Another forest upshot

A bit ago, I made a sketch and a grayscale render of an upshot in the forest. This is my second attempt at doing an upshot. 

More randomness

As I explore this character, it only gets darker but it's healthy for me as an artist to be able to walk in any genre I choose.

Random idea

I had a dream sometime ago that I saw this dark figure that looked, or rather felt, like me. In the dream, she lacked any detail save for a pitch black body and eerie glowing green eyes. The dream was months ago but it made an impression on me.

Project "World" scene 4 - complete!

Frolic in the forest

"Project Lake" is a project that got put on the backburner last year. The first part of this story details the friendship between a little Conner and Trina, the water nymph of the lake near his family's summer cottage.

Forest storm (rough and grayscale render)

Inspired by the storm scene from Disney's Bambi; I thought I would attempt a 3 point upshot of a thunderstorm over a forest.

Shooting star (rough)

A few kids on a hill overlooking their city watching the night sky. What will they wish for on the shooting star?

Let's fly a kite (rough)

It's summertime here in the USA; go fly a kite!

Moose lunch

Let's face it; moose are funny looking animals and very cute as well. I was watching a family member drink a beer that had a moose on it and that's where the inspiration for this guy came from.

Female posing practice

Practice, practice, practice!

Shape studies - birdhouses

Shape studies are a great way to warm up and loosen up the creative mind/spirit. Sometimes the ol' brain needs a small push before it can produce on the current job or assignment. Shape studies can be done with anything one desires. Focusing on the silhouette of the shapes involved really helps prepare my mind. This time, the topic is birdhouses.

Adventures in 3D CG - 2 - oranges!

Both of these are oranges made in Maya. Both are similar in color and have a blinn shader with a fractal surface shader. The only difference between the two is the left orange has a bump map connected to its blinn shader. The orange on the right, which looks like a ball of orange astroturf, has a displacement map connected to its blinn. As one can see, we get very different results. The left side looks more like a traditional orange but the dimples on the skin are an illusion created by the bump map and the fractal node. The left orange is technically a perfectly smooth sphere. The displacement map used on the right orange actually changes the geometry of the sphere and light/shadow will change depending on the where the light source is. Big differences result from using different render nodes.

Adventures in 3D CG

Aside from all of the things I design in 2D, I also dabble in the 3D field. My program of choice is Autodesk Maya. For those that use the program and wonder what's going on in this scene; we're inside a cube with a semi-transparent polygon pyramid, a polygon sphere and a cube on the wall. Inside the pyramid is a point light with some light FX on it. The point light has a checker surface texture for it's color and then I added a light blue glow effect. Inside the glow FX attributes, I expanded the glow, added a rim halo and finally a hexagonal lens flare. This may seem like a lot but it took merely a minute or less to create.

More Tony

Fleshing out Tony and his world a bit more. Pardon the crude messiness of these drawings as they are quite rough. I figure the beginning of his story would take place in a large city high up in a skyscraper. On his wall and shelves are reports, research materials and many awards. He would be staring out empty through the large office windows overlooking the city. the story would begin with his secretary seeing this poor sap of a man sighing to himself. She will inform him that somebody higher up is sending him out to a more rural setting to qualify business prospects. 

Trina in watercolor

Trina is a character that I've been playing with for awhile. She's also a character that I've never rendered in color. For more practice with watercolor paint, I thought she would be a good candidate for a study. For those that haven't seen her before; she is a water nymph about 8 years of age living in a mountainous area in England. She lives in a forested area with sprawling meadows and a large beautiful lake. She was tasked by Gaia to look after this wonderful place; keeping it beautiful and pristine. Being a nymph, she can only be seen by those with an open mind and wide imagination, such as kids. The star barrette in her hair is a gift her sole human friend made.