I run Digital Blasphemy. AMAA

[deleted]

Thanks! Fluorescence (http://digitalblasphemy.com/fshow.shtml?i=fluorescence6) is probably the one wallpaper that people most associate with my work.

I think Blackreach in Skyrim was directly influenced by it. Have you seen Blackreach?

Wow. If I had anything to do with inspiring that then I am honored. I'm looking forward to digging into Skyrim after I beat Dark Souls.

Same for me, 16 when I came across your site. I had no idea you did all these yourself, amazing. How long we're you practicing before finally opening the site? Can you show us the improvement you made over the years by showing us your earlier work?

I got my first PC in 1994 and started out by playing with the graphics cd that come with it. I started DB as a project to learn HTML while I was finishing my CS degree in 1997. All of my early work is still available on in my gallery (http://digitalblasphemy.com/seeall.shtml?y=1997&t=) and you can click up through the year links to see my progression.

You will notice that produce way fewer images now that when I started. I can only say that my standards as to what I will post have increased exponentially since the early days.

do you actually make any money given the nature of digital media distribution

I should think so. This was the very first intangible thing I paid for over the net - heh, it may be the first anything I paid for over the net. It was seriously long ago.

Hey, Mr. Bliss, have you kept your mail archives? I've lost mine from that time, unfortunately. Might be interesting (to me) to see just how long ago it was.

It looks like you signed up on December 23, 2002. Thanks for supporting my work!

Will you draw a reddit alien for us?

We'll see...

How's this?

http://redd.it/n4zod

How's that server holding up? ;)

It's hurting. Realtime Google Analytics shows me over 650 users currently look at my work. I've never seen it over 115 or so. Wow.

[deleted]

You are correct. It needs a complete overhaul. It's basically the same site that I've been using for the past 13 years with bits of new tech kludged on with duct tape and chewing gum. It works though and everyone tells me not to monkey with something that isn't broken.

Would you be offended if I mocked up a redesign for you?

Not at all.

I used to love DB back in the day. I went back to it maybe a year ago and I was shocked to see it looked identical to how it did some ten years ago... I'd just assumed by looking at it that the site had become essentially defunct and was only kept up because there was no reason to take it down.

I'm glad to know the site is doing well and you actually make a living off of it, but I highly, highly, recommend a site redesign; if only to let people know that the site is doing well and give a more professional presentation to new customers.

That is the best reason for doing a re-design that I have heard to date.

trees much?

Sometimes.

You sir, run the only website I have ever actually paid money to access.

I am deeply honored! Thank you!

I love your art and have a lifetime account. Worth every penny.

How popular are the lifetime accounts and how much money do you "lose" on them?

Edit: I've just discovered my "lifetime" account expires on December 6, 2108. As I plan on living forever, could I get this extended? ;)

Thanks for supporting my work Leo! Lifetime Memberships account for around 10% of my signups. I would never say that I am losing money on them though as I am sure a fair number of them would never have joined if I didn't offer a lifetime option. Most people, unfortunately, do not renew their yearly Memberships and I refuse to auto-bill people.

As long as my site requires a login for access to certain parts you will have one.

Hey everyone, it's the neon blue shrooms guy!

Don't call it a comeback...

I'm sorry I stole some of your work like 8 years ago. I was young!

Before I can forgive you I need to know what did you did with it.

I enjoyed looking at it when I had no windows open. I am a terrible person!

It was protist.

Is that all? Of course I forgive you and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I ask forgiveness as well. I took your beautiful Pyre, photoshopped it a bit to make it a beautiful shade of blue instead of green, and used it as my background for many years. I also cropped it to only show the black silhouette and used as my profile pic in steam. If you need to cut off my hands, I can understand.

Edit: fixed typo.

You are free to use my work however you like as long as it is for personal use. No forgiveness needed. I'm glad you found a use for it.

How I knew my man was a keeper:

One day i noticed a $100 dollar credit card bill that went to 'the internet'. I asked him about it and he said, 'oh that's for digital blasphemy'. 'WAT IS DIS?', i asked.

He explained how it was an artist he really appreciated and he was always astounded by not only the choice of content but the execution and skill required to create the piece and that he like to support artists that he'd like to see more from. We were starving college students.

We're not starving any more. In fact, we're done with school. We both really appreciate what you do and continue to show our support.

Thanks so much! I hope more men take notice of your post.

I like the multiscreen vagina shots.

You are most welcome. I think my multiscreen vagina section really sets my gallery apart from a lot of other wallpaper sites.

Not a current subscriber, but I've been an admirer for many years. I've gotten more than a few great backgrounds from you. Also, when ever anyone posts a submission asking about cool wallpapers, DigitalBlasphemy.com always get recommended by me.

Thank you for your site. You rock.

Thanks for spreading the word. I don't advertise so your recommendations are what has kept me going all these years.

No advertising at all? That's quite amazing that you're able to make enough to live on off of the site.

What is your main reason for not advertising yourself?

I honestly can't say why, other than it feels dirty. I've always let my work on people's monitors be my primary means of advertising.

I wonder where would be the best place to put an ad for Digital Blasphemy.

Does the site earn you a good living, or do you need to "keep a day job"?

DB has been my day and night job since 1999 and would say that I earn a pretty good living (especially given the economic climate of the past 5 years). I've licensed my art work to various companies and earn royalties for their sales but the lion's share of my paycheck comes from subscribers.

Thank you for your awesome work for well over a decade. What is your personal favorite work?

You are most welcome! My favorite would be toss-up between Highland Spring (http://digitalblasphemy.com/preview.shtml?i=highlandspring1) and Haiku (http://digitalblasphemy.com/preview.shtml?i=haiku2k72).

How do you come up with the ideas? Are any based on real life places?

That is probably my most frequently asked question. Inspiration is sort of like the Pleiades star cluster. You can see it out of the corner of your eye but it fades away if you try to examine it directly. I can say that I rarely use references in my work (sometimes to my detriment) and almost all of my images are directly out of my brain. Exceptions include a render I attempted of the Tetons (http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/preview.shtml?i=purplemountains) and one that was directly inspired by the stepped pyramids of Meeren described in a Song of Ice and Fire (http://digitalblasphemy.com/preview.shtml?i=leaftemple1).

Can we get a reddit discount/coupon code?

Well, I don't want it to appear that I posted here to generate business. I just wanted to answer questions. If enough people ask however...

I was using your Valley 2k wallpaper once when my grandpa walked by. He saw my background and said, "Wow. You really have to be at the right place at the right time to get pictures like that. It's really amazing that people go out and do that kinda thing." When I told him it was all done digitally he didn't believe me. Was sad.

Other than that little story, just wanted to say thanks for the cool work you've done. I've recommended your site to a lot of people.

Thanks for sharing and for passing on my work. I never get tired of hearing that type of story.

How do you feel about the pirates?

More specifically...

How do you feel about people who are distributing your work for free without authorization?

The people who download it from elsewhere without paying?

What about the jerks who are selling it as their own work?

What do you do about it?

(edit: formatting)

I used to have a big problem with people using fake or stolen credit card numbers to access my work. That was a huge problem because each instance cost me between $15-$20 when the theft was discovered (it's called a "chargeback fee").

These fees have decreased markedly with the rise of Bittorrent so (if I could only choose between the two) I would rather people download torrents than steal Memberships. I've also heard of a lot of people discovering my work on the Torrent sites and then becoming Members themselves so there are positive aspects.

Legally, however, I am required to strongly condemn all illict sharing because unprotected copyrights are lost. Between us however, I know that there will always be people who don't want or can't purchase a Membership. I would rather they enjoy my work than not.

Edit: I always take down the people who try to sell my work as their own.

Hah, awesome. I got introduced to your wallpapers through a coworker. His wallpaper for the longest time was one of yours.

Will you continue to be a redditor after you've completed your AMA?

I've lurked here on and off for a while and it looks like one of the strongest communities around. Like every other cool thing online I have to balance the time I spend on it with the time I spend doing actual work.

1. Did you attend university? If yes, what did you major in?
2. Do you have any other jobs besides running the site?

Your work is amazing btw.

Thanks! I earned a BA (English) and then later a BS (Comp Sci) from the University of Iowa. I've worked as a busboy, a bookseller (B. Daltons), pre-school teacher, technical writer and web programmer.

Pretty awesome, I've used your wallpapers periodically since middle school.

I usually just go through the free gallery, but I was always curious if people actually subscribed. Care to share ~how many subscribers you have, and what are the benefits of subscribing?

I currently have 18342 subscribed members. People come and go every day but the number generally trends upward. All of my work is available on my site for free up to ~480px tall and I have a free section of images with higher resolution.

The Membership is for folks who really enjoy my work and want to directly support it. It offers unrestricted access to all of the resolutions I have available as I make them. Members can download zip file archives (rather than download one at a time) and can also participate in my creative process by rating/leaving comments on works-in-progress.

What kind of revenue do you see from your site? Your work is ubiquitous on the internet and it'd be nice to know that you're getting rewarded for it.

I consider myself well-rewarded. The last five years have been pretty scary though (starting with me having to be hospitalized for Crohn's and then all my customers getting laid off).

I'm a subscriber! The image of the desert dune with the tree and moon are on my desktop right now. Thanks for the beautiful work. I'm a writer and it's so inspiring to me.

That's music to my ears. I never tire of passing on the "inspiration wave".

I can't tell you how often my mom saw your work, man!

She would come in the room, and thanks to windows+m (for some reason...), she happened to notice me innocently looking at awesome 3d images on my desktop.

Life saver, sir.

LOL. Glad I could help ;)

What kind of programs do you use to create your images? I've always been a huge fan and have wondered what kind of effort and tricks go into becoming as good as you are.

Also I've always loved Tropic of Capricorn. I have a bit of wallpaper ADD and am always changing it but somehow always seem to come back to it.

These days I use mostly Vue d'Esprit 10 (rendering my landscapes), Lightwave (rendering space, abstract, interiors, macro), Xfrog (modeling) ,Zbrush (modeling), Poser (modeling), Apophysis (2D fractal rendering) , and Mandelbulber (3D fractal rendering). I tie everything together using Photoshop CS4.

Great to see you here Mr. DB! Lifetime subscriber here. One of your wallpapers is on every PC either I or my family uses (6 computers) Just curious how hard would it be to add additional resolution sizes to some of your older works? Just last night I was changing my daughters backgrounds to Christmas themes and they liked some of your early pieces. The resolutions aren't that great which kind of limits the choices. Thanks again and keep up the good work!!

Thanks for the kind words! It's difficult to re-render older works because new versions of 3D software tends to break old scene files. I can still open then but they don't render out the same. Creating smaller images from a larger file is trivial but I cannot create higher resolutions without re-rendering.

For that reason I, from time to time, enjoy "re-imagining" a favorite scene from years past. I am currently working on just such a project with one of my favorite Christmas wallpapers...

I watched your FB conversation on your new hardware this year. It sounds like your renders can still take days, even on that beast of a machine. As a computer geek with no knowledge of art software, what's the limitation that takes things so long to finish? And do you have a machine dedicated to final rendering so you can still work/play while it's going?

Fine details are always the bottleneck in 3D rendering. Realistic clouds, lighting and refractive/reflective surfaces (glass/crystal/liquid) are all computationally expensive.

I have a couple of other alternate (older) machines that I use for rendering but I almost always do my main rendering on my main workstation because it is way faster than all of my others. I sometimes work on my Macbook Pro while all of my others are busy.

WOW. I used to use your website for all my abstract wallpaper needs years ago. I'm glad you're still running. :)

One question, I do remember by another website I used to go to called "Vladstudio".. they had a program that allows you to download wallpapers directly from their website. Do you have a program like that that you'd recommend for your hi-res gallery? (granted that I have the subscription)

I love Vladstudio. The closest thing to such a program would be this one: http://www.rushfrisby.com/DigitalBlasphemyUpdater.aspx

When you publish your wallpaper without branding ?

I know it bugs a lot of people and I would really love to publish them without the watermark. Every time I get close to actually doing it another site crops up with my work posted under a different name (sometimes by an artist claiming it as their own).

If the only watermark-free copy resides with me then it is easier for me to prove that the image is mine when I need to have the attributions change.

I just did a TinEye search (http://www.tineye.com/search/31226ccf34cada49e3f352a544ff41f8601b840b/) on my Fluorescence wallpaper and it returned 1246 different sites. Obviously I am not going to be able to contact them all so sometime here I am going to have to balance protecting my work with providing a better product for my customers. Having the watermark present does provide a bit of a hedge against people posting my work (most of my traffic comes from people typing in the URL or Googling me) so it is a difficult choice.

How did you come up with the name? Does it mean anything specific, or just something random?

I came up with it when I first started playing with computer graphics. It basically means that "I am God and can create my own worlds". If I had known it was going to be a business name I probably would have picked something a little less controversial.

I remember seeing your bit on Bucephalus earlier this year but I was wondering what other sort of gear/software you've used over the years as well.

I started with a 486/66 with 8MB of ram and a 300MB hard drive. Moved through a couple of Pentium based system and purchased my first dual-core system in '99 (Pentium III 600 mHz IIRC).

Around that time I moved from Bryce to a mix Vue d'Esprit, World Builder (RIP), and Lightwave 3D. Recently I've started using ZBrush, Mandelbulber and Apophysis.

My best friend has had florescence as the only background ever.

Phone, pc, laptop.

Wow. Tell your best friend I did an updated render a few years ago:

Rainbow: http://digitalblasphemy.com/preview.shtml?i=fluorescence2k9colors1

Blue: http://digitalblasphemy.com/preview.shtml?i=fluorescence2k93

hey, I remember one of the first works i saw of yours was Pyre as well as this one of a Blue "christmas" tree in the woods. also Gotham and a bunch of others.

What is your current Rig like?

Here's a page I wrote about my current rig: http://digitalblasphemy.com/bucephalus.shtml

Really amazing stuff. I take most of the photos I use for my desktops, but honestly if I had more disposable income I would buy a lifetime immediately. I will recommend!

Thanks! My chief competition comes from digital cameras. I do offer less expensive options...

holy fuck, i remember you

NEED TO BUY MEMBERSHIP NEXT WEEK!

Thanks in advance Dutch!

wow! Fluorescence was the inspiration for a photograph I did a few years ago... Thanks for the reminder.

http://realitymouse.com/one/images/20070220141738_mushrooo.jpg

I love it!

Seriously though, have you ever thought about updating your website and making look a little, well, less like we are still in the 90's. Also, when I try and view your images it takes forever to load. Love your work!

I would imagine they are taking forever to load this morning because my server is currently experience around 30X the usual load. Redesigning my web site is always high on my list, but somehow "Make New Wallpaper" always gets inserted above it.

Don't understand why everyone is saying "I remember you" or "I used to go to your site." I STILL check your site every week or so. I really enjoy your work. I have dual monitors and I really appreciate your multi-monitor renderings.

So how many projects don't end up seeing the light of day? How far into a piece do you get before you abandon and start something else? Or does everything at least make it to a "pickle jar" level?

Thanks Sith! I would say that 1 in 4 are never posted. If I work on something for more than 2 or 3 days I'm usually able shape it into something borderline presentable.

How long does a typical project take? Where did you learn how to do what you do?

(btw, I did have a paid subscription once, but I don't really look at my desktop nowadays... that said, thanks for what you've done - it's great!)

I spend anywhere from a few hours (rarely) to a couple of weeks on a project and taught myself just about everything. I don't have any formal art training.

I used to be a member a long time ago, blue mushrooms got me in! How much (ballpark) would you say you've grossed over the years?

More than I my Mennonite upbringing will allow me to consciously utter.

I love your work! I have been using your wallpapers since I first discovered Fluorescence many years ago. Since then I have upgraded to a triple monitor setup and a subscription so I could get your triple monitor designs. I have also sent just about everyone looking for a wallpaper to you! Never met someone who did not like your creations.

This is not really a question but I would love to see you make more high resolution designs that I can use on my triple monitor setup. My subscription ran out but I would happy renew to see there were more triple designs! I think my favorite ones are your space inspired designs.

Pic of my setup: http://i.imgur.com/1VIZy.jpg

Thanks for all of your work!

Thanks CJ! That's quite the wall of sound you have put together there. Does your hair blow in the wind like the Maxell guy?

I try to create multi-monitor versions of all of my work so I recommend you visit this page to see all the new ones:

http://digitalblasphemy.com/triscreen/triscreen1.shtml

You're my desktop wallpaper hero! Never in my life did I think I would pay for wallpaper, but yours is so incredible (not to mention works great for 3-4 monitors) that I couldn't resist. The large sprawling universe pictures and insane looking sunsets are my favorite!

My workstation at my job featuring "The End"!

http://imgur.com/LTYeE

Beautiful quad setup! Thanks for sharing. What is the combined resolution?

Thanks so much for all the questions and kind words! I'm truly blown away and my fingers are numb from typing all day. Going to step away now to hang out with my family but I will pop back later to answer any really good questions that have not already been answered.

What are your thoughts on InterfaceLIFT? Is there an eternal battle between photographers and 3D artists?

I love InterfaceLIFT (and Vladstudio) but I don't think there is much overlap in the audiences. Besides, art is not a zero sum game. Of course, reality is always going to be more realistic than 3D but then I am not limited by reality.

Wow, looking back through your site is giving me flashbacks! Something Blue, White Magic, Pyre, and of course Fluorescence have all spent significant portions of time as my wallpapers.

When you create a new wallpaper, do you plan out ahead of time what you want it to look like and then make it, or just start modeling and texturing, and see where it takes you?

Thanks! I usually take the latter path. It's rare (and joyous) when I start with a fully formed idea.