Collectable art. (portfolio).(artist Joel Payne mainly uses NewTek's LightWave 5.5 for modeling, LightWave 7.0 for rendering)

3D computer graphics was still in its infancy when formally trained artist Joel Payne of Santa Clarita, California, began generating digital artwork. So Payne parlayed his traditional skills and the knowledge he obtained while studying, film, art, photography, and stage design into a valuable skill set for the digital medium. "Understanding the camera, staging, lighting, and storytelling aspects are all beneficial skills for constructing 3D imagery," he notes. "In particular, photography was a great crossover to 3D because it utilizes many of the same terms as a lot of the 3D software that I use." Payne also credits his high school wood shop course for giving him a solid understanding of how to assemble objects in a logical fashion. "Even fantasy has to be built correctly," he adds.

What distinguishes Payne's digital work from most others are the very large print resolutions--creating a piece that is 10,800 pixels wide is not unusual for him. "It's a monumental task. I'm rendering detail far beyond film resolution, which makes it difficult to manipulate the geometry and, ultimately, the final render," he says. "And with the printed medium, you can't motion-blur your way out of problems like you can in film or broadcast."

To create his ...