Wrestlefestival fun facts, statistics, and more shit to read
39 requests, 4 alternate angle shots, and 43 total images were created.
Trying to juggle a job, transit, paying bills, and doing this (to the point where the images remained consistent in their quality) was difficult, to say the least. To keep my workflow constant, I would spend weekends posing and staging the shots (roughly 7-9 per weekend) and during the week I would do post production/touchups on the images after work. This way I was able to release at least one image per day (roughly around the same timeframe).
The goal of this event was multi-faceted...
One: I wanted to satiate the bazillions of wrestling/combat related requests I was receiving from people (in numerous countries, Japan being one of the most 'passionate' with their requests) in one fell swoop.I figured that if I made an event out of it, that the requests would die down for awhile, allowing me to concentrate on creating promo images/wallpapers for people without having to be buried under joshi/mma/puroresu related imagery.
Two: I wanted to make sure there weren't any major duplicate poses (ie: I didn't want 30 people all requesting muscle busters) - this would force me to learn new posing tricks and have to use reference material such as images, video, etc to understand how certain holds/attacks would work.
Three: I wanted to find ways to hide, or at the very least not make fan-service/blatant pantyshots the FOCUS of the image. In doing so, I was forced to find new camera angles to show off both models in a way that not only made the actual pose/move the focus of the shot, but could 'tell the story' of the situation (much like a live wrestling event, the actors (so to speak) have to put on the story without help of the announcers) through facial expression, body posture, etc.
Lastly; for those that don't mess with 3d posing programs or understand how much post production/touch-ups go into an image, here's a quick rundown as to what goes into building a pose/scene like the ones showcased in this event:
Find models that match request description (goth, catgirl, fantasy, cheerleader, touhou, etc). Load models. Create rough version of pose to see if models are compatible with each other (body type/aesthetic context/etc). If not, find new models and rebuild rough posing test. If yes, work on posing until happy. Once poses are done, tweak all the small things. Eyes, hair, fingers, clothing, skirts, accessories, etc. Finalize face posing. Load up cage/ring/octagon model. Load two to three instances of paper crowd props, pose accordingly so they create a nice fluid 'group' that mesh well together. Load light wall of appropriate color (the color of the wall should be chosen to counter the primary color being used by the models - just like a color wheel). Adjust standard lighting and rgb color values as needed. Adjust shadows. Remove outlines from characters. Load effects and modify as needed (autoluminous, xdof, ssao, diffusion, additional lights, etc). Readjust standard lighting if needed. Add shaders using MME plugin. Spend like 30 minutes adjusting shaders so that all models look right (can't have the shaders causing models to contrast with each other). Find a camera angle. Fail. Find a new camera angle. Adjust perspective of camera angle. Go back and fix posing to match the perspective needed for the camera angle. Export image as 3840*2160 bmp file.
Open up paint program of choice. Fix EVERYTHING. This usually includes hiding issues with clipping, adding effects (blur, hit sparks, additional lighting, etc), rebuilding faces/jawline/hair/clothing (due to in engine lighting issues, bad rigging, unruly face sliders, or my own mistakes), adding tears/sweat/blush/etc (if the model didn't have options or the options available were subpar), redraw entire body parts if needed, color correction, adding custom bloom, re-painting skintones to match scene/lighting, redrawing shadows, redrawing/adjusting eyeballs, using burn/dodge on hair/skin/clothing to add depth, etc.
Once all that is done, then I save the image and sit on it for awhile. This way I can look at it 'fresh' the next day or so and see if there's anything I missed (in the end, I almost always miss something anyways, lol). At that point it gets tossed in the 'finished' folder and awaits the random draw to get uploaded. This entire process can take up to 5 hours if I'm really into it, but that's only for a simple scene with two characters. The more models you have, the more you have to fix, the more you have to adjust, and the more you have to pose. There were a few images in this event that took so long that I had to put them on hold while working on other requests, as I just couldn't get stuff to look "just right".
Now, all of this might not seem like a big deal without visual examples, so here's something to look at.
Redrew entire pelvis of brunette, redrew lots of clothing/upperbody on blonde character, fixed thighs, fixed underwear, fixed massive clipping issues, fixed skirt on blonde, fixed hair, fixed hair color, added color correction, added bloom, adjusted lighting, vibrance/saturation, repainted brunette's skintone to match lighting/bloom, added depth to brunette's skin tone, etc.
Fixed lighting, skintone, face of blonde (skin had details that resembled glitter - but after lighting fix it ended up looking like pockmarks, so I had to paint over it), fixed lower body (rounded her butt), fixed thong, redrew gaps in hair, added blush, added shadows to nostrils/lips/eyelid area, widened pelvis so it would rest on abs of redhead, widened upper body so it matched pelvis, fixed clipping with redheads legs, redrew parts of legs, added metal bikini bottom, fix bikini top so color of certain chain link weren't 'green', made upper back slightly more pronounced/muscular, added muscles to shoulder, fixed clavicle shadow, adjusted bikini strap shadow, made eyeball more vibrant, fixed hair, added color correction, bloom, custom depth of field blur, added additional lighting to make models focus of shot.
So...yeah. Now you know what kind of process I use to make these images. This isn't a post to pat myself on the back either, it's to show you guys that I put this much effort into random free requests from fans because I want you guys to enjoy the end results. I've always worked under the idea that if just one person likes an image I make, then it's worth it - so I try to put everything I can into each image when I do this stuff. :D
dededos
areudirty
vaporwave
romaincrisis
titsay
germansingergirl
snowghoul
blakekathryn