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Creating Aura Lockhaven, Part Two:

The 3D Effect

By now, you know what Frank Frazetta and his art means to me, and what it did to and for me. Aura Lockhaven would not exist today if not for him. On this page, I will elaborate her evolution in my 3D art.

Aura began as someone entirely different. 3D art is my hobby, and in the spring of 2010, I created a stock female character for my DAZ Studio renders based on my favorite Playboy Playmate. I didn't quite get the face right. Still, she was close enough. At that time, she had brown eyes. I first used her in a render called "The Honor of the Regiment." It was a follow up to "Last Act of Defiance," featuring a squad of swordmaidens being wiped out by an ogre. In "Honor," the squad's colleagues get revenge. The Playmate character was a lieutenant, tending to her captain's wounds, who barks at her to finish the ogre first

The character appeared a second time in "The Victor," featuring a nearly nude dragon hunter sitting on top of her defeated opponent. I based that one on a painting by Clyde Caldwell.

She made her third, and final unnamed, appearance as "Miss Barbarian July, 2010," shown below.

Proto-Aura

As I looked at "Miss Barbarian," I asked "What would cause a woman to dance nude in fire?" The answer was obvious. She's an enchantress. The word just popped into my mind. She wasn't a witch or a sorceress. She was an enchantress. That explained the nudity. Then, I wondered what led her to become an enchantress. Well, she's a sex magician. She uses sex to build her energy fast. Yes, I talk to myself. Sometimes, I answer, and when I do, good things happen.

I thought about doing a 3D art graphic novel about her, based on Paolo Serpieri's Druuna. Those are tight, gripping science fiction stories, but they also allow Druuna to wander around naked for 60 pages and get laid. I thought, why not! I wanted to have a good story, as well as a plausible reason for the character to be bedded in every chapter, so I decided to have her undergo a journey to become an enchantress, and she had to do so naked. Along the way, she would accomplish something like the 12 labors of Hercules, with each labor being an excuse for her to have sex.

I kept the same character, because she inspired the whole idea. The only thing I changed on the original character was her eye color. She seemed to want green eyes. I named her Aura, it sounded magical and I liked it, and Lockhaven after Loch Haven Park, my favorite Orlando lake and park from childhood. Then, I set out to make the renders and write the story.

Halfway through the first chapter, Aura took over (she would do so again when her story became a written novel). The story ceased being sexploitation and became one of a naive young woman becoming a confident and powerful enchantress. It was about her finding her identity. Over the course of the chapters, the sex became less and less important until she stopped being laid all the time. I even stopped noticing that she was nude. The few people who have read the graphic novel said the same things.

I shelved the graphic novel in my first year of graduate school, stopping halfway through chapter twelve. I just had too much to do. I never abandoned Aura, however. To keep myself sane, I worked on one-off renders of her, either glamour shots or action shots.

Below are images of Aura chronicling her evolution as a 3D character. The first is from 2010, as she appeared in the graphic novel. The second is from late 2016, a promotional scene for her as an enchantress, preparing for the launch of The Chronicles of Aura Lockhaven.

Aura Lockhaven 2010

Aura Lockhaven, 2010.

Aura Lockhaven 2016

Aura Lockhaven, 2016.

Aura evolved even more remarkably as a written character. In Part Three, I discuss that evolution.

Creating Aura Lockhaven
Part Three
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Copyright Nathan Boutwell and NJB Media, 2018.

Updated February, 2018.