Dissection of a Digital Illustration

Texture Maps

A lot of the realism possible with 3D comes from texture maps. You can use both bitmapped images, and computer-generated textures. For the frog, most of the coloring comes from a computer generated fractal pattern. But the head markings are different from the rest of the body, so I made a texture map that applies just to the head. How the map is applied is also part of the work involved. In this case, this map is applied straight from the side.