A Weekend of Dragons

So this weekend I got out of a weeklong slump. I had not been drawing and should have been, and have been fairly under the weather causing me to fester in my own sorrow. Don't worry though, all is good now, and even moreso due to the fact that I drew some dragons that make me very proud of my talents.

I had pondered the last week of my abilities, considering whether or not I am really on the right path. After a long conversation with a dear friend I realized that yes, I indeed am doing precisely what I should be, and that is translating what my imagination gives me into works of art for others to enjoy. With that being said, I do hope you enjoy these two dragons! They will be two of many more to come, as I find they allow me to explore muscle structure and flow in my art, rather than drawing characters just standing there, showing off their outfits.



This one is named Lexis, and she will be making a decent meal out of that poor rodent.



And this one is named Mathias, another version of Matthew, whom is the talented musician that helped me realize what I am meant to do. Thank you Matt, and I hope you like your dragon!

Arturios Zbrush

So here's a little update on Arts' details. These are the big details, I have a lot more work to do on the little details, but with my other models ready for thier rotations (which I shall be sneakin' in to the school to use the sweet new computers for rendering on the weekends, hehehe) I am free to do some decent reworking of this character.




His detail work thus far hasn't taken much time, a good 5 hours or so, but it's the tiny details and texturing that will take time a patience. This is a large picture, but it shows some nice detail, and is a mix of about 4 smaller, close up screenshots from the Zbrush interface.

If anyone has comments or critiques, feel free to post!

Arturios Remastered

As of this final semester at CATO, I have chosen my final 4 models for my demo reel. They are Mana, Visarith, Vespoid Scout, and Arturios. I have avoided finishing Vladmira as her base mesh is a little floopy and my over enthusiastic approach to tackle her has caused me more time than I wished for... so on to the back berner she goes :)

Almost all of these are complete, but Arturios needed a very big fix. He was very low in poly count, and poorly done in ZBrush. This was literally my first model done with a model pack, and thus I agree it wasn't my finest of models, but I can not let him go now!

I've fixed his base mesh with the knowledge of what I've learned over the last year, and am proud to admit it's much MUCH better.


The primary changes made if you cannot clearly see are as follows:
- Body in general is smaller and more proportionate
- Features are better rounded and less sharp
- Hands and feet are more detailed to accommodate normal map
- Better use of edge loops and mesh in general
- Much easier to animate with higher poly count

All in all his remade base is much better. He's under 6k tris, and I may make room for some armor, but only if time permits. I shall be unwrapping him very soon and will get going on his normal map and diffuse. He'll also have a specular map, and I may try with some subsurface light scattering on him.

A Quickly Revamped Mana

As I had mentioned before, I was having a few issues with Mana's normal map. This was a great mistake on my part, as I missed a single crucial step of giving him a tangent property. Here's a pic of his newer version!

I am very proud to say that he looks 100% better! I hope you can all see the difference as well, and I'd like to thank my classmate Bill (sorry, your surname is unknown to me) for helping me with him! The fix took all of 5 minutes, but it was certainly an "A-ha!" moment, and it helps incredibly! Enjoy!

Daily Deviation

So I've taken the idea from a few forums to try my best and post a daily/bi-daily/weekly design or otherwise piece of artwork just to show what's on my mind. Today, as it's my first day, I spent about an hour and a bit during a slow moment in class to make this little fella.


Here's his outline and a little shading to give me an idea of how his skin will look.


And here's his final outline. I'd like to color him in the future, but for the most part he's just a little guy from my mind.

A short synopsis:
He's like a reptilian chicken thing about the size of a large house cat. He swallows his prey whole, suffocating it with his tongue, and then slowly digests it in it's exposed stomach. The orb of goo on his back is where his prey is digested, and when nothing but bones are left, he regurgitates them much like an owl. It can run about 14 km/h, and is a strict carnivore, eating creatures up to a quarter of it's size. It's primarily nocturnal, coldblooded, and aggressive, living in temperate climates . I could go into deeper details, but this will probably suffice. Hope you all like him/her/it!

Mana Completed

So I have worked well enough on making this character the best he could be, but I am wary that my skills on making Normal maps needs some attention. For the most part, Mana is relying on his diffuse more than his normal map, which is indeed sad since he'd be much more detailed if it weren't for my lacking ability. To rectify this situation, I've taken it upon myself to get a tutor. I'm quite happy how he turned out nonetheless, but for my final demo reel, I do hope his normal map will shine more.

So here's a set of picks with him slightly posed. I would like a more dynamic pose in the future, but I'm happy with this now. I still want to pump out his pants colour a little before he's done, but aside from that, I think he's a swell guy! I hope everyone enjoys him! I sure did creating him!

Vladmira Returns

As an added bonus, I finished (after a minor design and technical issue) Vladmira's base mesh. She is unwrapped and ready for ZBrush!


So here is it, a small collaboration of her side, front, and close up torso view. Feel free to critique! I have made some minor changes with her hands, and am intending to use a transparency map for most of her fins, hence the sharp edges. All in all, she was my first modeled female character, and I am, suffice to say, proud to show her topless ;) Hope you all enjoy her!

Mushroom Crew: Mana Diffuse and Normal

So it has been a few weeks since my last update, but with good reason. After taking a well deserved week off I jumped back into working on Mana and got a great slice of his normal map and diffuse map done. Here's his current colour scheme as well as a taste of his texture.




So there's a small idea, from ZBrush, what he'll be looking like. Thus far I'm quite thrilled with him, and am excited to admit that I wish to animate him. He should be done perhaps 2 weeks before schedule, which gives me enough time to work on Vladmira and possibly rig him before next semester. Hope you all enjoy him!

Mushroom Crew: Mana Basemesh

So after some decent time and effort, I have finished Mana's basemesh, making him ready for a few touches in ZBrush and eventually a texture. I'll post a simple mini rotation picture without the wireframe, then post one with it once I make one, but for now I'm just pleased how well he stayed with his Rotoscope and initial model pack. Enjoy!

Mushroom Crew: Mana Ver 2.0

All's well in the world of Zoomers, as Mana's model sheet is nearly complete! He's been ironed out, and now all that is left is a sheet with details such as expressions and so forth. And here he is!




I'm keeping it simple, but for the most part I may have to fluff up the layout to get better marks. In my honest opinion I like simple layouts; more attention to the model, but some people really like a flashy layout. I'll work on that part, but the important thing is Mana is complete! Now he's ready to be modeled in 3D! Muscie is coming along as well, and I may have his model pack up by tomorrow. Unlike Mana, Muscie's cap is a little big and makes his sheet quite long, but that's ok, his attitude and ego alone deserve a large layout ;) Feel free to post coments and critiques!

Vladmira: Lioness of the Sea

Here is my second model of the semester. She was first conceptualized about three semesters ago in Life Drawing class. The criteria for "him" at the time was a human structure with a uniquely inhuman design. The actual model I made was of sculpy, and again, at the time, Vladmira was Vladmir.

Now, after having an issue with the character I developed last semester, I had chosen to pick Vladmir up again. In his redesigning process, the unanimous vote was cast (of myself and Sean) to make him a her. I'm not too proud of the older version sketches, but I'll put them here just to show the changes I've made.



The updated version, in my opinion, looks much better. She has more fin variation, a better build, breasts (which are always great), and other minor changes to make her more appealing, and in some cases, more proper (like her tail fin is going the correct way).




So all in all, I'm glad to be working on her again. She will be made with the specifications of this years Dominance War (www.gameartisans.org) which is a low polie count model of 9k tris. I'm currently working on her base mesh and shall post her progress as she does. I hope you'll all enjoy her as much as I do!

The Mushroom Crew: Muscie Ver. 1.1

I have worked a little on Muscie's design, but since he needed little work I only attempted to make him more warrior looking. His personality pretty much mirrors Mana's, with a large ego and an uptight attitude, Muscie works well as Mana's battle buddy.




I'm thinking of giving him some form of marking of the sort to cut up the emptiness of color in his beard area. Otherwise his kilt color can change and even eye color, but for the most part this is how I want him to look; Scruffy, a little worse for wear, and ticked. His usual arsenal consists of a shield and axe, but any combination of weapon and shield could work. Dual wielding weapons could do as well, as they'd suit his personality a little better. Feel Free to post your critiques!

The Mushroom Crew: Mana Ver. 1.2

I have been working on Mana a little and made this new concept for him, including a color design. I hope you all like him! I'm expecting to finish Mana by next week (including his model pack) then get on to Muscie. Muscie isn't exactly in as much need of a makeover than Mana, so I figure it would be better to get done the one needing more effort.


The primary changes thus far are his hands and feet. With such thin wrists and ankles he looked rather frail. I also figured that since Muscie had a form of pant/skirt/kilt on, Mana needed some form of clothing as well. He was first going to wear a loincloth, but those are not too fun to model and animate. Instead he has tweed-like pants with a small sash. I'm debating whether or not to give him his "in game" weapon, which is a large staff. If I have time I may model it.

The Mushroom Crew: Ver. 1.0

At the end of last semester I sort of fumbled with the development of a character I wasn't fully sure would come to fruition. At the last minute I pitched a trio of characters whom I was going to further develop this semester to my instructor, and he was quite excited.

Mana, Muscie, and Angel were the three characters I was going to model as one large group, but as this semester began, I decided to omit the last of the three; Angel.

"Muscie the Warrior"

"Mana the Mage"

"Angel the Battle Priest"

For the sake of time and character development, I will no longer be working on Angel, but rather developing the other two more deeply. They will be intended as game or low poly count models with a lot of attention to detail in textures. After this initial post I will be posting the development of Mana and Muscie, and hopefully you will all enjoy watching them as they grow! As well as this blog I will be posting on the Center's main student forum, where I may get critiques from colleagues and instructors alike.

Jenn Returns with Arturios!

Well, here's an updated project that I've done for Zbrush class, Semester 5 at CATO!
I'm very happy with how this project turned out, as I was insecure with my modeling abilities at first, but once that hurdle was jumped I flew into Zbrush and had some fun!
Feel free to comment or critique! I'll add some pics of the development of Arturios, my "racing" reptile!

Original Concept:

This was the initial concept piece, and as you can tell, I made some minor adjustments including omitting his armor/accessories, and making his tail longer. The model is a little off balance due to the fact that as a rotoscoped with this image, he was actually in mid walk!

Low Poly Model:








So this is the low poly model, though not low enough in my opinion, but overall he has less than 4k tris, which is less than half the maximum recommended. I made sure he was modeled for animation, since he'll be animated walking next semester!

First Zbrush Normals/Cavity/Texture maps:



This is my first sample of the final. The colors were a little too bright, and I wanted to add an Ambient Occlusion pass as well. I would like to thank Peter Vigilante and Lee Mac for helping me!