Where in the world does Thorne call home?

Why, Faerieland of course! There is a little hill with some brambles in my backyard, under which the enchanted realm coincides with the human world (also known as the Southeastern USA), so that works out nicely for me. =;)

Do you have time for any non-3D hobbies you'd care to share with us?

Playing piano and writing music, making jewelry, beads, braided leather work, pottery and sculpting. Technically I guess some of that stuff counts as 3D too. :)

When did you become interested in Faerie-related art?

When I was 3 years old my mommy let me hang my very own kid-sized chalkboard prominently in the middle of the living room. I could draw to my little heart's content whenever the mood struck me, and leave my pictures on proud display until I couldn't stand it any longer and had to erase the last one and make a new one.
That was generally going to be about 5 minutes, if I were feeling particularly patient that day. I knew I wanted to make pictures just like the ones in my story books, so I got down my big colorful edition of Grimm's Faerie Tales and began trying to copy the cute little faerie with the cool hat and pointy boots sitting on the toadstool that adorned the cover illustration. Some sticks, some circles and a few left-handed smudges later, TA-DA! Finished! Wow, that looks just like it! Mommy come see! I have to say the Wee Folk have held my fascination ever since I was a Wee Folk myself.

When did you first get exposed to the 3d community?

I very first got into "3D art" when I wrote a little 3D display program on my trusty ol' Commodore-128 computer, and created some simple architectural shapes as lists of X,Y,Z coordinates that I could display from various angles (on an 8-bit 6502 processor, it took forever). I won't say how long ago that was, but I think it was before Al Gore invented the internet.
It was around January, '98 I first saw Poser V.2 in the local computer store, and I was like... WOW. I NEED that. I worked with it alone for over a year along with CorelDream (A stripped down version of RayDream Studio included with Photopaint), on through the release of Poser V.3, and soon after found a few others online that were hooked on this crazy Poser and modeling stuff, too. I came online with the ThorneWorks site in May, '99 to display a few of my faerie images and other stuff.

What was your impression of the 3D community then as compared to now?

Hobbyist 3D art has come a very long way since then. The standard has definitely been raised, and I think that is a direct result of the increased number of hobbyists.
What was acceptable in the early days would no longer pass the submission guidelines for most online brokers these days. We have actually witnessed the birth and evolution of 3D as a widespread hobby in the last 5 or 6 years. It is really my opinion this is due largely to the advent of the Poser program, which brought 3D art from the venue of the big movie studios down to the level of everyday users like us. For instance, the same Zygote (former parent company of DAZ) models that eventually became Posette and the "dork" (introduced with Poser 3) originally sold at the Zygote website as single-skin meshes for well over a hundred dollars each. Poser has been very instrumental in bringing down the prices of a lot of 3D meshes and models.
Take a look at the prices being asked for some bad to mediocre models at Turbo-Squid to see what I'm talking about.

What prompted you to start FaerieWylde and when did that happen?

The concept for a Faerie Art forum first came to me because of the overwhelming response I received from my personal website (http://www.ThorneWorks.com) and the original free faerie models that I gave away there, beginning with a Poser 3 doll named "Tisa" who became "Miss December" 1999. We started at first for a while as part of another forum site, but it was soon apparent that the faeries needed their own place to stretch their wings, grow, and develop. By then several of us knew we wanted to not only have a place to display our own work, but to create an atmosphere of politeness, civility, and common sense about art related topics, with a genuine concern and empathy for others and their feelings, especially beginners just starting out who want to create faerie art. The faeries like it when people play nice with each other. Since then, artistic freedom within the bounds of a few simple rules has worked very well for us. I've heard there are some misconceptions surrounding the founding of FaerieWylde in which case you probably haven't been told the whole story, but that isn't really important. ;) What is important is that FaerieWylde is a very happy, warm, and friendly place to hang out. We always welcome those who cherish these ideals as we do.

What are some of FaerieWylde's milestones?

Just being born was a milestone! I can tell you that it was the generous, unselfish hard work and commitment of many people that made it happen, and that continues to make it happen. We had our one year birthday last July, which we celebrated with a contest and some great prizes (and free faerie models, too).
Today we continue to grow as more people discover what a unique place it really is.
Up until just this month, FaerieWylde has been financially supported solely by myself and the contributions of our members. We have now opened a sister site at http://www.faerie-dreams.com, a faerie market where you can find faerie models, clothing, poses, and other faerie and art related items created by some of the best known names in the Poser community. This will hopefully not only help us to defray the costs of operating FaerieWylde, but allow us to expand and add more staff as well as adding some cool new features for our membership.We are very excited about the new site!

Tell us a bit more about FaerieWylde's team and the atmosphere there.

We have a staff of dedicated artists who comprehend the everyday concept of basic politeness and who want to be a part of something that is quite out of the ordinary from the mainstream. The "Spirit of the Wylde" is based on a simple respect for the feelings of others and common dignity, and all our active members are refreshingly courteous and kind. It is a real familial atmosphere where every single contributing member plays a constructive role. I firmly believe in positive reinforcement, and this is well realized on our site. Even if it's nothing more than a single kind comment on someone's work or the tiniest word of encouragement, I couldn't be prouder of every single person that plays a part in this.

Why did you begin making Faerie characters freely available?

It is very much like there are all these hundreds of faeries out there just waiting to be realized in the virtual world of computers, and I am happy to oblige them as much as possible. They can be sometimes quite demanding! ;) I did this alone for the most part in the beginning, but I have to say here that I was very much encouraged and inspired by the many generous artists who shared with everyone in the fledgling community. After I had gotten a few requests, I was very honored and glad to be able to give back in some small way, and so started giving away free faeries.

Do you still work alone on the products or is there another faerie maker extraordinaire?

Since late 2001/early 2002 I have been working with my current partner,Sarsa. This has proven to be one of the best artistic moves I've ever made.
Her work is simply incredible, and she has the mind, spirit, and dedication to perfection of a truly great artist. I am constantly in awe of the work she comes up with. Of course I also have other friends who I consider accomplished artists and that I have the pleasure to work with, such as Mada DeLeeuw and Puntomaus (Digital Fairy) from our FaerieWylde staff, Handspan Studios, LadyLittlefox (creator of Koshini), Zrincx, and of course all the other great artists featured at Faerie Dreams (to name just a few. ;) )

What arsenal of apps do you prefer to use for your creations?

Poser 4 (I have P5 but so far I've left it in the box), Amapi, Vista Pro, Bryce (early on, since abandoned for lack of time!) PhotoPaint, Pixel3D (a cool little program for converting between 3D formats), RayDream Studio and Carrara, UVMapper, as well as those wonderful free applications: Morph Manager by Mason and Morph Mirror II by Masa.
I have also written some of my own applications for doing specific modeling tasks: a "seam zipper" for closing up all the gaps between Poser body parts after they have been morphed, and a way to isolate and transfer partial body parts between meshes, such as faerie ears, etc. I must say that one of my most used apps for Poser modeling is EditPad, a text editor capable of loading huge text files such as those 50 meg PZ3's, CR2's, and large OBJ files. Many of the file types that Poser uses are actually plain ASCII text files, and it is really worthwhile to take the time and learn your way around the internals of these formats.

How long does it usually take you to put a character in the marketplaces from start to finish?

That question is phrased in a sort of linear manner, and it doesn't exactly work that way for me. Instead think of it as a constant stream of characters being born, mixing and matching with each other, trying out different skins and different looks, changing, and spawning babies.
Generally it is not a matter of deciding to create a character for market and then working on it from start to finish, but more a steady population of dolls ever evolving and when it is time to send a new one to market, we choose one from among the masses and begin to groom that particular one for release. I have compiled a fair(l)y large library of my own morphs and magnet sets created over the years, and combined with Sarsa's original work we have a pretty extensive morph palette. Of course we are also both constantly creating new ones and trying out new ideas and tricks, so it is a steady process of (hopefully) ongoing improvement.
However to answer your original question, about two weeks if pressed. ;)

What has been your most popular/favorite faerie character/item?

To date the most popular item has been Lisha by Sarsa and me, an adult character based on the DAZ Millennium Girl PT. The MGPT base mesh is by far IMHO the most versatile of any of the DAZ base figures, and that includes the new uni-mesh figures. The joint parameters are better, the seams tend to stay together better, and overall it is much easier to create morph targets, even extreme ones, for the more compact shapes. We have jokingly renamed it "Vickie Petite" but the bottom line is that it's a 3D mesh- it could be morphed into a freight train for that matter. There is still tremendous potential for this mesh; we have barely scratched the surface.

Which do you prefer, making faerie characters or clothing?

Creating characters, character clothing, and other models and props all carry their own appeal. I like them all equally. As I mentioned previously, the characters mostly make themselves- it is almost as if they are "channeled" rather than modeled (that makes a nice faerie tale anyways hehe).
Building clothing and props has it's own sets of challenges and rewards, and to me it is quite a different thing from character creation altogether. The most tedious task is rigging new meshes to operate as Poser figures with new joint parameters- this can take literally days. The outcome is probably worth it, but you have to keep telling yourself that to get it finished.

What inspirations do you draw upon when coming up with a new character or clothing item?

Inspiration is a tricky thing that will strike upon you from almost anywhere! I think maybe the best trick in return is to just be always as receptive as you can in case it shows up, and in the meantime practice thinking outside of the Poser box... or any box for that matter.

I have a little faerie girl who lives inside my head,
She keeps me up way late at night when I should be in bed...
She whispers tales of places far, and creatures strange and new,
Demanding I write down the words and paint the pictures, too!
So what compels me to create whatever she may say?
Because I fear if I do not, she may just go away!

So if I seem distracted with my head all in a whirl,
I am only listening to my little faerie girl.

What marketplaces can we find your terrific work in?

http://www.faerie-dreams.com
! We also have some really nice work at http://www.animotions.com .
The proceeds there go entirely to support FaerieWylde, and there are some characters that many people may not know about- some of our best work, actually. DAZ and Renderosity are our main markets for now, but of course Faerie Dreams will become the major outlet eventually.
There are also a couple of items at BBay, and 3DCommune has one of the older Posette faeries.

Which online resources have you found most helpful?

Renderosity.com remains the single largest resource for anyone interested in this type of artwork. Whether or not you care to hang out in the forums, it is a great resource due to the sheer quantity of content, among other factors. And of course let's not forget Planit3D! Lots to see and plenty of wonderful free meshes, textures, and a great place to find out what's going on in the rest of the community. For Faerie related items, artwork, inspiration, as well as some nice tutorials, modeling info, and freebies for Poser found nowhere else, well you have our own little FaerieWylde. =;)

What advice would you give to a beginning artist?

All I can tell you is what I personally believe, and that is that good art simply requires TIME. Not just the time taken to create it (with excruciating attention to detail), but also to learn HOW to create it. And don't be discouraged if you aren't churning out masterpieces after the first day of playing with Poser. Every good artist in history had to learn how to use the tools of the trade, no matter what their artistic vision. The high quality standards that now exist in the 3D community have admittedly made the creation of masterpieces much easier, but there is still no substitute for good old fashion practice, practice, practice, and then sticking with it.

What upcoming events can we look forward to at FaerieWylde?

Well, some of that's a Faerie Secret... ;) Those faerie secrets are like sacred vows, yanno. (That's VOWS, not COWS. :) ) But as mentioned, we do have plans to expand the site to include new features and enhancements for our members.
For our sister site erie Dreams, we will be adding new artists and expanding that site as well to include different and unique items not usually associated with primarily 3D art stores.

Interviewer's Note:
I'd like to say a special thank you to Thorne for the patience throughout the whole
interview process. It was truly one long saga but the end result was stellar and well worth the
time and effort it took to finish. I'd also like to say a special thank you for the lovely gifts you've
bestowed on the community over the years and for making FaerieWylde such a great place to visit. =)

Interviewed by Ben_Dover,
©2004, PlanIT3D.com