3D Scraps #01

Ok, here's a little look back at something that started back in early 2011, but unfortunately fizzled out. My mate Robson Vieira, myself and the guys at a local studio were looking at developing some content which would showcase our combined skills to clients, however it didn't get off the ground too well due to other commitments and increasingly busy schedules. We had originally conceptualized a number of individual pieces that would showcase animation and VFX. This one I'm showing was one of the concepts I came up with (and the only one that got beyond concept drawings).

It was going to quite simply, be about an office worker who's tired and worn out, working back rather late, and on the border of death (ok, maybe that's exaggerating - about to pass out), he needs a cuppa' Joe. After one sip, streamers and confetti appear out of nowhere and float down over him - as if that life-saving sip was like a party in his mouth that was able to soothe his over worked, tired brain.

It was a simple concept, but it was designed really to showcase the visuals, animation and effects. My good mate Robson Vieira Dos Santos helped set the look and feel of the project with his amazing concept art. Totally swing by his blog and check his stuff out - The Art of RobJob. It really seems like a shame that this never got finished. I was at least able to create the office worker in 3D.

Maybe one day I'll finish it off...

First concept art of the office environment and the tired office worker. Created by Robson Vieira.

After some additional sketches of the tired office worker character, we settled on this design. Created by Robson Vieira.

This is the tired office worker character that I modelled, textured and rigged. I wouldn't call it "complete", as there are still some aspects that I'd tweak if I was to continue on, namely the materials and finish off the rig.

Oh, and here's an early WIP shot of the character in the mid stages of being modelled. Kinda reminds me of a bobble-head. :P

Animations that are Work in Progress #01

So I occasionally (ok, quite a lot of the time) start work on an animated project and then shelve it, usually due to other commitments getting in the way, then by the time I can afford to do something, my mind is on another concept. Anyway, I do plan on getting around to actually finishing these animations, especially since they're quite short fun sized skitz!

An (incomplete) screen shot from my animation Dead Dog.

A screen shot from my animation Fish Out of Water.

An (incomplete) screen shot from my animation Super Lazy.

First Serious Attempt at Digital Painting

So I've started looking into developing my skills in digital painting, just mainly as another creative outlet from working in 3D. I like the idea of producing and "completing" something nice in a shorter period of time as opposed to working on animated projects which take up a lot more time to develope. Sometimes you don't always feel like running a marathon, you just wanna jog around the block, so to speak. So this is going to be my jog around the block (hopefully)...

Now as I've started to venture into digital painting, I've come to many realizations of my skill level - the BIG one being that I suck! :P I've really let myself go over the years, drawing wise, and so after working on this first "test portrait", I know that I need to work on my proportions, improve on drawing hands and work on posing...just to name a few things.

With my approach to the actual digital painting side of things, I've been following the technique that artist Charlie Bowater uses in her video tutorial - http://vimeo.com/10743423

If you haven't seen her work before, check it out here - http://charlie-bowater.deviantart.com/gallery/
She's amazing.

I've got a long way to go with the painting technique - I need to work on my blending of values, lighting and colouring. But it's been really fun and very therapeutic. Anyway, the most important thing to improve in anything is to practice, practice, PRACTICE!

Here's a WIP sample of my first proper attempt at digital painting.

This is the original sketch I used. *shudder*

I was originally going to just draw the head and shoulders, but since I had a large canvas, I decided that I'd give the body a go. The pose is rather static and awkward to say the least.