Today I’m still working on the concept for my Architect’s “Nano-Pack.” I made the design less blocky by adding in a large center piece where the tube will connect to the Nano-Gun. It’s the character’s main weapon so I want to be sure to spend time focusing on it’s design.

I’m also beginning to play with ideas based on my concept art on how it will attach and layer with his clothing. He has a huge coat on that I haven’t accounted for yet but I’ll add in that layer tomorrow and keep laying objects on top of each other to plan out how things fit.

To take a break from my hair card placement yesterday I also began blocking in his pants. They are a brand called katanica, his jacket is as well and I think it’s a really bad ass design. They have zippers, straps, pockets and all sorts of fun things to play with while sculpting. They fall just below his knee where they slightly tuck into his boots.

I mentioned the hair cards, and in the above screen capture they’re done (for now) Here is a closer shot of them. They are quite close to my model’s hair and I’ll continue tweaking them as I work. I wanted something in place so when I’m working I get the full effect of my character’s personality.

Today I was placing hair cards, they aren’t done  yet so there isn’t a lot to show after my second full day of thesis work (after preparation steps) I decided to take a break and concept the pack for the Architect. I’m going to add more interesting geometry on it, to make the silhouette more appealing but this is going to be the general idea. I was inspired by the big ol’ space marine packs, there are a few more pieces between my character and this pack that make it more comfortable but I wanted 2 big exhaust fans, and some really fun panels. I’ll finish it in the morning! Cheers.

Today was rigging day for a project, it’s usually the day that I dread in any project and today was no exception. I was experimenting with a new bind pose and it did not respond well to the rigging.. Wrist control was a nightmare and the deformations in the forearm are disgusting. I tweaked and tweaked and decided that I need to not work in the pose anymore.

It’s unfortunate the pose won’t work out because while inside of Zbrush you are working with a much more dynamic pose. Any 3D artist can attest to the fact that working in a T-pose is extremely boring, guess I need to find something else to work on my thesis in. Not much art to post today, should have my Dwarves all rendered up and in my still portfolio tomorrow.

Well.. It’s Sunday yet again! Will it be a productive one? It better be! My docket of things to do  for today seems to keep growing. Testing things, Preparing for upcoming projects, Thesis work (in my dreams) and the never ending chore of Laundry will be taking up most of my day.

Today has been a bit of a bust as far as art goes! I’m waiting on go ahead’s from some clients and  I  couldn’t be less interested in my classes at the moment. Normally I’m striving to get A’s each week but something is just.. off right now. There are a lot of HUGE changes on the horizon for myself and my girlfriend maybe that’s the reason. Or maybe it’s just gorgeous outside and I wanna be on my bike all the time. The possibilities are endless as to why I’m not focused on school work I suppose.

I’ve started on my thesis, the first piece is the architect which is my.. nerdy/techy character. I sculpted his torso musculature for a client who wanted a generic, decently fit good-looking male! Sneaky eh? So now that’s partially done. I think I might work on that a bit more this week and finish his face which had to be changed due to.. him looking hung over and slightly like a cave man! Oops. I also made some changes to my portfolio and need to finish rendering out a few more pieces. Cheers!

I’m in the process of working on a whole heap of different projects right now. I like it that way! It makes me focus and not game as much which is always a good thing. I did this sculpt today for one of my clients, I need to texture and rig it after adding some clothes tomorrow or tonight as well. It came out pretty well, I’m really liking where my sculpting skills are going right now.

Today I finished my alchemist dwarf. It’s the last in the series and it gave me the hardest time out of any! It happened during a time of turmoil for my computer and my school career so that might have contributed to the issues I had.

His colors were giving me issues, there was a lot I wanted to get on there and a lot the client wanted to see on him. After going back and forth 100 times on colors I decided on the black/green/red. I think it might be too many colors but I’m not sure about a solution to that. His vials really only work when they are bright green. The biggest thing I wanted was for them to read as poisonous or explosive vials. Anyways, here are the final renders of him.

The final dwarf is the most challenging so far. He isn’t a warrior, he isn’t a hunter, he doesn’t have a gun or daggers or anything. He’s an alchemist! What does an alchemist wear? What does his personality feel like? I’m not really sure to be honest. I’ve been concepting for 2 days now to find the right balance of style vs. practicality and I’m finally getting close to a final design. Here’s him inside of Zbrush so far.

I’ve been suggested to make his hair crazier. And I might change his mustache a tad.. Not changing much else!

Well, for the 4th dwarf things are going very smoothly. I woke up at 1am yesterday accidentally and was inspired to really put some hours into this character. I finished his polypaint, extracted his maps and then even did all my tweaks and paint overs for the low poly. It came out great and the only thing I’m disappointed about is how I failed at posing the Zbrush model last night. I’ll get my revenge though and pose it in some bad ass way.

Around 5am after completing the low poly assassin, a friend messaged me asking what my workflow was so I gave him a rundown of how I work by creating this dagger, which is the assassin’s weapon. 

Here’s where the detail for this sculpt is ending up, nothing too crazy but it matches the other dwarves. It’s time to make some weapons now, just a couple of daggers I think… Cheers!!