Creating References (for everyone)

More than anything else, I want to be able to help other artists. 

Don't get me wrong, I love painting and creating my own characters, but helping is what I feel like I'm meant to do. It's the reason why I created my first patreon, and why it seems like something is missing from this one. 

I tried for years to create lessons that were easy to understand, but putting everything together was so stressful. What if the information was incorrect? What if I accidentally teach someone bad habits? I was frustrated. I want to help. 

Then I got this idea the other day...

My best friend just got me back into using Daz Studio. I played around with it in the past, but it was a little intimidating at the time so I kind of forgot it existed. The thing is, this program is easy to use once you get the hang of it, at least for me. Carefully adjusting and posing the models, setting up the lighting and then waiting while the images render is cathartic, almost therapeutic. The best part is that I'm really excited to do this, and more than that I'm very confident that I can. 

I can put stretch marks and scars onto the models, do any race, gender or age. Once I do enough tests and figure out an easier process, one of the first things I want to do is make a set of little people and a muscular woman (think Freya's body type) because there is little to no reference of either. Another cool thing is that by making the models a solid color and changing some of the render settings, I can do ambient occlusion:

On top of all of this, I can do references of different body parts! The possibilities are truly endless, and the images above are just a small sample of what I plan to do. I've attached the full sizes of the tester header in a folder below, so please have a look at them and tell me what you think. Do you like the lighting? The solid color on the model? If you have any suggestions then I would love to hear it!