Book Cover STory

The article below appeared in the Westmoreland News during June of 2001. (Used with permission)

Can't Judge this book by its Cover

On the outskirts of Salisbury, NC, down a worn gravel road in a small mobile home you wouldn't expect to find a world traveler, but just off Exit 70 of I-85 you just might. And fascinatingly, through him, you can too become a world traveler, encountering h8im and a host of other creative sorts without ever leaving your own home.

The man living in that trailer, Michael G Brooks, is a world wide web traveler, a certified Mac Technician and a former AOL technician. But most importantly, he is an artist in several media.

Michael lives in simple surroundings, alone except for his companion and confidante, Turba, a Dalmatian of rare intelligence. If you saw the two of them interact, you would swear that Turba understands Michael's every word, and that her communication with him is almost speech itself.

Michael, now in his early forties, sports a thick mustache and a "solar panel." If you mention art or computers, you are sure to hear plenty from this honest and outspoken individual.

On any given day you may see him walking around his yard barefoot, then suddenly running and returning with his camera to take a picture of a bug on a flower.

He launched his career in the creative arts by supplying an occasional photo to The Brunswick Beacon, a small newspaper on the Carolina coast. Then he branched out into nature and scenic photography. His work was recognized and he was commissioned to photograph golf and resort communities; his photos were used in brochures, magazines, and even on a few billboards.

Michael still has a love for wildlife and nature photography. But in the early 1990's, he got his first computer; once he had learned traveling the web, AOL technology, and Mac operating systems, he began working to master 2D and photography programs. From there he branched out in 3D art programs, which are now his passion.

He creates colorful scenes with familiar and strange creatures, leaning toward fantasy creations that involve dragons, fairies, genies, and giants. In works reminiscent of the best of Salvador Dali, he interjects flying porpoises, people with multiple arms and parts from various mythological creatures. Some of his pieces have been purchased by the curator of a major art museum.

Michael is also involved in creating images or maps for 3D models for a Utah company, DAZ 3D Productions. DAZ worked hand in hand with another company to produce Ugga-Chugga, the famous dancing baby from Ally McBeal. 3D models are used by hobbyists, animators, and advertisers in conjunction with the 3D program Poser. They use the models to create new images; Michael makes maps to alter those models and clothing to be applied to the human models.

Michael's latest endeavor is to translate his 3D computer creations to representations on canvas. By the process known as giclee, the computer image is transferred to actual canvas.

Two of his images on display at a Pineville gallery are definitely attention grabbers.

Carreen shows a nude male standing in the center of a flower holding out one arm for an approaching bird to land. Both the man and the bird have skin which seem to be constituted of flower parts. The man appears almost ready to step right out of the painting; the colors of the flower petals resemble pink velvet.

Ordainbee shows a rosebud which is actually made from sculptures being examined by an unusually colored bee against a bright luminescent rainbow of unusual colors.

Although he doesn't drive, Michael is well known by his internet contacts; he speaks of friends with strange names - KitchenWitch, Eyecatcher, FMdude, Haas, and ScanrBear. He himself is better known by his screen name, SargeBear8.

Among the many online friends he has encountered are truckers, a priest, photographers, other 3D artists, a clairvoyant, and a mosaic artist. He get occasional phone calls from around the globe, and once was flown to Washington and back just to repair a computer.

Inside Michael's trailer you will find him poised in front of his computer the vast majority of the time, surrounded by prints of his 3D images; his monitor is the resting place for several Dalmatian and bear models. Both the ashtray on the desk and the trashcan nearby are overflowing. If Michael isn't working on a 3D creation, he is usually in a chat room of Renderosity.com, another location where you can find 3D artwork and galleries of photography and 3D images.

Deep in concentration, zooming in on the finest detail of an image he is creating, Michael exports a character from one program to another, refines and alters it, then exports it to another screen.

Switching from screen to screen and program to program, he uses Poser, Bryce, Motions, AfterEffects, iMovie, Avid, Bias SoundSoap, Photoshop, Combustion, Amorphium, iDVD, DVD Pro, Final Cut Express Pro HD, Shade 7, Vue, Strata 3D and Lightwave the way other artists squirt out dabs of one tube of color to another and trade from brush to brush.

From the radio a new upbeat song begins to play; up out of the chair he jumps, moving and shaking to the song. "It's Sarge, the Dancing Bear," he may tell the chat room. Then when the song is finished, he pops open a root beer, lights up a cigarette, and takes a break with Turba, tossing her a Frisbee for a few minutes before returning to his work.

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