Ohhhhhhh, check this out!  So, I received my monthly newsletter from FGP, and in it was a link to a GREAT site, CGTextures.  It has free pics organized in different categories for all kinds of textures — from bricks to rust to reptile scales to distressed plaster to skies to wood…geez, can you tell I’m excited?!?

These kinds of visual aids can help so much.  For instance, getting your brick work as realistic as possible, that aged plaster just right or to make sure that where you paint the water or rust stains is exactly where they would be after hundreds of years.  Or, for a muralist, to have readily available pictures of cloud patterns or water ripples and the like.  If you really care about your particular commission, you can spend hours looking for the right image.

From what I can tell the site is used mainly by 3-D artists for video games and other graphics.  I have so many pictures of textures, I’ll have to see if they accept contributions.  (Yes, picture a wonderful husband on vacation with an insane wife running around with a digital camera yelling “RUST!? OMG, RUST!!? It’s so beautiful –look at how it gathers under the crevices!  When am I ever going to find another picture like this?!?”)

I assure you it has happened, folks.  Pity my hubby.  Uhm…enjoy the site!