| Well,
my name is Mark Longo. Since childhood I've been interested in art and dabbled
in various forms. As an adult I've taken a more avid interest in pencil
renderings of landscapes and sometimes the odd small object. I've never
had the advantage of training as an artist, mostly due to lack of resolve
on my part, though I've had quite a bit of training in technical drawing,
some mechanical design, and also graphic design. A quirky career path led
me to software engineering, and I've been doing that with quite a bit of
success over the last 20 years.
 When
the Web came along, web development was a natural fit for my skills and
interests. I got a commission to design and build a web site for someone
who deals in Hammond Organs, a perfect find for me since I'm a semi-pro
keyboard player and playing blues and R&B on the Hammond is a specialty
of mine. Coming to the point (yes there is one), in designing the Hammond
Organ site I needed some beauty shots of a Hammond B-3 Organ, but the
client didn't have any high quality photos of the organs and others I
found on the Web were either of poor quality or copyrighted. About here
is where I stumbled across Metacreations Ray Dream 3D, an entry version
of Ray Dream Studio with reduced functionality and cost. I started modeling
a Hammond B-3 first thing and was immediately hooked.
I spent a couple hundred
hours learning Ray Dream 3D while modeling the B-3, which served my web
client's needs beautifully. (see the B-3 renders in my gallery) In the
process of building that web site I learned my way around Photoshop, which
has been tremendously useful, of course.
After seeing some
images created in Bryce on the MetaCreations web site I began seeking
out Bryce and other work on the web. Bryce can be used to create some
breathtaking landscape art (among other things) and having long been interested
in landscape art I was facinated. I soon bought Bryce 4 and have very
much enjoyed my attempts at art using that tool.
More recently I've
begun working in the digital 2D medium using MetaCreations Painter. I
can work in Painter by simply drawing on a graphics tablet using a stylus,
which is a familiar way to create art. Painter allows me to leverage some
of the natural media skills I've acquired over the years with pencils,
and it's BIG fun! Besides doing some pure 2D paintings I've also been
using Painter to enhance and extend my Bryce renders, which is not only
great fun but it's led me to new artistic possibilities. What's not to
like?
So it's my hope that
you'll enjoy the work I've displayed on this site. My art is made to be
seen and enjoyed by as many people as possible. The web has proven to
be a great display medium in that regard. And I hope to continue to improve
my skills at creating art with computer graphics. If you're a CG artist
or web designer who's come across these pages, any pointers or helpful
criticism you'd care to e-mail me regarding my work would be greatly appreciated!
|
