Concept Art Among Other Things

Again, sorry for the lack of posting.  I have been busy with a few things.

First, Thor Media's new live wallpaper has been delayed for a couple weeks, so I have been working around that.  Also, I have picked up a smaller VFX job.  Just some small tracking and green screen work, which I will post a little later on.

But, in between things I have been able to tidy up the script for our up coming game, and work on some concept art.

I decided to tackle some of the environments first.  There are good reasons to do this from a production stand point, but the main reason why I started painting environments is because I have very little experience in painting imagined environments.  Especially long shots of out door environments.  So, to see where I stand on that skill-wise I did a few paintings of some environments in the game.

And, to give myself a little critique, I have a long way to go.  I think the lighting in the painting with the sunset is good, but it struggles because there really isn't anything special about it.  I know when designing for video games, the worlds are very, very small, compared to the real world.  So to liven up these imaginary worlds, they need to have things exaggerated, things that stand out.  In fact from what I know, it is very similar to character design.

Then the Mountain Slope painting lacks depth.  I was trying to go for a more diffused lighting, but there is obviously much to learn before I can pull it off.  Direct lighting seems to be easier to work with right now.

I did record one of the paintings, I hope you enjoy.  Let me know what you think, or if you might have some good references for me to look at.  There will be allot of learning in the next couple months on the this project.

And speaking of learning.  I just got an awesome new art book.  It's called " The Art of Journey".  It includes a ton of the production art.  From doodles to finished concept art.  And what amazes me is that most of the art was done by one person.  It gives me allot of hope in this project we have just started.  I am thinking about using the book as a model for the kind of process I should go through to produce the art for this game.

Legend of Zelda Redux | Twinrova

My competition piece was Twinrova with a "Tron" twist on the character design.

Well, this is a much more completed version of the digital painting in the competition.  And that is what I get for procrastinating.  But here it is.  Head over to the finals thread and check out the other great entries from other amazing artists.  This, again, was a very humbling experience.

I had a very hard time keeping myself motivated for this painting.  I originally thought that the idea would come together pretty smooth, but I ran into some difficulties.  One difficulty was making sure that the character would be recognizable, based on the original.


I had a hard time designing the outfit in such a way that it would keep well to the original, but also have the simplicity of the costumes in Tron. Not to say that the costumes in Tron are overly simple, but that the two worlds designs are drastically different.  And because of this problem, I don't feel that the original character represents, good enough, in this new design.  I should have spent just a little more time  trying to figure out how to bridge that design gap.

And another difficulty, that was self imposed, was my overall process.  I wanted to work from a line art base, to a more realistic finished product.  I hadn't tried this kind of process for a long time, and I felt very insecure about this painting because of it, until about the last hour of painting.  This seems to be a common technique, and I should keep up with it by switching between value and line.

But as for positives.  I like the composition, pose, color, and depth in the painting.  I tried to simplify the background as much as possible.  Seeing this is a character design competition, I should probably try to bring the viewers focus to the character.


Also, a few things that I haven't really done before.  Trying to simulate refraction with glass in the foreground and other areas of the painting.  Another, being the black hi gloss surface of the face plate.

Overall I am happy with painting, and it seems to show that I am progressing in the areas of composition, anatomy, material rendering, and color theory.  Some progress is better than none, right?

Pira Tess, Space Brigand | CGHUB CharacterFORGE 2D Entry

Another CGHUB competition piece, done in the Gimp.  You can check the finals thread here.  Everyone's pieces should be posted by the end of the day tomorrow.

I don't think I will get many votes, simply because of the amount of other great artists on the thread this time around.  But it is good to see the different techniques and styles involved.  I can obviously see where I need to improve.  Its a humbling experience every time I enter one of these kind of things.


In that respect, it seems that every painting I do, I see allot of personal progress.   Getting my nose into those books, practicing the techniques presented, and analyzing great artists, has been a huge boost to my learning process.  And I am loving every second of it.

Sorry for the jumping around towards the middle of the video.  When you are getting into details, it is hard to avoid.  But I did go through over 10 hours of footage to improve it the best I could.


One other thing I would like to mention is one of the artists in particular, mdonze.  This artist made an interesting post about his painting here.  Beside the painting being amazing, in my opinion, he used a process similar to the way a 3D application would render and image out.  I have heard about this process before, but this is the first time that I have actually seen it used for a 2D piece.  And somewhat explained.

This is something that I am planning on practicing in the future.  I do have an idea of how a computer pushes a 3D scene through passes (specular, ambient occlusion, color, alpha, etc...).  And I think a technique like this will help me use both my 3D experience with my illustration to improve my skill set.

Wedding Montages

This is something I don't get to do very often.  My sister and my new brother in law got married about 2 months ago, and my sister asked me to put together a few photo montages for the reception.  So instead of a bunch of boring photos, fading in and out, I decided to take the time and do something a little more fancy in Blender.


I want to thank Sarah for the ideas for her bridal and engagement photo's montage.

The timing is a little wierd for some of the pictures.  I was asked to do this last minute.   That explains why they aren't a high resolution as well.  Also, there is not music to these videos because they had music playing on a seperate system, during the reception.

I have learned from a few of my brother's sad experience that I should probably stear clear of weddings.  But because of how layed back my sister was about how the videos needed to turn out, this was actually a fun little project.

It's good to be able to do something that isn't so serious every ounce and a while.

Solar Power Live Wallpaper

Here it is, as promised.  Solar Power live wallpaper.  This is the most recent app from Thor Media LLC.  And I have to say, it really is awesome.

Anyone who is into astronomy or sci-fi is going to love this.

Basically, it is a star that you have complete control of.  You can fly around it, change the colors, tap and unleash a few flares to destroy the surrounding populated planets, add some orbiting asteroides, etc...  

We have a big update that is going to improve changing the settings, and make it so it never goes over 40mb of ram.  It is really cool and I hope you will take the time to enjoy it, if you have an Android device.

And like usual, I would like to give thanks to our programmer, Bryce Thorup.  He is very talented, and without him, we would be no where with this stuff.  I would also like to thank Eric, kathleen, Lance, Jacob, and julie.  For there input and any additional work that they put in.  All of their great input helped create this, fun, visual masterpiece to our Android devices.

My involvement inclued, modeling, texturing, animation, camera placement (composition), functionality design, and overall art director.  The programs that I used to create assets were Blender and the Gimp.  This one has been a while in the making, but it was well worth it.

Lucky Paper Lantern | Live Wallpaper

Another wonderful app by Thor Media LLC.  Lucky Paper Lantern.

Again, I would like to thank Bryce, Eric, Kathleen, Julie and Jacob, for all of their input in making this a visually and functionally fantastic live wallpaper.  Make sure to check this one out.

There is a free version of Lucky Paper Lantern you can download here.  But I suggest you go for the full version here.  Not only is it worth the $0.99 we are asking, but you are supporting what we are doing.

Here is the current description:

""
Get your own, 3D, lucky paper lantern for the background of your Android device! This app is for anyone who likes anything about Japan, Korea, Singapore or China. Or if you like to show off how beautiful your phone is with wonderfully designed paper lanterns. Watch as your lantern swings back and forth, gently, in the wind.

Choose your design, color, and message to create a unique oriental feel for your Android devices background. With many options, including:

• 6 different paper lantern designs (More coming soon).
• 20 different Chinese character combinations. With the option to have it change randomly whenever you return to your home screen. (More choices coming soon).
• Choose any color lantern you want. Also, the option to have the lantern change colors randomly, every time you return to your home screen.
• Several different backgrounds with Asia oriented settings. (Old Japanese Village street, Bamboo Forest). Including other abstract backgrounds. (More choices coming soon)
• Adjust the way the background scrolls with your homescreen. Let it take its time to rotate around the lamp or have it match the speed of your normal home screen swipes. It also has a lock option.

Updates Coming Soon-

More animal lantern designs! (Zodiac animals and pandas!)More choices for what is written on the lampLight flicker optionAccelerometer control - Let the tilt of your phone determine the movement of the lamp.Dust particlesAdd a moth.

""

So, pick up your lantern.  A green lantern, or a more traditional red lantern, perhaps.

Are goal, is to make visually and functionally outstanding apps for the Android Platform.  We will not release anything unless we know it stands out.  So, we thank those who have already supported us in our endeavor, and encourage those who haven't had to check out our great stuff, to do so.  You won't regret it.

Thank You!

A small note on how I was involved and what I produced.  I was considered the Art Director on this project.  I came up with the original concept, and did the designing, will input from the above mentioned people.  I was the modeler, texturer, and previsualizer.

All of the models and texture mapping was done in Blender.  Texturing was done in Gimp.  I also did a previs video for this wallpaper.  Check it out!

Commercial | Empowered Life Solutions | Logo and Bumper

This one has been one a while in the making.  And I am very happy to post about it.

Thor Media was approached by Josh Lee.  Someone who we have done work for before.  Specifically some CG work for a short film based on the book "Alliance" by Gerald Lund (I posted about it here).  And Josh asked if we could put together a logo and a bumper for Empowered Life Solutions LLC.

It was slow going, because of different scheduling difficulties.  But, so far, this has been one of the best work situations I have been in.  And learned allot on how to deal with timing and other issues that may arise with a client.

Here are some of the process sketches and other ideas that we played with. Also a shot of website with the new logo.

Charcoal Drawing (Gimp Paint Studio 2.0)

(Click to enlarge)
Yes, another portrait.  I just cant' express the feeling I get when I begin to see a face come out of the blank canvas.
I actually tried to do a time lapse on the last painting that I did.  But I couldn't get a desktop recorder to work correctly in Kubuntu.  But I managed to get something working this time around, so, ounce again, I can share my process with everyone.  
I really enjoyed the charcoal presets in Gimp Paint Studio 2.0.  I think I managed to get a very realistic medium look with this preset.

iCuff | Internet commercial

This is a project that I started over six months ago, and just haven't gotten around to posting yet.  I thought now would be a good time because of how long it has been since I have posted any 3D work.
A little about this commercial.  Except for a little texture work in the Gimp, and the storyboard, this is 100% Blender.  I need to thank my brother Jacob for the advice, critique and the job.  I really enjoyed doing the manual match move of the watch coming off of her wrist, and the overall simplicity of the commercial.
I am doing more 3D work, then I lead you all to believe.  It's just the projects that I do VFX work for, are technically not finished yet.  This makes me unable to post that content until the final work is released.
So I promise some somewhat impressive visuals in the future.  Things like full 3D environments with live action,  explosions, etc...

Terishian - Competition Piece

Here is that competition piece I was talking about.  I encourage you to go and see all of the other, very impressive, submissions.  Lets just say, it was hard to post my stuff when going against artists with much more experience than I have.  But it is a good learning and humbling experience, and it helps me see where I need to improve.

I also recorded my experience to share with you all.  Enjoy!

Competitions and What Not.

Been a little while since my last post.  Thought I should fill you all in on what has been happenng the last week or so.

First, my brother and I have been very busy finishing up our second app, and, not to brag, its pretty awesome.  I will be posting the graphics I put together for it soon, along with a link to the app, soon.

I am also participating in some of the cghub competitions.  This is the one that I am currently involved with along with a group of my friends from drawnight.  I also encourage anyone else that is reading this blog to head on over to cghub.com and take a look at the prvious competitions, and consider joining in on the fun.

I am really enjoying it because I am trying to take a more thought out approach to creating my character and painting.  And to put it simple, it hasn't been easy.  I am recording most of my work on it, and you will see what I mean.

But for the mean time here is a little teaser at what I have been doing.   Enjoy!

Simply Grown Films Logo Bumper

Sorry for the long delay in posting. Been busy trying to finish up the Templar Nation project. But that is all coming to a close, and I will be able to move onto other projects.

But, with the little free time I have, I have been taking time on some smaller projects and practices. And this is one example of the fruits of that free time. I haven't taken much time to do any 2D animation for almost 3 years, and I thought I would practice some really simple stuff. This definitely isn't character animation, but it is still fun to look at.

If you are curious about what programs I used to make this.  Blender, Pencil and The Gimp

Just a little glimpse at what will be coming in the future on my blog.  Android app development, concept art and some 3D art as well.  So thank you for reading, and stay tuned for some good stuff in the near future.

Mage Outfit - Concept Art

I thought I would whip up another video for you all.  This was mainly done in MyPaint, with some touch up work done in the Gimp. I love recording my sessions, and I thought I would record a piece of concept art that certainly breaks away from the usual way I do things.


This one obviously centers more around the outfit, than the character.  My goals where, have a simple color scheme and a strong silhouette.

To bring out the shape, I stuck to a line-art.  Line-art reads easily, when done right, so for a very short piece (1 hour) I needed to make sure, that who ever looked at this piece, could easily understand the form of the clothing.  Another reason for the line-art style is because I haven't done anything serious, in line-art, for a while.

And for the silhouette part of things, I thought that exaggerating one part of the clothing would add what the character needed for a unique silhouette.  Can you imagine someone with this getup walking past you.  The long tail of the skirt flowing just above a stone floor, making a very distinct but soft sound as the material brushes against the floor.  The very sound would become apart of the character wearing this clothing.

Another detail to the silhouette is the cane.  When I knew I was going for a mage, I didn't want the "traditional" staff, that a mage or wizard would have.  So, one of the reasons for the cane was to break away from that tradition.

Again, any comments, critique or questions are welcome!

Alchemy and Frustration

A glimpse at one of my Alchemy brainstorms and then a bunch of unsuccessful sketches...




I was thinking about other artists that I know, and how we express our frustrations from time to time.  I don't want to spread the negativity around at all, but I thought I would post a little session from a few days ago.  I am not sure what was going on that evening, but I just couldn't get anything I liked out onto the canvas, and decided to bag it.  After an hours worth of research and sketching.

It just doesn't work out sometimes.  And what I usually have to do, when I run into "artist's block" is just drop what I am doing and do something completely unrelated.  (Read a book, video games, talk to friends, etc...).  But just so you all know, I deal with this allot.  And, I would like to leave you with a word of advice.   Don't get frustrated, stick it out, it will pass.  And when it does finally work, it will feel that much better.

Bewitched Monstrosity

Here is a painting that I started during draw night last Thursday.  I was struggling coming up with a painting idea.  So I found a random phrase generator and "Bewitched Monstrosity" came out.

I also recorded this one (below), to give others the opportunity, as well as myself, to examine my current process of painting.  If you have any questions or critique feel free to leave it in the comments below.

loosening Up

I wanted to record one of my loosening up sessions in Gimp, to get an idea of how I am doing right now. And I thought to myself, why not throw a song behind it and post it.



I have been doing allot of value sketches before I start into a longer piece. This obviously helps me light a scene, but it also helps me focus on the overall composition, rather than color and other details.

 I have found that I quickly become attached to my ideas, without trying other perspectives of the same idea, before its too late. Doing value paintings puts me into a situation where I could throw away or change an idea, without feeling guilty.

Minecraft Fan Art Illustration

I don't do fan art too often, but I felt inspired to do something with allot of contrast and that would relate to other people.  (If you have have played Minecraft before, you should know what this feels like).  I also recorded it!  I love to look back and see my mistakes, so I know what to avoid next time.


I think it is funny that I spent so much time in Blender setting up a scene that looks very much like Minecraft, and then paint over the whole thing.  But it really did help out on the perspective.  (I cheated?).

Anyways, here is to all of you Minecraft fans out there.  Keep up the good fight.

Red - It is Finally Done!

This one took quite a while to finally wrap up.  I think I started on it about a month a go.  I actually posted about it.  But after getting shot down on some critiques, and other things, I decided to put it aside while I practiced some fundamentals.  I think overall it came out really good.

Here is a recording to go with it.  Just like I promised.



It took about 5 hours total time to complete. It was all done in the Gimp.

Sunken

I did this time lapse painting a while ago, but I had forgotten to post it then. So, here it is now.




The inspiration for this was I wanted to do something underwater. I don't have allot of experience with environments, but I found that I really enjoyed painting the background on this one. Being able to use a few texture brushes to add a ton of, what seems to be, unorganized detail. While, in contrast, the foreground character and crashed underwater vessel have simpler but more organized detail. Another thing that I had never done before was the light coming through the surface of the water, and using that to create a sense of depth and environment.

Another little thing I thought would bring this piece together was how her hair is set in the water. I wanted it to really stick out, to bring the attention of the viewer to the character by using a very hot color in contrast to the very cool environment that she is in. But also with the shape I tried to mimic the basic shape of an octopus. Tying the character to the underwater environment that she is in.

Let me know what you think.

NxLeveL Commercials

This is one of three commercials that we did for NxLeveL, and one of the three storyboards.
I did the storyboarding for this project.  Jacob Thorup compiled it into an animatic to get our timing right. I also had to remake the graphics for the company, and do new animations and other renderings.  I also designed and created the  the product fly ins at the end of each commercial. 
The final editing and compositing of the commercial was done by Jacob Thorup