I’ve been all over the place since moving to San Francisco, literally and with clients. Projects are at every stage of completion you can imagine at once and trying to keep up means I’ve been forgetting to post up here. I finished another Sword & Board sculpture, the first of a new faction and it came out pretty well.

I went through a bunch of hurdles to finish this one, it’s a new faction from the north and they have fur lined padded armor so these models are going to have to be UV’d to project some padded details and the technical aspect of the fur creation had to be taken care of with this first guy so they all look the same. I played for about a week before ending up with what you see below, it’s what will print best for the fur, and for the padding.

Time is flying, I’m still trying to get acclimated to all the changes in my life over the past month and at the same time dealing with all kinds of hardships in my art. I suppose it’s just self doubt and the fact that as an artist you can only do so many things at once, it takes time to complete each piece and to improve and it’s a hard wait.

My thesis is coming along, as well as many other projects and I hope to have some good updates soon. I suppose right now I’ll take some time to polish up a few things on my current thesis character and pop a render up here because I’d like to look back at the end and see my process and check for weak areas.

I don’t have any real rhyme or reason while working on this thesis character. I’m trying to build him up all over evenly by adding layer after layer of detail and smaller pieces. 

Wow.. What a whirlwind.. I’m now in San Francisco with my girlfriend and after travelling across the country for 6 days and seeing more of the US than I thought I would this year (or any year for that matter) we’re finally falling back into a routine. I’m behind on client work because of a SSD failure literally 2 days before we set out on the road but as of this morning I’m almost caught up.

I haven’t been posting recently for obvious reasons but I’m here to change that! I’m devising a plan to begin putting out resumes and networking here in San Fran for full-time work after we’re a bit more settled and just trying to crank out work for my clients as quickly as possible.

My thesis has taken a bit of a hit from being on the road and just from the unrest being in different places can cause to your art workflow but I’m attempting to get that back on track as well. I’ve been spending a bit of time each night tweaking and modifying my first character and this weekend while Bridget is away back east at her sister’s bridal shower I’m going to model his weapons.

I did manage to resculpt a piece I lost that was 90% done when my SSD crashed, here it is! It’s also in my gallery, my latest piece for Sword & Board games. Oh! I’m trying out new software for my renders, keyshot 3! I’m still learning but the results speak for themselves I think.

Moving moving moving moving moving! It’s basically taking over my mind and my girlfriend’s days (she’s the planner, I’m just the guy who lifts couches.) We have our address in San Fran now and I updated my resume, and it’s time to update all my cards… accounts.. and so on, really not an enjoyable process for me but it’s something that has to be done. Our U-haul is already in San Fran waiting for us so the move is starting to feel more real. Before Tuesday when we leave I want to finish a lot of client work but our schedule is so busy with saying Goodbyes and such to family.

When I get to San Fran I am really going to be kicking up the work I do on my thesis, I need to make some headway. I’ve stumbled across some stylized pieces of ZBrush art I’m going to be trying to simulate, the way some artists tackle hands and some parts of armor is just amazing and I want to learn to do it. Anyways, back to work! Cheers!

Today was the final day for my side project, I’ve been waiting for revisions from clients, not even sure who is getting my emails anymore because of weird internet issues I’m having. I started this guy because I wasn’t feeling very confident in 3D so I wanted to do a quick project from start to finish and have a new game model. Here’s the final asset from marmoset toolbag! Then below that is the polypainted version, and the final Zbrush model!

Holy shit I just realized I cut off one of his feet when I was drawing a useless border around the renders. Intelligent Justin… very intelligent…

Below is the concept art I found that I based this piece off of. I think it came out pretty well for just rushing right along and completing it in 6 half days of work. Now to get back to my thesis… modeling a FNscar isn’t really fun, but I need to make one to move to the next part of my thesis.

Happy 4th everyone! I’m in the process of moving to San Fran and have 2 weeks to work in a temporary office (my girlfriend’s parent’s living room) and I’m just trying to chip away at some projects! It’s hard to concentrate and we have lots of people to see while we’re here… It seems like every day we’re driving an hour in some direction to see someone for the last time before we head out west!

I finished this sculpt, and am in the process of the last Shadow Hold character right now. Also some other projects but I can’t post anything about them at the moment. Cheers!

Oh, I also started this side project based on really strange concept art I found. Wanna finish this in a few days as a medium res game model.

Email me if you have work >=D

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.