The Clean Sheet

2012 has passed. I look at ALL of my best works and doings and see what I did and where I need to improve and set my sights for next year.



Make a list of what I need to accomplish for 2013 (for my art):

• Human body: Perfect Female Sculpt and do More male sculpts
• SOMETHING with hardsurfaces i.e. Robotics, Metal
• More HDR work and rendering
• Work on lower ver models
• More drawing.
• Monsters, creatures, 
• Mouths from a Dynamesh Model, so I don't always have a closed mouth on the model.

I did some work over the Christmas break/season and finished Zatanna. I also added 4r5 to my system, the auto save feature is really nice, but I hate how the model disappears for a second when I reengage the software.

 It was fun doing the frill/fabric on the corset.  Her hair was the hardest part, it just didn't look right. But then I looked at the Tpose of Rosa and realized, that it's because the face has nothing to it. No Expression

 So I started posing and was shift through Tumblr, and found a image of Zatanna with a cool pose. The over all pose turned out fine but I realized the most important part and something I need to work on. Is the mouth. I need to find a way to sculpt the inside of the mouth for my models in Zbrush. Usually I do the inside of the mouth when I make a low poly version and texture it that way.

I did some drawing as well. Something I haven't done in a while; it was nice to do something outside of tech land.

 

Update

Wednesday is my birthday and we are going to Vegas on Thursday for my 21st and will be sadly, returning on the following Tuesday. I have been really busy with family and projects. Dad's birthday last weekend, we went to see the Liechtenstein at the Art Institute, not really my thing but it was nice to see some of the other works.

 These are some of my favorites in Renaissance area. Seeing these got me in the mood to do some sketches and I thought I would do some body sculpting in Zbrush and get my oil paints out again and do some painting.

 

I have been touching this in between other projects, I am gonna practice and do more human body sculpting. I am juggling drawing characters and redoing my storyboard to make into a quick animatic.

 

Speaking of sculpting I started the Chinese dragon for the game of cards. I bought a Christmas ordainment for HDR images to use as lighting. I revisited the Kiss to have something to practice taking HDR shots with. I don't have a big fancy camera just used a small Sony camera.

It turned out nicely for the first test run. I don't think I will use the area in front of the mirror any time soon. If I do I think I need to do it in the day time so I won't need the head lights that wash everything out. I used Softimage to place them and the HDR shot to light them. I touched it up in Photoshop to add some grain and more shadows.

 

 

I finished Maria as well, and got the low model built and sent off to Michael Bryant to rig. When I get her back I will have all my materials for my new reel.



Low
 

Progress

The detective bar scene is done and is looking great. I am starting another one, with the same cast of characters. A scene with a murder Hester; I am trying to find the best angle to shot and I haven't decided if the detective should be sitting or standing. I kept thinking about the Black Dahlia movie when I was working on this scene

 

I am working on my photoshop coloring skills. I am reading a 30 day challenge I found at http://pb-resources.tumblr.com/tagged/tutorial: "Day 10. Style Day1- pick an artist with a unique style and emulate it!" I re-watched the Legend of Korra's on DVR and am so glad that the stands for American cartoons are being raised. The story and detail are on the same level as many animes. And I called the next season of Korra, a more focused look on the spiritual side of the world. Unlike the original Airbender show there were no spiritual things beside the mention made by Amon at the start; the first series had the swamp and owl in the desert and so on. Korra reminds me of the water bender Avatar Kuruk, who lost his love to Koh the face stealer. I think Koh will be showing up again.

Maria is coming along, details worked in and next step is Polypaint and I am about halfway through the low model version. When Maria is done then I will have my models for my reel and replace my old school one. 

Finding the momentum

I have been finding those helpful thoughts and pointers that get the brain working and this site has a lot of helpful and just great things to help when I hit a wall and can't find that spark.
http://pb-resources.tumblr.com/tagged/resource. I have also been reading those random word generators; I am planning on playing with a few of them and try and speed sculpt one of the odd creatures that it generates.

I have been working on my Photoshop skills and did this quick coloring job today and fine tuning my execution.The skin tone palette was really helpful. I found it in the http://artiststoolbox.tumblr.com/tags.



http://artiststoolbox.tumblr.com/tags

This is a quick speed sculpt I did yesterday to just do something different and not get so frustrated with a project that I end up destroying it completely. I only gave myself a half hour maybe 45 to do it.

Some of my friends said I need to add things to the tables in the scene and make it seem not so empty. I still need to texture the extra things and add some more things, bottles, maybe another hat, things people left and so on. I think this is coming along well.

This is my female character I am working on. I need to work on the fine details in the clothes but the next step is adding the hands and feet. I am using the ones that come with zbrush as place holders and reference. I have a pair of hands I had built earlier and just need to attach them and work on the shoes.

 

I made different versions of the Hood. When I get this out and make a lower model I will make sure to use the hood up and arm zippers open so everything with function the way it need to. She is coming along wonderfully and I hope to have her done by the end of the month. 

I found an old story concept I made in school and am going to touch the images and make an animatic and try and model the characters in my free time.  I need to get my Photoshop and After Effects whipped back into shape. I also want to model out the Chinese dragon I drew sometime ago.  So I got some silver Christmas ornaments and am hoping they will help me get a decent HDR image I can work with and light the scene. I am planning on using the kitchen table so we will see how it goes.

Update

My computer was sent in and now back again and it is great. I am working on my projects and am LOVING  Zbrush 4r4. I have alot of things happening and hope for more to come.

 I am working on my female character and she is coming along nicely. I got Zbrush professional tips and techniques  [http://www.amazon.com/ZBrush-Professional-Tips-Techniques-Gaboury/dp/1118066804] and it is a wonderful book, I knew most of the tricks but its nice to have them so handy. I am hoping to get her finished and ask one of my friends to rig her.

 This is a character I have thought of and so on. I am going to start storyboarding more of my work and try and get my speed drawing, story telling to a better level and work on photoshop more. I need to do more work with it, start drawing in it and all,

I usually do pencil, paper and scan but my colors and shadows are not that great so I am hunting for advice and what not. So far my best find has been this site and it is wonderful http://artiststoolbox.tumblr.com/tags