Missing the rain

Been too long since my last post but at least this I have some what of an excuse. I've landed a job and moved to Texas. So the past couple of months have been very busy. Though recently I have been coming home and working on personal work which I will post later. This piece was inspired by my new favorite drink, Woodchuck Cider. Also, I really love rainy weather and dark clouds and since it's nice and sunny here, I guess I was just drawn to the image I based this painting off of. I'll be doing more of these, they're great quick practice.

Structure silhouettes

These are some structure silhouettes. I use the vague term "structure" because I'm doing a painting that has a large structure in the background and I'm not really focusing on exactly what it is, but rather how it looks. It could be a gateway, an ancient ruin, an alien ship, obelisk. I had some basic design shapes that I wanted to play with, specifically a fin shape, so I thought I'd do a bunch of these and get them out of my system as well as explore some other shapes. I really enjoy doing silhouettes when I'm trying to narrow down shapes and designs that I like. When I do line drawings I tend to get caught up with the functionality of aspects of the design. Doing these lets me focus more on the overall feel and shape of the object rather than the specifics. I'll be sure to post the finished environment with one of these "structures" in it.

Using Painter...

It's been ages since I used Painter so when I wanted to do a quick study of a landscape I thought it was a good time to use it. Then I remembered why I didn't like using Painter. Although Painter is an excellent for getting a real life medium look, you can't fully utilize it unless you have the Intuos Art pen. The Art pen, which is different from the "Classic" pen, can register rotation. So the brush can rotate to the direction of your pen strokes. This is also a draw back in Photoshop but atleast in PS I can manually rotate the brush angle in brush controls. This does slow my process down, but I have that option which is better than nothing.

Desert village

Took one of my simple environment thumbnails and developed it into a full scene. The original thumbnail lacked story telling elements that I think are vital to an environment concept, so when I started developing the environment I had to work that stuff in. I'll have to be sure to work that stuff in right away next time.

Thumbnails

Some recent environment thumbnails.

Shield

I'm continuing making props and this is the latest one. I also relaunched my website, I think its a big improvement from my old design. More to come soon!

Barrels of fun

I'm continuing with the 3d and I'm still working with simple shapes. Though I am getting more and more confident in 3ds Max, I plan on doing simple props until I get the process down cold (unwrapping UVs can be tricky). I've learned a lot from watching tutorials but knowing 3d artists has been the greatest asset. Whenever I have a question they're always there with an answer and advice. I really can't stress enough how valuable their help has been, so I give many thanks to you guys! (you know who you are ;P) Anyway, 'till next time!

Finished Sword

I dabbled in 3d a while back but then got distracted with some 2d work. This time around I'm taking it nice and slow and focusing on completing my projects, so naturally I am starting with something small. I'm working in 3ds Max which is a surprisingly straight forward and easy to take in once you learn the terminology. I'm not thrilled with how this turned out, but I am very satisfied with how much I learned just from making something as simple and basic as a sword. More to come!

UE Challenge '09

I have been away for some time doing some freelance work and I also visited family in Florida twice since my last post. Anyway, I decided to enter the Unearthly Challenge and these are the roughs for my three entrees. I had to make a team logo, even though I'm the only one in my team. I'll be posting my my work in progress in the days to come. Go team Echo!!

3DS Max

I decided to take a short break from doing 2D work so I can pick up some 3D skills. Luckily I know a few 3D artists so picking up 3DS Max has been easier than I expected. I'm at the point where I can easily block out shapes or an environment layout to use for a paint-over. I chose to make a Supermarine Spitfire MK. IX, blocking it out and getting the shape done hasn't been difficult, but I'm sure things will change once I start addressing the details. I also started an ammo box, which should be a quicker project than the plane. Anyway, I'll be sure to post them up once they're done. 'till next time folks!

Knight portrait

While the job hunt continues, I've been keeping busy with some personal projects. I decided to do something a little more traditional this time. I have some great photo reference of some knights so I thought it was about time I put them to good use. As usual I've included the steps of my work process.

On another note, Nihilistic/Konami's "Zombie Apocalypse" was recently announced. I'm very proud to say that this is the first official title that I've worked on. I had a great time working on the game and learned a tremendous amount. The game looks great and I cant wait to play it.