I haven't posted anything new here, so I thought I would make an update. I am beginning to migrate all my stuff under a new name. Kind of making myself my own little indie studio out of my basement. That's how it starts, right? Anyway, here's a couple of links to my new web areas: http://artistgrimoire.blogspot.ca/ http://ghost-candle.deviantart.com/ Finding some new inspiration as of late, so I should be updating that blog and deviant art account often.

Long time

Haven't really done much since the character model. However, recently, I've been itching to get some artistic and creative stuff done, both 2D and 3D. I started an image that I meant to start for October for a series of Horror story images in celebration of Halloween, so I will be posting the WIP for it here. I'm still starting off way too soon with the details, but it seems like that might be some time for me to break when doing illustrations and environment concepts. Yay for practice!
Currently the horse is done. Once I finish the bg I will come back and edit as needed to fit the rest of it. Now I am working on the Horseman, so I need to research some clothing from the appropriate period and area.



EDIT: Also just found an old WIP of mine I forgot about. It was sitting there on my desktop, staring at me, and I didn't even think about it! I don't think I will finish it, since I thought of something that would be a better composition, but I thought about posting this at least and compare in the future.

Nearly done

Nearly done the model. There's some cloth parts I want to add, and I have to fiddle with the skinning of the model to the skeleton. And then I am DONE and can put full focus on my next project. For the next while this blog may only see small practice assets for modelling and texturing. Anything big or completely finished for my project will be in my new blog, which I will completely reveal to everyone when my project is complete.

I finished the body and started the textures a while ago. Today I started messing around with the shading networks that maya can do. Currently the textured renders are done in Mental ray with the fast_skin shading network. It definitely added some depth to the skin, though I feel as though my normal map is a little lost...




Still have to do the hair and the transparent clothing assets on the character and then I will pose it.

New Character Model

Started working on a new model as of yesterday. Another female, but the character I made a concept for is fairly exposed, so it allows me to focus on modelling the anatomy (I'll do a male next, I promise!).

I normally do the block out method, but this time I did the plane-extrude one. So far I find it working quite well, especially when getting the finer details in the muscles before I take ZBrush to it. It also allows me to do each muscle group separately, i.e: I was extruding the neck out to start, but when I tried to define the neck I wasn't liking the result, so I did planes and extruded and ended up with a better result (as seen in image 2).

I worked on the head yesterday, and today I did half of the body. Tomorrow I will most likely finish the arm and leg and mirror the body (yes, the head and neck aren't connected yet).

Thus Far

Here's what I know thus far (generally) as an artist:

Practice, practice, and more practice!: Art is a constantly changing life form. We've seen many styles, eras, movements, counter-movements, revivals, and technology of art from being blood and clay to computers and 3D. To keep up with it is to always practice, even if you just stay in one kind of style.

Go back to basics: Some times, when you don't know what to do with a piece, how to start one or finish, look back to the simple, basic things that make up art. Often times I refer back to the fundamentals and elements, even after years of it being stuffed into my head through all the years of various art classes.

Always get your reference!:Many times I thought I knew a subject well enough to draw or paint it without reference, only later to find images to work from and do better. No matter how much you think you know always draw what you see.

Don't be afraid of mistakes: People learn more from their mistakes then they ever could from their achievements. Which also means don't be afraid of getting critiqued. Having someone else look at your work and being constructive will help an artist improve.

There's more that I could write, like draw various subjects and not just one, focus on values, shape and depth before colours and details. Oh, and when you get tutorials, actually try it out, don't just read/watch it!

So, for my final few words: Art is definitely a thing of discovery that can be done anywhere. Go out and explore the creative, imaginative world that is art!

4th week in.

Nearly half way through my internship. Whoing a statue asset from my environment. I have to model very low-poly, so I need the normals and textures to do all the work.




-Unreadered vs Rendered.