A rough monster I drew for Giles Ruscoe, he and I are concepting a monster for each other to sculpt in zbrush. :) follow up sculpts will be posted soon.

Here's Giles Ruscoe's sculpt of the derpy dog thing:

Victorian Bedroom- Further Progress

Took my bedroom scene from UDK and placed in Maya 2012, rendering with viewport 2.0. Lighting is SO. MUCH. BETTERRR.

A New Roof (WIP)

I've been trying something new with zbrush, making tilable textures and trying to reuse uv space. Overlapping UVs yes. Since I was actually taught not to do that >_>...

Quick Victorian Window concept

Victorian Bed Diffuse/Spec WIP

There really wasn't much to do in terms of the Diffuse Texture or Spec. A lot of the work was done from the normals and AO, even the SPEC brought it to life. All that's left is the aging process. Thought I'd post it looking brand new... also maybe a different bed cover, that looks quite boring!

Bed Normal/Ambient Occlusion maps baked

EDIT: I improved the shape, polycount and everything, also was too dull to realise marmoset wasn't using the AO. Hurp Derp. You can see the difference by comparing them:

---OLD--

Finally, I thought I'd never get this done. I spent a good few hours trying to bake the maps. Xnormal proved to be much faster, but for a few bits like the drapery, it didn't seem to recognize which side it was meant to bake. So then I had to open up Maya and painstakingly wait for the viewer to actually catch up. Anyhow, the diffuse is coming soon, I'm thrilled to have this complete.

Bed WIP

Been working on this for a little while, it doesn't help that I had trouble with baking parts of the map. I decided I'd do each part separately to prevent Maya from crashing! So on the left is what I'm doing in Zbrush at the moment, and on the right is a marmoset render showing off the finished bedposts.

It's a pain, because I made the mistake of using dynamesh and then turning it off which prevented me from going back in sub-divisions. It was also way too high poly even after I halved the polycount. So... lesson learned. ><

Room: lighting improvement

Had enough time to mess with the lighting a bit more, added a lighting importance mass, ambient occlusion to the level and some items like candles. I removed the chandelier because it really got in the way and didn't look pretty. Just not sure if the changes made much difference.

Dissonance: Room improvement

So I've been improving some items for the room, I'm still in the middle of it, here's a few screenshots. I've shrank it down because it was very big before.

(Boring) Cabinet model

I've improved this model more:

Then... altered the texture again.

Cabinet Model WIP

Today I was feeling a bit down, so my progress has been slow with this. I scrapped my old cabinet model because it was so bad and started again. Got some references too. It looks better (much better than my old one).

I'm pretty stuck on how I should alter the geometry on the feet of the legs... they take up 360 odd tris alone.

Bookcase, an improved model

I made this not so long ago, after a bit of feedback I went back and halved the poly count from 1321 Tris/716 Faces to 633 Tris/322 Faces. Thought I'd keep it posted here for comparison.

Old version: 1321 Tris/ 716 Faces

New version is also clearer because I was really silly with the UVs last time.

New Version: 633 Tris/ 322 Faces

Final Version:
Edited the Specular map and normals.

Sci-Fi Soldier Model WIP03

It's been a busy few days, as I had my graduation two days ago :)
Here's the base mesh ready for zbrush. I also took such a long time on the hands! Damn appendages and their awkward edge flow.

The hands took me a day! But I think I understand how to do it quicker next time.

Finished, and added some edge loops to create a more even square mesh in certain areas.

Sci-Fi Soldier Model WIP02

I got some feedback saying he needs a bit of bulking up. I tried to shift a few polys, but I think most of the bulking up will have to be in Zbrush. :)

Sci-Fi Soldier Model WIP01

I've done a bit of modelling, it's going rather slowly. I expect I have really poor technique when it comes to modelling. Hopefully I can learn from this.

Starting with pieces separately, and joining later.

Improved topology and progressing further

Sci-Fi Soldier Model Ref

Here's the soldier ref. I'll be posting the block-out tomorrow...

Sci Fi Soldier Concepts

I've been helping out a friend for a competition. He says he wants a soldier model to pose on his vehicle. It's all very quick and rough, he chose the second design, so I will probably detail it a bit more and start blocking out the character soon.

Showreel of 2012

What I've been working on this year.

First Encounter of Drunken Chavs in 3 Years

As most people who know me know- I don't really go out very often anymore. I barely leave my computer as it is, with so much work to be done and limited funds, I found better ways to have fun and even socialise. But tonight I was looking forward to finally going out and hosting an awesome games night to raise funds for my uni's graduation show.

It didn't turn out that great. In fact I wish I could have gone back in time and done something different so it didn't have to end this way.

For the past few weeks I've been busy organising the end of year show, I had also decided to organise a fundraising games night and a classmate and I chose a place that had been used in previous years for fundraising. We had the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and a variety of games on each, there was supposed to be a competition held, raffles and just plain fun, but not even thirty people turned up. I was disappointed, mostly because the absences were from the very students involved in the degree show- it was basically for them. The people who turned up made an effort to help and even brought friends over.

So what ended the night with a big bang? Some idiot decided it was okay to enter our area (it was closed off and you had to pay for wristbands to get in) for free, and continued to ignore me, pointing, laughing and no doubt being a racist piece of brainless turd.

It was not so bad when I saw him finally leave the area, he apparently 'knew' one of the randoms that had gotten in (I made his friend pay for him eventually), but then he had the nerve to bring back two orange faced scarecrows and show off his amazing 'ignorance' in front of them.

So I pushed him. Hard.

One of the horrificly tall umpa lumpas went crazy on me whilst I had an awesomly fabulous Princess Peach costume on, and destroyed it by pulling my wig off. Just imagine my pissed off face when she did that. I told them to get out- though I'm sure it was in a horribly rude fashion, since I can't even remember exactly what I said. Then they got banned from the club.

I practically ripped off the rest of my costume, and went to the bathroom, utterly and sourly disappointed with how I handled things. So tonight I express my sincere disgust- at mainly myself.

Three damn years without ever encountering a chav, and I loose my mind when I do. I must be spoiled, I'm in Britain for goodness sake.

University Update & Final Project Complete!

University

This week has been very sunny in Swansea, it's such a contrast to the stressful and rainy days I've had for the past 9 months. There have been some really great and really tiresome days, where I just felt like throwing in the towel because of the amount of stress I've had this year. And finally, it's over.

I had my last Viva last week, and ever since I've just been doing absolutely nothing- well actually, I've been playing Diablo 3, watching Adventure Time, socialising and just eating like a king. But it feels like I've been doing absolutely nothing, and it's great.

Dissonance is complete for the most part, I still want to do some tweaking before I let people demo it. It's not a full game, it's an academic project, something incredibly incomplete, buggy and imperfect, but that's how much one person can possibly do in nine months without prior knowledge to code and with the edition of concept art and modelling etc.

Here's the trailer

This week I still have a few little things to do, like organising the end of year show for our department at uni and just touching up some bits of my project ready to show off on the day- I've been re-editing the textures of Cecilia for a while now, I'm just so picky, but I will be submitting her wireframe to dA very soon.

What Now?

I have time to do stuff! This is AMazing awesome!!!!

On a serious note, I'm going to be spending the next few months creating/improving my portfolio while applying for jobs. I know it's not going to be easy, but I will keep trying.

Think I will finally post something on Polycount, starting up some more character designs and modelling would probably be the best idea.

I've thought about places I might be situated in, and settle down at for jobs- but to be honest, so long as it is within 3 hours drive from my parent's home I won't be complaining much. I know it's hard to get in, especially as an artist and a student who has only just graduated, but I'm hoping that my work has/will pay off.

Cosplay/Hobbies/Events

I will definitely be going to the next MCM Expo, and will be making another costume, I would love to dress as Leo from Tekken and Azula from The Last Airbender- alternatively Luka the vocaloid. It will be pretty sweet. In the worst/best case scenario, where I do get a job and I actually cannot attend, I hope you all will forgive me for my yet-again absence.

Anyhow I'll leave it here. I basically just copy/pasted this from my deviantART journal.

Super Jetpack Penguin

It's out, it was out since Friday. I've been busy working on reports and models, I totally forgot to post about it! Try it, it's free to play :D and here is some artwork (I made 5 promotionals) and a video of course.

Available at the App Store

Silly doodle I was doing when I got bored.

WIP - Lux from League of Legends

8K Kiriban work-in-progress. Finished picture found Here.

Right-click, open in new tab to see the full size.

Designing my First Personal Website

I've been mocking up a design for my very own website:

It's not finished or finalised, but any feedback would be appreciated, I'm wondering how I will be able to achieve this myself. It's easy enough to grasp html, but having to work with other languages combined is going to be the biggest challenge... not to mention adding functionality.

Lack of knowledge on Old Consoles & Games Rant

Aiming at the late 80's and early 90's kids:
Every time some guy gamer asks me about the old consoles they expect me to know every one of them before I was bloody born. There is a pinch of annoyance with this coming subject and I'll tell you why.

Here's a girlfriend test that was given to me to match up console to controler, it was easy for the most part, but I did get two consoles wrong the first time, and that was the SNES (last console) and N64 (somehow I didn't even see the N64, fourth up). Before you gape at me and tell me I'm not a gamer or that I'm an absolute noob let me tell you something.

The notion is, that you may have actually owned or set eyes on them, or had uncles and other family members who had bought them years before you even thought about playing one. It makes it ever more patronising when you tell somebody like me that they should have known.

There's a good reason for it. I never owned any of the consoles that were released before 1994, because I was fricking 4 years old and in the 90's it was normal not to own anything to do with technology at that age. I didn't have uncles or cousins or even friends that owned anything to do with games besides PCs (with the exception of one uncle who had not shown us), and even if we had the interest as toddlers we weren't allowed to own games.
 The gameboy and playstation were quite literally a god send to my brother and I when I was 6 or 7 (1996/7), we didn't have the luxury of owning all the damn consoles, even the ones that released after the Playstation. We were never spoiled on video games and never will be. And that, more than anything should tell you (assuming you're one of those know-it-all/experienced-it-all types) that you are lucky/spoiled as hell, or just older than me.

Gameboy Pocket was our first ever gameboy, and we would take turns to play Kirby on it.

As a kid, even when owning playstation and gameboys my brother and I weren't allowed all the games we wanted. I must have missed out on so many great games simply because my parents said "No, you are not allowed". I don't blame them at all, I would be concerned too, and reluctant to spend my money on something that potentially ruins the study time of my hypothetical child. This is because we're asian (joke)!
As a kid I distinctly remember working on maths books, being tutored on English at home, and spending a lot of time instead watching cartoons on television. It was a rather sheltered type lifestyle, and probably very different from others. We rode bikes at least, and hung out with our neighbour's one kid, I had one very close friend, but never really had other friends or family to saturate our time.

Gaming was one of those really special moments, and we would spend so much time on one game or demo (the psx demo discs were very amusing), replaying, getting amused and playing it again.

As there was always the both of us, you can sort of imagine how much fun we got from just a 2-player game. So games like Zelda and the first Final Fantasy's never really caught our attention until we were older and played Kingdom Hearts.

So before you guys go off and pressure some gamer about their knowledge in games/consoles, do not expect them to know everything. Take a moment to consider how much gaming was allowed in their childhood to begin with, because this is really a first world concern and it's because spoiled/rich kids keep moaning at me.

People may not be the most knowledgable with their gaming history but it does not mean they are less enthusiastic. Sure we could read up on our history of gaming technology, but what would be the point? I played SNES/N64 games using emulators on the PC, I have never touched/seen the actual consoles but I still play the old games because I knew I missed out. For somebody to tell me I'm not a real fan or hints that I am inferior in some way- is almost rubbing salt into the wounds and makes them look like a complete jackass.

This attitude is elitism at its least obvious, and for once- not in PVP or raid in World or Warcraft.

Blitz Open Day, a Day that Changed Me

On Friday 23rd March I went to the Blitz Open Day, and I feel even more thankful that I qualified.

I think this was definitely one of the most important days of my educational life, I have learned SO much from Blitzgames, mainly about my desired career path and opportunities. A full day of showing us how they work and their priniciples and reasons for doing so, was a brilliant insight to one very different games company, and I was deeply impressed.

Towards the end of the day, they had gathered all the other applicants in each area, 2D, 3D, Games Designers, Animation, Audio, Programmers- into their respective rooms with their respective professionals from Blitz to do disciplinary feedback. We 2D artists were asked to show off our portfolios (my greatest regret was assuming they had only wanted a couple of pieces, but I had the option of showing them my FMP blog) and we got excellent feedback, constructive critisims for our art, a point in the right direction if we wanted to apply for a job in Concept art etc. It was humbling to say the least, and I felt I should have posted my work on ConceptArt.org or Polycount, both which I have accounts on but was too afraid to submit to. 

The other students who had gone that day were excellent, and I felt belittled to the point I was sweating bullets when it was my turn to show my work. Two in particular had environmental art that looked top notch, professional, but still had holes poked through them. I felt my critisims were light in comparison, but it was probably because I had less work to show, and the work I did show, gave the progression with character design- which pleased them. I was a little surprised, most if not all the concept art I ever saw has always been wonderful and full blown environments with brilliant lighting and atmospheres, I had thought I had applied to the wrong area, but apparently character itterations were considered much more concept than beautifully finished illustrated environments. It was all about rough design, iterations and the journey to the final product. 

I started doubting that the feedback I got was realistic/harsh enough, so I went to talk to more of the artist and further bug the ones that gave me feedback at the pub.

Yes, after the day ends, staff and students are invited to go to the pub where we talk more and this gives us a chance to get even more insight, more feedback, more information and grab a few contacts while we are at it. I took every chance I had, I wanted so badly to know where I would fit in best in the art department. I know I should go for what I want to do- but what if you genuinly could not decide? I have always liked dabbling in several areas at once, and this has lead me to NOT specialising and becoming more of an all-round 2D/3D person, not hammering out pages and pages of environmental sketches (which is due to my cowardice). I enjoy both 2D and 3D immensely- however I have not found passion in environmental paintings or purely environmental 3D. After a brilliant talk with Ben Ho, Steve Walker and his friend (whose name I will get soon), I now know what I must do to improve, and better my chances. I need to just work my butt off in all the areas I've  mentioned and actually try to get out of my comfort zone and do more environmental art. They pointed out particular weaknesses I had with my 3D and 2D (in what was shown), and this was humbling, I felt thankful and at the same time I felt I really needed to step it up. 

It seems obvious when I say I just need to work my butt off to improve, but the uncertainy I had stemmed from doubting my own abilities- I didn't know how close I was to my goal. Because the feedback was so positive (from professionals) I feel like I have a chance, I have what it takes to become that awesome person that does cool Character designs and 3D art. I want to be good, in all the areas, I don't care about specialising one bit, and this gives me more determination to improve at 2D/3D. Characters are my biggest interest, but I want to be good at environments, I don't want to be limitied.

However, a new anxiety is born, and I feel I don't have time for the next few months (which is a long time) or so to imrpove, I'm giving my 100% to my course at the moment- and I mean, I'm working day, night, day, night, seven days a week on it. If I get the slightest down time, there will be no doubt that I will be doing some environmental/character studies. I just need to finish this course first!

Some of the images I had shown:

My Blitz Submission

Face of character iteration

Victorian lady anatomy studies

Dress design iteration

Monster variety

Monster Sillhouette scribbles (Ben gave very good tips for these, detail is key even in small scribbles)

Monster final iteration (Ben gave more feedback on my need to consider bending joints and realistic muscle/joints proportions)

Steve and friend pointed out that the cheeks are sunken and do not look right, I must make the 3D work and not let it become a slave to my 2D, also that I need to practice sculpting in general.

Phillip Oliver (CEO) says the polys could be lower. Yes, the CEO! I'm amazed.

This was praised for its decent topology, they were much more concerned for the concepts.

 Phillip Oliver (CEO) had seen my Chaos Trend promotional artwork, and the one thing he suggests is making the character itself visible (since promotional art is like a front cover/intro for the game).