Hi again. Here is the public preview image for this month’s Patreon mini-set. It features Lucia the catgirl in a few solo/masturbation images. (The last two sets have been rather sex/Helenya focused; I thought change was good.) Again, if you want access to bonus content like this, check out my Patreon page! https://www.patreon.com/redleatherart
I will likely go over the polls and post new ones tomorrow; so check back for that as well.
Hey again. RTL chapter 7 is finally done; including a few variations, each version (clean, story) is 52 images! Granted, about a third of that is plot related, but still I think it is impressive; and this is my largest set to date. The general story of the set revolves around an accidental meeting between Zayla and James, and the rough sex that results from that. This set also features many attempts at new, artier things as well; such as better lighting and different camera angles. There are also my first attempts at making X-ray style cut in images, which I think turned out a lot better than I was expecting; one preview of that is included below. I know it looks a bit odd just tacked on as a rectangle like that, but I spent a few hours trying different ways of working it in and nothing really looked any better that would work for each image with this alternate version; (there are six of them in the set) so I just decided to leave it this way, as it is more uniform and I think it looks fine as it is. I am still fiddling with a few images in the set in terms of postwork, just to try and get a few things looking a little better. I feel that this set is my best so far in many ways; it is the most effort I have put into one set so far and the best I can currently do in most respects.
Below are four preview images for this new set, (two clean, two story) the complete set will be sent out to appropriate Patrons on my Patreon page each month after payments clear until it gets released free here; although I still have not decided when that will be from now on. I am currently leaning toward six months at the minimum, but more on that whenever I go over the polls. If you want access to this new set and others early, check out my Patreon page and support me! https://www.patreon.com/redleatherart I am also now limiting the story preview images to early in the set so that the ending/progression is not so obvious in future sets anymore.
In other news, I will also go over the polls in the next few days, post new polls as well as explain a few of my future plans for some things. There will be a public preview of this month’s Patreon mini-set posted tomorrow. Any comments/feedback on the new set would be appreciated.
Hi again. So RTL 7 final scene construction is done and I added a few more images that I wasn’t originally planning to, (again) but it is all for the best I think. Normally in my sets there are minor time skips here and there, to cut out parts that aren’t that important; (and/or aren’t exactly sex, so I figured people wouldn’t care) this time I decided to keep most (if not all) of those middle images in. I think it really helps though, as you can essentially figure out the story these images tell without any words on them at all. The problem with me doing that is that I am just now starting final renders, and I am not even sure how much more I can do today; I feel so drained right now having worked so much on this the past three or four days. I did fix a bunch of other small issues as well, (which I usually end up doing during final renders, so some work has been done there) so I am hoping that the final renders process goes smoother than usual this time; but if prior experience tells me anything, it won’t.
I think this set will be extra nice if everything I tried to do/planned works out, and still really good even if one or two things don’t. It also will likely be twice as large as I was planning; whatever that means at this point, since I have a bad habit of going overboard all the time anyway. There will also be some substantial postwork involved in this set, partially due to one thing I am planning to try and include. I will try and get some of the renders done today, but I should have a lot of time tomorrow either way; and the set may get done mid-week if everything goes well and I get a lot of time, but it will definitely be finished by the end of the week at the outside. Side note, there are still almost two weeks left in the contest and a week left in the polls; the game poll I actually am using to gauge interest in my current game idea, so votes there matter a fair bit and would be appreciated.
UPDATE 10/27: I am at least 2/3 done with final renders and things have actually gone fairly smoothly with one truly bizarre exception that I somehow got to fix itself in a way I am not totally sure I understand. I currently have around 30 images, with another 10 or so main ones to go; as well as some other auxiliary renders for a new thing that I am attempting, hence the 2/3 estimate. I should still have a little more time later tonight but I think final renders will wrap up early tomorrow, and then the postwork starts. All the new stuff seems to be working out so far, but the major thing I am worried about is that auxiliary render set and the postwork surrounding it; so I will see how that goes tomorrow. Looks really nice so far though.
UPDATE 10/28: Final and auxiliary renders are done; it took a lot longer than I thought it would to get everything working and fix a few minor issues, but so far it looks like everything is going to work. This set is on track to be my largest and best yet; but we shall see how the postwork goes.
Hey. Just a quick update, RTL 7 scene construction is about half done I think. I can’t say for sure since there are a lot of things in play this time that I either generally don’t do or have never done before; so a lot of things can potentially go wrong and make it take longer, either due to time taken to fix things or to redo them. The only way to know for sure what will work and what won’t is to wait until final renders and see if any horrific problems arise. I should have a fair bit more time later today to work on this and I would like to get base scene construction around 75% done today if possible. So hopefully I will get this done by the end of the week, but be aware that there are unknowns in play this time and it may get delayed again.
In other news, the contest still has a bit under three weeks left, and still could use more entries. The polls are also still low, not even a vote a day so far. I would have thought that the current polls would have drawn more of a reaction, but apparently not.
RE-EDIT 10/20: So I’m a bit behind as per usual, but this is due to me planning to add a few images that I wasn’t originally planning to include. I will see if I can get them to work. Also I likely won’t be able to do any more work on it today due to multiple real life things that needed to be done. (As well as me being in considerable pain again today likely due to me overdoing it in real life.)
UPDATE 10/21: Ok so the original scene construction is finished, but I really want to try and add that other part; possibly even more than just that one, so I am going to try and work on that in the next couple days. (I feel like the set doesn’t have enough sex/variety in it as it is; there is a fair bit of setup/story to this one, at least more than usual.) Hopefully I can get final renders started over the weekend. I think most of these changes are definitely for the best, but we will see how it all works out in final renders, if it even works.
UPDATE 10/24: Other part is about 85% done, should definitely finish it today unless something horrible happens. With luck I may be able to start final renders today as well.
Hi again. Against my better judgement, I am posting a preview of the new lighting that I am working on. Below on the left is the old preview for RTL 7 and the updated preview is on the right with a preview of the new lighting. I know the old one looks a bit bright for bland lighting, but that is due to me raising the brightness in the postwork. The new image on the right currently has no postwork except the logos.
Personally, I think the image on the right is a huge improvement; as noted in the update in the previous post. I know nobody here wants to leave comments for whatever reason, but some feedback here would really be great. If nobody bothers commenting or voting, I can only assume that everyone is on board with what I am planning since nobody cares enough to say otherwise. Even if you like it, I would appreciate it if you let me know. I still have no idea when the set will be done, I am hoping for late next week.
EDIT 10/13: To nobody’s great surprise, RTL 7 will likely run into next week. I have had various real life things happening for the past few days or so which have prevented me from putting in any solid time to work on this.
So since I have been looking for ways to improve my work, I recently asked another artist for for feedback; and actually got some very useful ideas. I won’t bother explaining it all now; but just be aware that I plan to try a lot of new and different things for RTL 7 and other future sets. There have always been some things that I did simply to keep things uniform, and/or for utility’s sake; such as the high level of standard lighting, just so that people can see what is going on. (There are tons of 3D renders on DA and the like with lighting so bad, I can’t even tell what is in the image; I wanted to avoid that at all costs.) I intend to try different, “artier” lighting this time, among other ideas; both things that I had planned anyway and ideas I got from this other artist. This could go amazingly well, be horrifically bad, or end up anywhere in between. Personally, I think many of these changes will be for the best though, assuming that I can do it right. It may take a few sets to work out the kinks. One idea of mine in particular is very close to out of my area of expertise/comfort; but I really want to try it if I can get it working right.
Also, the polls could still use more votes and the contest can always use more entries. I have no idea when RTL 7 will get done; I already posted the early preview so there likely won’t be much posted between then and now, except maybe another status update. I plan to do the main set before the mini-set this month for once as well; if only because I am sort of behind schedule. So maybe late next week, we shall see.
UPDATE 10/8: After preliminary testing, the thing I was worried about looks like it will probably actually work; but it’s too early to say for sure. The “fancy” lighting is yielding mixed results so far, but that is part of the reason I never bothered with this before now. Two other things I have planned are also no problem and are definitely happening.
UPDATE 10/9; So after fiddling with the lighting some more, I think I actually have it working pretty well now. This set is on track to be epic and/or my best one yet. Even if it isn’t the biggest or the most complex, I think it will still be the best if all these new ideas continue to work out.
Hey again. Here is the free release of RTL chapter 5: “Tentacle Testing”. It features Zayla testing one of her newest creations on a poor, captured pale elf. I have included the original previews below for convenience. Also just in case you missed my previous post; this is likely to be the last set released free for a while at the very least. I used to to do free releases of these image sets three months after the set was done, but that doesn’t seem to have been working out so well. With no comments and no feedback, I can only guess as to why; but I assume the somewhat quick free releases are to blame.
Next month also corresponds to three months after the first month that I was horrifically sick/injured two months ago; so there would not have been a free release set next month anyway as RTL 6 took me two months to finish while I was really bad. (RTL 7 will also take two months to finish; though that is mostly due to all the extra stuff I had to do last month as well as RTL 6 being finished early last month, so I barely had time to work on RTL 7.) I am still unsure exactly what my plans are as far as releasing future image sets (or other things); but if you haven’t checked my previous post, you probably want to do so. Also in case you somehow missed the sticky post on the top of my site; the short story contest has been extended another month and now has prizes for second and third place as well. Check the updated contest page for details!
Anyway, if you enjoy my work, I would really appreciate it if you could leave a comment and let me know or even better, consider supporting me on Patreon and get early access to my normal image sets (Patreon exclusivity likely to be increased soon at the very least) as well as more goodies at the higher tiers! https://www.patreon.com/redleatherart Any and all support is greatly appreciated. Here is the download link in any case; the password is still redleatherart.
https://mega.co.nz/#!X8kgiBDI!_KrKXvwRqwSAnFvL8eUBg_VeFd6zvzhxknZDgLdoh-M
Ok so first off the last set off polls was the worst yet in terms of votes; (a maximum of six) which is far from encouraging. I can only speculate that the topics were of no interest to most people; as one poll indicated that my current written previews are sufficient and/or that nobody reads them anyway (which is depressing) and the other poll was basically a three way tie as far as 7-zip goes, so I will just keep using it. If only two people care enough to say they don’t like it, then it can’t be that big of an issue.
There are two new polls up; they are likely to be the last polls for a while if nobody bothers to vote again. Perhaps the subjects of the new polls might draw people to actually vote this time, they will be up all month. I had a very large post that I was going to post instead of this one but I will instead summarize it: I really need and/or want more feedback, comments, votes, and preferably even support from all of you. If nobody tells me what they like and what they don’t like about my work, then I have no idea how to improve it. I can’t fix problems that nobody tells me about. If nobody wants to bother supporting my work, giving feedback, leaving comments, or even voting in the polls anymore, then it really makes me feel like I’m just feel like I’m wasting my time here making all these image sets. I at least get some positive reaction from most individual images that I post on DA. A little effort and/or appreciation goes a long way, people.
With no real feedback, I can only assume that the general lack of support is due to me giving most things out for free already; if the way I am doing things isn’t working, then something needs to change. I already push the limits of what this limited machine can do with almost every render i make as it is. Sometimes I already have to split renders just to get everything I want in one image. I really want to work on this full time and make better and bigger image sets, but I need support or at the very least some feedback to help me do that. Comments and votes are free, so there really aren’t any good excuses for not doing those at the minimum. I am also likely to try opening up for commissions soon; and see if that helps out at all. If I didn’t like making all this stuff, then I wouldn’t be doing it; but I would at least like to know that people are enjoying what I make here.
Anyway, for the five of you that actually read this this far down, I am also seriously considering shelving my current game idea (for those of you that even know what that is; if you don’t then search my site for the old post I made a while back about it) in favor of small VNs. My current idea would take months of solid work (assuming that I was doing nothing else) to completely finish the way I want to and I cannot justify doing that (or just taking time to work on something that I will not finish in the foreseeable future unless I stop making regular sets) as things currently stand. (With seemingly no interest and no support.) Yes, I could do a crappy job to finish it quickly and then go back and put in more content later, but that is the worst way to make any game and generally a recipe for disaster.
Small VNs are much more within the realm of what I could do in a reasonable time-span, and would give my Patreon tiers more weight, in addition to likely extending main set exclusivity at the bare minimum. (The current game idea if done the way I planed would likely be at least 6 small VNs worth of work and scenes; and then there is also the problem where some of the scenes that I initially planned to include in the game [back when I first came up with the idea nine months ago and didn’t have Octane] I can no longer do because of my limited hardware and Octane’s memory limits to consider as well.) Anyway, RTL 5 will get a free release in the next week or so, and RTL 7 will get done sometime this month; after that I am not sure what will happen anymore. Looking at the polls and this post, it should be clear what my plans are likely to be unless something changes.