Elementary art, part 2.(Portfolio)(Elemental)(Beans Magic )(Magic Stone Images )

Digital artists strived for years to have their work recognized as "real" art. And yet, 3D software and rendering hardware made it difficult for all but the most technically savvy artists to realize their true potential using the medium. "In the past year, however, we have crossed a boundary where software and hardware are no longer huge hurdles for artists to overcome. This is nowhere more evident than in the realistic lighting and rendering solutions now available," says Mark Snoswell, art director and co-editor of Elemental, a coffee-table book featuring a wide range of CG fine art.

With a growing palette of sophisticated, user-friendly tools now at their disposal, an ever-increasing number of CG artists are creating works of art as diverse and visually stimulating as those crafted by traditional artists. Elemental embraces this notion by showcasing a broad range of styles that run the gamut from cartoon-like to photoreal. Though all are visually and technically impressive, some of the more intriguing pieces are those that project a stylized realism--a glimpse of reality that is altered by the artist's own viewpoint.

In last month's Portfolio, we showcased a selection of stylized-realistic Architecture and Environment images from Elemental. This month, we chose a sampling of works within this genre that fall under the Beauty, Still Life, Character in Repose, and Creature in Repose headings.

Elemental, a joint venture between Ballistic Publishing and Discreet, is available at www.ballisticpublishing.com or www.discreet.com.

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Yesterday, the Lost Time (Still Life) To achieve a "classical" look for this image, Xu Zhelong of Magic Stone Images in China focused on the textures, which were ...