ConceptSurround

Stitches

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:41:01 GMT

Finally got around to doing a quick paint-up of this:

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:34:19 GMT

Done for my friend Eli, who for some reason really wanted it. It doesn't look or feel finished at all, but he wanted it NOW, so there it is. I suppose I can finish painting it later, but I have more pressing projects to finish.

For those of you who've read Perdido Street Station by China Miéville, you ought to know what it is. For those of you who haven't, shame on you.

More versions of the same image:

NoEsc Update

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 09:16:16 GMT

Pose Test.

Pose test for the mage character from NoEsc. Pretty close to actually getting this animated (and uploaded). Running into some 'not familiar with this version of FLASH' issues, but I'll get them worked out. Right now, he loops.

Getting him to move fluidly isn't easy, it's a mishmash of nested symbols, motion tweens, and shape tweens. It seems like it works, though.

I need to tweak his 3/4 view and finish drawing the 'Swordie' character. Thankfully, the Swordies and Hunters only shuffle, and the Assassin has only 3 poses.

ConceptArt and Critique

Sun, 06 May 2007 04:31:58 GMT

My post on ConceptArt.org.

Here's hoping for useful critique!

Sat, 05 May 2007 11:27:45 GMT

Thanks for the advice, Crystel and co. This is the result of me acting upon it.

I still definitely need to tighten up the highlights on the cobbles, etc.

Nearly Finished

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 07:04:15 GMT

Need to finish the cobbles and do some finishing touches (mostly little detail things).

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 03:07:32 GMT

Still needs more tweaking. Cobbles need to be addressed, also windows and some other details. Feel the highlights still overwhelm too much, but don't want to lose the glow.

Highlights

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:30:10 GMT

Got the detail work on the rocks and such done, working on the lighting.

Right now, the highlights dominate way too much, and I haven't started to push them back or work in the cool shadows and the deepest dark colors.

Vegetation

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:06:30 GMT

(With and without guide lines)

Cobbles.

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 06:47:59 GMT

Progress made on the cobbles so far:

More.

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 06:10:02 GMT

It is somewhat difficult to paint steps in this style.

I need to tighten up the steps, add highlights to the cobbles, add some blur/light effects to the ones in the plaza (after painting in the fountain), and then start to do the self-cast shadows/highlights on the steps. After that, I will shape up the splotches that currently count for "vegetation". Then erase away/paint up the areas of rock that overlap buildings. There's also one set of steps I need to fix and make overlap another element (a house).

After that, I can begin the detail work.

I also need to add in the cathedral, which I (amazingly) FORGOT ABOUT. How could I FORGET that? Anyway, it's going to take some thought.

City Progress

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:15:29 GMT

There's a way to go on the cobbles, and I still need to do vegetation and weathering/detailing all around, especially on the rocks. Then I have to get into working on the lighting.

Finally.

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:20:18 GMT

I finally finished it.

High res version.
Desktop version.

Had been languishing on my hard drive for a while (like Demeter). Had problems for different reasons.

Done with a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.

It's finished, but not, because I never really view things as finished so much as in some sort of state of completion. The gun is colored and buckles are done. I need to tweak stuff like the blue glow, reflection of blue glow off various things, and the yellowish glow from the lights, the glow from the EMERGENCY sign, and some sort of shadows on the doors. Bricks need tweaking. Et cetera, et cetera.

Lots of things I want to do to it before submitting it to conceptart.org for crits, because I don't want to ask for crits and get comments about things I already know are wrong. Better to fix those things first and have people tell me something new.

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 07:49:04 GMT

The painting got a LOT easier to work on after I finished shading those roofs. You would think that the tiles would be the most tedious, but they aren't. 3 layers and they're done - all of the agonizing over lighting has already been done on the basic shade layer...

On the other hand, the Fighter's Guild remains the bane of my existence. As usual.

Progress

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 03:15:52 GMT

Some progress. It doesn't look like much, but working on the roofs is extremely tedious and frustrating. It's tough to get work done since I mostly work overnight when I ought to be sleeping. I don't have time between my job and class. I usually come home from work and drink coffee/tea or have a beer or something while I work on it for 15-20 minutes at a time. It's hard to keep focused when I'm that tired.

SenorWeird's comments and a conversation I had with him gave me a new idea for what to do with this concept art piece and the ones following it. I also discussed it a bit with my friend James and I'm trying to think of a way to make it happen. We'll see how that pans out as I work on this.

Stories

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:47:09 GMT

I found this on my camera, forgot I shot it last night.

Basically it shows how I work on story ideas. I stick post-it notes to my wall as I work out story structures and structure/ideas for games, game mechanics, and such.

I just started doing it recently when senorweird suggested it for the millionth time, and it works amazingly well. I've gotten more productive story and game design work done in the past 2 night sticking post-its to my walls than I ever did in notebooks or on the computer. Better yet, it's interactive - some of my friends have instantly taken to scribbling their own suggestions for events, ideas, items, titles, characters, stages, etc. on post-its and sticking them to my wall.

Poe and Landscape Progress

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:10:40 GMT

Poe is done and currently sitting on top of Austin's computer. I did the concrete earlier today and snapped some photos.

I did more work on the landscape but I'm not ready for another landscape post yet. The basic shading for the rooftops is nearly done. It's tedious work so I keep wandering off when I see shiny things. I like the idea of the concept of the mod that it's for and have been writing out quest storylines. I'm still plugging away at modeling things but I realized I needed to design them, first. The Oblivion project is really more of something for me to tinker with alone than anything else, honestly.

As far as other things go, I'm working on an idea with James for something else. James tends to keep me on-task, as he takes away shiny things and replaces them with other shiny things that actually have to do with the project I'm currently working on.

Here's my lineup for a while:
1. Landscape (partially done)
2. Finish Nimrod's gun (Deadroads)
3. Writing work for an unrelated project I am working on with James

I have many others but the order that I'll work on them in is undecided. I will still try to skew my priorities along the lines of finishing the things I've started, though.

Finished

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 09:14:56 GMT

She's pretty much finished.

I did a very thin translucent layer of pearlescent white over her skin to get a properly undead look. I used metallic red mixed with pearlescent white for her eyes, and I plan on grabbing some glow in the dark paint for the final coat. I added hi-gloss varnish to the corset (I can put it on her hair too if Austin wants, but I thought the contrast in textures was nice). The grommets and buckles were painted with metallic silver paint after a coat of white. I'm thinking of repainting the laces light/medium grey, but that's really up to the client.

I think she looks a bit crude/clumsy but I did my best. First humanoid figurine, I guess she's not bad. I ought to be somewhat proud I managed to pull it off, since I'm not really much of a sculptor.

Poe - Phase One (Almost) Complete.

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 10:12:13 GMT

The grommets on Poe's shoes drove me nuts. The laces weren't so bad for some reason, even though they theoretically should have been.

The buckles on the corset were also a bit annoying. Getting the corset looking right... well, it doesn't look perfect, and the proportion on her torso's a bit off, but considering that this is the first time I've actually sculpted a human(oid) figure and the proportions aren't even classical proportions but are a bit wacky (on purpose), I wouldn't call this a complete failure.

What's left unfinished so far: hands. I hate sculpting hands but I'll have to bite the bullet and do it. After that it's all tweaks and rubbing her down with turpenoid where needed, then into the oven she goes.

I should probably get a better camera and/or learn how to actually take photos.

Poe

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 06:25:35 GMT

More progress on the maquette. She's nearly done. I need to add the buckles on her corset and the grommets/laces on her boots, as well as details such as stitching on the leather of the boots and the ridges on the soles...
Also, minor tweaks in proportion, and I need to get some turpenoid to smooth her with.

Then, of course, she gets baked and painted. I think I'm going to paint the base to look like cracked asphalt.

Maquette Work

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 07:29:14 GMT

I took a break from the landscape, which was infuriating me.

I had to pick up some supplies for a class (my only class...) and I'll have extra. Needed to blow off some stress, so I started working on a maquette of a character design I did for a friend's e-novel ("First Sight").

I'm going to start using cuts for big entries like this to spare those of you who've Friended me. If you want to keep up with this journal, go ahead and Friend me. Feel free to comment. Critiques make the world go 'round.

Progress

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:25:28 GMT

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 07:49:07 GMT

Crystel had some useful things to say about lighting that helped the area I'm having trouble with a little bit.

Otherwise, besides still returning to it to try and fix it up, I've mainly moved on to the roof tiles. I'll also need to work on the cobblestones and paths. After that, I'll have to start fleshing the plants and trees out a little bit.
I'd say this is maybe 40% done now, if that.

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 04:09:41 GMT

Looking a bit better. Some stronger lights and it'll be fine.

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:43:17 GMT

The circled areas are spots I'm really unhappy with so far.

I plan on adding deeper shadows/stronger highlights but that tends to be the last thing I do. The shadows will probably be a very dark desaturated purple.