Hoping to give you some ideas on creating illustrations… This is how I work when I create an illustration in Paint Shop Pro and sometimes Painter…
Tools I will be using:
Wings3D
Google Sketchup (free version)
Vue Pro Studio 7.0 (or Bryce can also be used)
Paint Shop Pro X2 Ultimate
Topaz Adjust Filter for PSPP
Painter IX.5 (possibly)
Using the FREE but very capable 3D modeler Wings3D (http://www.wings3d.com) I quickly model what I envision a junkyard garage to be… My modeling is very rough as I will not be texturing this model in a 3D environment. But rather I will be painting over and applying textures to the 3D render in Paint Shop Pro…
Screen captures of the rough model within Wings3D
I saved the model in Wings3D and exported it as an obj model. Imported the model into Vue Pro Studio 7.0. I selected a basic sky and terrain and rendered this image…
Pretty bland eh? 
The render was saved as a bmp 6000×3750
Now the fun begins. I bring the render into PSPP and start applying textures I’ve either shot myself with my digital camera or found on the web fromfree stock sites like http://www.sxc.hu
I’m looking through my texture collection for what I deem to be appropriate textures. Using various blending modes (overlay, multiply, hard light, etc) I place and scale the textures over the garage shack… What a dump eh?
I’m now finishing the textures for the building and now finding photos of doors and windows which are then cut out of the original photo and pasted into PSPP as a new layer and appropriate blending mode…
Using Google Sketchup I locate some free 3D models of junked cars.These models are brought into Vue and rendered along with an alpha mask…
Junkers…
Alpha mask
The above cars and alpha mask are composited into Shack Garage render…
Next I apply rust, dirt, grunge textures over the cars…
I’ve now added some more 3D & photo elements (gas pump, more textures) and did some free hand painting (fence, steps, shadows under hot rod, hot rod’s interior)….
I also ran the image through Topaz Adjust 2.6 PSPP plugin…
I must have close to 20 hours so far into this image and not yet finished…
Just wanted to share some techniques I use and hoping for some suggestions on my image…
Thanks to all who replied…. I appreciate your input and comments….
I’ve tried to fix the shadow problem TattooBob at Paint Shop Pro Photo forum ( )t (thanks Bob) and painted in two dog photos using Painter’s cloning brushes….
I also added a crane in the background and some textures to the sky… I also added some texture and grass (brush strokes) to the ground…
I also kicked up some soil color onto the bottom of the hot rod to simulate the soil being reflected onto the black paint and chrome…
It’s nearing completion and now my mind wonders what my next project will be…..
In the image below I’ve sketched in a mechanic working on the background jalopy in the garage…
Cheers
Kenmo
