I used the Graffiti feature for the first time tonight. I figured, what better way to get back into painting via tablet than to practice with a medium that doesn't allow me to get nit-picky.
I think it came out rather well.. I really wanted to do more with it - especially with adding a few more darker tones and fixing the background, but I started having problems with my stylus, and eventually gave into frustration. I am also confused as to why on earth the final image looks as it should, but when I replay the video, a line appears out of nowhere!
Ah well, that's what you get for using a facebook app I suppose :)

Tree Spirit

So, it's been a while since I posted much of anything here. It isn't because I haven't done anything recently, just that I haven't done anything worth sharing in a while. I'm going to start tackling a new 3d project next week - an environment - so we'll see how that goes. Then I may take a stab at Dave G's first 129 project, although, I've never been particularly fond of self-portraits. Or perhaps I'll make a portrait of someone else... tho, portraits of recognizable people are quite difficult to do well. I'm still working out concepts for a possible character to model in the future. So I'd like to present yet another stab at the "tree spirit" character. I like this concept, but may abandon it for an option that would provide more variety in textures - although I would love to try creating a realistic tree texture- which is why I've gone in this direction :)
The background to this image is a result of some Mucha inspired color studies I did earlier this week- since I feel like my color sense could use some improvement. The color in this image isn't particularly amazing, but I'm still working it out and this isn't really at a finished level yet.
Anyways, without further ado...

Any and all comments are appreciated!

random sketchness

So, it's been a while since I posted anything up here.. and to be honest, it's been a while since I've done anything worth posting.
But, I figured it's about time to start up again. I'm playing with an idea for my next modeling project. I started doing some sketches the other day of a sort of wood-nymph type character - a tree spirit of sorts. I haven't really gotten very far with this yet, but I figured I could post up one of my quick sketches just because.
Now, this is nowhere near being a complete drawing/painting. It's really still in the ideation stage, and I'm thinking now that I might go more into a bonsai sort of shape and feel- since they offer a lot in terms of interesting shape and form. For now, I give you my earliest sketch - again, not a masterpiece, just an idea.

I wasn't happy with this sketch at all.. I felt that I was being too stereotypical and, in a very me way, making it too pretty and perfect-looking, so I did a quick painting over it. Nothin fancy, after all, this probably isn't even close to the design I'll actually end up with in the end. Anyways, on with the show!

and just for kicks, a sketch of a real tree! This was the day I realized that painting on one's computer outdoors is not the greatest... the colors definitely looked different outside o_O oh well.

It's been way too long since I painted with you, Photoshop! I need more practice. Hopefully I'll be getting into more of these sketches soon.

I submit here for your approval, all of the work I've been doing for the past two months! I was participating in the "massive art challenge online" known as Dominance War
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, I essentially had 2 months to design, model, and texture a character based on the assigned story and criteria. I won't go into all the boring details, but rather show you the product of all my labors :)

My character is called Zyphire. Her design is inspired by a wasp (a small creature that has always terrified me). Like a wasp, her size isn't intimidating, nor is her spindly stature, but her Glaive can deliver quite a "sting" (how horrible was that??)
But yes! Without further ado, here is my work, as submitted to the competition!

Hey all,
I'm posting again, isn't it amazing?
So, I've been working lately on my concept for Dominance War IV.
Her name (tentatively) is Zyphire, and she is an amazonian Wasp, Stalker class. I'm still working out the details, but her weapon will somewhat resemble the stinger of a wasp (which is in fact barbed on the ends and quite scary-looking) and will be either a hand-held gauntlet style weapon or a long-range glaive (because I have a weird love for glaives). The weapon will basically have the added affect of, very much like a wasps sting, spreading a numbing poison throughout an enemy's system, slowing and weakening them (unfortunately ineffective against the machine race).
While I have the generalities nailed down, I'm still working out her silhouette and coloring. Thus, I have thumbnails to show!
any suggestions or comments would be awesomely helpful :)

this first piece is the initial idea sketch I came up with...
not the final, just the starting point


that's all for now, but there's more to come!
these are my recent ideations/silhouettes... any thoughts as to which ones are working?

Today, I was really missing drawing, and saddened by the fact that I haven't done any personal work in a long time. So, I decided to take a break from Maya for a minute (or few... hours) to do a piece just for my own personal enjoyment..
Now, I don't claim to be a great vis devver or illustrator, and it takes me a long time to get a piece that I actually like, so to even attempt this was quite an experience for me. I started with a few thumbnails and then rested on a scene that I get stuck in my head sometimes. It's not an altogether original image, but it was really more an experiment in technique. I found an artist who I really like in the book I bought at wondercon last weekend (Zotho Lhun) and decided to try out his style... which, of course I failed at miserably, but I feel like I found a good middle ground between his style and my own, which pleases me :)
This is in no way complete, and if I feel like it's working out well enough, I may even hazard my way through a color pass.
So, I present to you the first pass of my little illustration (which has yet to be officially named)
I am wholly open to crit, and would love to get your opinions/suggestions!
(the first image is of two of my thumbs, the first which I continued, and the second which I may eventually play with (depending on time).





hmm... I also just realized that I rather like it cropped in a vertical format too... it might even be better this way. At least, it manages to balance the piece a bit more :)

Well, I think it's time to get some well-earned sleep. Tomorrow, it's all maya all day!

So, it has been a while since I last posted with any new work.. so, you may be asking if I have in fact done any work over the past few months? The quick answer: yes. The long answer: yes, but most of it is incomplete and unfit to "put out there".
Speaking of "out there", for my 129A class, we (the advanced students) are participating in Dominance War which is an online gaming competition. Unlike in the past where they've had only one main challenge, they have decided this year to introduce shorter mini-challenges. We were required to do the first which was due to be submitted by the end of monday.
The challenge was to take one of three pre-made poly meshes to work with, and create a character: a War General. The only real guidelines were that we could not change the maya mesh to break the silhouette and the character had to read as being a war general. The first rule wasn't so bad, it was making the guy look like a high ranking official that was the real challenge. I'm not sure I was successful in this, but I am somewhat happy with the results. I'm finally getting the hang of z-brush! Finally.
and so, I will present to you here, two versions of my war general. The first being the completed submission piece (which had to be rendered in maya on the original low-poly mesh) and the second is rendered straight from z-brush (3mill polys) with color map only.
Enjoy!