Saturday, December 8, 2012

Hard at Work

It's been a while since I've worked on my portraits or any other project. There are two reasons for that. The first one has been work. I work at a warehouse that takes up way too much of my day, Lol. The other reason is a CGSociety Challenge that I've decide to take a part in. For my entry I'm doing an animated short. This is my second attempt at this. I've tried to do this category once a couple of years ago. This time I have some new tools and more knowledge to help me see it to the end.
I just recently finished up the storyboards and have moved on to creating the 3D assets.  The storyboards took way too long, but the nice thing is the 3D models are flying by.  My main character is almost done.

Here are some of the models.






Sunday, September 16, 2012

I have a new job working at a warehouse, which I'm really happy about, but at the same time I'm losing out on time to work on my personal projects.  I'll have to see what I can come up with on my free time.  I'm still trying for the 100 portraits goal, and two Zbrush models on top of that.  I think I'll post the work in progress pics for the models on here that way there is something else to look at other then my portraits.

So let's see... to start off with I have been working with a character from the TMNT cartoons from when I was a kid.  Rocksteady is the subject right now, but I'm hoping to do more of my favorite characters from the series.  I've been a huge TMNT fan since I was a child, so this was bound to happen sooner or later.


Of course he needs a weapon as well so I've started on this rifle to go along with him.





The next model is a part of a modeling challenge that I started on, that I thought would be a big learning experience for me, and it has been.

Olympic boxing is the idea here.
I figure at this pace I'll get really good at character concepting.  I want to create my own characters, and when I get comfortable, my own animated short.
 


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

A dent in my portrait challenge

When I first thought of the idea to make 100 portraits I had no idea how long it would take or how hard it would be.  I guess I thought that I could finish one portrait a day and not get worn out by the idea.  Thing is I could do that and finish them up a lot faster, but I have other things that I want to do with my free time, which means my portrait challenge is going to take a shit ton longer then I originally thought (A whole CRAP ton longer).

So here is the next set of portraits.  (Make sure to click on one of the images to view the slide show.)










For the last one I recorded the process I went through to complete it.  It's sped up to 3 minutes and 45 seconds.  The actual time is around 2 hours 45 minutes.

Choose either of these links to see the video.
Vimeo
Youtube

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Olympics

I have been glued to the Olympics.  I'm really loving it all.  SO many great athletes to follow and it just started.  Not to mention there has already been some controversial moments in a couple of events.

This is the first time that I have been able to follow the Olympics to this extent.  Usually I have to work and I'll catch a couple of events when I get home, and even then it was only part of an event.

This year I've become a fan of the gymnastics, boxing, beach volleyball, and soccer.  With all of this going on it's been a little difficult to stay focused on my art work.  But, that's why I have two monitors.  I can watch the Olympics on one and do some drawings on the other.  Hopefully I'll have some new artwork to post here soon.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

So I've been a spending a lot of time away from doing my portraits.  I honestly thought I would have gotten a lot farther then this before I slowed down.  Once I started getting a feel for it, even though it was only a little comfort, I started to add on all sorts of different tasks.  I get a little A.D.D that way, Lol.  The only problem with that is I didn't complete my first goal.  Even worse, once everything gets really hard I stop all together and nothing gets done.  Which is exactly what is going on right now o.O

Well... anyway, I'm going to give my portrait mission another try.  I'm going to start where I left off (This kind of feels like when I'm playing a game on my PS3 and I save in order to comeback at it later, I don't know may not the best method to improve but... eh).  Hopefully I  have the right formula of topics to keep me busy, and method of attack to keep my attention.  Persistance and focus is key.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Portrait Progress 01

     I really didn't know what I was getting myself into when I decided to take on 100 portraits.  Right now I'm about to start number eight.  I am however learning a lot from the practice.   As of right now I have learned that I enjoy starting a project way more then finishing.  All of the fun for me is in the first 30 minutes of the project.  This is exactly why I'm doing this.  I know the reason I don't enjoy finishing as much, is because I don't know how to all that well; not as much as I want to anyhow.  I know I have decided to add on to my workload.  I'm going to start doing more academic studies of the face.  I'm going to try and study bones, muscle, proportions and wrinkles a little more.  This is going to force me to forget about the August deadline.  Now I won't set a deadline.  Instead, I'm just going to try to get it done quickly.  In other words, it'll be over when it's over, and the last mark has been made.


Here is what I have so far.







Sunday, May 27, 2012

Portrait Challenge

I've given myself a challenge that has me make an attempt at 100 portraits.  I'm working on portrait number three today.  There is a long journey a head of me right now.  The first 50 of them are going to be in Photoshop.  I'm going to try and make the first 25 of them monochromatic and then go into color from 26 to 50.  From there I'm going to move on to traditional media.  From my point of view right now this looks like it's going to be really hard.  Digital painting has been such a mystery to me, so with 50 portraits underway I hope that I have a really good grasp on it in the future.  I'll try and post five portraits at a time.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Inspired

Two days ago I attended Spectrum Fantastic Art Live.  It was a lot to take in all at once.  My mind was blown at every turn I made.  As if the names alone wasn't exciting enough to find out about, while I was walking around I thrown back by all the painting, drawings, sculptures, and what ever else that I recognized.  At one point I would walk by and think, "Whoa! I've been fallowing this artist since I was a teenager."  Then I would continue walking and I would see a painting that had inspired me down one path and my jaw would drop again.  These works of arts are way better up close in personal.  So if you can't tell I had a lot of fun in Kansas City last Saturday.  I only wish I was able to attend all three days it was going on, especially since the Batmobile was there last night and I missed it.  I also missed out on the award show which I would have loved to have attended as well.  I promise, if they do this again next year and I'm here I'm going to be better prepared for it.

With new inspiration and a renewed drive for my art I have decided to challenge myself.  I'm planning on doing something that will fill my portfolio, but also improve my skill level. I am going to try and get 100 portraits done by August 21st.  I'm going to do 50 of them digitally and 50 of them with traditional media.  I think this should be a lot of fun.  It will definitely be a challenge, I still have other responsibilities in life, but life's a journey and I'll mold it the way I see fit.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

2 Days Left

Tomorrow is the first day for Spectrum Fantastic Art Live.  I wish that I could make it to Spectrum for all three days in a row.  I'm only going to make it there on Saturday and I can't wait.  Every time I learn of another artist that is going to be there I can't believe it.  These are the people who have inspired me for who knows how long.  I'm going to try and take some pictures and get a few of them to sign some of my stuff for me.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Toast! To a new start

Whoo!!! My first blog.  A place where I can share some wisdom and rant and rave about what ever comes to mind.  Sounds like a lot of fun to me.  I can't wait =D

Time to start looking around the site and see what I can do.