Art Works

3D art

I've been using POV-Ray on and off since 1999. As of this writing, that's a quarter century. Since 2011 I used it for some furry-adjacent art, but grew tired and took a long break before picking up OpenSCAD for some ships from The Dream.

The dream-rider Spirit Walk
the Venerator, an armed merchant in space
the Iris, a steampunk submarine cruiser

POV-Ray is still vital for artistic renders of the same or visualising places like Bellawood Station.

Voxel art

More recently I started using a simple voxel editor called Goxel. It basically adds another dimension to pixel art, like this:

Voxel art depicting a tiny condominium with a corner balcony over the entrance and a tree around the back, in a fenced area.

Or like this:

3D miniature of a stylized fountain in a park, surrounded by trees, benches and a lamp post.

Vector art

But sometimes I just like to make small vector art pieces:

A pink cat's pawprint symbol.

This icon was initially the centerpiece of a text adventure cover (published under my real name). But then I figured, hey. Might as well use it more.

Or how about my portrait on the homepage:

A white cat in purple wizard robe and hat, carrying a staff with a pawprint symbol.

That was originally made (in Inkscape) for a game, or rather a tech demo, except in there Wizard Claude can only be seen from behind. So I was free to use this piece elsewhere. Speaking of which, here's an 88x31 button version:

Art tips

For OpenSCAD:

OpenSCAD has an integer data type and preserves type in arithmetic, so for example 34 / 7 won't do what one might expect!
If you're looking for a cone primitive, there isn't any. Simply use a cylinder and give different radii for each end.

For POV-Ray:

0 can stand in for <0, 0, 0> (same for any other number and vector)
the unit vectors x / y / x can be used to place objects; think a cylinder or cone that follows an axis
version 3.7 has a for statement now!

Generally:

The Golden Ratio is your friend.
Easiest way to use it is to pick numbers from the Fibonaccy sequence (not necessarily successive).
Tweak those numbers as needed; the ratio doesn't have to be that exact.

More generally:

Block out the main areas of an image, then work in the details.
Limited palettes help rather than hinder, modulo technical restrictions.
In traditional art, mixed media also work great.

But also:

Learn to decompose a scene into simple geometric shapes you can deal with more easily.
Linear perspective isn't the best or only one. There are other good ways to look at things. Literally.