The Heart of the Matter

Thought I would try to chronicle my attempts to make an HD Frodo in iRay.  iRay is an Invidia-based render engine which can create beautiful renders but which I barely use due to the heavy workload it places on my computer.

This was finished around 7 AM after an agonizingly long render time.  I didn't bother with DOF or FX.  It's the same model as my previous pic "The Letter," but with mostly new skinning.  I also took the opportunity to re-sculpt his jaw, chin and the tip of his nose, and reduced the anime influence slightly for the close-up.  I haven't yet figured out how to re-create Frodo's mysterious glow-- always the hardest part of him!  His glow relies on skin translucency and subsurface scattering plus emission shaders, which work entirely differently in iRay.  There were lots of artifacts in his eyes on this attempt, some of which I painted out-- but being very complex models, with working iris, pupil, and cornea, they're the only part of him I haven't yet re-skinned.  

It's always been a source of great fascination to me that I have maintained a very precise image of Frodo in my mind from my first reading of LOTR.  None of the other characters affect me that way, even Sam.  In fact, where Sam is concerned, I don't really have much of an image at all, thus all those variations.    

I recently mentioned, in a private post, being inspired by the work of a certain composer.  One of the most mysterious aspects of that was being able to 'see' him through his music.  I had never seen a photo of the actual person, but my corresponding writing and artwork turned out to describe him almost perfectly!  It was both eerie and highly inspirational.  I keep wondering if the Professor possessed the same power.  If I ever looked through some of his old photos, might I recognize this Frodo-face which has never left me?  

Now that I am finally gathering my LOTR artwork all in one place here, I've also been posting much of it on AO3.  This has got me thinking of the future.

AO3 hosts text, but not images, and Dreamwidth does not offer enough image hosting space for me to make any real use of it.  So all of this is dependent on my images being hosted by my generous cousin's server.  If that ever goes down, and someday it will, my art goes with it.  

I have backups, of course, on site and elsewhere in the cloud, so I can rebuild my digital galleries, but that's not the problem.  What I need to know from AO3 is if they have a physical archive at one of their participating colleges where I can send a Blu-Ray disc, to ensure my fanart is preserved over time by people who know what fanart is and care about it.  Not because I think it's so brilliant, but just because it's something I've put so much time and love into.  

Unfortunately, when I asked this question of the AO3 staff, they gave me the helpful, but completely misguided answer of instructions on how to embed my images in a web page.  But if I didn't know how to do that already, I wouldn't be posting on AO3, right?  ;)

So the other day I went to the OTW, of which I am a member, and emailed them about it.  No answer so far.

Many of you friendly folk are also posting on AO3, so I thought I would ask you instead.  The OTW does have a physical archive for print zines.  Do any of you know if they have a physical archive for things like digital art?  

EDIT:  I finally got a reply from the OTW.  Here is what they said:

'Thank you for reaching out to the Open Doors Committee with your question. Unfortunately, although we're aware of the need for this type of preservation, we're not equipped at this time to preserve digital fanworks in a physical archive. In the meantime, there is information available in the AO3 Posting and Editing FAQ about approved sites for hosting multimedia files if you'd like to protect your fanart by backing it up in multiple places.'

I'm currently checking out the Internet Archive at archive.org (Home of the Wayback Machine.)  I'm not yet certain what their official policy on fanfic/fanart is, but they are the Internet Archive after all...  

Sorry I've been so silent of late. Kitty Mira left us Tuesday after a protracted illness, and the atmosphere around here has been dismal. She died suddenly in Mom's arms as we were transferring her to her carrier bed for yet another trip to the vet. Between Kitty's demise and politics, this painting is really the only one I'm in a mood to post. In Mordor, Sam helps the exhausted Frodo by offering him lembas.