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Behind the scenes: The phases of Linda
🕑 Added 2020-07-16 15:06:54 +0000 UTCHi everyone, I hope you are well!
A long time ago, I promised a deeper look at how Linda came to be. I am truly sorry, but this post has been stuck in draft-limbo since november 2019, which is when I started working on Checkup Blues! Now that Linda is at the front and center with my upcoming animation – which you will be receiving a proper update on later this month – I figured this would be the time to finally get this post done once and for all! So let's dive into the different phases of Linda!
Phase 1 (Daz model: Victoria 4)
I first came up with Linda some 9 years ago, after having been fiddling with daz on and off for about three years. When I returned to daz this time, I decided to make the first character that would be used across several works, thus marking the beginning of my universe.
Linda was designed to be an older girl, but not quite the age she is today. Even so, she was to be my ideal woman according to my taste at the time; Older, mature minded, busty as hell. A classic milf, but without the kids. She started out as a girl in her late twenties/early thirties, and nameless to begin with! Below is the oldest render of her that I can dig up, from 2011:
Let's ignore my vastly inferior abilities for now. I can totally make another post about that later if interest is there.
Looking at Linda here, there's not a whole lot of differences from her current iteration. Her defining features are mostly there, though her face is hard to make out in this particular shot. What is very obvious though, is that she wasn't a futa from the beginning. The idea didn't even strike me at this time. Linda would not go on to become a futa until the very last iteration.
Linda had more of an attitude before. She was younger after all, as was I. At this point, she was a young woman exploring the world. I never made a whole lot of actual sexual encounters with her, quickly establishing her trademark personality and my own taste for blue balls content. Keeping her voluptuous yet modest became a key point for me when working with her, and it remains that way to this day.
Even though I experimented a ton with Linda while getting to know daz after a long hiatus, I never completed a whole lot of works with this iteration. Below is another thing I did with this version of her.
As I got to know both Daz and Linda better, I started iterating on her design. I soon found out that I wanted a more motherly personality, like a nice neighbour you could only dream of banging.
Phase 2 (Daz model: Victoria 4)
The first time I revised Linda's design, she pretty much ended up as the type of woman she is today. Linda became older, developed a more mature and altrusitic personality, and started looking a lot more like today's model. 
At this point I had developed several other characters that I was using in this same universe, but Linda was always the star of the show. The others were mostly there to emphasize Linda's unique physique.
Phase 2 – Luxrender engine
During this second phase, I started using a different render engine, the Luxrender engine, which got me completely hooked on 3d rendering due to it's realistic results. This was a golden age for me with both Linda and Daz – I did tons of experimenting and finally felt like I was beginning to master both the software and the character. 
I kept making stuff in the Luxrender engine for some time. And then suddenly, another hiatus. Due to changes in both living and work situation, Daz dropped out of my mind for quite some time.
Phase 3 (Daz model: Genesis 2)
By the time things finally settled in my life and I once more remembered that Daz was a thing, I had gotten a new computer. In other words, everything was gone, except the finished renders that were on a portable drive of mine. Drawing inspiration from my available sources, I made an attempt to recreate Linda using the newest Daz model at the time, Genesis 2. But I didn't feel like I nailed her this time around.
While she does look good, this iteration didn't really capture the look and feel I loved Linda for. Other attempts at recreating her failed too. I was trying to make her from scratch, just going with my intuition. It wasn't an attempt at a 1:1 remake of the previous Linda, since I thought maybe my taste had changed somewhat during the hiatus. I used this one very little, and instead focused on experimenting with other characters during this phase. 
Dropping Linda for a while helped me experiment with other characters in depth, making way for prototypes of stayers such as Indira, Nassima, Sandra, and even Claire. Once Daz launched their new model, Genesis 3, I returned to Linda once more.
Phase 4-5 (Daz model: Genesis 3 & Genesis 8)
Somewhere along the road, Daz introduced the Nvidia iRay render engine. I fell in love with it instantly and started using it exclusively and extensively. By the time genesis 3 launched, it was time to give Linda another shot. I still tried to make her from scratch, going by my own taste and not using the previous iterations as guidelines. The basics were still the same anyway; mature, modest, voluptuous, brown hair... The idea was that by just going by my own liking, I'd of course find something that suited my tastes. I ended up with something reminiscent of my first iteration.
To me, that meant that I was definitely on the right course, because with some adjustments, I should be able to nail that more mature feeling. And so I started fiddling with her, until I finally hit the sweet spot with what was basically the purchase of a new hairstyle:
This is the very first render of Linda in her current form. I remember going "Okay, now I'm onto something here". It wasn't any eureka moment, but I stuck with this variant of her and never looked back. You know the rest!
And her becoming a futa? That was pretty much me realizing that I wanted to slap a dong on her at the last second. It was during the third phase that I started experimenting with futas, so Linda never got the treatment until now since she was mostly absent during that phase.
When Daz's Genesis 8 launched (they skipped 4, 5, 6 and 7 for technical reasons), I simply copied everything over to the new model, basically just keeping her up to date. She was too good to scrap! This happened somewhere in my late tumblr days and was pretty seamless.
This is by far my favorite version of Linda, and if phase 2 was a golden age, then this is the golden age! I still greatly enjoy working with her, and the eventual release of Checkup Blues will mark a milestone in my history with her!
An early test render for a scrapped comic where Linda went to see the doctor. I suddenly came up with "Locker room Lust" instead, and the doctor comic entered limbo until finally reemerging as "Checkup Blues".
Comments
How do we see the videos
It's an interesting thought you and Angelo have, and I never really considered it. I'll keep that idea in mind, maybe I can make something cool out of it some day!
Grim
Really enjoyed this, seeing Linda’s evolvement over time. Found it rather refreshing that during phases of the creative process you were able to start over from scratch with her because you clearly had her core concepts down. That’s important, since the final results completely satisfying if you in the end managed to obtain what you initially set out for. Here’s to a lovely woman ^_~
Robotics
Love it!
William Cramer
Fascinating in depth account of the development of Linda. She's my favorite futa character. I would say she's the perfect woman.
Cryphius
Great post. Loved reading it. I agre with Angelo. I would love to see current Gen 8 Linda in a time line from youth to now.
Angelo B.
I'd like to see a younger and full of attitude version one day when she day dreams about how she used to be and how she's come out the other side. For better or worse.
