Head studies...

Attacking a weakness here. These aren't really good, but they're a starting point. Let's see if I can figure out how these stupid faces are put together properly. I am trying to use tonal values to define some planes rather than relying strictly on line work.

Another environment concept

Sticking to black and white here to work on my tonal value stuff. This one went off the rails somewhere. I'm going to revisit it periodically, but it's time to move on from it.

Amperion, Duke of Lightning!

This is a sculpt I did for a friend's birthday. He's had a long-standing RPG avatar called Amperion, so I visualized the guy as a classic golden-age style superhero ala Superman. This ended up getting 3d printed as an 8" statue (I used Ownage Manufacturing) and given to my friend by a group of us (I did the work, they footed the bill). This isn't really a work in progress, I just thought that it would be cool to show. This will end up on my website.

Various works in progress

I thought it'd be cool to post up a few of the various things that I'm working on in addition to Vic, and the two Underdwellers (which you can see down the page).

First up is Fallen Earth model I reworked called a Super Soldier. He's kind of a cross between a caveman and a gorilla. Since we didn't have animators at this time, he's proportioned to fit on a pre-existing rig and work with existing animations. On the left is his Zbrush sculpt, and on the right is his game model. This is actually in-game, but the armor he's wearing was modeled by someone else. I'd like to do my own armor for him, so that's the hold-up on this guy. His texture could be better, too.

Another Fallen Earth creature called a Throwback that I reworked because I wasn't happy with the original. Our mutants weren't nearly mutant-looking enough, so I pushed this guy a bit more. Like the Super Soldier above, he was proportioned to fit the original rig and work with those animations. This is the Zbrush sculpt for him. He has been projected to a low-poly version, but since there's no texture I won't bother showing it. To finish this, he'll need to be textured, and again, this guy has armor that will need to be modeled.

This was a creature designed for Sector 4 of Fallen Earth. It's basically a plant zombie, where the plants use the body as locomotion. This needs a fair amount of texture work. Like the above guys, we didn't have any animators when I did this guy, so I proportioned him to fit the above Throwback rig and use his animations. It actually worked really well.

Concept arting

Playing around with concept art. In particular, I'm working on improving my tonal values. I think I'm going to stick to black/white and monochrome stuff for a bit.

First of all, my website has been revamped to look more professional, and to not make me look completely incompetent at graphic design (which the old one did). The biggest addition to the site is the "art direction" section, which chronicles the visual improvements made during my time as the art director. The character work is still out of date, which is a problem if I'd like to actually get a job (which I would). I'm starting to figure out that there aren't any "easy wins" with updating older work. What starts as a quick polish ends up turning into a nearly complete reworking. I still have about 6 half-finished revamps (some started as side-projects when I worked at Fallen Earth). I did manage to sneak in a little contract work, which I can show off in about six months due to NDA stuffs.

It is becoming clear that in order to stay in the Raleigh area, which is my preference, I'll need to show off some other skills. That's why I'll be working on an environment piece when I'm done with Underdweller#2 here.

 As for this guy, he's about 75% done. Even in this state, I like him far more than his 5-year-old counterpart.

Another Underdweller...

I felt like doing some rotten, meaty sculpting today, so I went with the other Underdweller. I added some asymetry to the back lump, and just all around amped up the detail. This stuff is fun to do, and I was able to knock it out in a day, so I'm making good progress. Vic will have to wait another day or two, I'm afraid.

Getting the portfolio together...

I'll be using this blog to chronicle my process of getting my professional portfolio looking a little more...professional. I'll be giving a polish pass to some old creatures that I did for Fallen Earth, as well as finishing some stuff I started far too long ago. I'll also throw up any random piece I do if I like it enough. This is mostly for me, of course, since I'm likely to be one of the very few people who comes here. But comments and critiques are always welcome from visitors.

First up is a bust I did of David Boreanz. I need to work on my likenesses, and since the wife and I are watching Bones, he seemed like a natural candidate. I'm pretty happy with it. I'll still tighten it up a touch (the hair especially), but I'm happy with the likeness.


I've also done quite a bit of work on Vic. Again, I'm pretty happy with the likeness. I hope to finish the sculpt tomorrow.

Updated Underdweller model

This is a creature from Fallen Earth that I did a few years ago called an "Underdweller". Looking back at the original, I noted that it looked very carved or action figure-ish, so he was first on my list to revisit. I'm much happier with him now. I always liked his silhouette, but the details are much more crisp now. I wanted him to look more gross and meaty. The nice thing is that this didn't take too long. I should have him reprojected and retextured this week.