Zbrush Elephant

My second Zbrush model is done! Note that it is also wrinkly. I think my next project should be to try making something smooth in Zbrush. Some things to note:
-The eye glows are painted in because I can't figure out how to make subtools have a different material
-I can't figure out how to export a render with an alpha channel. Zbrush has to be able to do this, right? RIGHT?
-The base mesh was made with Zspheres. The ears were probably the diciest part, as I had to make a long skinny "arm" with spheres and then use the Move brush to deform them into ear flaps. There's probably a better way of doing this. I need to experiment with Zbrush's topology tools.

First ZBrush Experiment!

Yeah, it's a wrinkled head. C'mon, it's my first one, what did you expect? There will be room for creativity later. Anyway, ZBrush is an amazingly cool program when it's not crashing or refusing to let you edit anything.

Use Vimeo

Ok, Vimeo rules. Compare:

Demo Reel!

I have never, ever made a proper demo reel. Yes, I have found four different art jobs without one. Crazy huh? But now I do! After 24 hours or so of fiendish work, I have this to show for it:



The compression is unfortunately quite bad. I'm going to look into other streaming video sites to see if I can find something better, perhaps Vimeo or Viddler. In the meantime a fancy shmancy Quicktime version is available on my site here.

Also I fixed a toilet!

Where'd I go?

Good news! In the two weeks I was gone I made a website at http://migrantj.com, as well as a business card and a few portfolio pages. Artwork itself has been suffering a bit in the midst of this activity, but I am hard at work on a 3D environment, and hope to have the modeling done by tomorrow (then comes the hard part).

Boogah T

Well, here she is. I'm still tweaking the lighting, but the Bugatti model is 99% complete, and I honestly couldn't be happier with how it turned out. This is the most complex thing I've ever made, and it turned out splendidly. There's plenty I'd do differently, but time enough for that when I do another car. After this I'm planning on getting a half-decent website up, then splitting my time between playing with Mudbox and making an awesome environment.

Bugatti Modeling Complete!

After a hefty 8+ push on my first day of staycation, the modeling of my 1933 Bugatti Type 50t Coupe de Ville is complete. This thing's taken me a week and a half of solid work to complete, but in that time I've learned more about modeling than I would've thought possible. I'd like to try a similar technique with a character or creature, but for the moment I'm a little sick of polytrons. Time enough in the future.

My goal for tomorrow is texturing and lighting it completely, so I have a finished piece.

So It Begins...

Hello internet. I don't think this blog will be read by anybody except for myself and possibly my fiancee, but just in case it is, perhaps an explanation is in order. This blog will be a record of my journey towards becoming a better digital artist and getting a better job in the industry. My current job has the benefits of being stable, decently-paying, and fairly undemanding. But due to recent changes in my life and in myself as a person, that's no longer enough for me. It has been a long, long time since I honestly created art for a living. I've allowed myself to get too comfortable where I am. I don't want to be here forever, and if I don't start moving now I may never get anywhere else.

So! This will be a component of my motivation, a mirror I can look in and see how I'm doing. I will post here at least once every two days from here on out. I will put up works in progress of the paintings / models / whatnots I'm working on, along with commentary about what I hope to do better. My ultimate goal is to create a body of work that makes me competitive with other skilled artists and allows me to land a job that pays better, has better structure, and most of all, allows me to do what I love to do.