Model finished!

Ha, cake toppers again, so sue me.

Coated in Sculpey now. White, you say? Why yes- that's how I've made my clay sculpts for years. Make it white, paint it afterwards. Which has twofold benefits- it avoids the problem of discoloration during the baking process, and it allows me to paint in finer details, or mix colors in very paint-specific techniques, which I find therapeutic.

I'll be painting these guys with a solid pearlescent coat, though. And adding the wingwebs with fabric pieces, to keep them light.

You know what

Guy Gardner

Now in Low-res def, with 200% more starscape! As it occurred to me that some may not be aware of his...character, here is a pic for reference.

Wireframe Wednesday?

You see? Because it's a wireframe! It....yeah. A real-world sculpt I've got the literal wireframe made on. Eventually, wedding cake toppers. For right now, a load of jewelry wire and tinfoil.

UV mappan

So, REALLY not terribly exciting work going on right now, since I'm just combining all the meshes and UVs for the low res model. Still working on the mesh part, but I can share the final maps (normal, spec, and texture).

There's an alpha map as well, but since all that affects is the ends of his hair, I didn't deem it particularly interesting.

Camping and UVs

So, as I am at the stage of cleaning up maps and combining the low poly mesh, it's not terribly exciting stuff to look at. But I will say that camping over the weekend gave me some tremendous inspiration.

I mean seriously! It's like a postcard! And our campsite was nestled in a grove of enormous evergreen trees- how cool was that?

Base sculpt= done!

So, I've finished the sculpting part, and mostly finished the textures (well, as far as straight-up polypainting is concerned). The moon boots feel so out of place to me!

I'll be working on polishing the textures next, and exporting all the maps to 3DS Max.

Dragons and wireframe once more

So, I've been working on terribly unexciting parts, like the wireframe

And drawing up some dragon concepts for a wedding cake centerpiece

Neither of which, I bet, are particularly interesting. Or really fleshed out looking. So, yeah.

Head progress (again)

Thought I'd put up a nicer looking picture, for general progress' sake. Gonna work on mapping things out now, photoshop cleanup and such.

Sketch of the week!

So, while I go about detailing Guy, I figured I'd flesh out my Mesmer sketch with a bit of a rough color job.

Vest makeover

Let's see... I've been working on second passes, so I'll just pick a piece. How about a vest.

Yep.

Sketch and update

So, many things ado here. I'm currently working on the second pass of each component on Guy.

(head's ready for pores and texturing now)

As for this week's sketch, I didn't feel like it warranted a post by itself, because it's a bit atypical of my work here. You see, I'm in the throes of making my own wedding dress from start to finish, so my creative downtime was spent making a first draft concept.

And if I haven't compensated enough for this odd post yet, let me plug my other blog! Click here to see what my fiance and I have been learning about gluten free cooking and dining!

Roughed in gloves

Got the basic glove shape down now. I've also taken a second pass on the face and vest, but I'll be posting that later.

(yeah, no ring, blah blah blah. It's not a glove.)

Are you hyped for Guild Wars 2?

I know I am! After a rather rushed first try during the stress test, I wasn't so sure. But I gave a Human Engineer a shot this past weekend, and actually began to feel the open world atmosphere being put out there. Just going around and seeing all the townsfolk, listening to their one-lines, and helping the local farmers feed their oxen. Seriously, I was actually having fun doing mundane things. Kudos!

Oh, right, this is a portfolio blog. I drew a mesmer costume, based off of a rose sort of flower. Maybe a sylvari designed it.

I'll likely put some painterly colors to this. Maybe even model the dress. It's been a while since I've done something so soft and flowing.

Vest progress

Did a first run on the vest, as well as beginning on the rest of the clothing.

No scans again

So, since my own computer and scanner are still unplugged and waiting for a router, I don't have anything to show for drawings again this week.

Not only that, but I suddenly obtained the need to figure out how wedding planning works. Which is amazing, but highly confusing to a girl who didn't plan it all out when she was six. On the bright side, though, I will be starting up a new blog with my fiance, in a completely unrelated topic. Stay tuned for more info in the upcoming weeks!

I always seem to do this

Noticed that the clothing wireframe seemed to be lacking a rather important aspect of the costume, so I'll give it it's own post.

Yep.

Temporary lack of scanner

So, I should note that my projects will be a bit on the quiet side, as I am moving from one side of the country to the other today. I should be set up completely again in a week or two, but you'll have to bear with me in the meantime.

Clothing progress

I've also extracted the basemesh for the clothing, by the way:

(the arms and legs are the usual skintight superhero thing, so I'm just working straight on a copy of the body model)

A little insight

When I'm doing work for myself, I'll tend to do a quick sketch of the character to flesh out concepts and the occasional detail, then refine the idea during the modeling process. For example, with Suzie,

I made a sketch more to decide on general feel and clothing components than anything else. As you can see, most of the details I had originally placed were rethought, since I found the lace embellishments to be too...uppercrust for her.

Head wireframe

I went back and made a cleaner basemesh for the head and neck:

Now, to attach that to the body model.

Anyways...

A rather old sketch of mine, but my drawing time is currently occupied with mocking up some posters, so bear with me. I just needed to express my feelings on the recent issues of Green Lantern corps.

Head take 1

I've got a first take on the head and hair, now.

I try to  not think about the hairstyle too hard. Makes modeling difficult when I'm snickering.

Allie sketch

Sketchbook entry for the week is a picture of my sister's character, Allie.

She's, well, a chef. Still working on an updated hairstyle, and would like to try putting her in more interesting clothing too, at some point.

hands and feet

Roughed in the hands and feet for Guy Gardner. He's getting boots and gloves, so I'm not going all-out on the detail there for now.

So useful!

I've got to say, a couple of the most useful presents I've ever gotten were a half-sized mechanical pencil and a pocket notebook. Saves me from bringing a full sketchbook into a zoo or shopping mall!

Speaking of zoos, a wild Tufted Titmouse ended up presenting a better subject to me than any of the resident animals this past weekend. The other page was a character my sister wanted to redesign. Might model her next, to see if the new style works.

Gardner progress

So I've taken a first stab at Guy Gardner's body.

Hands and feet are next on my list. I'm still a bit bummed that I missed the first Guild Wars 2 beta weekend because of travel, but I'm hoping to catch the next one!

while I'm working

How did Commodore Darcy get in there...?

Still experimenting

I've been spending most of my time sketching clothing and studying up on technique,  but I can post a head speed sculpt I did as a new workflow experiment.

He was rather effeminate without the long hair, poor Deniel.

In other news, the Diablo 3 open beta was quite enjoyable. Nothing like a good old beat-em-up to refocus myself!

Continuation of technique

Throughout my art education, I've learned a multitude of new techniques that make me take a step back and reevaluate my methods. For example, drawing a line of motion for the entire body before sketching in the wireframe or person themselves. Or the advice to just start over on a drawing if you've noticed a base-level mistake. After all, it the end product will be better if you just start from scratch, equipped with that new knowledge.

Following along those lines, I've been influenced to take a side departure into a further study of anatomy, and life/character studies in general. An interestingly different technique to character modeling has been introduced to me as well, so I'll likely adhere to those steps for my next project or two, and see how that flows.

On a side note, I've been playing with the character concept of a robot in my head- a sort without any kind of casing, but made to resemble a human. A constantly neutral posture and expression, but an unsettling habit of staring at whoever is talking. I'll try to get it down on paper as soon as I decide the artistic direction to go with it.

Moving and such

So, progress may slow down a bit for now, as I pack, say my goodbyes, and prepare for a cross country move. I will still plug away at things, though. For example, I've decided to embark on modeling an existing character. Mainly, a certain Green Lantern.

I'm going to try and capture the...er...charm he had in the late 80's/early 90's. Separating him from his current-day persona is proving to be the main challenge, so I'm getting some sketches down as I complete the base wireframes. I can't get at any Zbrush-capable computer for the next week, so you'll have to make do with my doodles, apologies.

Reel is up!

And, thusly, I have uploaded my character artist reel for 2012!

EDIT: Thank you guys for the feedback! I've updated the timing on the cuts slightly. I think I'll continue to revisit these models, but I'm going to take a bit to distance myself from them first, and work on a new project in the meantime.

 If you've got any comments or critiques, I will gladly take them. Thanks in advanced!

Short update

Better late than never, I suppose? I never got what I intended to post, because my computer was serving as a rendermachine, so I wasn't able to pull the image off of it.

But, at any rate, about 245 squares later, Samwell has hair.

Brief post today

Hey guys! I've been a bit busy compiling everything, so my post is late-ish today, but I did complete Samwell (again, other than the hair. Gosh darn, I need to give him some, or I'll permanently view him as a cue ball).

Changed Suzie a bit

So, most of my Thursday-through-Sunday was spent schlepping as a 'friend of music' at the Alvirne High School Cabaret, and thus haven't made a huge amount of progress to show. I did alter Suzie's first pose slightly, because I did feel like it was a bit bland.

And I've continued work on her other pose, as well as Wave. I did manage to catch a few April Fools Day jokes, though. Really wishing I could actually have bee companions in Guild Wars, ha haaa.

And the rest of the blocking

Decided to post the other two poses I've got on the table right now, another one for Suzie:

And one for Samwell (yes, I realize he's still bald):

I've got quite a bit to touch up on Suzie (re-connecting the pants laces, correcting clothing folds, etc), and more battle damage and clothing fold work for Samwell in store. Comments and critiques are appreciated!

Bases and poses

So, nothing too exciting this week, since most of it has been spent posing figures, and modeling props. So far, Wave has a base, and an unedited Transpose Master pose:

Still have a lot of folds to add on the wings, and the hind legs kind of got jacked, so I'm starting from scratch on the folds. Suzie's gotten her more simple of two poses transposed out, as well:

Which honestly looks a bit weird at that angle, so I clearly have some things to fix on that one. Her second pose is currently getting blocked out. And poor Samwell...

...Isn't even in the picture yet. So, hopefully I'll have a finished picture or two by the end of the week. If you've got any critiques before I get further, feel free to shoot them my way!

Another introduction is in order

The final (I promise this is the last WIP!) project I've currently got on the burners is my very first 'original character', Samwell.

Admittedly, he's a bit bald at the moment, and that's something I should probably rectify (even though he looks surprisingly okay that way). And his suit is quite a bit less ripped than I plan on having it. But it's something.

Going by me middle school imagination, Samwell is a hawk demon with long blue hair, an armband tattoo, and an earring with the fang of his girlfriend on it. He could also talk to birds, and was a super genius. And could hack into any computer system.

I'm....pretty sure this was the first picture I drew, so yeeeeeaaaaah. Surprisingly, it's always been a bit difficult for me to draw Samwell, because I always think back to how I drew him years and years ago. Since my style's largely drifted away from emulating Yu-Gi-Oh, there are quite a few set-in-stone 'character traits' that really don't hold sway with how I draw things nowadays, bu they're often what I picture whenever I go to put him on paper. Square eyes, winged eyelashes, and randomly emphasized musculature were what I had thought made him unique, and figuring out how to evolve his concept really gives me artists block sometimes.

It's an interesting phenomenon, since I often feel like my drawings of him are worse than when I depict more recently created characters. Am I regressing when I draw him? Is this how comic artists feel, once their title has been running for a decade or more?

Anyone else have issues like this, drawing older characters, or favorite cartoons from your childhood?

Captain Suzie progress

So, the topic for today is a little elaboration on Suzie. She was actually a character that I had created for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign years ago, and had evolved from a warrior, to a bard, to the captain of a ship. I've played other campaigns since, but this one has always stood out to me, since I had such a vivid picture in my head.

I always dislike how the neutral pose looks when I go to share it, since it looks so lifeless. But, since her Zsphere rig isn't on my to-do docket for a bit, this little preview will have to do for now. Any comments or critiques would be truly helpful- I want to do her justice!

Current progress

Right now, I've got a few personal projects on my plate, as well as giving a shot at polishing some of my older works. Finishing up Captain Suzie is pretty high on the priority list, as well as giving some life to a grumpy menagerie overseer.

Poor guy, perching a monocle on a reptilian face is no easy feat. At any rate, I'll be posting more next week, with an open request for critiques. I want to develop my skills with a viewer's eye in mind, so knowing what you think will really help.

Introduction of sorts

Hello, everyone! I've created this blog mainly to showcase my work, both in-progress and complete, as well as offer my thoughts on animation and gaming in general. Hope to put myself out there for beginners to contact, since I've seen far too many aspiring animators go into the field without having ever gone beyond traditional artwork. Not that there's anything wrong about traditional stuff- it's definitely the foundation needed in any art field! I just feel like the industry would get more innovation if the playing ground was a bit less of a cliff.

But that's enough of that, I'll post some art before you leave. Basically, I'm going to open up myself for critique here, too. Since listening to advice has brought me from models like this:

up through my current projects, like Suzie here:

With my own characters, I tend to go more for relevant detailing than layered designing, but I like to experiment around, and pick up new techniques by trying different approaches. So, without further adieu, I will end my first post. Shoot me questions or comments, if you've got 'em, and I'll be back shortly to post more of my in-progress shots!