Pumpkinz

Well our final turned out to be a simple pumpkin. Not wanting to accept something so mundane for a final (albeit we only had a week...) I tried to make the headless horseman instead. So I banged this bad boy out and set off to build him a suit of armor.

Then Sunday night rolls up and I couldn't get anything I sculpted to look the way I wanted. I think the problem was I went ahead and didn't think this through the the get go. I should of designed my horseman as a whole before I dove in. I would of had a plan all worked out on paper as well as a defined look and goal. Alas, hindsight is 20/20 and so I just colored it up in zBrush and turned it in somewhat disappointed with myself. My professor thought it was cool, I just wished I could of made it more in the time I had.

Met Jackson Sze, and here's a door

Before my usual blurb about whatever I posted have to say I met Jackson Sze at a workshop at our school over the weekend. He's a really good artist and a damn good painter and he's worked on some cool stuff. Ended the day with a signed copy of Battle Milk 2, it was a good day haha. I really want to paint after his workshop.

Now back on topic, and something out of my comfort zone but homework is homework. Had to make a door of any type (Sci-fi, Fantasy, etc.), and originally I had planned a pretty elaborate sci-fi door. However, two days before I had to turn in the assignment I realized I had no idea how I was going to texture the whole thing let alone unwrap it.

So after a bit of freaking out I redoubled my efforts on a fantasy door. What started as a dwarf head/door I came up with this instead. Some kind of door to an otherworldly dimension of demons or miscellaneous other bad things, or good things I suppose anything's possible.

Took a lot of shortcuts to get this done as fast as I did. About 30k tris, and an texture pass greatly helped by dDO. It's all on one 2048 as well with plenty of room left to cram some smaller extras in to. When you gotta get stuff done, you have to get it done though. There was supposed to be light beams coming out of the central crack in the door. My alpha cards only rendered straight-up green, despite my alphas. I'll just ask my professor when I get to class tonight. I will admit I totally stole the Darksiders' Horsemen logo though, I had the largest mental block figuring out something to put on the door.

Also looking at it again, it should be noted the door opens inward, and thanks to my friend Chris (Same name I know.) for letting me use his lighting rig. Makes things instantly prettier haha.

Programs used: zBrush, Maya, 3Ds Max, 3dCoat, dDO, Photoshop

HUDs Up

Work in progress render for the HUD/face of Marie for First Contact. The changes from the original (albeit rushed) first version are pretty dramatic. Having actual hair for one was a pretty big deal haha. Only thing left for me to do is play with the spec map to behave more like I want, and I'm calling this done. Gonna be a nice improvement over our placeholder.

Sweet Revenge

Annnndddd I'm back, been way too long since I posted anything on here so... Here's the first of many posts of the evening. Dug through my sketchbook and rooted out some decent pieces.

So, a group of my friends took a class and they did a short that was a bit of a spoof on The Avengers and Halloween (The Holiday, btw) all rolled into one. I dropped by the class a couple times and did some fan art. The three villains of the short, and a poster of their version of the Avengers like the movie poster (but I couldn't find it.) Also some sketchiness of Thor on top as I tried to help one of the guys to animate it. Anyways, that's all for this post. More to come as the night rolls on.

Before I forget, go check out their short!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqr9aOprtlU

Also 13k+ views, I'm amazed I've gotten so many (In light of my lack of updates), thanks again all you anonymous visitors!

zBrush Round 3

Forgot I did this yesterday. Anyways I did this before I did Death's Mask, on Friday. I was helping a friend with homework at school, and my other friend came in and asked for some help getting to know zBrush. So I showed him the basics cause he missed the first day. So I just decided to make my effort helping him, an exercise for me. Since the mouse was the only thing I had to work with, I went from beginning to end with this face only using a mouse. Which while a bit cumbersome and slow, is manageable. I didn't get the time to make ears or the eyes, but it was a fun demo to do. Once again proving my professors right, there's is no magical brush, program, or tool that will make you good instantly.

zBrush Round 2

Tinkering with zBrush again. Still no real homework for the class, but no excuse not to use such a fun program. I always seem to enjoy working with it. Also I notice somewhat inherently asian-like features in all my sculptures... maybe residual data in my brain from my years of watching anime in High School? Haha oh well, I'm still having a blast with zBrush, it's a really intuitive program and you can't help but have fun with it. Anyways, I don't really have any of my usual artistic rabble about why I did this and that for this. I just did what I thought would look decent. Can't wait till I get better at this thing!

zBrush Round 1

          So Monday I delved for the first time into zBrush, for my Character Modeling class, fully expecting it to be a harrowing and hate-filled tangle with a new program. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised when I used it that was incredibly intuitive, at least to me. Plus, it was a total blast to use I spent all my break time fiddling with different settings and brushes. I can honestly say I've never felt so... happy to use a 3d program in my life. I've used 3Ds Max, and Maya but nothing that I could pick up and run with like I did with zBrush.
          Anyways, this is starting to sound like a really lame love letter to a bit of programming, but I think this is possibly what I want to do with my major. Character Modeling, guess I'll see if that still holds true by the end of this quarter. Having a fun professor doesn't hurt either.