GALLErIES
Fabio Caserini

see the full gallery

showcase in the
full hi res pdf!!

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56
Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005
 THE GALLErIES
Scott A. McEwan & Lee Crystal

Min Joo
Scott A. McEwan
Above

58
 Bomber Pilots 4
Lee Crystal
Top

Bomber 4
Lee Crystal
Bottom

Lee Crystal
Introducing Lee Crystal, a 3D artist and
Science Fiction writer. He has had his
short stories published in Art & Prose
Magazine with some of his related artwork.

His current project is converting all his 2D

sketches and artwork that he created for
his novels into 3D. Lee tells us that one day
he hopes to create a short animation of
these to promote his sci-fi novel “The War”.

http://www.outpost13.com

Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005

E l e n i
L a e l a

http://www. darklaela.deviantart.com

Eleni is a 14 year old girl from Belgium. From the age of twelve she
has revolted against all things ‘normal’. Since then she has been attracted
to the Gothic subculture and ever since that day, she has changed. She
says one of her ambitions would be to either live in a peaceful country like
Sweden, or Austria on a farm with lots of horses.

“My hobbies are of course drawing (digital or traditional), ski-

ing and snowboarding. I really like collecting stuff (like cor-
sets and porcelain dolls). Other things that I like consist of,
mice, the colour poison green, shopping (I’m still a girl after
all.), Gaming, funny animal shaped slippers, striped socks,
dressing up in fantasy creatures , singing , and lots more.

As well as my like’s, I’m like any other normal person and have my
dislikes. I really do not like butter and I’m not very fond of skulls
on socks and gloves, sunbathing and getting tanned. Another dis-
like of mine is childish people and having cold hands. In fact, no
matter where I am, I’m always cold (in the winter I sleep with 4-5
blankets).”

Eleni tells us that she started painting when her boyfriend gave her
a copy of Photoshop and has been painting digitally for just over a year.
When she first got the software she admits that she wasn’t really very
good at drawing and did not even know how to draw a line in Photoshop.
So with a bit more practice and support from her boyfriend she kept en-
hancing her skills and practising. After some time she started asking ad-
vice from other fellow artists. One artist in particular is Susanne van Pelt,
also known as Anathematixs from deviantart encouraged her to keep on
practising and Eleni is very grateful for her persistence.

When Eleni isn’t drawing she’s talking to her friends on msn and learning
as much from other artists as she can.

“My friends, my art and computer are the most important things
in my life. But because my friends don’t live close to me (like in,
another country), I am bound to msn, and thus to my computer. So
when my computer crashed one time, I was devistated because’ I
couldn’t do the three most important things in my life”
READ Eleni’s full
3 page spotlight
in the full hi res
PDF!

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I was Innocent
The Gathering
3D Max Bag Tutorial
workshops
 u g h
l kt hro
W a
a g e
g I m i o
e r i n n a c
a t h A t a
e G i c a
Th V e r ó n
By

64
READ Veronica’s
full 3 page walk-
through in the
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Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005

66
I was Innocent Walkthrough
By
Eleni Laela
 Start by drawing a sketch for the girl,
which is shown in the first image on the
far left. Use a photo reference if needed.
Sketch the girl on a new layer in your
painting program as this will help in later
stages.

For the second step add a new layer

and colour in the hard lines with some
hard colours. Not forgetting shading and
highlights.

Moving onto the third step, delete the

harsh sketch lines for beneath the paint-
ed layer. Start refining the skin, noticing
creases, folds, highlight and shadow.

After the previous step I can start think-

ing about some more refined details, like
hair detail, eyes, and lips.

In this next step I removed the harsh

sketch lines from around her dress. I
decided I wanted a ‘ghost girl’ so made
her dress semi-transparent. You can do
this by user a low opacity eraser brush or
lowering the transparency of the layer.

In this next step I’ve moved more onto

colour the gravestone. Notice the direc-
tion your lighting is coming from. This will
determine the shadows on the grave-
stone.

Now it’s time to paint the background. I

have added some grass and clouds, in-
cluding a tornado. At this stage you will
also notice I have made some colour
changes. You can change colours usually
in your colour balance settings, hue/sat
settings or by painting another colour
over the top and setting the layer style to
hue, overlay or soft light. This all depends
on the final style you are looking for, and
which program you are working in. Wheth-
er it be Photoshop or painter.

To finish, polish your image off with extra

shadow correction, details and sharpen-
ing.

Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005

68
 C�ea��n� � Ba�
A 3D M�� Tut��i��
I’m an artist and musician, I’m cur-
rently working towards performing
live music here in New Zealand
with my band partner, Sadi.
For this issue of FW Magazine I will
take you through the step by step
process of making a bag in 3D Max.
If you don’t have 3D Max head
on over to Autodesk and grab the
latest demo of Max which is fully
functional for 30 days.
Saving your work as you progress
is good practice, I usually save
with a naming system like project_
name001, project_name002 etc...
that way if I make a major mistake
or wreck a mesh by being too ex-
plorative I can go back a step and
continue happily.
You should at least have a clear
idea of the basic tools in max
before beginning this tutorial. The
most commonly used tools are
your Select and Move, Scale and
Rotate tools located at the top of
the max interface. Max comes
with an excellent reference manu-
al and a bunch of tutorials to bring
you up to speed.
Fig 1, shows our toolset, and
other things to help you out.
B� C��� Z��
We are going to model a bag.
Begin by creating a box in your
perspective viewport, click on
the Create, Standard Primitives,
Box. Now click on your Modify Tab,
we are going to set the number of
segments here to get us set up
for some vertex munching. Set
your segment count to the follow-
ing ::
Length : 98
Width : 145
Height : 180
Length Segs : 2
Width Segs : 4
Height Segs : 1
Name the Box to Bag.
Right click your Select and Move
tool, we are going to absolutely
position the box. This is done sim-
ply by right clicking on the spin-
ners on the rollout, this will zero
the values. Save your work.
Cool we are now set up to begin
shaping the general shape of our
bag.
The idea here is that by using a
lower res cage to begin with we
can add in our modifier stack a
Forbidden Whispers Magazine | 005
few modifiers to help do the work for us,
by smoothing the mesh and to add some
body. The benefit of this method is that
if you need to make a major adjustment
to the model there are less vertices to
work with on a lower res mesh.
All the smaller minor adjustments to the
vertices are going to add a smoother
defined look to the bag. So bear with
me...
Right click your box and Convert to an
Editable Poly. To the right of the user in-
terface we now have an editable poly in
our modifier stack and below that are all
the selection tools we are going to use
for modelling. Vertex, Edge, Border, Poly-
gon, Element. Below that is Edit Geom-
etry which has the tools we are going to
use to add more edges to our model.
Click on Polygon ( the red square ) and
select all the top polygons on your box,
hold down Ctrl on your keyboard to se-
lect multiple polys. *Tip :: It can be useful
to use the Select Object tool to prevent
accidental moving of polygons.
We are going to delete these to open
up the box so that we can create our
own custom flap. Just press delete on
your keyboard when you have all the
polygons selected. Look at, Fig 1 for a
screens hot. Now we are going to add
more edges so we have more vertices
to work on, this will help us to better
shape our model. Enter edge sub object
mode ( the little triangle icon ) and se-
lect a corner edge.
Just below that you will see a tab called
Ring, press that to select all your edges
around the box. We are going to use
connect to add more edges to our box.
Click on the box icon beside connect to
bring up our connect dialogue. Enter in
a value of 3 for segments and click on
OK. See, Fig 2.
Lets save our work as good practice
makes for less stress if you ever have a mesh smooth modifier setting the itera-
crash. Lets adjust our new edges... Push tions to 2. See, Fig 4. I get into the habit
the middle mouse button on your front of saving a lot so saving at this stage is
viewport to select it, hold down Alt and
press W on your keyboard, this will max-
imise the viewport. Handy if you need a
larger view of what you are working on.
You can get back to all your view ports
with the same keyboard shortcut.
Using Select and Move we are going
to move the edges down a little on the
Y axis and then enter vertex sub ob-
ject mode. Hold down Ctrl and your left
mouse button, click and drag a Marquee a good idea.
tool selection around the inner row of
vertices at the top and bottom of the Click on editable poly in the stack.
mesh. Make sure that Ignore Back fac-
ing is not checked with a tick otherwise Select vertex sub object mode and
you will have vertices not selected on select the centre vertex on the front
the backside of the model. Click on your of the mesh. We are going to use soft
scale tool and scale the vertices on the selection to move the vertex out while
Y axis down towards the central row of influencing the surrounding vertices.
vertices. Click on the + symbol beside Soft Se-
lection to expand the rollout. Check the
You will notice that when you hover box beside Use Soft Selection, we want
your mouse over the scale tool that the to adjust the Falloff value to affect the
mouse will change its icon depending on surrounding vertices more strongly. Set
which axis you are hovering over. If you a value of 47 and use your Select and
are hovering over all axis the icon will be
a double triangle and if you are hovering
over the y axis the icon will have three
little flaps around its triangle. Make sure
you are moving the vertices on the Y
axis. The Y axis will highlight yellow so
its easy to know you have the right axis
for scaling. Have a look at Fig 3 to see
how I’ve moved my vertices.
At this point we are going to add a
shell modifier to our stack to give the Move tool to pull the vertices out on the
box some body. Exit Vertex sub object Y axis generously. See, Fig 5.
mode ( click on the three dots ) and add
the shell modifier. See where it says Now we are going to see how the shell
Modifier List over to the right there, click modifier with mesh smooth comes into
on the arrow to bring up a drop down list play. Turn off soft selection and select
of modifiers, scroll down to Shell and the central 4 polygons on the front of
select it. You will now notice your shell the mesh. We are going to detach these
modifier in the stack above your edit- polygons to an element. Under Edit Ge-
able poly. I leave settings for the Shell ometry you will see a detach tab, click
modifier at default for now. Also add a on that to bring up the detach dialogue,
 READ Cori’s
full 8 page
3dmax tut in
the full hi
res PDF!

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