Today I’m taking a little time to think reflect on my stay here in Hagerstown and my choice to become a freelance artist. When I first moved here 2 years ago with my girlfriend I knew there wouldn’t be much opportunity as an artist to grow in this area. I told myself I would find a job, go to school and just progress as an artist care in a relatively care free environment. Things changed dramatically during our first fall in the area.

The car I was intending to use to get back and forth to a new job at Lowe’s I had acquired decided to break down and there was basically no way it would ever pass Maryland’s very in depth inspection process. It was the first time in well… ever; I suppose, that I really felt lost and had no idea how I was going to pay bills. I contemplated moving somewhere I could work, and we contemplated cutting back on everything to simplify our bills but it just didn’t feel right.

I had been lightly freelancing for a few months before moving to Maryland and was making almost no money doing it. I suppose the freelance projects I was working on were just forcing me to grow and learn faster than before. I made the decision to go for it, to become a full-time freelancer.

I joined many “freelance” websites, made accounts, put up work, paid money in some cases to make my postings become highlighted or move to top of lists. I sent emails to people who had never seen my work before, heard of me, or that cared about my desperate situation. I eventually landed a few clients and things began to ease up.

After a year of being a full-time freelancer I’m nowhere near making enough to justify not looking for studio jobs once we’re out west but this experience is something that taught me more than I ever learned in college.I was forced to adapt, fix problems I never before dreamt were possible in 3D, and most importantly learn that I am a tool for creation. I can’t be emotional when someone comments on my work in a positive or negative manner. Once you separate yourself from your work emotionally, at least to an extent you can really start to hear what people are saying about your work and make positive changes to your art habits.

Moving out west has a lot of potential for myself and for Bridget. I hope we grow even closer while exploring San Francisco together. I have high hopes that I’ll find my first real job and I hope it’s the start of a long career. In a weird and abstract way I’m pretty sure my ability as an artist today is all due to the fact that my 1999 Mercury Cougar never passed that inspection. Thanks, you piece of junk. -salute-

Big things are in the works over here in Maryland! We just got our apartment in San Francisco and will be there in a month’s time! Between that, new clients, and the beautiful weather it’s been hard to find time to work on my thesis.

I managed to spend a few hours just adding/tweaking/removing pieces and details and eventually I began working on the clothing folds in the jacket, they’re going to get quite complex so I’m taking it slow for now.

Today was a day I forced myself to work on my thesis! Normally I’d be excited to work on the project but currently it’s the only thing I do that doesn’t pay me! Seeing as how I’m a struggling 3D artist trying to get my start in the industry I’m following jobs that allow more recognition.

Today, like most days for this thesis project I just worked all over my character, removing, adding, tweaking, detailing basically anything I noticed needed some work. I think it’s working so far. Here are the results after today’s work.

This weekend was a huge weekend, it wasn’t a weekend full of client work but Bridget and I took care of some serious stuff that we’ve been putting off. We have our moving plans for California almost all done and now we’re just finding an apartment and the rest is all set! Around that time finishing client work will be hard but I’m going to minimize my downtime the best I can and keep everyone’s work cranking out!

I cut a new reel this weekend, My old reel is so dated already and although this new reel has more Zbrush sculpts than anything I think it’s a big improvement. I’m hoping people will see it and check out more of my charcater models and props here on the website. I was hesitant to make the reel very long, so it’s under 2 minutes, it’s 1:30~

I’ll post the link here when it’s done uploading, and for the rest of the week I’m officially busting ass 2 finish 2 separate projects for 2 different clients. Hope I stay sane! Cheers.

Yesterday was a good day, I finished my next sculpture for Sword & Board games, which came out great. I learned a lot about clothing and I’m really changing how I see clothing now, I need to learn a bit more about how to stylize metal but I think with my thesis I’m really going to get a good handle on that. Here’s the faun!

After finishing up the faun, I began work on one of my thesis characters. I’m just filling out his character with accessories, armor, guns… ammo… lots of stuff and trying to work all over and not focus on any one area. His pack design is coming out simple, but well put together I think and after I slap some awesome mech-like stamps on that bad boy it’s gonna be looking great!

I just accepted a new freelance job so I’ll be doing a test for the company the next few days so everything is on hold for just a little bit. Not sure if I can post any of the work but I hope I can, it would be great to blog about the experience. Here’s my character progress for my thesis.

I wish I was able to post more WIP pictures of my current large projects but I’m not able to post anything until each is done and the company posts them on their website. It’s a bit of a bummer because I would be posting updates every single day chronicling my journeys and what I learn during this huge miniatures project.

After I finish this latest one tonight or tomorrow, it depends on how long it takes me to sculpt some cloth I’m going to be spending a week on my thesis, particularly working on a FN-scar so I’ll have lots of updates to post. It’ll be my first hard surface gun that I’ve made since I learned a ton about hard surface creation in Zbrush recently so I’m pretty excited.

I’m currently accepting new clients if the project is right and would love to speak with anyone who has work! Cheers.