Halloween! Better late than never!

Okay, so it's a day late, but I felt like sharing. I actually finished this piece about a week ago, and it's been my profile pic on Facebook since then, but I figured, just in case there's anyone out there who still looks at this.... I'll post it here too!
So, without further ado...

Still on the hunt for a job... have I mentioned I'm still looking for a job?
Sometimes I feel like that's the only thing I can think about lately. But occasionally I manage to do a bit of personal work here and there to keep me fresh.
I should probably get back into modeling, but such projects are much bigger time commitments, so lately I've just taken to doodling.
The following is one of my recent doodles that I decided I liked enough to take it further. It's still a work in progress, but I am done for the night and ready to catch up on some sleep. Enjoy!

For some reason, I've taken a liking to drawing skulls, mainly the antlered kind. There's just something really pretty about the curves and shapes :)

Robot & Monster

     This is completely overdue, but I'm thinking it's high time I show some of the work I did for Robot & Monster! These have been on my website for a while now, but just in case you haven't seen them, voila!

One of my favorite assignments! Young Robot is simply adorable!

I'm really digging the hair! Headphones modeled by Stephanie Pate.

Ah, Goon. Beneath that snarly exterior is a fun and colorful guy!

This guy works in the factory with R&M. Gotta love his helmet!

Dame Lady Madame - Writer of High-Society page the "High Falutin Times"

My first character for the show! Also, my first time creating facial blendshapes!

     Working on this show was such an awesome experience! And I'm so proud of what we created! Also, excited to announce that you can now buy the complete series on Amazon!

Just another quick update with progress on my Kira project. Things are going a bit slower than I'd like, but that's to be expected since I'm only really getting in about 4 hours a day.. I'm nearly done with the model - I just have to model in her boots and gloves and then do an overall pass on the whole thing. Then it's on to UVs. At that point I'll probably render out some turns before taking it into UVs and blendshapes (which will get done eventually! but perhaps not for a while since the next couple of weeks promise to be super busy) Anyways, I'm posting up an image of my progress so far. There aren't any true textures yet. These are just plain ol' lamberts that I'm using as placeholders - just to get an idea of the color scheme :)

Kira Progress..

Update! I know that it has been forever since I posted - and especially terrible since, in my last post, I announced I would be updating more often. But, life intervenes as such things do, and I was set back for a bit, but I'm back to modeling. I admit I was a bit rusty at first - having just transitioned back to using my Mac after working with a PC for over a year (surprisingly annoying to switch back and forth!) and also because I took a small break - but I'm back into the swing of it and moving full speed once again. I have gotten a bit further in the "Kira" project as mentioned in numerous other posts. She finally has a body! It took me a few days to get thus far, and I basically had to relearn how to sculpt human parts again, and how to model feet altogether (I don't know how I managed to NOT sculpt feet for so long, but there you have it.) As you'll notice, based on the images I've posted below, I am still far from done. I still need to clean up the geo and attach the hands. I also need to figure out her costuming and hair which should take another day or so. After that, it's on to UV's and eventually moving into blendshapes, posing, and lighting for a final image. I may or may not take a stab at texturing after I've completed all else, but that will depend on time. I'm trying to stick to the deadlines I had at Nick - week for model, week for uvs, week for blends. Of course, I'll be adding a bit more time onto that since no one is going to conveniently texture or rig her for me. And then render time will most undoubtably prove to be a major time suck, but I'm hoping to get a portfolio piece from this, so it needs to be perfect! Next on my plate will be something completely different. I feel like I've done too many human female characters lately, so I need to branch out from that. I am thinking I may do a set of characters that can be posed together :) Perhaps the Hippo ballerina and alligator from Fantasia. I haven't really taken a stab at animal characters yet - except in my last few weeks of work, and that went horribly - so I definitely think it will be a good exercise for me. Anyways, enough with the chatter, and on to the images! Just wireframes for now, but more on the way.

Well, now that I have all this time.. I may as well get to work!

So, I've decided to pick an old project back up again. This was something that I had started just before I got the job at Nickelodeon, so I was never really able to finish, and a part of me is a bit happy about that. Why? Well, because knowing what I know now, I can probably do it about 10 time better and without a doubt 10 times faster than I would have a year ago. Already, I've made some changes here and there (still needs tweaking, but it's a work in progress).

The first image here, is the model as it looked when I first started it a year ago:


and this is what it looks like currently - Remodeled at a lower resolution. I still need to work out the ears, but I'm pretty happy with the way everything else is looking at the moment.


I'm most likely going to scrap the hair. I'm thinking I may want to simplify it a bit more, with just a few details cut in. Then it's on to modeling her body, and then a first pass on blendshapes. More to come in the weeks ahead - I'll definitely try to update this more frequently now that I can actually share what I'm working on :)

I am also working on two smaller projects that I made with the intent to get them printed as gifts. I'll be putting progress shots for those up sometime soon, and then hopefully some shots of the 3D prints. I'll be excited to see how they turn out!