Posts by Bridgette
How Did You Do That?
magazine. PICTURE 2 zsphere armature to
build on. PICTURE 3 Zsketch armature.
Picture 3 Skin to sculpt on.
- I found some architectural reference for this piece and scanned it into my computer.
- Created a Zbrush armature using Zspheres
- Drew on the Zshperes with Zsketch. I really like this feature of Zbrush 4 for the Mac
- The skin of the piece is created from the Zsketch. This makes it easier for me to sculpt on.
- The final sculpture is shown in two ways. The one with the black background is the final version
- The final version with the white background is using something called Best Preview Render.
I am a perpetual teacher. I love to share. So here is information and some screen shots on the scroll. It is created in Zbrush4.
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-Sculptor, Writer and Speaker
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor, writer and educator as well as a public speaker.
Her blog can be found at https://creativesculpture.com.
She is also the owner and creator of the God’s Word Collectible Sculpture series
Follow the artists on twitter twitter.com/Sculptorwriter twitter.com/creategodsword
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bridgette.mongeon
Listen to The Creative Christian Podcast or the Inspiration/Generation Podcast Click on Podcast Host Bios for a list of all podcasts.
Listen to the Art and Technology Podcast
Wow, It Is Like Having An Entirely New Art Tool That Makes My Work Look Spectacular!
I have been learning Zbrush4 for a while now. Though there is so much to learn. I have to admit, I can’t spend nearly as much time with it as I like. Zbrush 4 has something called Best Preview Render. For those of you interested in checking it out there is a link to the pixologic site that shows the details.
I still must study all of the bells and whistles of this feature of Zbrush, however, I must say I am thrilled with just my few tries of this feature. For example, I am including two screen shots in this blog post. One with the render, one without. World of difference. The feature, makes me want to create. It is like pressing a button and someone coming in and making your work look great.
Now back to playing.. uhmm I mean working.
______________________________________________________________________________
-Sculptor, Writer and Speaker
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor, writer and educator as well as a public speaker.
Her blog can be found at https://creativesculpture.com.
She is also the owner and creator of the God’s Word Collectible Sculpture series
Follow the artists on twitter twitter.com/Sculptorwriter twitter.com/creategodsword
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bridgette.mongeon
Listen to The Creative Christian Podcast or the Inspiration/Generation Podcast Click on Podcast Host Bios for a list of all podcasts.
Listen to the Art and Technology Podcast
Come On Facebook- Get It Together —”We Couldn’t Find a Feed Using The URL You Provide”
Perhaps you are also frustrated trying to get your blog feed to go to your personal or fans page. Are you continuing to get the response that I am? “We couldn’t find a feed using the URL you provide”
Well I had that problem with this blog feeding into my personal page and found a suggestion on the internet that helped. It said to go to your Word Press blog and reduce the amount of entries that the RSS feed will send. Reduce it to one if you have to. I only had to reduce mine to 3 and then Facebook started to import this blog. If this works for you…. KEEP AN EYE ON THINGS. I have heard it can drop you just as quickly. I would like to say that this work around has worked for the God’s Word Collectibles page on Facebook. This is an important page in that all of our podcasts are sent there. However, I have to resort to posting each podcast on the site as Facebook is not letting me use this work around.
One other suggestion in trying this work around is to not just keep trying it, instead
How to try and import your blog settings.
Go to notes
Click on notes to see all notes. At the bottom of the page on the right hand side you will see something that says “Edit import settings.”
After setting your import setting to be 3 on your Word Press blog RSS feed then put your feed in this Web URL. Word Press users can get their feed by clicking on the feed button. Usually it is the name of your blog/feed. To be sure the feed really does work. Put the url in a browser window and see if your feed comes up. Don’t forget to click the little button that says you represent and have the rights to publish this blog.
Then press start importing.
If you get the error mentioned Try clicking on the button “Back to ” that send you back to your Facebook home page and then start again. Say a little prayer, cross your fingers etc. It may or may not work. I also mention this along with the links to send complaints in a post on my forum. Feel free to post your suggestions here or on the forum. This is very frustrating for many people.
I’m So Intrigued With Paper Sculpture And This “New” Art Form
I’m going to have to write a more detailed article on this or do a podcast interview with these people. I’m so intrigued. The wonderful movie Between The Folds by Vanessa Gould. Is fascinating. Folding these incredible designs filled with emotion this “new” art form is coming to life. I can see how artists can abandon all and get caught up in the entire thing. There seems to be some magic, some secrets awaiting to come out.
As I watched the movie I jotted down some notes. I mention these because they are things I have pondered myself.
“It is like Jazz”
“The object looks Good if the process felt good.”
“It always feels awkward, like it is not going to work.”
“What do I not want to put in this figure?”
Now I need to get the names correct on who said what.
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Sculptor, Writer and Speaker
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor, writer and educator as well as a public speaker.
Her blog can be found at https://creativesculpture.com.
She is also the owner and creator of the God’s Word Collectible Sculpture series
Follow the artists on twitter twitter.com/Sculptorwriter twitter.com/creategodsword
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bridgette.mongeon
Listen to The Creative Christian Podcast or the Inspiration/Generation Podcast Click on Podcast Host Bios for a list of all podcasts.
Listen to the Art and Technology Podcast
You Will See More Illustration On This Blog In Months To Come
In the next couple of months I will be designating some of my time in my graduate studies to illustration. For those of you who don’t know, I am in graduate school. This is my final working semester. I have two tracks in a Master of Fine Arts in interdisciplinary arts program at Goddard College in Vermont. The first is a writing track. For this part next semester I will be editing my novel.
The other part is an art track, which, up to this point, has been in sculpting both digital and traditional. But since I met the required 19 hours needed to be able to teach this I have a semester to play. I have many children’s books that I have written but I have not done anything with them because they are not illustrated. As an artist I have a hard time sending them off to someone else to do- though I am considering working with my husband who is also an artist, on one or two. So this semester I will be dabbling in illustration. It is something I did years ago. We are talking about 20+ years ago, and at that point I did it sparsely. So here is my new years adventure-illustration.
In light of that I am ramping up. Here are the steps that I took in doing a recent illustration.
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Sculptor, Writer and Speaker
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor, writer and educator as well as a public speaker.
Her blog can be found at https://creativesculpture.com.
She is also the owner and creator of the God’s Word Collectible Sculpture series
Follow the artists on twitter twitter.com/Sculptorwriter twitter.com/creategodsword
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bridgette.mongeon
Listen to The Creative Christian Podcast or the Inspiration/Generation Podcast Click on Podcast Host Bios for a list of all podcasts.
Listen to the Art and Technology Podcast
New Year- Getting Organized
The new year is already around the corner and I find myself compulsively trying to get reorganized. 3 tasks sit ont he forefront of my to do list.
1. Backup Big Mac-
I have ordered a new internal hard drive for my Mac. I have encountered a failing hard drive and will be backing up items both on discs and through time machine. This job is really a housecleaning project.
2. To Do List?
I’m not real happy with the way my mac organizes my day. Or maybe it is me organizing my day. I want to set up goals and project and have a step by step way of completing them. I am a list maker and love to see things corssed off. Hubby says, “What is wrong with a notepad?” That does work to some extent but it gets messy very quickly and the pages get torn off and lost. So I’m reviewing software that will help me stay organized. The software of choice Ominfocus.
3. Novel Writing Software.
It has come to my attention that Word just is not doing what I need it to do when trying to complete or clean up a novel or book. I have about 3 book projects going at this moment. The two software programs I am looking at for this job is Storymill and Scrivener.
I guess I’m leaning toward Scrivener as everyone seems to rant and rave about it, plus instead of having just a educational discount they are offering a 50% discount for all of those who participated in National Novel Writing Month and finished. I’m proud to say ia m one of those. I’m also looking at Story Mill, as I really like their timeline feature.
I must not be the only one that really likes the timeline feature in Story Mill. As Tom Borowski says in this this comment thread on an article that compares Story Mill and Scrivener.
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Sculptor, Writer and Speaker
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor, writer and educator as well as a public speaker.
Her blog can be found at https://creativesculpture.com.
She is also the owner and creator of the God’s Word Collectible Sculpture series
Follow the artists on twitter twitter.com/Sculptorwriter twitter.com/creategodsword
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bridgette.mongeon
Listen to The Creative Christian Podcast or the Inspiration/Generation Podcast Click on Podcast Host Bios for a list of all podcasts.
Listen to the Art and Technology Podcast
Waking Up in Galveston- Question Mark
I could hear the waves as the cool morning air came through the open door leading out to the patio from the room where I slept. I awoke several times at night. I had my blinds open, wanting desperately to watch the sun rise through my bedroom window in this wonderful birthday retreat.
This morning my girls and I gathered in my room 15 floors up on the beach in Galveston, Texas. Ann peeked in first.
“Are you awake?”
I had already turned around upside down on my bed and covered my legs, grabbing my camera, not wanting to miss the sunrise. “Come in” I replied, “ This is incredible”
“I didn’t want you to miss it.” She said.
Wrapped in a red flannel blanket and walking in slowly, reverently Ann knelt down before the large picture window and balanced her elbows on the ledge as if she were going to pray. Perhaps she did in her own way. Sunny showed up next, climbing up onto the large bed. It is a task getting into it, but I’m happy for it’s height, for there is a purpose. It raises me so that I can sit in bed, and watch the surf, the horizon, the many ships passing in the shipping lane so far out, and the little tiny dogs running and sniffing on the beach.
The waves come into shore in scallops, coming and coming and coming again. Four lines of white foam are constant, never moved by the scalloped edges. Farther out white caps peek up and down again as if they are in their own private game of hide-go seek.
What made the morning complete was a cup of hot tea. Started by my friend. “Let me make you your first cup of tea that you drink in your 50’s” she said.
As we three girls sat and watched and waited, a small single little cloud in the shape of a tiny question mark glistened brightly just above where the sun was going to rise. “ Happy birthday. What do I have in store for you?” God seemed to be saying. It was not an ominous question but a playful question, one that you can’t wait to unwrap, to figure, and to explore. We wait a good 45 minutes watching the sky go from mauve to pink to a hint of red and then applauded a simple rising of a sun. Something that happens every day, but this morning it was an event. Our faces shone a bright red as the ceremony reflected upon our own countenance. Once it was over, the three of us retreated into our own rooms They to sleep, me to write. The dust flecks glistening like stars on my computer screen with a sun that is now fully awake.
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Sculptor, Writer and Speaker
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor, writer and educator as well as a public speaker. Her blog can be found at https://creativesculpture.com. She is also the owner and creator of the God’s Word Collectible Sculpture series Follow the artists on twitter twitter.com/Sculptorwriter twitter.com/creategodsword Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bridgette.mongeon Listen to The Creative Christian Podcast or the Inspiration/Generation Podcast Click on Podcast Host Bios for a listing of all podcasts Listen to the Art and Technology Podcast
Google— A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing?
I know that the digital world is changing how we read and how we distribute books. I have a few problems with this. The first one is… my general mistrust of Google. Why should this lovable company who changes their artwork every day to make my searching enjoyable, be mistrusted?
I think they are getting too big for their britches.
belong to them. Artists and writers beware.
Left and right, artists are making waves about what Google is trying to do. According to my research they are infringing on the rights of artists and photographers.
“Artists Sue Google Over Copyright Infringement.” They are also the backers behind the Orphans Work Act. If you do not know about this and are an artist, you absolutely must learn. I mean it. Stop what you are doing and research this. What happens with this will change your income for the rest of your life. I have written about it before in an article for Best of Artists and Artisans, and there are links in the article for further information. If we are not careful, Google will become the God and keeper of all.
In a nutshell, Google wants to take the books that are out of print and make them available. Sounds real sweet, but watch out for that wolves teeth. As my southern friend says, “Katy bar the door.”
First of all, if I write a book, and it is out of print, what gives them the rights to reproduce that book without permission? They are also proposing that this be done with artwork, have a depository of artwork that people can come and browse and use. If artists do not claim their artwork and step up and say, “No, you can not use it, or this belongs to me,” then well tough poop for you. This puts the burden of copyright ownership on the artists. As it stands right now, artwork is copyrighted the moment it is created. I don’t have to search for my artwork all over the place. I don’t have to go to a Goggle provided website and pay to have my work protected and say it is mine. It is mine. PERIOD! For more information on this please read the article that I wrote for Best of Artists and Artisans 2008.
I may be lulled to enter blindly into the idea of digital books lovingly created and made affordable and accessible through Google, but I have a genuine mistrust of them. And what is sad is that I feel like they are my own child. I nurtured them. I still do. They are a part of my everyday life. Yet, they have too much control.
I am never one to spread discontent. However, in this case, I will stand on my soap box, behind my artists table and computer. I’ll give a very suspicious glance at Google as the writer/artist in me speaks, no shouts loudly. “ARTISTS AND WRITERS BEWARE! There is a wolf in sheep’s clothing!”
So what are your thoughts?
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Sculptor, Writer and Speaker
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor, writer and educator as well as a public speaker. Her blog can be found at https://creativesculpture.com. She is also the owner and creator of the God’s Word Collectible Sculpture series Follow the artists on twitter twitter.com/Sculptorwriter twitter.com/creategodsword Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bridgette.mongeon Listen to The Creative Christian Podcast or the Inspiration/Generation Podcast Click on Podcast Host Bios for a listing of all podcasts Listen to the Art and Technology Podcast
Using Zbrush For Design And Presentation of Traditional Sculpture
This was a simple little piece, an award for a client. But I could not get it done and created in bronze in time for their presentation. No problem with Zbrush. I just created it digitally, worked out the details with my client and then created this video for them to present. Now it is on to the traditional sculpture in the studio. I loved using Zbrush timeline to create the animation.
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Sculptor, Writer and Speaker
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor, writer and educator as well as a public speaker. Her blog can be found at https://creativesculpture.com. She is also the owner and creator of the God’s Word Collectible Sculpture series Follow the artists on twitter twitter.com/Sculptorwriter twitter.com/creategodsword Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bridgette.mongeon Listen to The Creative Christian Podcast or the Inspiration/Generation Podcast Click on Podcast Host Bios for a listing of all podcasts Listen to the Art and Technology Podcast
Thinking About Illustrating
Many years ago, before I was a sculptor, I painted.
Yes, it is true. The commissions I received, way back then, were for watercolor or pastel portraits. That was so long ago that the picture I am showing here is my daughter and I. My daughter is now headed toward 26!
I think it is curious that I have been away from two dimensional work for so long that it now feels difficult to visualize in 2d. That is why I have taken so well to 3d sculpting in programs like Mudbox or Zbrush. Not only can I create in the computer but I can color these 3d sculptures and drop them to canvas creating illustrations.
Why is this important to me now in my life? Because I have about 5 or 6 children’s books that I have written and I would really like to have them published. But, because I am an artist I have a hard time giving them over to an illustrator to do the illustrations. Unless of course that illustrator was my husband, I am considering this. This is one area of my art that I feel I need to pull together.
It is funny, this gap in my creativity was really the jumping board this past year for writing the young adult novel. I figured if I wrote a young adult novel I would not have to illustrate it.
My other old favorite was pen and ink. Ah if I could do that then I could have a blast with some of my poetry writing for kids.
Don’t be surprised if my creative endeavors in the future consist of doing 2d illustration.
Not to fear. I am not giving up sculpting, just expanding things a bit.
As I stated in another post-
If I was asked, who I’d like to have been.
I’d aspire to be Shel Silverstein.…
Mixed with another I could deduce
A helping smidgen of Dr. Seuss
Educating children would be sweet
I wish I’d created Sesame Street.
So truly if asked who I’d like to have been
My reply would then be seussyhensstein.
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Sculptor, Writer and Speaker
Bridgette Mongeon is a sculptor, writer and educator as well as a public speaker. Her blog can be found at https://creativesculpture.com. She is also the owner and creator of the God’s Word Collectible Sculpture series Follow the artists on twitter twitter.com/Sculptorwriter twitter.com/creategodsword Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bridgette.mongeon Listen to The Creative Christian Podcast or the Inspiration/Generation Podcast Click on Podcast Host Bios for a listing of all podcasts Listen to the Art and Technology Podcast