Artist Spotlight: Sparkie Shock

Artist Name:
Sparkie Shock
 
Artist Gallery:
http://www.renderotica.com/artists/Sparkieshock/Gallery
 
 
1) What brought you into 3D?
I have visited Renderotica on and off for many years and I was always taken by the idea of creating my own pics or scenes that no one else was doing. I remember downloading a trial version of Poser 2 .. I took me a while just to figure out how to make a cone .. and I thought to myself “If I have to make an entire person like this … it’s going to take forever and look incredible bad!” :P .. so I left it alone. Until last year when I was browsing through some of Davo’s electro torture props and I really got keen on the idea of making some artwork. It was then that I saw the ad for DAZ 4.5 .. for free! So I picked it up, bought some of Davo’s stuff and began to play. I love the fact that the 3D art tools allow me to be completely honest with my erotica, and deliver a scene that is exactly my deepest sexual fantasy. I don’t think these fantasies are going to work for everyone but the more honest I can be with myself, the stronger the artwork is.
 
 
2) How did you choose your nickname?
It was actually going to be my S&M video porn name :P .. me and a buddy of mine wanted to make our own S&M vids in order to sell them and such but that all kinda fell apart. I always rather liked the name. As you can imagine it suggests my propensity for electro torture (my fave torture). I’m a masochist :D
 
 
3) How long have you been creating your artwork?
About a year, but It’s only been since September 2014 that I really started to produce some of my best works.
 
 
4) Where do you draw your inspirations from?
The artist Lionel Cavelo, he does exceptionally beautiful male torture based artwork and is a great influence for me. It’s a shame that his work isn’t more widely appreciated as it’s extremely good. Cavelo definitely provided situations that I enjoy and have done my own versions of .. and I must say that he really opened my mind to allowing anything in a scene. Also the artists Jotto, Kalabro and to a degree Gary Roberts for the same reasons. Until I saw their artwork I’d never seen anything that was as unabashed, unashamed and didn’t pull any punches.
 
 
5) What are the specs of your render machine?
I actually have 4 machines but my main machine is a new Mac Pro (Late 2013 model), with a 3.5ghz E5 6-Core CPU, 32 Gig’s of RAM and twin ATI D500 Fire Pro Graphics. This machine is my hot rod and I use it more for the iRay and Luxrender pics and for assembling my comics and doing post work. This machine is also my video editing suite and music composition rig as I do that too.
 
The other 3 machines are a 27 Inch iMac, 3.4ghz i7 CPU, 16 Gigs Ram. And another 27 Inch 2.5 ghz i5 iMac with 16 gigs Ram. Both of these are assigned various Interactive lighting pics as they’re good for that. If I’m doing animation I typically split frames between these two machines.
 
And a Mac Mini, i5 2.5 ghz with 8 Gigs Ram. This machine may seem underpowered but it’s actually not meant to do much rendering. I use it to create new scenes whilst the other machines are running their renders. So I’m never facing too much downtime. I can keep working on new scenes, save them and when a render machine clears up I open the DAZ scene on that and it’s ready to render.
 
 
6) Poser or Daz Studio and why?
Well I gotta say DAZ because it’s awesome :D. I know Poser has some very worthy things that DAZ doesn’t do but I guess the main thing is that DAZ is so easy to learn how to make stuff just by fiddling around. I do a bit of post work with my images using Pixlr because I like the things it allows me to do extra. I also like working with the DAZ library .. they seem to have a lot of great content already to go. It’s a shame there’s more female stuff than male … I don’t know how many of you have ever typed in a search for ‘male’ articles and it comes up with female stuff because ‘male’ is in the word ‘female’ .. that frustrates the shit out of me!. But with a bit of patience one can find good stuff for male characters.
 
I very much like DAZ because as a total beginner I was able to learn intuitively and it was a lot of fun to learn and create at the same time. I don’t know if Poser is a similar experience but DAZ has been terrific.
 
 
7) What renderer do you use? (Stock Poser or Daz or 3rd party) And what lead you to use it?
Typically I’m just using the built in 3Delight engine, and now iRay. I was using LuxRender with Luxus plugin for a time but it’s just easier to use iRay these days. I like how iRay allows for emissive surfaces (I know that LuxRender also does but it’s way easier to setup an emissive shader with iRay. I don’t know why you can’t have an emissive light with the interactive lighting engines .. it would make sense to be able to have it. They can do it in computer games (I assume) so why not with 3Delight? But iRay definitely has my vote for the meantime.
 
 
8) What is your favourite work you’ve created?
Hmm .. that’s a tough one. I’ve got a few that I’m VERY satisfied with but I guess I’ll pick this one:
 

 
Mainly because the pose, the textures .. and the shot itself really look great (patting myself on the back bit I know). I just love the expression on Aerial’s face. If any man came like that .. you know that’s how his face would look :D
 
 
9) Is there any image you’ve made that you wish you didn’t? Why?
Not yet. I guess everything I’ve made so far has been very satisfying for me. I’m glad there’s never been a bad reaction to my artwork. Actually that surprised me how welcoming people were despite my thing for demons and torture :P I realize it’s not for everyone but I do try to be tasteful with what I do. One of my demon pics got my laid with a straight guy :D .. I wouldn’t say my artwork turned him gay, but it did make him randy enough to play with me :D
 
My Tumblr feed is a great outlet for me because people come to me to see my artwork. Whereas with my music I always had to convince people to listen to it. So I really appreciate the reactions I get to my artwork, and that’s mainly because the people who are viewing it, want to see it.
 
 
10) With so many people creating female content, do you find it harder or easier to create male themed content?
I think it’s a shame more people aren’t doing stuff with sexy guys in it. My biggest audience seems to be straight women who can’t get enough of my boys :D
 
No I don’t find it hard to sit down and create it. And I have a select audience that is enjoying my artwork so I feel pretty good about it. I’m starting to branch out a little into ‘straight’ scenes but they will emphasize maleness and male beauty.
 
 
11) What do you feel is missing for artists who create male centred content?
Well it does get annoying that so much of the poses, equipment and such out there is for F/F or F/M scenes only. Most equipment for torture scenes is designed for girls .. so I have to tweak like crazy to get my boys into certain devices. I’m rather looking forward to learning how to use Carrara 8.5 Pro to make my own models and devices for my boys. Also wish there were more clothes, hair pieces and stuff for Genesis male. My main demon character has to remain as a Genesis 1 model because the demon morph I use won’t work for G2 … grrrr!
 
I think we just need more male centric content. 3D models, props, costumes, and of course comics and stories. It’s not like they have to be M/M stories .. I’d be happy to see some decent M/F stories, but I really want to see more beautiful males and less hideous trolls. I wish more artists would celebrate the beauty of masculinity.

 
12) Out of all the various art mediums why 3D?
I’m useless at drawing people :D. I can draw objects, and rooms etc. Used to really enjoy drawing starships and space scenes when I was younger but I can never draw people. So the 3D tools allow me to create a scene very much the way I want it. Also I have a big film background (as composer, and editor) so it’s really cool to design a shot like I would for a film.
 
 
13) What are your plans for the future?
Become insanely rich and provide awesome gay demon porn to the world :D
 
Releasing my comics. I’ve just put my first one on the Renderotica store .. very pleased about that:
http://www.renderotica.com/store/cat/164_3D-Comics-Stories/sku/50737_The-Sparkie-Shock-Stories-Issue-1
 
In addition to this I’m working on my main comic project called “DemonSong”. This will be more of an actual story than the porn comics. It features ‘Aerial’ and ‘Gabriel’, my two main characters, and will be a story of pain, torture and love .. all the good things in life :D I’m also working on doing this as an animated film but that’s a long term plan.
 
I started out in life as a composer .. drifted into film editing and then found extreme satisfaction as a 3D artist so I deeply love to have a career doing very honest, hot and horny stories for people to enjoy. At the ned of the day as long as I can afford a house, a gym membership, food and some money for savings to buy cool gadgets to stuff every now and then .. I’d be pretty content with that :D
 
 
14) Who are your favourite artists other than yourself?
Well I already mentioned Cavelo, and Jotto. I love Slof’s work .. she did some AWESOME gay demon stuff a while ago. Sadly she doesn’t really post much these days. And I’m a big fan of Lucien who does mainly 2D work .. Even though it’s M/F .. he does some of the best monster throat fuck stuff I’ve seen. Mainly because his males are not gross and horrible .. they’re instead big, beefy and powerful (the way a good man should be :D).
 
 
15) If someone reading this wants to start creating their own artwork what words of advice would you give them?
Well, There’s a learning curve for sure. But don’t be afraid of it. If you pick up DAZ or Poser of whatever and enjoy using it and enjoy the feeling of unlimited creativity then this is a good start and all the rest is just asking in forums and watching youtube vids to learn how to do stuff. It’s annoying that some of the most essential things you need to know aren’t really written down in a place that you need, but there are plenty of people on the DAZ forum who provided tonnes of great help for me. The only limit on this kind of art is how honest you want to be with yourself. In this case .. do what I do .. LET IT ALL OUT, BABY!
 
Being able to create your own universe, tell your own stories is a fuckin’ awesome thing to be able to do. And there’s never been a better time to get into 3D art as the technology is user friendly and extremely capable.
 
 
16) Do you have a job outside of 3D or do you consider this your full time occupation?
Well .. I don’t get paid for it but I am one of the lead editors for a local TV show, I compose music for film, TV and web series and have a out 10 albums on the iTunes store (Sadly I can’t tell you which cos then I’d lose my secret identity :D), and I work for a rigging company helping to take down music shows at the local arena .. that tends to pay the bills. Also my husband (yup, gay and married!), has a good paying job so he lets me get on with my projects. I’m a bit of a creative everyman. I never intended to get into half of the things that I do (editing, 3D art etc.) but I’m rather glad I found the interest for making 3D art.
 
 
17) Speech time! any final words you have for your, fans and fellow 3D community?
Well, I’d like to thank all of the fellow artists who have given me good technical advice. This has helped me to achieve the standard that my work is presently at. And a big thanks to the whole Renderotica community for just being so damned fabulous and supporting erotica in all it’s glorious forms. At the end of the day it’s the best thing in the world to be creative, and to have a medium where we can bare our deepest desires without feeling embarrassed or ridiculous is just the best. I love that there’s no sense of feeling limited or bound by some bullshit moral standard. That we as artists can create what we want to see and show it to others. I think your all doing a great job .. I’d like to see more hunky male guys though! And if you’re interested in my comics and work then please do keep an eye on me here at Renderotica as I intend to sell my DemonSong novels here, and on my tumblr feed which has some promo art and stuff (sparkieshock.tumblr.com).
 
And I promise I’ll only ever try to deliver the most awesome images I can.