Roller Derby Character

Whilst watching the Blues Brothers I was messing around in zbrush and before I knew it there was a complete female roller derby female looking back at me!?!

It's by no means complete but I may continue it another day,

to be continued...

The Fairground Man - Creating the scene

Everything is starting to come together now. I'm in the middle of texturing and building items for the scene but also playing around with lighting. As a character artist, building scenery doesn't come as naturally to me but it's just a matter of using different techniques.

Speed Sculpt - Inspired by METAL

Just a quick sculpt I decided to do whilst listening to a metal radio show on DemonFM hosted by my friend Dan Barrett. Took about an hour and a half was remeshed from a sphere and that cog thingy (that I can't be bothered to reopen the program for the name) and I was playing around with the clay build up brush which is my new favourite!

The Fairground Man - Black Rose

Added a rose and reworked the collar on the jacket...

The Fairground Man - You can't see California without Marlon Brando's eyes

Added the eyes in. Really changed the feel of it altogether! About done with the sculpting now I think, may retopologise it so I can texture and render it out properly...we'll see how it goes!

The Fairground Man - A tilt of the hat

Not quite sure why I decided to work on this feeling as tired as I do but....I did anyway! Not that it's bad, I'm very pleased with how this is going. I tweaked the hat a bit so it wasn't so straight and added the bow tie from the concept. More work on this after a sleep I reckon!

The Fairground Man - A touch of colour

started a bit of sculpting to get some features in and added a base colour just to give a better idea. This is by no means the final colour or texture work though. Oh yeah and he needs some eyes (oops!)

The Fairground Man

Today I start a new project. Only going to be a short one but I really hope to work on my texturing skills with this one.
The concept is by the very talented Kieron Edwards who I met whilst working at From Dusk to Dawn magazine. Whilst browsing his work I really clicked with this character he created.

I think it's the combination of the creepy character and the top hat that I really connected with and knew I had to model it. Kieron was very kind and said I could not only model this but any of his work (that will keep me busy!) and so I have begun.

I made a very simple base mesh which I will export and start sculpting on. 

I think it will remain as a sculpt only but as previously mentioned I will really strive to make some good textures.

Comicon 2011 - Knight Punisher

Well that's it for this year, I've finished! I'm really pleased with the outcome and while I don't expect to win by any means (as there are some incredible entries!) I feel that this is my best piece of work yet!

Comicon 2011 - Pedestal

Just a quick update. Made a pedestal today. In hindsight I should have left myself more time to make it though that's another lesson learned.

So it's my last real chance to get this done tomorrow. Luckily I don't have work until 6 so I should hopefully have time to finish. Just got to get the pose sorted out and then render out some images to put my final pages together. More tomorrow!

Comicon 2011 - Texturing

I've just finished off the textures for my model and although they're not perfect due to time restraints I am still very happy with them!

Comicon 2011 - Normals and Ambient Occlusion

Really quickly before I have to leg it to work, here's my latest update...

Just need to add some colour, specular detail and then rig it up but only 6 days to go now!

Comicon 2011 - Low Poly

So I've completed the high-poly and the low-poly now. Just working on the UV's now.

We've been given an extension on the deadline so now it's October 3rd. Feeling good about having it done for then provided I don't have too many problems with the rest of the process, touch wood! *touches wood*

Comicon 2011 - High Poly (almost done)

I'VE GOT SO MUCH LEFT TO DO!! ARGHHH!
...
...
OK calm! Right, I am nearly done now with my high poly model and I'll admit it's not perfect but with the time left I feel I need to call it a day soon! This is the latest, gonna get a load more done tomorrow

Comicon 2011 - Progress Update

After some advice on GA I made changes to the proportions of the model. This was great advice as I feel it looks much stronger now both visually and physically...

(click for enlarged image)

Comicon 2011 - Progress

D'OH! Realised whilst I'd been posting in GameArtisans, I've been neglecting my blog!!
Well you can catch all the progress on my thread here.
Here's the latest image though...

Comicon 2011 - Concept shape sheet

I've been sketching in my sketch book today, something I've not actually done in a long time, continuing my entry for the Comicon Challenge 2011. Here's a couple of sketches I did.

From here I started drawing up my concepts in Photoshop. This image shows my progress in the two thumbnails at the side and then where I'm at now

Concept modelling tomorrow, watch this space...

Comicon 2011 - Knight Punisher

Comicon 2011 rears its super head and I'm in!
I've postponed the previous character in order to enter the competition over at gameartisans.org
If you're not familiar with Gameartisans, it's a community of game artists and animators brought together on its forum to take part in competitions and post up pieces of work. If you are an artist of any form I would recommend checking it out as there is some amazing talent on show!
I had entered the competition before but never finished. This was due to my lack of expertise at the time however and I return this year with every intention to complete the challenge.
This time round in the character art category, we are tasked with creating a known super hero or villain originating from a comic and setting them in an alternate universe.
There have been some great entries so far including my friend Dan who has entered the concept category, where the same rules apply, and opted to create a Renaissance Spawn. It looks great so far and I'm hoping that Ubi Soft see it and ask if they can use it as a playable character in a future incarnation of Assassins Creed!
Check out Dan's entry here http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=26030

For my personal entry, I am envisioning The Punisher in Medieval times as a black knight
http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=26061

So far I have put together a reference sheet but I am currently working on a concept that I hope to have complete by the end of today. Here's the reference sheet for now but check back soon for further progress!

A new day, a new project

After my failed 3D-day project I am seeking some redemption and have decided to start working on a project devised by myself and the very talented concept artist Mr. Dan Widdowson. After sending him a rough idea for a character he very quickly whipped up an amazing 2D character concept

And so I am tasked now with developing this awesome image into a 3D model. Thanks to the detail along with discussions between me and Dan, I have a very clear image of how this should look or at least a basis for it and so now I am commencing work on a head bust.

I'm still developing shape at the moment and it's by no means perfect but I am pleased with it so far! I'm not going to rush this and intend it to take a good while to fully complete but I think that's a good thing really. As you can see this is just a bust but I intend it to be the basis for the finished model and probably project it on to the full figure. That is a long way away yet though but I'll post updates at major milestones so check back soon!

Knowing when to call it a day...

Not really happy with how this one is going so might have to write it off and move on.
It's a learning experience and I know that more time concepting is needed and to not over complicate the model if its intended as a one day project... :/ shame really but oh well...

3D-Day #2 - Base Mesh

It's taken far too long as I couldn't decide on what pipeline to take but I'm gonna really up the ante and plow on with this!

Can't stop, I've got sculpting to do!

3D-Day #1 - Concept

Where do I begin?! While it's exciting to think about starting a day like this, it's also like "OK GO!.....errrmm?"
Do I create a male or female character? Set now or in the future? Or the past even? Are they even human? What is the meaning of life? ARRRGGHH! It can be quite difficult to get going kind of like writing a story or an essay for school, I always used to find writing the first paragraph the hardest part.
So I turned to the very useful tool that is Alchemy, a free drawing program that lets you just completely free up and get scribble away, it's awesome! http://al.chemy.org/
I had a scribble and this was the first thing I came up with that I thought "Yes...yeah this could turn into something good!"

I love this program because as I described it to Dan, it's like looking at a cloud in the sky and seeing a face or creature and feeling inspired to recreate that!

What I saw was a queen. A somewhat abstract queen of course but albeit a royal figure that was a bit crazy, which instantly made me think of Helena Bonham Carter in Alice in Wonderland. I'm not a huge fan of the film but I loved her performance all the same!

With this in mind I've pieced together a mood board for the creation.

My thoughts on the project as it stands are that I want to create an abstract model. A character that doesn't conform to standard proportions that can be seen more as a cartoon like character but with good detail in the garments and crazy big hair! The colour scheme is something I've wanted to try for a while with predominantly white all over making good use of the ambient occlusion but then combining that with a strong purple. I'm not definite on the blue yet but I was thinking maybe just for certain details the blue might lend itself well...maybe!?

Next step base model...

3D-Day!?!

It's nearly half 11 and I've got a completely free day so I've decided that today is 3D-Day! It's been too long since I have had a blog update so to counteract that I will be blogging my progress throughout the day as I start and (hopefully) finish a character. This first half hour before 12 I'm going to use to decide what character I will attempt so here goes!

Mike Wazowski...

Been pretty busy with non-3D related stuff lately but still found time to work on a low poly comp over at game artisans. You can see the progression here. The limit is 700 triangles and this Mike Wazowski weighs in at 678. This is the most up to date pic

I'm pretty pleased with it thus far as I've never tried modelling to such a low restriction before and I didn't think I'd learn anything but I really have! Good times!

Somethings missing...

Just realised I forgot to post up my finished model of Paul Gray, this is a near finished WIP

and here is the finished model

I did crop the finished image after, to frame it better, in Photoshop and also added a background but something happened to the mouth grill and it looks a bit strange but never mind, still happy with it!

Paul Gray was an amazing bassist and great on stage performer and I know he is missed.

Nina Kate...DONE!

Just a quick post as I've completed my model of Nina Kate now and I wanted to put it on the 'innernetz'!

Let me know what you think in the comments below...

Misfits finished, Bizarre model and guts 'n' gore!

So I've had a bit of a re-model to the blog since my last post and like I said, I used the coconut skull! Also featured in my new banner (which I have to say thanks to my girlfriend Hayley for her help with that!) is my finished model of Doyle Von Frankenstein!

He stands at a pretty low 4,855 polys and has a diffuse, specular and bump map applied.

I'm pretty pleased with the final images, however there are some things I'd do differently on my next model but all in all it was a great learning experience!

So on a new note I've started a new sculpt and here's the latest wip...

Now ignore the background, as I don't intend to keep it, but yeah this is what I'm currently working on. It's a sculpt of Nina Kate, one of my favourite models from Bizarre magazine (if you've never read it you need to!) I'm basing the model on this image of her http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/9018357 which I assume is a fairly old picture as shes had way more tattoos since this picture. I've not posed her or really started any detail as of yet but then I guess thats why its called a work in progress!

Aside from this sculpt I also started another model of a zombie girl based on the very talented artistic skills of Dan Widdowson who painted this

Now I saw this and was like WOW INSPIRED NOW! So I started a model and it was looking good as you can see here

But then I found myself coming unstuck as to the wounds...I mean fair enough I can second guess the minor arm and leg wound (I say minor but you can see her bone haha) but the stomach wound with the intestines coming out...Yeah maybe I've reached a limit there as to how it would look. Now the only thing I can think to do is research it. Now I'm not a squeamish person in the slightest, however I just find it hard to actually research a lot of images of stomach wounds and guts! So I'm slowly piecing a few images together bit by bit but have to take breaks to prevent vomiting! (bet Dan didn't have to look at vomit inducing pictures...well not for his art work at least, probably does it for fun)

annnnndd I think that's now where I'm at right now. I do have a week off from work so I hope to get a lot more done so watch this blog and follow me!

Strange shape buses, coconut floor art and old ladies and their cucumbers...

Two reasons why i'm doing this blog
One, because once again im sat on a bus (seriously I must spend half my life on buses!) And its a weird shaped one with about 2 seats! I seriously dont understand it! Anyways...
Two, because it's a sort of reminder to myself to do my blog!
So yeah this is a pre-update with a proper post to come later today when im sat at my computer. Oh yeah and the picture is a happy accident or a hap-cident you might say... Yeah you probably wouldn't say it!
The story behind it takes place at the cinema where I work. The chef, alex (a-dog) called me in to the kitchen and pointed at the floor declaring it looks like a skull! Amazing, who knew you can create art out of cocoout milk!? So I snapped a picture of it that was that...or so I thought! I reckon this might, with a bit of tweaking in photoshop, make an awesome logo! I'll play around with it sometime soon but you saw it here first! Oh unless you're a-dog the chef (not just a dog)
Oh yeah nearly forgot this gem! I was sitting at the bus stop with an old lady, because thats how I roll, and she starts talkin to me about there germans who died from e-coli which was found in the cucumber they'd eaten and she turns to me and asks
"what had they been doing with their cucumbers?"
How do you answer that?!

Well I got something to say...

It's been more than a week since I updated my blog like I said i'd wanted to...as my nephew so commonly says, fail...however, I have been busy with two things! This is my previously mentioned misfits model but with a bit more work done to it, now with added detail and revamped textures, plus a specular map for a bit of polish! *shating!* i've actually done more than this - heck i've even made doyles custom anillihator guitar - but i'm writing this post from the comfort of an arriva bus and it was the latest image I had access to but better than nothing right?
Whats the second thing i've been busy with? Well that would be mortal kombat! Wow its amazing, definately the best fighter i've played in a long time and its mortal kombat so its a gore fest which I love!
Well thats it for this post but i'll be putting the finished model up soon as I have a bit of free time coming up.

Ps this arriva bus isn't comfortable at all!

Catch up

So I thought I'd post up my latest workings, after all I intended this blog to be about my artwork and not just nuggets with faces...and tiny crowns!
This is my latest finished sculpt

I just started sculpting a female head and then when I came to the hairstyle I thought 'I don't want a boring hairstyle!' and went down the punk route. The tattoos on the chest, neck and shoulder were provided by the very talented Neil Palethorpe so many thanks to him for that!

Next up is a work in progress even though it may look complete...

Its still in progress because I want to make it a finished game ready model but this is the hi-res sculpt. This is my interpretation of Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein of The Misfits. I really like his style in the band, got a great look going.

The last thing I'm working on is this sculpt and tribute to Paul Gray, former bassist of Slipknot

I hope to make a bust with a finished pose for a bit of attitude. I love this band so I hope I can make a fitting tribute to a legend of metal!

Anyways, I will hopefully post some updates soon!

Lord of the Rings: Return of the *Nugget* King

Ok so if you couldn't see the nugget king in the first post like I did when I gazed upon this fast food wonder then here is what I saw...

make sense now?

Nugget King!

Ok so it's very irrelevant to...well anything, lets face it, its a chicken nugget I thought looked a bit like a monster and therefore I took a picture of it CLEARLY dominating weaker nuggets. But I thought it gets the ball rolling and prevents me starting this blog with the same old "don't really know how to start this" awkward post. Also it was to let me link up my phone to my blog so I can post on the go!
So down to business...
Hello! You've found my blog (well done!) So over the the rest of my life (or for as long as I can be bothered) I am going to write up all the things I have accomplished or found interesting. I want it to be on a weekly basis so I don't lose track but this all depends on my schedule (so remember to check back every so often)
Now why would you want to do that?
Well you don't have to but if you are interested in the thoughts and work of an aspiring 3D character artist then it could be interesting... If not I will also be posting up other novelties and things of interest. I can't really tell you what exactly yet because I haven't started but wait and see I guess!

Anyways I'm going to get the ball rolling properly tomorrow...which is technically today but who's counting right?!